Sandworms of Dune - Brian Herbert [146]
Idaho didn’t budge. “I escaped from Giedi Prime as a boy, Baron. I beat Rabban on one of his hunts. I’ve lived many lifetimes since then. This time, I hope to watch you die with my own eyes.”
“How boldly you speak, like one of those yipping dogs Emperor Shaddam used to keep at his side: full of annoying barks and growls, yet easily stepped on.” Protected by the Face Dancer Sardaukar, he peered ahead down the hall. “How many people do you have aboard?” He snapped. “Bring them forward for our inspection.”
“We have already assembled,” Sheeana said. “We’re ready for you.”
The Baron sighed. “And no doubt you’ve scattered commandos or snipers throughout the decks? Your personnel records will have been doctored. A childish resistance that may cause us a few headaches, but will gain you nothing. We have enough troops to mow all of you down.”
“It would be foolish for us to resist,” Sheeana said, “at least in such obvious ways.”
The Baron scowled, and he heard the little girl’s voice inside his head. She is playing with your mind, Grandfather!
“So are you!” he hissed to himself, startling the others.
“Five hundred more of our men are coming aboard,” said the counterfeit Sardaukar commander. “Mobile machine sensors will scour every chamber on every deck, and we’ll find anything there is to find. We will locate the Kwisatz Haderach.”
“A Kwisatz Haderach?” Idaho asked. “Is that what the old man and woman have been looking for? On this ship? You’re welcome to waste your time.”
Sheeana added harshly, “If we had a superman aboard, you would never have been able to capture us.”
That remark disturbed the Baron. At the back of his mind he heard the maddening voice of Alia chuckling at his discomfiture. His face flushed, but he forced himself not to speak aloud. What a fool, debating with the unheard voice of an invisible tormentor! New groups came down the no-ship corridors to gather in front of him like troops for inspection.
One small-statured teenaged ghola unsettled him the most. The young man was thin and sallow-skinned, his face etched in a scowl. His eyes burned with hatred for the Baron, though he did not find the fellow at all familiar. He wondered what he had done to that one.
Look more closely, Grandfather. Surely you recognize him? He almost killed you!
I swear I will find some way to rip you out of my head!
With a neutral expression on his face, he looked again at the dour ghola, and suddenly understood the crude black diamond marked on his forehead. “Why, it’s Yueh! My dear Dr. Yueh, how good to see you again. I never got a chance to tell you how much you helped the Harkonnen cause so long ago. Glad to see that I have an unexpected ally aboard this ship.”
Yueh looked skinny and ineffectual, yet the gleam in his eyes was genuinely murderous. “I am not your ally.”
“You are a weak little worm. It was easy enough to manipulate you before—I can do it again.” The Baron was surprised that the scrawny man did not back down. This version of Yueh seemed stronger, perhaps transformed by the lessons of his ignominious past.
“You no longer have leverage over me, Baron. You have no Wanna. Even if you did, I would not repeat my earlier mistakes.” Crossing his arms over his narrow chest, he thrust his pointed chin forward.
The Baron turned abruptly from the Suk doctor as even more no-ship captives came forward. One bronze-haired young woman of about eighteen looked exactly like the lovely Lady Jessica. The way she viewed him with palpable revulsion proved that this ghola also had her memories restored. Did Jessica know she was really his own daughter? What entertaining conversations they might have!
Standing protectively beside the youthful Jessica were a younger woman dressed as a Fremen and a dark-haired young man—the perfect image of Paolo, only older. “Why, is this young Paul? Another Paul Atreides?”
A swift slash, a mere nick from the poisoned dagger, and the rival Kwisatz Haderach would be gone. But he shuddered to think how Omnius would react to that. The Baron wanted Paolo to assume his position of power, of course,