[Dune7: Advent]

*

[Book Two - Chapter Ten]

The backlash against thinking machines of the Butlerian Jihad forced humanity to find means of cognitive expansion not involving technological aid. The discovery of certain powerful awareness spectrum narcotics by members of an intentionally nameless female cult several centuries after the end of the Jihad prompted the formation of the Sisterhood, which endures to this day. Those narcotics, similar in effect to the Spice but considerably less potent, unlocked memories in those who ingested them that had been locked into the genetic code. The earliest Reverend Mothers worthy of the name were quite unprepared for the barrage of knowledge and memories unleashed by the drugs, and generally did not survive for very long. Borrowing heavily from ancient religious cults, strict rituals were integrated into the daily routine of the earliest members of the Sisterhood to tame the destructive powers of the Other Memories, but within centuries it became apparent this reliance on outside help shunted power away from the personal sphere of influence, substantially weakening the Sisterhood as a whole. One advantage of this strategy was that valuable time was bought in which to construct a training program to enable the proper use of Other Memories, many integral parts of that curriculum surviving to this day. The inital goal formulated at the inception of the Sisterhood, the education of mankind towards maturity, was given the necessary tools when Other Memory was brought under control, an achievement that also contributed significantly to the Kwisatz Haderach program. The exact machinations that enable Other Memory are unknown to this day, but valiant efforts have been made to formulate some semblance of an explanation. The most promising project suggests certain awareness spectrum narcotics enable the brain’s neuronal structures to resonate along with pertinent dimensions of the perturbations of each person’s local time stream, as well as vastly increasing the number of possible activation threshold configurations of individual neurons to increase the brain’s storage capacity.

-Excerpt of a lecture on Other Memories for advanced Bene Gesserit acolytes.

            Under cover of night, the light of the stars obscured by a layer of clouds - the existence of which was an extremely rare occurence in these increasingly dry times on Chapter House -, a small group of Bene Gesserit approached the Central complex.

            Hidden in the orchard just outside Central, very close to what used to be the Mother Superior’s study, Murbella, Bellonda and a small group of other Bene Gesserit - amongst them Ghos, Sardiki, Fondalar, Arelmo and Oket - were waiting. Soon, an explosion at the other side of the complex would create the diversion they needed to carry out their mission.

            Tonight, it will be all or nothing, Bellonda realised. If we want to be prepared for the arrival of the Prometheans, we need to retake and fortify Central - the knowledge and hardware stored in it is vital to our cause.

Bellonda knew that operations like this would always be dangerous, but they stood a very good chance of being victorious tonight. Koshad did us a great favour, eliminating Donelid. That one was dangerous! I hope that, once Koshad has been removed, most Honoured Matres will let themselves be convinced that a fission in our alliance is exactly what we don’t need right now.

            Every intelligence report I’ve gotten suggests Koshad rules because she strikes fear in the hearts of those whom she cannot convince, and truly inspires only those who can’t even be trusted to dispose of their own excrements without supervision. Every promise that she has made concerning a new rise to greatness for the Honoured Matres has been a lie, and even amongst her most trusted allies her authority is being questioned more frequently every day.

            Bellonda remembered the spy that had given them so much useful information, a young Reverend Mother named Kendra that had infiltrated the highest echelons of the Honoured Matre rebellion. This will be her victory. If she survives tonight, she will go on to great things.

            She glanced over to Murbella, who was sitting next to her, unmovingly staring forward. Luckily, her nasty streak seems to have subsided somewhat.

“Nejilwen was an Honoured Matre agent,” Murbella had claimed in a meeting in which several of the Proctors had demanded an explanation for the incident on the training floor. “I killed her in public instead of quietly because I needed to make a point.”

Most of those present had appeared to accept that explanation - Murbella still was the Mother Superior, and her dedication to the Sisterhood had never been called into question. Bellonda suspected there might be something else going on, but decided to keep quiet about it for the sake of the missions they had been planning, which needed Murbella’s strength, sharp mind and talent for inspiration.

The explosion made the ground beneath them tremble. In the distance, alarms could be heard and powerful lights flashed on. In the resulting confusion, Murbella and her group emerged from their hiding place and relatively effortlessly overwhelmed the two guards at Central’s garden entrance.

They reached the conference room where Kendra had promised Koshad and her inner circle would be within minutes. Lasguns gave them a relatively unimpeded passage inside - the Honoured Matre predilection for short-range weapons such as feet and hands proved to be a definite disadvantage for them.

Once inside, Murbella appeared to go berserk, overwhelming the dangerous but decidedly overclassed Honoured Matre leaders, killing one after the other with lightning-fast kicks and punches and not hesitating to break the rules that governed Honoured Matre close-combat in favour of quick results.

While Murbella attacked Moraten with a series of quick hand-feet combinations, Fondalar and Oket reacted in unison, leveling their lasgun at their Mother Superior. Without hesitation Bellonda intervened, cutting off the outstretched arms of both with a bright lance of energy from her own lasrifle. As they lay there on the ground, in shock and bleeding to death, their muscles relaxed, revealing the suspicions about Fondalar had been correct: she had been a Face Dancer, as had Oket.

To what extent have we been infiltrated?, Bellonda despaired. Anyone could be a Face Dancer! Would that explain Murbella’s behaviour?

Koshad immediately took advantage of the fact these thoughts distracted Bellonda and attacked her, breaking her neck with the first kick. Jumping over the dead body, she managed to reach a hidden door and escape the room. Shocked by the death of one of the very few people she had allowed to become her friend and consumed with rage, Murbella followed Koshad.

            Murbella found Koshad in the communications room. She could not control her actions anymore, and almost immediately killed Koshad, a kick breaking the Great Honoured Matre’s spine.

            As she stood there, watching the life flow from her prey, Murbella realised what had happened in those few short minutes. Where did all that anger come from? This was beyond anything I have ever felt, even as an Honoured Matre!

            Looking at Koshad, she saw the Face Dancer’s real face appear. Another one! It’s almost like a plague!

            She didn’t have time to ponder the consequences of this discovery, because another, more pressing matter attracted her attention. She… it managed to send a message. The language in which the message had been composed was ancient, but Murbella’s Other Memory allowed her to understand it. Islamiyat…

            The message contained coordinates - those of Chapter House! -, and the recommendation to expedite the execution of Mabak Ghisharat.

An ominous feeling overcame Murbella. This message was sent to Tleilax.

[Dune7: Advent]

*

[Book Two - Chapter Eleven]

Learn this lesson well: Jessica Atreides, the mother of Muad’Dib, succumbed to her greatest weakness and allowed love to guide her actions. Love contaminates the ability to apply rational principles, forcing the subject to time and time again combat the result of animalistic actions rather than allowing reason to manifest its purest essence. Love has its uses within clearly defined parameters - to promote procreation and education of offspring - but only to those not competent enough to realise how this evolutionary mechanism reduces autonomy: an understanding of the true essence of love removes its necessity. The events of the past millennia have demonstrated irrefutably how even a single moment of blind loyalty to love can result in disaster.

-Bene Gesserit Analysis.

            Standing near the entrance to the sietch, concealed from view by an outcropping of rock, Murbella watched the sky grow fiery yellow and red, and slowly darker as night fell. Despite the recent Bene Gesserit victory on the Honoured Matre malcontents, and though she really didn’t have any definite information to base this on, she suspected there would be even darker skies in the very near future.

            After Koshad had been killed, it really hadn’t taken the Bene Gesserit forces much effort to eradicate the rebellion - it turned out many Honoured Matres would much rather continue to immerse themselves in the knowledge of the Sisterhood rather than go back to the barbaric ways of the past. At least in that respect the alliance of the two forces as Taraza had intended it had been a success, although the reason for the docility displayed by the Honoured Matres loyal to their new allies might not be because they truly desired to fit in, but rather because they understood absorbing the knowledge would make them stronger themselves.

            Advisers had convinced Murbella that it was safer to return to the sietch - a small number of Honoured Matres still loyal to Donelid had started a guerilla war against the Sisterhood. It was only a matter of time before they would be apprehended or killed, but their activities endangered the life of the Mother Superior.

            And now that this fire has been extinguished - for the moment, because there is still a lot of veiled animosity between the two factions -, a new problem could present itself: the Prometheans might come, Murbella realised. And what is Tleilax planning?

            As if the idea itself was magnetic, attracting Murbella’s thoughts time and time again, thinking of Tleilax made her consider gholas, which in turn compelled her to remember Duncan Idaho.

            Every time I let my guard down, he is there again. What is that hold that he has on me?

            She tried to remember him: his good looks, boyish smile and unruly black hair. She saw another Duncan, one who she had never seen before: a young boy, no more than eight years old. She hadn’t met Duncan until he was much older, but still she knew that who she saw was her love as a young boy. He was running through the woods, and very afraid. Grown men with lasguns were chasing him! In a way she couldn’t explain, it gave her pleasure thinking of Duncan like this.

            Other thoughts populated her mind then, and she forgot this strange experience. She once more returned to love, and the way she had experienced this most important of emotional constellations throughout her life. The wanderings of Murbella’s mind halted at what she knew of Jessica Atreides, the classic case of a Bene Gesserit who had succumbed to the temptations of the flesh - love -, and had caused tremendous problems because of what she had done under the influence of her hormones. All Bene Gesserit were required to study her life and her writings, in order to learn how to avoid making similar mistakes.

            While Murbella was studying in the library at Central late one night, she had come across a transcription of a poem the Kwisatz Haderach’s mother had once written - an elegy concerning the death of her daughter, the Abomination, Saint Alia-Of-The-Knife. Murbella remembered that poem:

This holiest flesh

Beauty still in life’s end

How far my love has fallen

So many voices

Crowding so young a mind

Their words carried diseases

Death will cleanse her water

Return it to her tribe

But memories remain

Her ghost still clings

My eyes still drink

Her voice still carried on the wind

My carelessness caused

Her suffering forced

Conscience into grief.

            Despite her conversion back to Bene Gesserit ways later in her life, she still maintained emotional ties to her offspring that were of considerable magnitude.

            It pains me to say this, as Bene Gesserit Mother Superior, but I understand how she must have felt, Murbella realised. After all this time, Duncan’s face and touch and voice still haunt my thoughts. I can’t forget him - time nor willpower have proven able to do so. Where are you, my love? Now is when I need you most. The uncertainty is what wounds me most - are you still alive, or have you fallen prey to whatever predators lurk in the shadows outside our sphere of influence?

**  **  **  **  **

Deep inside the Bene Gesserit sietch, a computer console flashed to life. Machines like this had been forbidden by the Jihad, but Odrade had considered it necessary to equip the sietch with one to process the data collected by the many sensors placed at strategic locations all over and in orbit around the planet of Chapter House.

It relayed information from the no-satellites that formed a protective belt around the planet - they carried weapons to repel any attack from outer space, and helped hide the planet from long-range scanners and prescient searchers wanting to find the central hub of the Sisterhood. The console reported a growing number of no-satellites were disappearing - either contact with these satellites was lost because of a technical failure, or the satellites themselves had been destroyed.

Concealed from all but a few sensors, a no-ship was descending towards the planet, carrying the object of Murbella’s affection, a Tleilaxu Master, a number of gholas, a small sandworm and five axolotl-tanks.

In a few short moments, the assault on Chapter House would begin.

continue

                                                                Last modified: May 24, 2000