BOOK ONE - CHAPTER ELEVEN
 

His prescience adds an unforeseen element to the equation, the potential solution to which I remind you is in all likelihood still one generation into the future. However, the Lady Jessica's desires in this matter became abundantly clear once her son was born, and the aforementioned new faculty combined with the training she's been giving him could very well compensate for any genetic imperfections he might possess, at least in appearance to the untrained eye and perhaps even when compared to our goals with the program he forms such an integral part of. As you all know, his mother's disobedience caused great turmoil amongst us when we first learnt of it, and while the latest news has prompted many sisters to modify their opinion towards the positive, I would like to stress the danger that is still present in this situation. We must bring him into contact with the Spice, but this needs to occur under the strictest of guidance - the number of potentially chaotic variables is too great.
-Bene Gesserit memorandum-

It was a long time ago, in a place far away
Or perhaps it was here, the time yesterday
It's not that important, but you must understand:
The place was a strange one, a magical land.

Sheeana, a young girl, had found her way here
But home it was not, too strong was her fear
The desert was cruel, Shaitan could attack
This day she would leave, and would not go back.

Sheeana lived in a small village with her parents in the land of sand and silvery skies. Her family was poor, as many families in small villages all across the land were, but she loved her mother and father very much, and was happy with what she had. Every day she would go out into the desert and collect pieces of something the grown-ups called "Spice", which was hidden in the sand everywhere.

"It's a gift from God," her father had explained when she had asked where the Spice came from. "He gives it to us so we can sell it to the Out-Freyn - the Fremen of the city."

Her parents always liked it when she brought back a lot of this Spice, so she always did her best to find more than any of the other children. One day she was digging for Spice close to the village where she lived, the mixture of Spice and sand sticking to her hands and feet and staining her skin light blue. She hadn't been able to collect much yet - other children had arrived at the spot first and had already claimed the Yarig-Hoyd, the biggest gift God would give that day.

Sheeana had just found a fairly large Spice deposit, when suddenly she heard a loud sound that filled her with fear, like a thousand of the snakes that she sometimes found under rocks all hissing together. She started to run back to her village, until suddenly the ground moved, and a gigantic monster rose from the sand, swallowing the tents and houses of the village. It was Shaitan - the Underdweller that punished the sinners - come to pass judgment on the village. Sheeana saw her parents trying to escape, but Shaitan swallowed them and their house, as well as all the other villagers. Sheeana was now alone.

Mad with anger, she jumped up and down on the sand, because she knew that would attract Shaitan. The monster approached, but stopped right in front of her.

"Swallow me, Shaitan!", she screamed at the beast, because she didn't want to live any longer. But Shaitan did not do what she asked of Him; He took her with Him instead, and carried her to the edge of the desert, where He left her alone.

Nearby, she could see green plants and trees, and just beyond those trees, a small house. The door of the house opened, and many men dressed in strange robes came out, and invited Sheeana to stay with them.

"She's a gift from the heavens," they said to each other. "She speaks to the holy Shai-Hulud!"

They gave her the most delicious food: pies and milk and juicy fruit and all the candy she could eat, and gave her beautiful new clothes to wear, and let her bathe - such a strange sensation to let precious water run all over your body! Sheeana wasn't sure what was happening, but she liked her new friends very much.

The next day, the men came to Sheeana, and asked her: "Oh holy One, can you protect us from the fury of Shai-Hulud? We will give you more clothes and candy and toys if you do." Sheeana really liked her new friends, so she said yes. Every once in a while, she would go into the desert and talk to Shaitan, and sometimes even ride on his back.

One day, a woman came to the house, looking for Sheeana. The men called her a witch. "What a pretty little girl you are," the witch said to her. "I think I want you to be my daughter."

Sheeana didn't like the witch at first, but this woman taught her everything she knew - she wanted to make Sheeana a witch as well.

Then the house was attacked - strange men without faces came and tried to take Sheeana away, but the witch helped her escape. It was at that moment that Sheeana decided this had to be a good witch.

The good witch took her away to a land far from there, and brought Sheeana to her new house - and a beautiful house it was. The image unfroze in front of her eyes, crude brushstrokes of green and yellow, brown and blue dissolving and painting her a new home - a small house on the hill face, surrounded by waving grass and trees and terraced gardens with meandering walls built up of irregular stones.

"I have a surprise for you," the good witch said, and she pointed at the door of the house. "I have found a prince for you to marry, and he loves you very much."

In the doorway, Sheeana saw Duncan Idaho, the most handsome man she had ever seen. She ran up to him and they kissed, and both felt as if they had always belonged together - destiny had been fulfilled. However, their happiness was not allowed to last: their house was besieged. The men without faces had found her again, but this time they were dressed in armour, and there were many more of them.

Duncan took Sheeana by the hand, and led her into a room in the house Sheeana did not know was there - it had been hidden from her. There was a large wicker basket there, and Duncan told her to climb inside. He pulled a few strings, pushed a number of buttons and turned a large wheel, and suddenly the roof of the house opened, and the basket with Sheeana and Duncan inside rose up into the air: they were in a hot-air balloon.

The balloon flew through the air for days, much higher than the mountains and even higher than the clouds - but still far from the places where Solar the firefly lived - and took them far away, to yet another land. About a week later, the balloon finally started to descend again, and after a while it set down, next to a small house on a hill face, surrounded by waving grass and trees and terraced gardens with meandering walls built up of irregular stones. Sheeana knew she had traveled a great distance and could not have ended up at her old house, but felt right at home there anyway.

Sheeana and Duncan had a wonderful time there, and they loved each other very much. Everything was like a fairytale to her, as if her deepest desires had become reality.

One night, when Sheeana and Duncan were sleeping, Waldemar the Wendelward visited their house. Waldemar the Wendelward was a strange little man with a long beard - at least, that was what the old women of the tribe whispered to their grandchildren when they thought the parents weren't around to overhear them... No one had ever actually seen him. They said he collected the Spice in the desert at night, when no one was looking, and used it to grow babies in little glass jars in his secret sietch, which was hidden somewhere in the rocks in an area where no one ever traveled. When a man loved his wife enough - more than life itself, with all his heart and for all eternity - Waldemar would visit them at night and give them one of the babies.

When Sheeana and Duncan woke up the next morning, they heard the baby crying - an awful noise to most people, but to Sheeana this was like the most beautiful music she had ever heard. She ran over to the crib Duncan had made, just in case Waldemar would pay them a visit, wanting to hold the little baby and give it all the love in the world. They already had a name picked out if it was a boy: Teg.

When he heard the terrible scream, Duncan came running. "What's the matter?"

As soon as he had asked, he saw what had made Sheeana so afraid. In the crib there wasn't a cute and cuddly little person, but a monster: Shaitan! Duncan grabbed the crib, ran outside to the nearby lake, and threw in the monster, an ear-piercing cry signalling its death.

**********

After only a week, Sheeana gave birth to the first ghola. Duncan had stayed away from the tanks, something in the way Sheeana had bloated causing him pain in a way he hadn't expected. Thick veins were showing through her skin all over her body, and her face had an unchanging look of terror and pain on it.

Why does her fate matter to me?, Duncan thought. She was never more than a tool. Still, seeing her like this...

Scytale had demanded his presence, having need of his services in delivering the first product to be produced by their axolotl tanks. With metal clamps the Tleilaxu widened the opening the ghola would emerge from, causing large tears in the tank's flesh, the sheer disregard for the inherent sanctity of the living being Sheeana still was offending Duncan.

"Shouldn't you be more careful with her?", Duncan asked.

"The tank will regenerate within days," Scytale said matter-of-factly.

"How is it possible that the ghola is ready so soon?"

"I've increased the growth rate; we need this one operational as soon as possible. I've saturated the tank's systems with synthetic Spice - and a variety of other chemicals."

"Synthetic? We do have a supply of real Spice."

"That Spice is contaminated, not nearly pure enough to be useable. Ah, here he comes!"

A small, ugly little boy emerged. Scytale held him up, and inspected its many deformities: cancerous growths covered its body.

"That ... thing is hideous!", Duncan cried.

"Of course. That is the price we need to pay for the increased growth rate. In another few weeks, he will be fully grown. He won't survive past his first year, but we probably won't need him any longer than that."

"Who is this? I don't even recognise him."

Scytale laughed. "Duncan, please welcome a new Miles Teg into the world."

**********

The next summer, when Solar climbed higher and higher in the sky and the air grew less moist every day, the love Sheeana and Duncan felt for each other was so strong that Waldemar the Wendelward returned one night and gave them a new baby - a boy the happy parents named Paul. Paul was a perfect little boy, with a cute little nose and cute little hands and feet, and bright blue eyes, without any white. Sheeana and Duncan were so happy that after a short while they had forgotten all about Teg, the awful monster that had scared them so.

Sheeana and Duncan raised the boy to the best of their knowledge, and taught him many important lessons: never talk to strangers, be friendly and honest and always do what's right. Paul was a very bright young boy, learning all his parents' lessons well.

One day, Sheeana and Duncan took Paul to the lake for a day of laughter and fun. However, the moment Sheeana first saw the water, a strange sensation overcame her.

"There is danger in that water," she whispered, Duncan just out of earshot but perceptive enough to notice something was amiss.

"What's the matter, my love?"

"There is danger in that water," she said, louder this time.

Duncan was by her side just in time to catch her as she lost consciousness. Strange and violent dreams plagued her then, of Death Himself crawling out of the water to grab her, and Shaitan watching her from the shadows under the trees on the opposite side of the lake. In her nightmare she fell down on the ground, unable to feel her arms and legs.

**********

"I would say she's dreaming," Scytale said. "The images her subconscious conjures up are very primitive, as if she has tapped into a source of childlike wonder and innocence - they're generated by a lot of creative thought, and very little truly rational thought processes. She seems to be retrieving data from the very oldest images and sensations available to her in her Other Memory."

Idaho stroked his chin in thought. "Is it possible that this change in her brain activity will affect the growth of the new ghola?"

Scytale hesitated, stalling for time by fiddling with the controls of one of the other axolotl tanks. My answer might betray more about the way gholas are constructed than I am willing to divulge. On the other hand: the lure of more information about his own genesis might enable me to increase my influence over him. I will grant him this morsel.

"The subroutines necessary for the physical construction of the ghola are programmed into the permanent memory of the tank. The non-permanent memory - her thoughts and memory and the processing of impressions - is always regulated by certain prime directives we also program into the brain. This ensures the mental qualities that were bred into the tank continue to function to the benefit of the gholas. If you recall, Sheeana was chosen to be the, ah ... mother of the Prophet's new vessel. Her current mental state changes nothing."

Something Scytale had said disturbed Idaho. The construction of the ghola, Idaho thought. That's what we are to the Tleilaxu - mere products. We're custom-made - which implies they think they control us on a fundamental level -, creations, sub-standard forms of life. I knew this, of course, but Scytale's less than implicit message is clear. He thinks he still owns me.

Scytale was still talking. "You needn't worry - Sheeana's dreams are powerless."

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