BOOK TWO - CHAPTER SIX
 

To know the Fremen is to understand the formation of their culture. The histories tell of their distant ancestors living on the paradise world of Poritrin, where they grew water-fat and soft. Imperial forces harvested the strongest and sent them to Salusa Secundus as slaves, thus starting the Zensunni migration. They struggled on that unforgiving planet for nine generations, until they staged a revolt against their cruel masters and traveled to Bela Tegeuse to free the Zensunni who had been sent there. Pursued by the vengeful Imperial forces, the Zensunni migrated to Ishia and then to Rossak, never eluding detection by their pursuers for more than a few decades. From Rossak they traveled to Harmonthep, their continued refusal to enter subservience increasingly infuriating to the Empire. The official sources claim Harmonthep was destroyed by the impact of an asteroid, the detection of this impending catastrophe forcing the Zensunni to migrate for the final time - to Arrakis -, but it is rumoured that the planet was destroyed by an Imperial weapon in an attempt to finally deal with the renegade Zensunni. Any evidence in favour of this latter claim does not exist, either because the claim itself is untrue, or because the evidence was carefully destroyed. Hardened by many generations of being scorned and pursued, the Zensunni adapted quickly to the inhospitable wastes of Arrakis, at first averting dehydration by carefully emulating the behaviour and water-management-processes of indigenous animals, but gradually developing a highly specialised industry unsurpassed in craftsmanship. Their ways of adapting to the harsh desert environment also bled into their demeanour: focused on their own tribe on a social level, their distrust towards outsiders imprinted into them during generations of being oppressed, and inwardly directed on a psychological level. This was compounded by an unconscious resonance with their environment nurturing a ferocity unequalled in the Empire, not even amongst the feared Sardaukar. On Arrakis, the Zensunni finally found autonomy and privacy, and in combination with the integration of the priceless Spice into their lives they truly became Fremen. The absence of freedom was traded for the absence of what most people would consider acceptable living conditions, forcing the Fremen to fall back on their own abilities in the most fundamental manner imaginable. It is here that we find the key to understanding the Fremen: pride. Pride in what they, as a people, had accomplished.
-from "The Roots Of Muad'Dib" by Harq al-Ada-
 

Murbella realised the emergence of Ghanima and Jessica Atreides a few days ago needed to be investigated. They hadn't reappeared since that initial discussion, but the simple fact that she apparently had access to her Ancestral Memories now, albeit not at will, filled Murbella with both fear and elation. There was a slight possibility that certain personas in her Other Memory were playing tricks on her: they could be simulating the Kwisatz Haderach's mother and her granddaughter to either make Murbella understand something or to somehow harm her. Which of these possibilities applied here was as yet unclear - the margin of error in reconstructing personas from the distant past from barely stable configurations of synaptic weights was considerable, after all, making memories less accurate the older they were.

However, if she had in fact gained access to her Ancestral Memories, this marked an important new step in the evolution of the Bene Gesserit. A reliable representation or log of the memories, thoughts and visions of Paul Atreides could be extremely valuable to the Sisterhood. After all this time and all these speculations, even the foremost minds of the Bene Gesserit were still unable to construct a coherent picture of what exactly had gone wrong - in what way did the many causal chains meet during Paul Atreides' life on Arrakis and the subsequent reign of his son? That is, if causality was preserved at all.

Even the Bene Gesserit breeding records could not explain why Paul Atreides had turned out to be who he was. He had previously impossible abilities, most of which were unexpected, and had not been intended to emerge in him at all. In a way, he was the Kwisatz Haderach, but he was born a generation early. What had happened to activate his powers, instead of allowing them to remain dormant for another generation? What had made his seed so rich with potential, that the Tyrant could be born from it?

I need to find out, Murbella thought. For my own sanity, and the future of the Sisterhood - perhaps even the future of humanity.

She opened her mind up to the wisdom of the past, attempting to coerce one or more of the personas from her Other Memory to acknowledge her plea for help, to divulge their secrets. Instead of the appearance of a voice, as was most often the case, her mind was now filled with constellations of the stimulation of several different senses: images joined by smells, sounds and tactile sensations. She felt she had descended deeper than she ever had dared to go before.

She saw Bene Gesserit from the past, undergoing the ritual that would awaken their Other Memory. Many generations of Reverend Mothers passed her by, all of them mining the knowledge of their predecessors, and a fear pervading all of their minds: Abomination. She saw many deaths, intended to prevent the madness the acquisition of Other Memory sometimes led to, but there were many more than the handful the official reports spoke of.

A shift in the conglomerate of sensations showed her the past of the Honoured Matres: Bene Gesserit and Fish Speakers meeting each other in the Scattering, forging an unholy alliance that would cause so much death and suffering in so many places! Their ferocity was a defense-mechanism - the Prometheans were there from the very beginning, hunting them down with Futars and other, much more sinister ... things.

A strange sensation overcame Murbella. The mating of Bene Gesserit and Fish Speakers to form the Honoured Matres was not an accident, she realised. The Melange substitute that increased the Honoured Matres' speed and strength, but also made them irrational and aggressive! Someone made it with that express purpose in mind!

Leto!, she cried out. This all your fault! See what you have done!

Leto gave his life for you!, a voice said. Murbella recognised it as belonging to Ghanima.

I don't believe you, Murbella returned. Everything that worm has ever done has only brought more ruin and destruction to the universe. He was a megalomaniac who desired absolute power and eternal life.

Very well. I will show you the truth, Ghanima said.

Two children appeared in front of Murbella's mind's eye - a girl dressed in a Fremen stillsuit, and a boy, a long cloak barely hiding his sleek silvery skin. They were sitting on a ledge overlooking a great desert plain, the sun setting in the distance. Murbella realised she was watching Ghanima and Leto, not long after he had accepted his sandtrout skin. It seemed to Murbella as if she was right next to them, taking part in the conversation, until she realised she could not speak.

"Very few people understand the terrible transformation you've subjected yourself to," Ghanima told her brother. "Many interpret the fact you felt forced to choose this fate for yourself as the ultimate sign the Atreides dynasty has descended into madness. They think insanity is your weakness, and they will either disregard you on that basis, or use this as leverage in attempts to overthrow your rule. They misunderstand: your insanity is your strength, it is love that is your greatest weakness. The people will ridicule your loss of humanity and call it your greatest tragedy, but they fail to understand your tragedy is that you are more human than anyone who has ever lived."

Leto took his sister's hands, tears appearing in the corners of his eyes. The water trickled down across his cheeks, the cowl surrounding his face flinching every time a tear would touch it. Leto felt the pain, but did not stop crying.

Murbella dismissed the image, banned it from her mind. She descended deeper into Other Memory, still looking for answers that would satisfy her.

The dark place that Reverend Mothers feared to enter approached in the distance, the pandaemonium that would emerge to threaten everyone who had lived through the Spice Agony at one point ... Murbella broke out in panic and tried to move away, but the terrible darkness was upon her in an instant and swallowed her.

A voice greeted her there, the once-proud timbre broken by remorse, filled with grief. You have to believe me, the voice said. I only tried to mend what I had broken. I thought he could help.

Who could help?, Murbella managed to ask after a while, her fear having subsided.

The Count. He wanted to help me. He said he understood me, and that I was the only one who would understand him. I knew the Golden Path would have to be built, but I just ... I prayed for another possibility. I had seen what would happen on the Path. So terrible ...

Something else - a dark shape - appeared. Arrogance and evil given form, a fearsomely dangerous persona leading a revolt of the vast collecton of malignant personas present in Murbella's Other Memory. Odrade-within, who had been unable to stop Murbella's descent, didn't stand a chance against the overwhelming power of the invaders, Taraza and the other well-willing Bene Gesserit already having been defeated, and was quickly contained and left to wither away from disuse, as the least-used personas in Other Memory sometimes did.

I am an Atreides, I am an Atreides ..., Murbella kept telling herself, trying to ward off the evil that she felt was approaching.

Exactly, Murbella's new primary said.

Murbella emerged from her visions, and sat up in her bed, for a moment thinking that it had all been just a dream. Still shaken up from her harrowing experiences, she let herself fall back again, wishing to rest for a while before returning to her duties.

Still filled with nervous energy, Murbella unwittingly tapped the fingers of her right hand. Little finger twice, index finger thrice, ring finger twice, little finger once, ring finger twice, and then the whole sequence all over again.

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