BOOK TWO - CHAPTER SEVEN
 

The rule of the God-Emperor was nigh-absolute, dissolving the political tripod structure that characterised the Empire prior to the rise to prominence of House Atreides, greatly diminishing the power of the Guild. In its current distribution of controlling power, space travel continues to determine the structure of our existence as a society dependent on exchange of goods and services between different planets and planetary systems, the instruments that channel this influence being the limitations of the technology utilised. Ix, having gained nearly complete control of the market for sophisticated machine products during the God-Emperor's reign at the expense of Richese, will attain dominance in the power void the demise of the Guild creates because of two innovative developments: no-technology and transluminal navigation systems. A new political tripod will be formed: the Bene Gesserit with their mental training and the Bene Tleilax with their Spice-producing axolotl tanks will be balanced out by the new technological reign of Ix.
-from "Beyond The Tyrant", Vendalma of Ix-
 

Murbella completed a complex sequence of kicks, full-body spins and punches, traversing the practice floor in the process. They had been living in the sietch for a week now, all of them preparing for the moment they would strike back at Donelid and her malcontents. A big miltary operation had been planned, communicating with Bene Gesserit operatives still amongst the Honoured Matres, and those in the sietch would be central to it all.

From the sidelines, Bellonda watched her Mother Superior practice, she herself having just finished her excercises - low-impact ones, since she preferred to let her mind and voice do the fighting rather than her body.

How odd it is that we still rely on the infantry, on hand-to-hand combat techniques to fight wars, Bellonda suddenly realised. In Paul Atreides' days this particular decision was born out of necessity, considering the ban on atomics as well as the destructive potential of the interaction of lasgun and Holtzmann shield - they couldn't fight effectively in any other way, especially on Arrakis, where the use of shields was unwise for yet another reason.

I guess I do understand the reason - after all these millennia, still the Butlerian Jihad manages to cast its shadow across the galaxy. The use of machines and other kinds of technological artifacts is frowned upon by many - to use an understatement - and the exploitation of natural abilities is stimulated. This of course is the essence of the Sisterhood's modus operandi, and the dedication of many lifetimes to unlocking the abilities and potentialities currently available to Bene Gesserit adepts has certainly enriched humanity, even if the greater part of it doesn't quite realise how much we sacrificed and continue to sacrifice to prepare a better future for everyone.

Murbella was now working her way through a sequence of leg excercises from an ancient martial arts technique. Bellonda continued to develop her current train of thought. Still, one might wonder why the Sisterhood continues to submit to those rules and regulations, explicit as well as implicit - of all people, we should understand the true value of any religiously inspired regimen. Religion is fabricated, and as such merely useful as long as its axioms continue to be coherent within a certain stable socio-cultural context, and its implementation continues to produce situations in which power is distributed in such a way that the entire system is permitted to develop and grow. The policies that emerged from the Butlerian Jihad have certainly served that particular purpose in the past, but I feel the time might have come for the Sisterhood to redefine some of our basic guidelines.

The Prometheus Manifesto, as pretentious and potentially dangerous as it is, does contain a number of rather astute observations. The Kwisatz Haderach program has indeed caused an awful lot of destruction, and it could be argued that it - as well as the Sisterhood's subsequent damage control measures, including the Second Scattering and the Duncan program - should be written off as a failure.

When you consider the way Ix tests the boundaries of the Jihad's prohibitions and the level of success they've attained doing this, while still managing to get away with it, perhaps the next step of human evolution does lie within the carefully controlled exploitation of the possibilities of technology. Human flesh has been pushed to its functional limits by the Bene Gesserit, the Tleilaxu and even the whores of the Honoured Matres - to gain a competitive edge, perhaps the Sisterhood should explore the regions as yet actively avoided by us. The resurrection of Clairby a decade ago proves both that the knowledge is present, at least in theoretical form, and that the Sisterhood isn't afraid to try such experiments when the circumstances demand it.

On the practice floor, Murbella had finished warming up, and demanded a sparring partner. She gestured for a young Bene Gesserit acolyte to approach her. Her name is Nejilwen, Bellonda recalled. She was an inexperienced fighter and no match for Murbella - who was widely regarded to be the best fighter of both Bene Gesserit and Honoured Matres - but equipped with an unusually sharp mind, and of vast potential value to the future of the Sisterhood.

Nejilwen approached the Mother Superior, quite obviously feeling out of her element, and struck a defensive stance. Murbella taunted her, jumping from one foot on the other, trying to get her to attack first.

What is she doing?, Bellonda thought. The fact she was an Honoured Matre once might explain some immature behaviour, but this is ridiculous. Is she really going to fight that poor girl?

She has changed lately, Bellonda realised. Over the last few days of practice sessions, her fighting style has changed: not quite as refined and graceful as before, and more than once relying on a rather ... charitative interpretation of the rules of hand-to-hand combat. Her physical appearance is changing as well. Despite a very parsimonious diet and increased excercise time, she appears to be putting on weight.

She's definitely less forgiving, almost cruel at times. Perhaps this is exactly what we need: for the coming month, several strikes have been planned, intended to weaken or eliminate strategic elements of the Honoured Matre organisation.

At that moment, Nejilwen charged, jumping up in the air, aiming her heel at Murbella's side. Murbella easily evaded this attack, and let her opponent land without touching her. Several other, similar attacks followed, Nejilwen hitting nothing and merely exhausting herself, Murbella smiling broadly thoughout it all.

She's toying with the girl!, Bellonda knew.

"I'm growing tired of this," Murbella said. "Let's finish the fight."

No one had suspected that Mother Superior had meant this in a literal sense: with a powerful jump and a virtuoso feint she was behind Nejilwen, and clamped her hands around the acolyte's head.

"A lesson!", Murbella exclaimed, and broke the young girl's neck with very little effort. She walked away, never once looking back at what she had done, showing no remorse.

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