“We would never subject our Kwisatz Haderach to anything unsafe.” Dr. Ereboam’s pinkish eyes followed the spinning, swooping pod. “It is primarily a centrifuge procedure, combined with precise bursts of finely calibrated energy that penetrate certain areas in the endorphin-infused brain. Think of it as a sorting and filing process. This technique isolates specific portions of the mind, closing off unproductive neural pathways and synapses, while opening others. We have empirical data to prove that such exposure improves both mental and physical performance. Our techniques have proved effective for centuries.”
Fenring, though, had his doubts. Thallo might have followed a carefully prescribed genetic blueprint, but he was not as impressive as Lady Margot’s own perfect little daughter. Smiling, the Count tousled the golden hair of the girl whose intelligent eyes continued to study everything around her.
When Ereboam turned off the machine, the lithe and muscular Thallo emerged, his body still covered by a beige filmsuit. He didn’t look the slightest bit disoriented from the stressful experiment. When he fixed his gaze on Marie’s, she met it with her pale blue eyes, unwaveringly. A strange spark seemed to pass between them.
As Thallo approached, the two continued to stare at each other. Much taller, the Tleilaxu candidate carried himself with a casual, almost derisive demeanor.
“We could be taught together,” she suggested. Considering the intense training he and his wife were already giving the girl, Fenring was not averse to adding another advantage to Marie’s personal arsenal. In order to succeed — with or without the Tleilaxu Kwisatz Haderach candidate — she would have to be the most precisely trained individual in the Imperium.
Ereboam found the idea intriguing. “In the years you have lived among us, Count, your Marie is one of the most interesting subjects I have ever seen. She could be an effective catalyst for Thallo’s training.”
“And vice versa,” Fenring suggested.
“THEY WATCH EVERYTHING we do.” Thallo covered his own mouth and was careful not to gesture toward the poorly disguised observation plate mounted high on the wall of their enclosed exercise chamber. “They conceal themselves up there, several men at a time. Thus, the observers themselves affect their experiment. Appallingly poor science.”
Marie looked, not caring if she was noticed by the ubiquitous Tleilaxu. During the six years of her life, she’d grown accustomed to having someone monitor her constantly, whether it was her parents, Tonia Obregah-Xo, or unseen spies. Usually, she didn’t even think about it. The blank observation plate made no response.
Keeping his hand partially in place, Thallo smiled at her. “They don’t see everything they believe they see. I have disrupted their viewing images, added special induction subsonics.”
Marie was intrigued. “You can manipulate their technology?”
“They think they have taught me everything, though I have learned much more on my own.” He looked at the observation window with a hint of scorn. “By manipulating their technology, I can manipulate
“And are you perfect?”
He lowered his voice, revealing a secret. “Nothing can be perfect. It is an insult to the universe.” He turned his back to the observation window, then slowly rolled up the stretching, flexible beige fabric of his sleeves to reveal vivid red cuts that marred the pale skin of his arms, interlaced with the scars of older injuries that had healed over.
She leaned closer, her eyes wide. “Was it an accident?”
“I’ve got more underneath.” He stroked his leotard-covered chest and legs. “Flaws disguise the myth of perfection.” He chuckled. “Dr. Ereboam knows, but he has kept it secret from his fellow Masters. He tries to hide sharp objects from me, but I always find alternatives. Your fingernails, for example. They’ve trimmed mine, but I could use yours.”
“You want me to help cut you?” She was curious, intrigued.
“Not now.” Moving with an eerie speed and grace, he led her toward a set of metal stairs up to the walkway circling the chamber. He stopped directly in front of the opaque observation film and stared at it, as if he could see inside.
Pressing her face against the barrier, Marie tried to discern even a shadow of the watchers on the other side, but could see only murky darkness. Thallo pressed his palm against the window, bulging his muscles until the barrier flexed inward, but he did not break it. The girl wondered what the observers thought they were seeing.
Quickly bored with that amusement, the two playmates crawled across pipe conduits in the ceiling and dangled high above the floor. Though a fall from such a height would surely be harmful, if not fatal, no panicked guards or researchers rushed in to stop them.
“Don’t be afraid,” Thallo said. “The Masters will not allow me to come to harm.”
To Marie’s alarm, he leaped away from the ceiling pipe and into the open air, dropping heedlessly toward the floor ten meters below. But before he could crash onto the hard surface, an emergency suspensor field cushioned him and lowered him gently to the floor. She wondered when and how he had discovered the unexpected safety net, and whether he had fallen by accident just now… or if he had tried to kill himself.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Marie jumped as well, throwing herself into what would have been a suicidal fall, had it not been thwarted by the safety system. As she got to her feet, delighted, she saw Thallo sitting on the floor, looking as if all the elation had drained out of him. “I am only a candidate. They hope to perfect me, but if I fail, they will try again. And again.”
“Fail at what?” She sat beside him. “What do they plan to do with you?”
“I am supposed to be their Kwisatz Haderach.” His brown eyes glittered. “When they give me large doses of melange, I sometimes see multiple futures for mankind. One of them always clears up, like sunlight cutting through fog, and I see myself as the Emperor of the Known Universe. That is what they want — for me to be their puppet, after I overthrow Muad’Dib.”
“Very ambitious.” She did not doubt him for a moment. Her parents had said they wanted
“But because I can see the future, I
On impulse, Marie reached out and slashed a fingernail across his cheek, a wound that his filmsuit could not cover. Thallo recoiled. Then, seeing the blood flow, he grinned at her. “Friends,” he said.
Moments later, Dr. Ereboam hurried into the chamber alongside Marie’s parents. “Why did you do that to him?” the albino researcher demanded, grabbing Thallo’s head and studying the deep scratch on his cheek. He wiped away the small amount of blood and sprayed a substance on the wound.
“We were just playing,” Marie said sweetly. “It was an accident.” She exchanged glances with her mother, who frowned disapprovingly.
Lady Margot had taught her daughter in the use of fingernails as a Bene Gesserit fighting skill.
Thallo agreed. “Just an accident.”
“Have the girl’s nails trimmed,” Dr. Ereboam demanded.
“I will not,” her mother said.
“She cannot really harm Thallo, hmmm?” Fenring said. “If he is to be your Kwisatz Haderach, he shouldn’t be afraid of a little girl.”
Marie put on the most innocent, cherubic expression she could manage.
IN ENSUING DAYS, Marie and Thallo were permitted to spend time with each other regularly. The Tleilaxu researchers established what they called “interactive scenarios” that sometimes put them together in formal laboratory chambers, while at other times their interactions were more casual and unchoreographed.
They played games, running through common rooms and corridors. The pair even ate meals together, during which Marie once started throwing food just to shock the observers, pretending to be a child having a tantrum. Noodles, stew, fruit, drinks, and plastic table settings flew back and forth. Finally, laughing, she and Thallo sat together in a mess on the floor… and she surreptitiously pressed a small item into his hand.
