Dancer bodies trapped within the cockpits. Nothing could have walked away from the wrecks. And yet… Could there now be as many as three Face Dancers secretly hiding in the corridors of the no-ship? Impossible! Even so, his greatest failing would be to underestimate the Enemy. He looked around the bay, sniffing, smelling the hot metal, caustic smoke, and the gritty residue of fire suppressors. An undertone of roasted flesh hung in the air.
He stared at wreckage for a long time, wrestling with his doubts. Finally he said, 'Clean this up. Deliver samples for analysis, but above all, be careful.
Be extremely careful.'
THEIR ORDEAL was the closest the Ithaca had come to being captured since the original escape from Chapterhouse. Miles Teg and Sheeana, recovered now, had joined Duncan on the quiet navigation bridge, where they all waited in brooding silence. Unspoken words hung heavily, making the air nearly unbreathable.
The four members of the exploratory party had survived, even though the Handlers and Futars had tried to kill them. During the escape flight in the lighter, the old Rabbi had used his Suk training to check out the three other escapees, declaring them unharmed except for a few scrapes and bruises. He had not, however, been able to explain Teg's deep cellular exhaustion, and the Bashar had offered no answers.
Sheeana looked at the two men, the two Mentats, with her probing Bene Gesserit stare. Duncan knew she wanted explanations—and not just from him. He had suspected that Teg possessed secret, unexplained abilities for many years.
'I intend to understand.' Her demand was so sharp and importunate, so impossible to ignore, that Duncan thought she was using Voice. 'By hiding things from me, from us, both of you put our survival in jeopardy. Of all our enemies, secrets could be the most dangerous.'
Teg's face held a wry expression. 'An interesting comment for a person in your position to make, Sheeana. As a Mentat Bashar to the Bene Gesserit, I know that secrets are a valuable coin of the Sisterhood.' He had eaten ravenously, gulped several melange-laden energy drinks, and then slept for fourteen hours.
Even so, he still looked a decade older than he had been.
'That's enough, Miles! I can understand Duncan's burden of the old bonding to Murbella. It's festered in him ever since our escape from Chapterhouse, and I knew he had never succeeded in overcoming his addiction. But your behavior poses a true mystery to me. I saw you move down there with a speed that no human could hope to match.'
Teg regarded her calmly. 'Are you suggesting I am not human? Afraid that I might be a Kwisatz Haderach?' He knew Duncan had seen the same thing on two previous occasions, and the Honored Matres had spread rumors on Gammu about the old Bashar's inexplicable abilities. But Duncan had chosen not to question it. Who was he to accuse the other man?
'Stop these games.' Sheeana crossed her arms over her chest. Her hair was in disarray. Using silence like a blunt hammer, she waited… and waited.
But Miles Teg also had Bene Gesserit training, and he did not submit to her probe. At last, she asked with a sigh, 'Were you somehow altered in the axlotl tank? Did the Tleilaxu betray us after all, modifying you in strange ways?'
He finally broke through his icy wall of reservations. 'This was an ability even the old Bashar had. If you must blame someone, point your finger at the Honored Matres and their minions.' Teg looked from side to side, still clearly reluctant to reveal his secrets. 'Under their torture, I developed certain unusual talents that I can use in times of great need.'
'Accelerating your metabolism? Moving at superhuman speeds?'
'That, and other things. I also have the ability to see a no-field, though it remains invisible to all known means of detection.'
'Why would you keep this secret from us?' Sheeana was genuinely confused; she looked betrayed.
Teg scowled at her. Even Sheeana didn't see it. 'Because ever since Muad'Dib and the Tyrant, you Bene Gesserit have shown little tolerance for males with unusual abilities. Eleven Duncan gholas were killed before this one survived—and you can't blame every one of those assassinations on Tleilaxu intrigues. The Sisterhood had plenty of complicity, both passive and active.'
He glanced at Duncan, who nodded coolly.
'Sheeana, you have an unusual talent, to control the sandworms. Duncan also has special skills. In addition to his ability to see the Enemy's net, he is genetically designed to be a sexual imprinter more powerful than the Bene Gesserit or the Honored Matres—which is how he ensnared Murbella long ago.
That was why the whores were so desperate to kill him.' Teg lifted a finger to emphasize a point. 'And as the rest of our ghola children grow older and regain memories of their past lives, I suspect that some, if not all, will exhibit their own valuable skills, which will help us to survive. You will have to accept, and embrace, their anomalous skills, or else their very existence is moot.'
Duncan heaved a deep breath. 'I agree, Sheeana. Don't censure Miles for hiding his gifts. He saved us, and more than once. My own mistakes, on the other hand, nearly cost us everything.' He pondered other times when his obsession with Murbella had distracted him, slowing his reactions during an unexpected crisis. 'I can no more break free of Murbella than you or any other Reverend Mother could simply stop using spice. It is an addiction, and admittedly a destructive one. It's been nineteen years since I've seen her or touched her, and the wound still has not healed. Her powers of seduction, and mine, along with my perfect Mentat memories, prevent me from escaping her. Here on the Ithaca there are reminders everywhere.'
Sheeana spoke, her voice quiet and cool, without compassion. 'If Murbella felt the same way back on Chapterhouse, the whores would have sensed her weakness long ago and killed her. If she is dead—'
'I hope she is alive.' Duncan rose to his feet from the pilot's chair, searching for strength. 'But the need I still feel for her affects my ability to function, and I must find a way to break free. Our survival depends on it.'
'And how will you accomplish that, if you haven't succeeded in all these years?' Teg asked.
'I thought I had a way. I suggested it to Master Scytale. But I know it was wrong. A delusion. Chasing that illusion took me away from the navigation bridge when I was most needed. I could not have known ahead of time, but even so, my obsession almost cost us everything. Again.'
Closing his eyes, Duncan went into a Mentat trance, and forced himself back through his memories, digging deep into his sequential lifetimes. He searched for some personal handhold to grasp, and at last he found it: Loyalty.
Loyalty had always been the defining trait of his character. It was at the core of Duncan Idaho's being. Loyalty to House Atreides—to the Old Duke who had made possible his escape from the Harkonnens, to the son Duke Leto, and to the grandson Paul Atreides, for whom Duncan had sacrificed his first life. And loyalty to the great grandson Leto II, first a smart and endearing young boy and then the God Emperor who resurrected Duncan again and again.
But he found it harder to give his loyalty now. Maybe that was why he had lost his way.
'The Tleilaxu wired a ticking time bomb into you, Duncan. You were to ensnare and destroy Bene Gesserit imprinters,' Sheeana said. 'I was the real target, but Murbella triggered you first, and both of you found yourselves caught in the snare.'
Duncan wondered if that innate Tleilaxu programming was at the root of his inability to break free of his obsession. Did they make him that way intentionally? Damn the gods, I am stronger than this!
When he looked over at her, Duncan saw that Sheeana wore a strange, determined expression. 'I can help you break those chains, Duncan. Will you trust me?'
'Trust you? An unusual thing for you to ask.' Without answering, she turned and left the navigation bridge. Duncan could only wonder what she had in mind.
INSTANTLY ALERT, HE awoke in the darkness of his quarters. He heard the familiar faint tones of the no- ship's security door code activating in his chamber. No one knew that code but him! It was sealed within the memory banks of the vessel.
Duncan slid off the bed, moving like quicksilver, his senses on guard, his eyes absorbing details. Light spilled through the doorway from the corridor, outlining a figure there… female.
'I have come for you, Duncan.' Sheeana's voice was soft and husky.
He took a step back. 'Why are you here?'
'You know why, and you know I must.'
