Murbella, and I come offering an olive branch. We have transport 'thopters at the rear of our formation, ready to bring all of you back to the Keep. If you disarm and cooperate, I will grant you amnesty and the opportunity for retraining.'
She saw Caree Debrak on the ground. The bitter young woman pointed a farzee rifle at them. Tiny pinpoints of fire spat out, and the fast molten projectiles struck harmlessly against the 'thopter's shields.
'Damn lucky it's not a lasgun,' Murbella said.
Janess looked astonished. 'Lasguns are forbidden on Chapterhouse.'
'Much is forbidden, but not everyone follows the rules.' Working her jaw angrily, Murbella spoke over the loudspeaker again, in a sharper tone. 'You have deserted your Sisters in a time of crisis. Put this divisiveness behind you and return with us. Or are you cowards, afraid to face our true Enemy?'
Caree fired the farzee rifle again, splattering more molten projectiles against the 'thopter's shields.
'At least we didn't fire the first shot.' Janess looked at her mother. 'In my opinion, Mother Commander, negotiating with them is a waste of time. With well-placed sedative darts, we could disarm them, force them back to the Keep, then try to win them over.' Below, many of the other rebels grabbed their weapons and shot ineffectively at the Sisterhood's assault force.
Murbella shook her head. 'We will never make them see reason—and we can never trust them again.'
'Should we try a limited military engagement then, just enough to strike fear into them? It would give our new squadron practice in the field. Land the soldiers and use them to attack and humiliate the holdouts. If our hand-to-hand combat skills can't defeat this lot, we won't have a chance against the real whores who have had years to build up their planetary defenses.'
Seeing the malcontents firing at them with rifles, Murbella felt increasing anger. Her voice broke like glass in her own ears. 'No. Doing so would only risk more of our loyal Sisters. I won't lose a single fighter here.' She shuddered to think of how much damage these women could cause if they pretended to surrender and then spread their poison from within. 'No, Janess.
They have made their choice. We can never trust them again. Never again.'
Her daughter's eyes flashed with understanding. 'They're no more than insects.
Shall we exterminate them?'
Below, more dissidents were running through the trees and emerging from the dense pines carrying heavier weapons.
'Drop shields and open fire,' Murbella shouted into the commsystem that connected all of the attack vessels. 'Use incendiaries to light the woods.' An officer in one of the other 'thopters protested that the response was too severe, but Murbella cut her off. 'There will be no debate.'
Her handpicked squadron opened fire, and the blazing bloodbath left no survivors. She took no joy in it, but the Mother Commander had showed that she would strike like a scorpion if provoked. She hoped that such knowledge would prevent further discontent and opposition.
'Let this be an example that will long be remembered,' she said. 'An enemy among us can cause damage as surely as the Enemy outside.'
Part IV: ELEVEN YEARS AFTER ESCAPE FROM CHAPTERHOUSE
1
Caladan: third planet of Delta Pavonis; birthworld of Paul Muad'Dib. The planet was later renamed Dan.
When the ghola of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen was seven years old, the Face Dancers commanded Uxtal to take him to the ocean world of Dan.
'Dan… Caladan. Why are we going there?' Uxtal asked. 'Does this have something to do with the fact that it was once the home-world of House Atreides, enemy of House Harkonnen?' In his joy to be going away from Matre Superior Hellica, the Lost Tleilaxu researcher found the courage to view the Face Dancer as his rescuer.
'We have found something there. Something that could allow us to use the resurrected Baron.' The Face Dancer escort raised a hand, stopping the question Uxtal was about to ask. 'That is all you need to know.'
While he had prayed fervently for the day when he could relinquish the difficult ghola child, Uxtal now worried that Khrone might consider his usefulness to be at an end. Maybe the Face Dancers would come up behind him, place fingers over his eyes, and squeeze, as they'd done to Elder Burah… He hurried toward the shuttle that would take him and the brat away from Tleilax. He mumbled to himself, like a personal mantra: I am still alive. Still alive!
At least he would be away from Ingva and Hellica, the stench of sligs, and the screams of torture victims being wrung dry of their pain-induced chemicals.
IN THE intervening years, Hellica had continued to enjoy young Vladimir Harkonnen. They were birds of a feather. Uxtal found it chilling to hear the seven-year-old boy and the Matre Superior laugh together as they discussed people who didn't deserve to live anymore, choosing victims for the torture laboratories.
The treacherous little boy reported constantly to the pretender queen, informing her of purported mistakes or indiscretions committed by laboratory assistants. Uxtal had lost many of his best helpers that way, and the scheming child fully comprehended the power he held. Uxtal could barely master his own terror in the ghola's presence. Though only a child, Vladimir was nearly the same size as the diminutive Tleilaxu.
Unexpectedly, though, Uxtal had managed to endear himself to the ghola in a way that had the benefit of driving a wedge between the boy and Hellica. As a Tleilaxu, he had many personal habits that outsiders considered revolting, such as his proclivity to emit coarse bodily noises. Seeing the Baron's delight in such grossness, Uxtal began to embellish his own habits around the child, which gave the two of them a peculiar bond.
Miffed at Vladimir's fickle attentions and showing no more maturity than the child ghola, Hellica had stopped associating with the boy. She reacted with haughty indifference when the Guildship came to take Uxtal and the ghola away to Dan. But the anxious researcher knew she would be there waiting when he returned…
AFTER A foldspace journey, the Tleilaxu and his charge rode a shuttle down to the watery planet. En route they played a private game, competing with one another to see who could be the most disgusting, to see if they could get a reaction out of the bland and stony Face Dancers accompanying them. Vladimir, with an amazing repertoire of scatological talents, made more revolting sounds and noxious odors than anyone Uxtal had ever encountered. After each display, the cherubic boy grinned fiercely.
Uxtal conceded defeat, knowing it was safer to lose to a Harkonnen than to win, even without Matre Superior Hellica leering over their shoulders.
One of the Face Dancers stood at the shuttle's viewport, pointing outside.
'The ruins of Castle Caladan, the ancestral home of House Atreides.' The edifice lay in broken fragments of stone at the edge of a seaside cliff, with a landing field not far away on the outskirts of a nearby fishing village.
The Face Dancer obviously intended to bring Vladimir to a place that might evoke a visceral reaction, but Uxtal detected no glimmer of recognition in the boy's spider-black eyes, no spark of recollection. The Baron ghola was far too young to access his memories yet, but by placing him in the environment of his archenemies, with so many potential memory triggers, maybe they would awaken something after all, or at least lay a good foundation for success.
Perhaps that was what Khrone wanted of them. Uxtal hoped so, wishing he could stay here on Dan permanently. Though somewhat austere and damp, the ocean world seemed a great improvement over
