ChapterHouse: Dune dc-6

by Frank Herbert

  Records were projected above her table while aides and advisors entered and departed. Necessary interruptions. Sign this. Approve that. Decrease melange for this group?

  Bellonda was here, seated at the table. She had stopped asking what Odrade sought and merely watched with that unwavering stare. Merciless.

  They had argued about whether a new sandworm population in the Scattering might restore the Tyrant's malign influence. That endless dream in each revenant of the worm still worried Bell. But population numbers alone said the Tyrant's hold on their destiny was ended.

  Tamalane had come in earlier seeking some record from Bellonda. Fresh from a new accumulation of Archives, Bellonda had launched herself into a diatribe about Sisterhood population shifts, the drain on resources.

  Odrade stared out the window now as dusk moved across the landscape. It became darker in almost imperceptible shadings. As full dark fell, she became aware of lights far out in the plantation houses. She knew those lights had been turned on much earlier but she had the sensation that night created the lights. Some blanked out occasionally as people moved about in their dwellings. No people - no lights. Don't waste energy.

  Winking lights held her attention for a moment. A variation on the old question about a tree falling in the forest: Was there sound if no one heard? Odrade voted on the side of those who said vibrations existed no matter whether a sensor recorded them.

  Do secret sensors follow our Scattering? What new talents and inventions do the first Scattered Ones use?

  Bellonda had allowed long enough silence. "Dar, you're sending worrisome signals through Chapterhouse."

  Odrade accepted this without comment.

  "Whatever you're doing, it's being interpreted as indecision." How sad Bell sounds. "Important groups are discussing whether to replace you. Proctors are voting."

  "Only the Proctors?"

  "Dar, did you really wave at Praska the other day and tell her it was good to be alive?"

  "I did."

  "What have you been doing?"

  "Reassessing. No word yet from Dortujla?"

  "You've asked that at least a dozen times today!" Bellonda gestured at the worktable. "You keep going back to Burzmali's last report from Lampadas. Something we've overlooked?"

  "Why do our enemies hold fast on Gammu? Tell me, Mentat."

  "I've insufficient data and you know it!"

  "Burzmali was no Mentat but his picture of events has a persistent force, Bell. I tell myself, well, after all, he was the Bashar's favorite student. It's understandable that Burzmali would show characteristics of his teacher."

  "Out with it, Dar. What do you see in Burzmali's report?"

  "He fills in an empty picture. Not completely but... tantalizing the way he keeps referring to Gammu. Many economic forces have powerful connections there. Why are those threads not cut by our enemies?"

  "They're in that same system, obviously."

  "What if we mounted an all-out attack on Gammu?"

  "No one wants to do business in violent surroundings. That what you're saying?"

  "Partly. "

  "Most parties to that economic system probably would want to move. Another planet, another subservient population."

  "Why?"

  "They could predict with more reliability. They would increase defenses, of course."

  "This alliance we sense there, Bell, they would redouble their efforts to find and obliterate us."

  "Certainly."

  Bellonda's terse comment forced Odrade's thoughts outward. She lifted her gaze to the distant snow-tonsured mountains glimmering in starlight. Would attackers come from that direction?

  The thrust of that thought might have dulled a lesser intellect. But Odrade needed no Litany Against Fear to remain clearheaded. She had a simpler formula.

  Face your fears or they will climb over your back.

  Her attitude was direct: The most terrifying things in the universe came from human minds. The nightmare (the white horse of Bene Gesserit extinction) possessed both mythic and reality forms. The hunter with the axe could strike mind or flesh. But you could not flee the terrors of the mind.

  Face them then!

  What did she confront in this darkness? Not that faceless hunter with her axe, not the drop into the unknown chasm (both visible to her bit of talent), but the very tangible Honored Matres and whoever supported them.

  And I dare not use even my small prescience to guide us. I could lock our future into unchanging form. Muad'Dib and his Tyrant son did that and the Tyrant spent thirty five hundred years extricating us.

  Moving lights in the middle distance caught her attention. Gardeners working late, still pruning the orchards as though those venerable trees would go on forever. Ventilators gave her a faint odor of smoke from fires where orchard trimmings were being burned. Very attentive to such details, the Bene Gesserit gardeners. Never leave deadwood around to attract parasites that might then take the next step into living trees. Clean and neat. Plan ahead. Maintain your habitat. This moment is part of forever.

  Never leave deadwood around?

  Was Gammu deadwood?

  "What is it about orchards that fascinates you so much?" Bellonda wanted to know.

  Odrade spoke without turning. "They restore me."

  Only two nights ago she had gone walking out there, the weather cold and bracing, a touch of mist close to the ground. Her feet stirred leaves. Faint smell of compost where a sparse rain had settled in warmer low places. A rather attractive, marshy smell. Life in its usual ferment even at that level. Empty limbs above her stood out starkly against starlight. Depressing, really, when compared with springtime or harvest season. But beautiful in its flow. Life once more waiting for its call to action.

  "Aren't you worried about the Proctors?" Bellonda asked.

  "How will they vote, Bell?"

  "It's very close."

  "Will others follow them?"

  "There's concern about your decisions. Consequences."

  Bell was very good at that: a great deal of data in a few words. Most Bene Gesserit decisions moved through a triple maze: Effectiveness, Consequences and (most vital) Who Can Carry Out Orders? You matched deed and person with great care, precise attention to details. This had a heavy influence on Effectiveness and that, in turn, ruled Consequences. A good Mother Superior could wend her way through decision mazes in seconds. Liveliness in Central then. Eyes brightened. Word was passed that "She acted without hesitation." That created confidence among acolytes and other students. Reverend Mothers (Proctors especially) waited to assess Consequences.

  Odrade spoke to her reflection in the window as much as to Bellonda. "Even Mother Superior must take her own time."

  "But what has you in such turmoil?"

  "Are you urging speed, Bell?"

  Bellonda drew back in her chairdog as though Odrade had pushed her.

  "Patience is extremely difficult in these times," Odrade said. "But choosing the right moment influences my choices."

  "What do you intend with our new Teg? That's the question you must answer."

  "If our enemies removed themselves from Gammu, where would they go, Bell?"

  "You would attack them there?"

  "Push them a bit."

  Bellonda spoke softly. "That's a dangerous fire to feed."

  "We need another bargaining chip."

  "Honored Matres don't bargain!"

  "But their associates do, I think. Would they remove themselves to... let us say, junction?"

  "What is so interesting about junction?"

  "Honored Matres are based there in force. And our beloved Bashar kept a memory-dossier of the place in his lovely Mentat mind. "

  "Ohhhhhhh." It was as much a sigh as a word.

  Tamalane entered then and demanded attention by standing silently until Odrade and Bellonda looked at her.

  "The Proctors support Mother Superior." Tamalane held up a clawed finger. "By one vote!"

  Odrade sighed. "Tell
us, Tam, the Proctor I greeted in the hallway, Praska, how did she vote?"

  "She voted for you."

  Odrade aimed a tight smile at Bellonda. "Send out spies and agents, Bell. We must goad the hunters into meeting us on junction. "

  Bell will deduce my plan by morning.

  When Bellonda and Tamalane had gone, muttering to each other, worry in the sound of their voices, Odrade went out into the short corridor to her private quarters. The corridor was patrolled by its usual acolytes and Reverend Mother servitors. A few acolytes smiled at her. So word of the Proctors' vote had reached them. Another crisis passed.

  Odrade went through her sitting room to her sleeping cell, where she stretched out on her cot fully clothed. One glowglobe bathed the room in pale yellow light. Her gaze went past the desert map to the Van Gogh painting in its protective frame and cover on the wall at the foot of her cot.

  Cottages at Cordeville.

  A better map than the one marking the growth of the desert, she thought. Remind me, Vincent, of where I came from and what I yet may do.

  This day had drained her. She had gone beyond fatigue into a place where the mind caught itself in tight circles.

  Responsibilities!

  They hemmed her in and she knew she could be her most disagreeable self when beset by duties. Forced to expend energy just maintaining a semblance of calm demeanor. Bell saw this in me. It was maddening. The Sisterhood was cut off at every passage, made almost ineffectual.

  She closed her eyes and tried to construct an image of an Honored Matre commander to address. Old... steeped in power. Sinewy. Strong and with that blinding speed they have. No face on her but the visualized body stood there in Odrade's mind.

  Forming the words silently, Odrade spoke to the faceless Honored Matre.

  "It is difficult for us to let you make your own mistakes. Teachers always find this hard. Yes, we consider ourselves teachers. We do not so much teach individuals as the species. We provide lessons for all. If you see the Tyrant in us, you are right."

  The image in her mind made no reply.

  How could teachers teach when they could not emerge from hiding? Burzmali dead, ghola Teg an unknown quantity. Odrade felt invisible pressures converging on Chapterhouse. No wonder Proctors voted. A web enclosed the Sisterhood. The strands held them tightly. And somewhere on that web, a faceless Honored Matre commander crouched.

  Spider Queen.

  Her presence was known by actions of her minions. A trap strand of her web trembled and attackers hurled themselves onto entangled victims, insanely violent, uncaring how many of their own died or how many they butchered.

  Someone commanded the search: Spider Queen.

  Is she sane by our standards? Into what awful perils have I sent Dortujla?

  Honored Matres went beyond megalomania. They made the Tyrant appear a ridiculous pirate by comparison. Leto II, at least, had known what the Bene Gesserit knew: how to balance on the point of the sword, aware that you would be mortally cut when you slid from that position. The price you pay for seizing such power. Honored Matres ignored this inevitable fate, hewing and slashing around them like a giant in the throes of terrible hysteria.

  Nothing ever before had opposed them successfully and they chose to respond now with the killing rage of berserkers. Hysteria by choice. Deliberate.

  Because we left our Bashar on Dune to spend his pitiful force in a suicidal defense? No telling how many Honored Matres he killed. And Burzmali at the death of Lampadas. Surely, the hunters felt his sting. Not to mention Idaho-trained males we send out to pass along Honored Matre techniques of sexual enslavement. And to men!

  Was that enough to bring such rage? Possibly. But what of the stories from Gammu? Did Teg display a new talent that terrified Honored Matres?

  If we restore our Bashar's memories, we must watch him carefully.

  Would a no-ship contain him?

  What really made Honored Matres so reactive? They wanted blood. Never bring such people bad news. No wonder their minions behaved with frenzy. A powerful person in fright might kill the bearer of bad tidings. Bring no bad tidings. Better to die in battle.

  Spider Queen's people went beyond arrogance. Far beyond. No censure possible. You might just as well berate a cow for eating grass. The cow would be justified in looking at you with its moon struck eyes, inquiring: "Isn't this what I'm supposed to do?"

  Knowing probable consequences, why did we ignite them? We aren't like the person who hits out at a round gray object with a stick and finds that the object was a hornet's nest. We knew what we struck. Taraza's plan and none of us questioned.

  The Sisterhood faced an enemy whose deliberate policy was hysterical violence. "We will run amok!"

  And what would happen if Honored Matres met painful defeat? What would their hysteria become?

  I fear it.

  Did the Sisterhood dare feed this fire?

  We must!

  Spider Queen would redouble her efforts to find Chapterhouse. Violence would escalate to an even more repulsive stage. What then? Would Honored Matres suspect everyone and anyone of being sympathetic to the Bene Gesserit? Might they not turn against their own supporters? Did they contemplate being alone in a universe devoid of other sentient life? More likely this did not even enter their minds.

  What do you look like, Spider Queen? How do you think?

  Murbella said she did not know her supreme commander or even sub-commanders of her Hormu Order. But Murbella provided a suggestive description of a sub-commander's quarters. Informative. What does a person call home? Who does she keep close to share life's little homilies?

  Most of us choose our companions and surroundings to reflect ourselves.

  Murbella said: "One of her personal servants took me into the private area. Showing off, demonstrating that she had access to the sanctum. The public area was neat and clean but the private rooms were messy - clothing left where it had been dropped, unguent jars open, bed unmade, food drying in dishes on the floor. I asked why they had not cleaned up this mess. She said it was not her job. The one who cleaned was allowed into the quarters just before nightfall. "

  Secret vulgarities.

  Such a one would have a mind to match that private display.

  Odrade's eyes snapped open. She focused on the Van Gogh painting. My choice. It put tensions on the long span of human history that Other Memory could not. You sent me a message, Vincent. And because of you, I will not cut off my ear... or send useless love messages to ones who do not care. That's the least I can do to honor you.

  The sleeping cell had a familiar odor, peppery pungency of carnation. Odrade's favorite floral perfume. Attendants kept it here as a nasal background.

  Once more, she closed her eyes and her thoughts snapped back to Spider Queen. Odrade felt this exercise creating another dimension to that faceless woman.

  Murbella said an Honored Matre commander had but to give an order and anything she wanted was brought.

  "Anything?"

  Murbella described known instances: grossly distorted sexual partners, cloying sweetmeats, emotional orgies ignited by performances of extraordinary violence.

  "They're always looking for extremes."

  Reports of spies and agents fleshed out Murbella's semi-admiring accounts.

  "Everyone says they have a right to rule."

  Those women evolved from an autocratic bureaucracy.

  Much evidence confirmed it. Murbella spoke of history lessons that said early Honored Matres conducted research to gain sexual dominance over their populations "when taxation became too threatening to those they governed."

  A right to rule?

  It did not appear to Odrade that these women insisted on such a right. No. They assumed that their rightness must never be questioned. Never! No decisions wrong. Disregard consequences. It never happened.

  Odrade sat upright on her cot, knowing she had found the insight she sought.

  Mistakes never happen.

  That woul
d require an extremely large bag of unconsciousness to contain it. Very tiny consciousness then peering out at a tumultuous universe they themselves created!

  Ohhhh, lovely!

  Odrade summoned her night attendant, a first-stage acolyte, and asked for melange tea containing a dangerous stimulant, something to help her delay the body's demands for sleep. But at a cost.

  The acolyte hesitated before obeying. She returned in a moment with the mug steaming on a small tray.

  Odrade had decided long ago that melange tea made with the deep cold water of Chapterhouse had a taste that worked its way into her psyche. The bitter stimulant deprived her of that refreshing taste and gnawed at her conscience. Word would go out from the ones who watched. Worry, worry, worry. Would Proctors take another vote?

  She sipped slowly, giving the stimulant time to work. Condemned woman rejects last dinner. Sips tea.

  Presently, she put aside the empty mug and called for warm clothing. "I'm going for a walk in the orchards." The night attendant made no comment. Everyone knew she often went walking there, even at night.

  Within minutes she was in the narrow, link-fenced path to her favorite orchard, her way lighted by a miniglobe fixed on a short cord to her right shoulder. A small herd of the Sisterhood's black cattle came up to the fence beside Odrade and gazed at her as she passed. She looked at the wet muzzles, inhaled the rich smell of alfalfa in the steam of their breathing and paused. The cows sniffed and sensed the pheromone that told them to accept her. They went back to eating forage piled near the fence by herdsmen.

  Turning her back on the cattle, Odrade looked at leafless trees across from the pasture. Her miniglobe drew a circle of yellow light that emphasized winter starkness.

  Few understood why this place attracted her. It was not enough to say she found troubled thoughts soothed here. Even in winter, with frost crunching underfoot. This orchard was a hard-bought silence between storms. She extinguished her miniglobe and let her feet follow the familiar way in darkness. Occasionally, she glanced up at starlight defined by leafless branches. Storms. She felt one approaching that no meteorologist could anticipate. Storms beget storms. Rage begets rage. Revenge begets revenge. Wars beget wars.

  The old Bashar had been a master at breaking those circles. Would his ghola still have that talent?