The assignment had come from Taraza personally. The powerful senior of all (including the Missionaria Protectiva) singled him out. Not just a Reverend Mother but the Reverend Mother Superior.
Taraza came to his retirement sanctuary on Lernaeus. It honored him for her to do this and he knew it. She appeared at his gate unannounced accompanied only by two acolyte servers and a small guard force, some of whose faces he recognized. Teg had trained them himself. The time of her arrival was interesting. Morning, shortly after his breakfast. She knew the patterns of his life and certainly knew that he was most alert at this hour. So she wanted him awake and at his fullest capabilities.
Patrin, Teg's old batman brought Taraza into the east wing sitting room, a small and elegant setting with only solid furniture in it. Teg's dislike of chairdogs and other living furniture was well known. Patrin had a sour look on his face as he ushered the black-robed Mother Superior into the room. Teg recognized the look immediately. Patrin's long, pale face with its many age wrinkles might appear an unmoved mask to others, but Teg was alert to the deepened wrinkles beside the man's mouth, the set stare in the old eyes. So Taraza had said something on the way in here that had disturbed Patrin.
Tall sliding doors of heavy plaz framed the room's eastward view down a long sloping lawn to trees beside the river. Taraza paused just inside the room to admire the view.
Without being told, Teg touched a button. Curtains slid across the view and glowglobes came alight. Teg's action told Taraza he had computed a need for privacy. He emphasized this by ordering Patrin: "Please see that we are not disturbed."
"The orders for the South Farm, sir," Patrin ventured.
"Please see to that yourself. You and Firus know what I want."
Patrin closed the door a little too sharply as he left, a tiny signal but it spoke much to Teg.
Taraza moved a pace into the room and examined it. "Lime green," she said. "One of my favorite colors. Your mother had a fine eye."
Teg warmed to the remark. He had a deep affection for this building and this land. His family had been here only three generations but their mark was on the place. His mother's touches had not really been changed in many rooms.
"It's safe to love land and places," Teg said.
"I particularly liked the burnt orange carpets in the hall and the stained glass fanlight over the entry door," Taraza said. "That fanlight is a real antique, I am sure."
"You did not come here to talk about interior decoration," Teg said.
Taraza chuckled.
She had a high-pitched voice, which the Sisterhood's training had taught her to use with devastating effectiveness. It was not a voice easy to ignore, even when she appeared most carefully casual as she did now. Teg had seen her in Bene Gesserit Council. Her manner there was powerful and persuasive, every word an indicator of the incisive mind that guided her decisions. He could sense an important decision beneath her demeanor now.
Teg indicated a green upholstered chair at his left. She glanced at it, swept her gaze once more around the room and suppressed a smile.
Not a chairdog in the house, she would wager. Teg was an antique surrounding himself with antiques. She seated herself and smoothed her robe while waiting for Teg to take a matching chair facing her.
"I regret the need to ask that you come out of retirement, Bashar, she said. "Unfortunately, circumstances give me little choice."
Teg rested his long arms casually on his chair's arms, a Mentat in repose, waiting. His attitude said: "Fill my mind with data."
Taraza was momentarily abashed. This was an imposition. Teg was still a regal figure tall and with that large head topped by gray hair. He was, she knew, four SY short of three hundred. Granting that the Standard Year was some twenty hours less than the so-called primitive year, it was still an impressive age with experiences in Bene Gesserit service that demanded that she respect him. Teg wore, she noted, a light gray uniform with no insignia: carefully tailored trousers and jacket, white shirt open at the throat to reveal a deeply wrinkled neck. There was a glint of gold at his waist and she recognized the Bashar's sunburst he had received at retirement. How like the utilitarian Teg! He had made the golden bauble into a belt buckle. This reassured her. Teg would understand her problem.
"Could I have a drink of water?" Taraza asked. "It has been a long and tiresome journey. We came the last stage by one of our transports, which we should have replaced five hundred years ago."
Teg lifted himself from the chair, went to a wall panel and removed a chilled water bottle and glass from a cabinet behind the panel. He put these on a low table at Taraza's right hand. "I have melange," he said.
"No, thank you, Miles. I've my own supply."
Teg resumed his seat and she noted the signs of stiffness. He was still remarkably supple, however, considering his years.
Taraza poured herself a half glass of water and drank it in one swallow. She replaced the glass on the side table with elaborate care. How to approach this? Teg's manner did not fool her. He did not want to leave retirement. Her analysts had warned her about that. Since retirement, he had taken more than a casual interest in farming. His extensive acreage here on Lernaeus was essentially a research garden.
She lifted her gaze and studied him openly. Square shoulders accentuated Teg's narrow waist. He still kept himself active then. That long face with its sharp lines from the strong bones: typically Atreides. Teg returned her gaze as he always did, demanding attention but open to whatever the Mother Superior might say. His thin mouth was cocked into a slight smile, exposing bright and even teeth.
He knows I'm uncomfortable, she thought. Damn it! He's just as much a servant of the Sisterhood as I am!
Teg did not prompt her with questions. His manner remained impeccable, curiously withdrawn. She reminded herself that this was a common trait of Mentats and nothing else should be read into it.
Abruptly, Teg stood and strode to a sideboard at Taraza's left. He turned, folded his arms across his breast and leaned there looking down at her.
Taraza was forced to swivel her chair to face him. Damn him! Teg was not going to make this any easier for her. All of the Reverend Mother Examiners had remarked a difficulty in getting Teg to sit for conversation. He preferred to stand, his shoulders held with military stiffness, his gaze aimed downward. Few Reverend Mothers matched his height - more than two meters. This trait, the analysts agreed, was Teg's way (probably unconscious) of protesting the Sisterhood's authority over him. None of this, however, showed itself in his other behavior. Teg had always been the most reliable military commander the Sisterhood had ever employed.
In a multisociety universe whose major binding forces interacted with complexity despite the simplicity of labels, reliable military commanders were worth their weight in melange many times over. Religions and the common memory of imperial tyrannies always figured in the negotiations but it was economic forces that eventually carried the day and the military coin could be entered on anybody's adding machine. It was there in every negotiation and would be for as long as necessity drove the trading system - the need for particular things (such as spice or the technoproducts of Ix), the need for specialists (such as Mentats or Suk doctors), and all of the other mundane needs for which there were markets: for labor forces, for builders, for designers, for planiformed life, for artists, for exotic pleasures...
No legal system could bind such complexity into a whole and this fact quite obviously brought up another necessity - the constant need for arbiters with clout. Reverend Mothers had naturally fallen into this role within the economic web and Miles Teg knew this. He also knew that he was once more being brought out as a bargaining chip. Whether he enjoyed that role did not figure in the negotiations.
"It's not as though you had any family to hold you here," Taraza said.
Teg accepted this silently. Yes, his wife had been dead thirty-eight years now. His children were all grown and, with the exception of one daughter, gone from the nest. He had his m
any personal interests but no family obligations. True.
Taraza reminded him then of his long and faithful service to the Sisterhood, citing several memorable achievements. She knew the praise would have little effect on him but it provided her with a needed opening for what must follow.
"You have been apprised of your familial resemblance," she said.
Teg inclined his head no more than a millimeter.
"Your resemblance to the first Leto Atreides, grandfather of the Tyrant, is truly remarkable," she said.
Teg gave no sign that he heard or agreed. This was merely a datum, something already stored in his copious memory. He knew he bore Atreides genes. He had seen the likeness of Leto I at Chapter House. It had been oddly like looking into a mirror.
"You're a bit taller," Taraza said.
Teg continued to stare down at her.
"Damn it all, Bashar," Taraza said, "will you at least try to help me?"
"Is that an order, Mother Superior?"
"No, it's not an order!"
Teg smiled slowly. The fact that Taraza allowed herself such an explosion in front of him said many things. She would not do that with people she felt were untrustworthy. And she certainly would not permit herself such an emotional display with a person she considered merely an underling.
Taraza sat back in her chair and grinned up at him. "All right," she said. "You've had your fun. Patrin said you would be most upset with me if I called you back to duty. I assure you that you are crucial to our plans."
"What plans, Mother Superior?"
"We are raising a Duncan Idaho ghola on Gammu. He is almost six years old and ready for military education."
Teg allowed his eyes to widen slightly.
"It will be a taxing duty for you," Taraza said, "but I want you to take over his training and protection as soon as possible."
"My likeness to the Atreides Duke," Teg said. "You will use me to restore his original memories."
"In eight or ten years, yes."
"That long!" Teg shook his head. "Why Gammu?"
"His prana-bindu inheritance has been altered by the Bene Tleilax, at our orders. His reflexes will match in speed those of anyone born in our times. Gammu... the original Duncan Idaho was born and raised there. Because of the changes in his cellular inheritance we must keep all else as close to the original conditions as possible."
"Why are you doing this?" It was a Mentat's data-conscious tone.
"A female child with the ability to control the worms had been discovered on Rakis. We will have use for our ghola there."
"You will breed them?"
"I am not engaging you as a Mentat. It is your military abilities and your likeness to the original Leto that we need. You know how to restore his original memories when the time comes."
"So you're really bringing me back as a Weapons Master."
"You think that's a comedown for the man who was Supreme Bashar of all our forces?"
"Mother Superior, you command and I obey. But I will not accept this post without full command of all of Gammu's defenses."
"That already has been arranged, Miles."
"You always did know how my mind works."
"And I've always been confident of your loyalty."
Teg pushed himself away from the sideboard and stood a moment in thought, then: "Who will brief me?"
"Bellonda from Records, the same as before. She will provide you with a cipher to secure the exchange of messages between us."
"I will give you a list of people," Teg said. "Old comrades and the children of some of them. I will want all of them waiting on Gammu when I arrive."
"You don't think any of them will refuse?"
His look said: "Don't be silly!"
Taraza chuckled and she thought: There's a thing we learned well from the original Atreides - how to produce people who command the utmost devotion and loyalty.
"Patrin will handle the recruiting," Teg said. "He won't accept rank I know, but he's to get the full pay and courtesies of a colonel-aide."
"You will, of course, be restored to the rank of Supreme Bashar," she said. "We will..."
"No. You have Burzmali. We will not weaken him by bringing back his old Commander over him."
She studied him a moment, then: "We have not yet commissioned Burzmali as..."
"I am well aware of that. My old comrades keep me fully informed of Sisterhood politics. But you and I, Mother Superior, know it's only a matter of time. Burzmali is the best."
She could only accept this. It was more than a military Mentat's assessment. It was Teg's assessment. Another thought struck her.
"Then you already knew about our dispute in Council!" she accused. "And you let me..."
"Mother Superior, if I thought you would produce another monster on Rakis, I would have said so. You trust my decisions; I trust yours."
"Damn you, Miles, we've been apart too long." Taraza stood. "I feel calmer just knowing you'll be back in harness."
"Harness," he said. "Yes. Reinstate me as a Bashar on special assignment. That way, when word gets back to Burzmali, there'll be no silly questions."
Taraza produced a sheaf of ridulian papers from beneath her robe and passed them to Teg. "I've already signed these. Fill in your own reinstatement. The other authorizations are all there, transport vouchers and so on. I give you these orders personally. You are to obey me. You are my Bashar, do you understand?"
"Wasn't I always?" he asked.
"It's more important than ever now. Keep that ghola safe and train him well. He's your responsibility. And I will back you in that against anyone."
"I hear Schwangyu commands on Gammu."
"Against anyone Miles. Don't trust Schwangyu."
"I see. Will you lunch with us? My daughter has..."
"Forgive me, Miles, but I must get back soonest. I will send Bellonda at once."
Teg saw her to the door, exchanged a few pleasantries with his old students in her party and watched as they left. They had an armored groundcar waiting in the drive, one of the new models that they obviously had brought with them. Sight of it gave Teg an uneasy feeling.
Urgency!
Taraza had come in person, the Mother Superior herself on a messenger's errand, knowing what that would reveal to him. Knowing so intimately how the Sisterhood performed, he saw the revelation in what had just happened. The dispute in the Bene Gesserit Council went far deeper than his informants had suggested.
"You are my Bashar."
Teg glanced through the sheaf of authorizations and vouchers Taraza had left with him. Already carrying her seal and signature. The trust this implied added to the other things he sensed and increased his disquiet.
"Don't trust Schwangyu."
He slipped the papers into his pocket and went in search of Patrin. Patrin would have to be briefed, and mollified. They would have to discuss whom to call in for this assignment. He began to list some of the names in his mind. Dangerous duty ahead. It called for only the best people. Damn! Everything on the estate here would have to be passed over to Firus and Dimela. So many details! He felt his pulse quicken as he strode through the house.
Passing a house guard, one of his old soldiers, Teg paused: "Martin, cancel all of my appointments for today. Find my daughter and tell her to meet me in my study."
Word spread through the house and, from there, across the estate. Servants and family, knowing that The Reverend Mother Superior had just conversed privately with him, automatically set up a protective screen to keep idle distractions away from Teg. His eldest daughter, Dimela, cut him short when he tried to list details necessary to carry on his experimental farm projects.
"Father, I am not an infant!"
They were in the small greenhouse attached to his study. Remains of Teg's lunch sat on the corner of a potting bench. Patrin's notebook was propped against the wall behind, the luncheon tray.
Teg looked sharply at his daughter. Dimela favored him in appearance but not in height. Too angul
ar to be a beauty but she had made a good marriage. They had three fine children, Dimela and Firus.
"Where is Firus?" Teg asked.
"He's out seeing to the replanting of the South Farm."
"Oh, yes. Patrin mentioned that."
Teg smiled. It had always pleased him that Dimela had refused the Sisterhood's bid, preferring to marry Firus, a native of Lernaeus, and remain in her father's entourage.
"All I know is that they're calling you back to duty," Dimela said. "Is it a dangerous assignment?"
"You know, you sound exactly like your mother," Teg said.
"So it is dangerous! Damn them, haven't you done enough for them?"
"Apparently not."
She turned away from him as Patrin entered the far end of the greenhouse. He heard her speak to Patrin as they passed.
"The older he gets the more he gets like a Reverend Mother himself!"
What else could she expect? Teg wondered. The son of a Reverend Mother, fathered by a minor functionary of the Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles, he had matured in a household that moved to the Sisterhood's beat. It had been apparent to him at an early age that his father's allegiance to CHOAM's interplanetary trading network vanished when his mother objected.
This house had been his mother's house until her death less than a year after his father died. The imprint of her choices lay all around him.
Patrin stopped in front of him. "I came back for my notebook. Have you added any names?"
"A few. You'd better get right on it."
"Yes, sir!" Patrin did a smart about-face and strode back the way he had come, slapping the notebook against his leg.
He feels it, too, Teg thought.
Once more, Teg glanced around him. This house was still his mother's place. After all the years he had lived here, raised a family here! Still her place. Oh, he had built this greenhouse, but the study there had been her private room.
Janet Roxbrough of the Lernaeus Roxbroughs. The furnishings, the decor, still her place. Taraza had seen that. He and his wife had changed some of the surface objects, but the core remained Janet Roxbrough's. No question about the Fish Speaker blood in that lineage. What a prize she had been for the Sisterhood! That she had wed Loschy Teg and lived out her life here, that was the oddity. An undigestible fact until you knew how the Sisterhood's breeding designs worked over the generations.
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