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I no longer feel the sandtrout cilia probing my flesh, encapsulating the water of my body within their placental barriers. We are virtually one body now, they my skin and I the force which moves the whole . . . most of the time.
Death is a very personal thing. I will seldom interfere with it.
I mean it. He kills no one. SIONA: Then how do you account for the known deaths? MONEO: It is the Worm that kills. The Worm is God. Leto lives in the bosom of God, but he kills no one. SIONA: Then how do you survive? MONEO: I can recognize the Worm. I can see it in his face and in his movements. I know when Shai-Hulud approaches.
He has killed nine Duncan Idahos that we know about for sure.
Leto knew why the Duncan was coming. Idaho had learned that the Tleilaxu were making another Duncan, another ghola created to the specifications demanded by the God Emperor. This Duncan feared that he was being replaced after almost sixty years of service.
Whereupon the Duncan had produced a small explosive from the folds of his uniform robe. What a surprise! Leto loved surprises, even nasty ones. It is something I did not predict!
“They chose Giedi Prime as their home,” Leto said. “What does that suggest?” “It was a Harkonnen stronghold, but that’s ancient history.”
All rebellions are ordinary and an ultimate bore. They are copied out of the same pattern, one much like another. The driving force is adrenalin addiction and the desire to gain personal power. All rebels are closet aristocrats.
That stirs up a small hornet’s nest among my ancestral memories. Some of them have never given up the belief that they and they alone held the key to all of humankind’s problems.
In his saddest Muad’Dib voice, Leto asked: “Do you take no pride in my admiration, Duncan? Haven’t you ever wondered what it is about you that makes me desire you as my constant companion through the centuries?” “You know me to be the ultimate fool!” “Duncan!” The voice of an angry Muad’Dib could always be counted on to shatter Idaho.
You who read these words may know full well what actually happened, but I doubt that you understand it.
Dark
six who averted total disaster were all heavy investors in CHOAM and that five of these six were deeply involved in the Star Jewel project. The lone exception held a diversified portfolio, including a substantial investment in antique whale fur from Caladan.
Why do you call them Fish Speakers?” “An old conceit. The first priestesses spoke to fish in their dreams. They learned valuable things that way.”
Idaho blushed. Leto found this a charming reaction. The Duncans were among the few humans of these times who could do this.
It’s very difficult convincing the young of anything. They’re born knowing so much.”
“No matter how much we ask after the truth, self-awareness is often unpleasant. We do not feel kindly toward the Truthsayer.”
“The women have convinced him that only the specially trained among them should have lasguns.” “Your caution is groundless, Moneo. Tell the women that it’s much too early for us to begin fearing this one.”
The grain reminded Leto of sand, of sweeping dunes which once had marched across this very ground. And will march once more.
Hmmm
Luyseyal was young, however, with the sensuous oval features of the Jessica-type, and those genes tended to carry a headstrong nature.
Hypocrisy
Interesting
But the truth always carries the ambiguity of the words used to express it.
Leto put down a surge of frustration, then saw a clutch of Fish Speaker guards among the courtiers and . . . and a naked figure there. Naked! It was Duncan! Naked! Of course! The Duncan Idaho without a uniform was not a Face Dancer. Again, laughter shook him. Surprises on both sides. What a shock that must have been to the attackers. Obviously, they had not prepared themselves for such a response.
“Words can carry any burden we wish. All that’s required is agreement and a tradition upon which to build.”
“There is a delightful myth about the design of Onn. I foster and promote the myth. It is said that once there lived a people whose ruler was required to walk among them once a year in total darkness, without weapons or armor. The mythical ruler wore a luminescent suit while he made his walk through the night-shrouded throng of his subjects. And his subjects—they wore black for the occasion and were never searched for weapons.” “What’s that have to do with Onn . . . and you?” “Well, obviously, if the ruler survived his walk, he was a good ruler.”
The chamber’s floor was mostly transparent, a setting for exotic fishes worked in radiant crystal. Beneath the floor flowed a stream of clear blue water, all of its moisture sealed away from the audience chamber, but excitingly near Leto, who rested on a padded elevation at the end of the room opposite the door.
Toying with danger
“Why has Ix repeated this foolish gesture?” Leto asked. “They have not told me, Lord. Perhaps Kobat took it onto himself to behave this way.” “I think not. It has occurred to me that your people desired only the death of their chosen assassin.” “The death of Kobat?” “No, the death of the one they chose to use the weapon.”
this changeling form of mine there exists an adult human body with all of the necessary functions.” “All of them, Lord?” the Duncan had asked. “All! I feel the vanished parts of myself. I can feel my legs, quite unremarkable and so real to my senses. I can feel the pumping of my human glands, some of which no longer exist. I can even feel genitalia which I know, intellectually, vanished centuries ago.”
a lesson from past over-machined societies which you appear not to have learned. The devices themselves condition the users to employ each other the way they employ machines.”
Where would Hwi be in more than three thousand years? Dry dust and bones in the crypt. I could breed something like her and prepare that one for me . . . but that would not be my gentle Hwi. And what of the Golden Path while he indulged in such selfish goals? To hell with the Golden Path! Have these folly-bound idiots ever thought once of me? Not once!
Iner turmoil
“You have no idea what internal orgies are available to me! I am the ultimate voyeur—participant(s) and observer(s).
I know a profound pattern which humans deny with their words even while their actions affirm it. They say they seek security and quiet, the condition they call peace. Even as they speak, they create the seeds of turmoil and violence. If they find their quiet security, they squirm in it.
trundling
There it is
The curtain dropped then was flung aside to reveal a woman standing there. Idaho stared speechlessly at her face, stopped in a completed step. It was the face of a woman known only to his deepest fantasies—a soft oval with penetrating dark eyes, a full and sensuous mouth . . . “Jessica,” he whispered.
“I modify the human desire for war.” “People don’t want war!” “They want chaos. War is the most readily available form of chaos.”
“Any religion circles like a planet around a sun which it must use for its energy, upon which it depends for its very existence.”
“You so seldom say ‘no’ in my presence,” Leto said. “I enjoy watching your lips form around the word.”
The singular multiplicity of this universe draws my deepest attention. It is a thing of ultimate beauty.
“This wise man observed that wealth is a tool of freedom. But the pursuit of wealth is the way to slavery.”
“How persistent it is, this demand that our gods be perfect. The Greeks were much more reasonable about such things.”
“There’s a time, Leto, a time when you’re alive. A time when you’re supposed to be alive. It can have a magic, that time, while you’re living it. You know you’re never going to see a time like that again.”
The prophet is not diverted by illusions of past, present and future. The fixity of language determines such linear distinctions. Prophets hold a key to the lock in a language.
“Lord,” Moneo said, “I have read the accounts and heard your own words about your marriage to your sister, Ghanima.” “If only she were with me now,” Leto said. “She was never your mate, Lord.” “What’re you suggesting?” Leto demanded. The twitching of Leto’s hands had become a spasmodic vibration. “She was . . . I mean, Lord, that Ghanima was Harq al-Ada’s mate.” “Of course she was! All of you Atreides are descended from them!”
“I did not disturb him,” Moneo said. “Of course not,” she agreed. Her look softened slightly. “But I would like to know who or what did.” “I think he is impatient for his marriage,” Moneo said. “I think that’s all it is.” “Then hurry the day!” she said. “That’s what I’m about,” Moneo said. He turned and hurried away down the long hall to his own area of the Citadel. Gods! The Fish Speakers were becoming as dangerous as the God Emperor.
Monarchies have some good features beyond their star qualities. They can reduce the size and parasitic nature of the management bureaucracy. They can make speedy decisions when necessary. They fit an ancient human demand for a parental (tribal/feudal) hierarchy where every person knows his place. It is valuable to know your place, even if that place is temporary.
It is galling to be held in place against your will. This is why I teach about tyranny in the best possible way—by example. Even though you read these words after a passage of eons, my tyranny will not be forgotten.
Sand crunched beneath him as he rolled, flexing his body in pure animal enjoyment. He could feel his worm-self being restored, an electric sensation which sent messages of health all through him.
“For a long time after I put on the sandtrout skin, I felt stomach hunger,” he said. “Occasionally, I would attempt food. My stomach mostly rejected it. The cilia of the sandtrout spread almost everywhere in my human flesh. Eating became a bothersome thing. These days, I only ingest dry substances which sometimes contain a bit of the spice.”
“You have the Atreides look,” she said. “I come by it just as honestly as you do.” “You’re so old . . . why aren’t you wrinkled?” “Nothing about the human part of me ages in a normal way.” “Is that why you did this to yourself?” “To enjoy long life? No.”
