Sisterhood of Dune (47 page)

At supper, while Anna told stories about the Imperial Court to other acolytes, with Valya dutifully at her side, Sister Dorotea had joined them. Dorotea’s persistent concerns about Ingrid’s death and her repeated prying into rumors of computers in the Sisterhood, made her an unpleasant dinner companion. Valya pretended to be cordial, not wanting to draw the suspicions of the other woman, but it was difficult, considering what she knew. For the moment, Dorotea considered her an ally, and Valya did not want to change that useful, lulling perception.…

Now as she tried to sleep, Valya’s thoughts continued to agitate her, not merely concerns about Dorotea’s suspicions, but worries over what Griffin was doing, as well as the responsibility of watching Anna, and the persistent question she always avoided—whether to attempt to become a Reverend Mother herself. If Valya were the first to succeed after Raquella, she could have the clout to rule the Sisterhood one day.

From her work with Sister Karee, she knew of many untried drugs developed in her laboratory, just waiting for volunteers to attempt them. But few women had the courage to take the leap, and anyone who seemed overly eager—such as Anna Corrino—was obviously unprepared.

For the time being, Karee Marques had traveled to Lampadas to meet with her former Mentat teacher, Gilbertus Albans. The forest pharmaceutical laboratory was empty, and even Dorotea did not spend her days there. Valya still had her access key, but rarely used it; Anna had begged her repeatedly for a secret tour of the place, and Valya had finally obliged the day before, just to quiet the girl.

But this evening there had been something more to Anna’s intensity. The Princess had asked repeatedly about the pharmaceutical lab and the poisons waiting to be tested, and the next candidate who might make the attempt to become a Reverend Mother. When Valya scolded her for her unrealistic questions, Anna fell silent—too quickly and too easily, it seemed now.

With a strange knot of dread, Valya got up and searched her possessions, including the pockets of her robe. She was disturbed to discover that her laboratory key had vanished. Pulse racing, she dressed in a rush, grabbed a glowlamp, and hurried to Anna’s sleeping chamber in the acolyte section. Sadly, she was not surprised to discover the girl’s bunk empty, although her two roommates were fast asleep.

She knew where Anna had gone, but didn’t dare raise the alarm or rouse other Sisters. This was her problem, her failing, and she had to deal with it immediately.

With her heart pounding more from fear than exertion, Valya ran across the polymerized treetop and took the cage lift down to the jungle floor. After dark, the wilds were far more dangerous than by day, but she feared the Emperor’s sister intended to take an even greater risk than the jungle’s natural hazards. Valya broke out in a cold sweat. If anything happened to Anna, the political repercussions would ruin all of the Harkonnen family’s hopes.

Using the glowlamp to light her way, Valya ran along the tangled path to the enormous hollowed tree, and found that the black metal door stood ajar. Breathing sharply, she hurried into the main laboratory chamber. The various workstations were empty, all the experiments shut down without Karee to supervise the sensitive work.

Hearing a furtive noise, she saw Anna in the shadows. The young woman didn’t seem surprised to see Valya there, and she spoke in an excited whisper, although they were the only ones in the chamber. “I have one of the sample drugs here. I can’t tell what it is, though.” She held up an earthenware jar, removed the lid. “I’ve been looking for the one that smells the best.” She pulled out a small, bluish capsule.

Valya darted toward her and grabbed the capsule from her hand. The earthenware jar fell, breaking on the floor and scattering pills.

Anna scowled at her. “I was just getting one out for you. You and I can take the drug together and become the first new Reverend Mothers. We’ll show everyone!” She knelt to scoop up some of the fallen capsules, but Valya yanked her to her feet.

“You should not have come in here without permission! Do you know how many Sisters have already died?”

Anna’s eyes sparkled with tears, hurt by her friend’s scolding. “I was going to bring pills back and share them with you.” She tried to pull free, but Valya held her firmly by the arm.

Breathless, Sister Dorotea ran into the lab. Her eyes were bright and suspicious as she glared at Valya. “I followed you. What are you doing in here?”

A flash of annoyance crossed Valya’s mind. Dorotea was spying on her? “Don’t worry, I’ve taken care of it.” She spoke with hardness in her voice, attempting to dispel the older woman’s suspicions. “There’s no cause for concern. Reverend Mother instructed me to watch over Sister Anna. Sometimes, she’s … impetuous, but I caught her in time. No harm done.” Still holding Anna’s arm, she steered the girl toward the door. For good measure, she shot a menacing glower at the other Sister, shifting the blame. “With Sister Karee gone, this lab is your responsibility. You should never leave this station unattended, even at night. There might have been a catastrophe.”

Dorotea remained disturbed. “I have to report this to Reverend Mother.”

“Yes,” Valya said. “
We
do.”

Anna tried to stifle her tears, while Valya led her away, whispering to the acolyte, “No need to worry. I’ll take care of this—but don’t ever try to slip away from me again.”

Despite an appearance of infallibility, computer projections are not prescient.

—
TICIA CENVA,
former leader of the Sorceresses of Rossak

The following day, Raquella read the full report submitted by Sister Perianna, detailing her service to Roderick Corrino’s wife at the Imperial Court. After being caught spying in an inept manner, Perianna had escaped before too many questions could be asked, and had returned to Rossak in a downcast mood. Disappointed, Raquella set aside the report. Perianna had lost her vital position in the Palace, and her efforts had secured nothing more than trivial details about domestic interactions among Salvador, Roderick, and their wives. Nothing of much value.

With a sour taste in her mouth, Raquella left her office and went to observe classes in progress. She liked to vary her routes and times to get a more complete picture of what was going on. When Sister Dorotea called her name in one of the passageways, Raquella felt a chill run down her spine, but she forced herself to remain calm, even though the memory-voices in her head clamored out a warning. Dorotea had become bothersome lately, and even Raquella’s latent fondness for her granddaughter had worn thin.

The previous evening, Dorotea had marched into her private chambers with Sister Valya and Anna Corrino in tow, tattling that Anna had trespassed in the jungle laboratories. Though alarmed by the information, Raquella gave a stern answer. “She is Sister Valya’s responsibility. I don’t need to be troubled by every prank or indiscretion committed by an acolyte.”

Dorotea had not been pleased by the reaction, and had left muttering in discontent. Now she came running up again, taking deep breaths to calm herself. “Reverend Mother, I have read the report of Sister Ingrid’s death, and I am not satisfied with the conclusions. I believe the matter warrants further investigation.”

Clasping her hands in front of her, Raquella said, “Ingrid was an impetuous girl who showed great potential. Her death was a loss for the Sisterhood, but the matter is closed.”

Dorotea was palpably angry. “Are you too busy to deal with a
murder,
Reverend Mother?”

“Murder?” Raquella narrowed her gaze. “The girl fell from the cliff. It’s a dangerous path—where she should not have been. That’s all there was to it. Accidents happen.”

“What if someone pushed her off the cliff?”

“You suggest a serious crime was committed by one of your fellow Sisters? Do you have evidence of this?” Raquella placed her hands on her hips. “Any evidence at all?”

Dorotea lowered her gaze. “No, Reverend Mother.”

As if coming to the rescue, the aged Sorceress Sabra Hublein hurried toward her, and Raquella could read the alarm on the old woman’s face. Her white robe was dirty on the bottom front, suggesting that she may have tripped in her rush down from the breeding-record caves.

With barely a glance at Dorotea, Sabra said, “Excuse the interruption, Reverend Mother, but I must speak with you alone.” She lowered her voice. “We’ve made an important projection.”

Pleased to have an excuse to end the conversation, Raquella dismissed Dorotea. Though the other Sister was obviously dissatisfied, the Reverend Mother took Sabra by the arm and hurried her back through the tunnels, past classroom chambers, and into her private offices, where they could meet without being overheard.

Sabra whispered, “Our computers have sorted through projection after projection, using every variable, all the mountains of data—and I have alarming news regarding a specific noble bloodline.” Her voice was rough, like tearing paper. “Using all of our computing power, we have collated the bloodline data and projected descendants using the available samples of DNA from our entire breeding library, applying primary probabilities, secondary, tertiary, and beyond. We may have reached the limits of the computers’ capabilities, but I am confident the projection is valid.”

“Whose bloodline?” Raquella asked, trying to be calm. “Whose descendants?”

“Emperor Salvador Corrino! We have modeled his possible offspring through Empress Tabrina, or through any of his current concubines, and all other likely noble bloodlines. His specific Corrino genetics is the common factor.”

Raquella could see it was a worthwhile investigation. “And what have you found? Why are you so alarmed?”

Sabra’s eyes glittered. “It’s remarkably consistent, and even our Sister Mentats verified the general conclusion that if Emperor Salvador is allowed to have offspring—through any likely mate—his family will produce the most horrific tyrant in history, within five to ten generations. If the projection models are correct, billions or trillions of lives could be at stake, bloodshed on the scale of the Jihad.”

“You can predict that?”

“Oh yes, Reverend Mother—with a fair degree of accuracy. If this bloodline continues, a resultant tyrant is destined to inflict chaos and carnage, all across the Imperium. Naturally, there are many factors in creating such a model, and the computers can’t be absolutely certain, but the probability is disturbingly high. I would strongly advise, as a precaution, that we find some way to prevent the Emperor from having children.”

“What about his brother, Roderick? He already has children. Do we need to curtail the Corrino bloodline entirely?”

Sabra showed a hint of relief. “No, Roderick Corrino has a different mother, and a different genetic makeup. In fact, he has none of the dangerous factors, nor do his four children. We’ve already been keeping a close eye on them. Only Salvador raises our concerns.”

According to the records, Salvador’s mother had been emotionally unbalanced and had tried to kill Emperor Jules when he decided to end her service as his concubine. In contrast, Roderick’s mother was not only lovely, but highly intelligent. Anna’s mother was also quite normal, good genetic stock. The flaw, then, came from Salvador’s maternal line. Raquella was not alone in believing that Roderick would have made a better Emperor than his brother.

The chorus of voices inside her mind agreed, as well.

“Let me review the data, and we’ll decide on the next step. Despite the dynastic needs, there’s little immediate chance Salvador will get the Empress pregnant—they can barely tolerate each other, according to the reports from Sisters Dorotea and Perianna. We may, however, need to monitor his concubines.…”

“This is dangerous enough, Reverend Mother, that we should not leave it to chance. If we nip the problem in the bud now, the course of humanity will be relatively easy to correct.”

“And we can do it,” Raquella said. “No one else will even see the threat.” She smiled inwardly. This was exactly the sort of challenge for which she had envisioned and guided the Sisterhood.

The voices in her Other Memories continued to whisper warnings, reacting with alarm and confirming what Raquella had already decided. “I rarely leave anything to chance, Sabra. I prefer to sterilize Salvador instead of having him killed, but it must be done. It will be our contribution to the welfare of the Imperium.”

A pledge of loyalty is like a promise to God.

—
ANARI IDAHO,
Swordmaster to Manford Torondo

Since Manford was pleased with the concessions he had received from Emperor Salvador, Anari was pleased as well. Two hundred and thirty Army of Humanity ships had been given to him, so that his Butlerians could expand their operation of rooting out any seductive technology. Soon he would have more tactically trained Mentats, too.

It had always been Anari’s greatest glory to help Manford achieve what Saint Serena and Rayna Butler had commanded him to do, but right now she was especially happy to be traveling with him to Ginaz, home of the Swordmaster School. On the flight, Anari had tended to his every need, and she was distracted by nostalgic thoughts. She had spent many years training on the island-studded planet, becoming a certified Swordmaster.

Propped in his seat, Manford looked out the windowport of the descending shuttle. She bent close, her face near his, and together they gazed down upon the sunlit ocean, catching their first glimpse of the archipelago that held the Swordmaster training camps.

Manford gave her a warm, wistful smile. “With you speaking on my behalf, Anari, we’ll secure more than enough Swordmasters to lead the crusaders on all our new ships.”

Her heart swelled with the compliment. “I have little to do with it, Manford. Dedication and morality are ingrained in every Swordmaster. They are your paladins of humanity and will join our cause because of
you,
and because it is the right thing to do.”

He patted her arm. “That doesn’t diminish the fact that I’m glad to have you here with me.”