Sisterhood of Dune (56 page)

Around him, the automated manufactory lines were lighting up and humming, using materials that the extractor machines had mined from the planetoids. In this facility, new ships were being constructed on assembler docks, adding to the Venhold Spacing Fleet’s vast and comprehensive network—the glue with which he was binding the thousands of planets in the Imperium.

Now that he knew Celestial Transport was no longer a threat, thanks to Norma’s prescience, he let himself relax. Thonaris was a bustling complex, a base to rival (and potentially even replace) the original Kolhar shipyards established by Norma Cenva and Aurelius Venport. Yes, this was a good day.

He looked out the admin-hub’s broad viewing port and admired his prize—the body of Arjen Gates himself—captured during the raid on the shipyards. The one man among all the CT workers and pilots whom Josef could not forgive.

From his studies of human history, Josef knew that ancient sailing ships had been adorned with carefully chosen figureheads, and now Arjen Gates had become his. A gruesome statue … a trophy.

Pathetic, despairing, begging for his life, Gates had been strapped to a steel crossbar, his arms and legs bound, his neck tied to keep his head upright. VenHold workers had suited up, and Josef joined them, smiling through his faceplate as he watched the vulnerable and fragile Gates squirm. The rival shouted curses as they marched him into the airlock.

“You are a nuisance,” Josef had said through the suit speakers. “You refused to learn your place, and you kept taking what is mine. I’m not a man of infinite patience.”

The airlock cycled, and the decompression had killed the man swiftly enough. Bound to the framework, straining against the empty vacuum, Gates immediately froze solid, his face drawn back in horror and dismay, his eyeballs shattered. Yes, mounted outside the admin-hub of the robotic shipyards, the petrified corpse made a very satisfactory figurehead.

Josef didn’t gloat, however, and turned back to study the Thonaris operations and all the work he had to do.

Measure what you fear most. Do you want that to be the benchmark of your life?

—questions for acolytes, from the Rossak texts

When Dorotea first saw Sister Valya again, she felt a wash of relief. “You survived the transformation as well? I am glad to see it!” Valya would be her first ally, the genesis of a new wave of Reverend Mothers. A new partner who had also seen the generations of horrors and enslavement, who would realize that even the smallest risk was too great … and that Raquella had kept many important secrets from the Sisterhood. Together they would institute dramatic changes in the Sisterhood.

Valya’s gaze flickered away. “No, the poison dosage was wrong for me. After I swallowed the pill, I was so sick I vomited before it could affect me.”

Dorotea’s mind raced as she absorbed what she was seeing. Even more than before, she became hyperaware of tiny telltale signs, the look in Valya’s eyes, the slight twitch of her mouth, the flush of her cheeks, the barely perceptible change in her voice. Her fellow Sister was lying—skillfully, but not skillfully enough.
She had not taken the pill at all!

“I’m glad you’re all right,” Dorotea said.

“I made sure they got you to the infirmary. We feared you would die, or suffer mental damage like all the others.”

With her heightened senses, Dorotea became aware of signs she hadn’t wanted to notice before. She’d considered Valya to be her friend, but now she was shocked to discover that the other Sister had acted disingenuously. So many lies!

A disappointment, but hardly an insurmountable one. She had other
true
allies. From now on, Dorotea would be in control of the game.

*   *   *

WHEN RAQUELLA RETURNED
from the new Suk School on Parmentier, she found that the Sisterhood had changed. Dramatically. After her many years of trying, after so many volunteers had died or suffered irreparable brain damage, one of her Sisters had finally passed through the chemical and mental transformation. It had happened while she was gone, and the volunteer had done it without medical assistance. Remarkable, truly remarkable—as was the person who had done it.

Sister Dorotea … Her own granddaughter.
Reverend Mother
Dorotea, now. The voices of Other Memories had confirmed this.

Dorotea never should have taken the risk without the proper authorization or preparation, but her success pleased Raquella immensely. At last, she was no longer the only Reverend Mother! She finally had a successor, and though Dorotea’s antitechnological leanings troubled her, the younger woman’s access to all the wisdom of so many past lives would surely enlighten her.

But rather than rejoicing with Raquella, Dorotea withdrew, wrestling with her inner changes. Late in the morning, beneath a smoky, overcast sky, the old Reverend Mother found her alone at the nearby hot springs, a series of steaming pools, rock bowls filled with hot water that bubbled up from a subterranean volcanic area and overflowed down the slope.

The new Reverend Mother sat on a rock in her bathing garments, immersing her legs in the water. Her black robe lay on a rock nearby. Dorotea looked different to Raquella now, older—as if she had gained millennia of memories. Not surprisingly, the transformation had taken a toll on her, but she was alive!

Dorotea looked up to see her, and said nothing although a thousand unspoken messages emanated from her gaze.

Taken aback, Raquella climbed to the pool, sat down, lifted the hem of her own robe, and removed her shoes so that she could dip her feet in the warm water beside Dorotea. After a heavy silence, she said, “My congratulations on your success. You are the first of many, I hope. I’m deeply sorry I wasn’t there to help you.”

The other lives inside her were excited, awash with possibilities. Now that Dorotea had identified the proper derivative of the Rossak drug, Raquella envisioned a steady stream of additional successes. She knew now that she was not a fluke at all.… Dorotea proved that it could be done. Karee Marques could study the precise sample that Dorotea had taken, and with the new information the Sisterhood would have a third Reverend Mother, followed by a fourth, and many more.…

Crisis. Survival. Advancement.
At last, Raquella felt great hope for the future of the marvelous Sisterhood that she had created.

When Dorotea still did not answer, Raquella grew more concerned and tried to reach out to the closed-off woman. “Becoming a Reverend Mother can be quite overwhelming. There’s much you need to learn about mastering your body, your responses, and controlling the voices in your head. They can offer a storm of contradictory advice, and you will get lost if you let yourself be buried in all those lives. It’s difficult to adjust, but you have me to help. I will give you advice and we’ll share experiences—one Reverend Mother to another. We have so much in common now—like no other two women in the history of humankind.”

Dorotea finally focused on her. “We’ve always had a great deal in common …
Grandmother.
I know who you are and what you did to my birth mother, Sister Arlett.”

Raquella went cold, though she should have expected the revelation. “If you know me, then I don’t need to explain my actions. You already have many of my memories.”

Dorotea averted her eyes and gazed down into the steam of the hot spring, to keep her true thoughts hidden. “Where is my mother now?”

“She’s performing an important assignment to recruit more young women for our school.”

“When will she earn her way back here? When can I meet her?”

“Meeting your birth mother should be low on your list of priorities.” She wanted to inspire Dorotea with the true excitement of what they could do now. “We are
Reverend Mothers,
you and I. It’s as if I now have a very special kind of Sister, one that others cannot understand. But we are well suited to understanding each other.” So many possibilities suddenly opened up before her.

The fledgling Reverend Mother remained cool, even bitter. “So, you’re glad to have a new Sister, but you never wanted a daughter or a granddaughter?”

“I have no mundane familial desires whatsoever. All of my goals involve the
Sisterhood.
Now you have shown the way, Dorotea … clearing the path for more Reverend Mothers. My transformation was an accident, but you did it intentionally. The first one ever! I was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen. Now, with your help, we can have many more like us in the future.” Raquella wanted Dorotea to see the big picture, since she had the same set of knowledge and past memories. Together, they would have the same goals.

“I already have a number of candidates in mind.” Dorotea sounded grim, rather than thrilled.

*   *   *

IN AN ISOLATED
room, where she hoped to remain undisturbed for some time, Dorotea sat in intense discussions with five Sisters who had already submitted their names as volunteers to Karee Marques. Dorotea selected the ones who were most acceptable to her, those with attitudes and politics similar to her own. For what she had in mind, she needed allies.

She did not, however, require Karee’s guidance or permission, since she had already surpassed the old Sorceress in achievement. Nor did she consult with Reverend Mother Raquella.

Dorotea had gathered them here surreptitiously, in the hope that they would all survive to become Reverend Mothers. For nearly two hours now, she had been preparing the volunteers, allaying their fears and counseling them through eventualities. She helped each woman to envision what would occur in her mind and body when she took the derivative drug.

Sister Valya was not among them. Dorotea knew the truth about the other young woman now.

The volunteers reclined in side-by-side medical chairs to which they were secured by straps, and they were beginning to look a little nervous. Each of them held a single capsule of the latest formulation of the Rossak drug; Dorotea had prepared them herself in Sister Karee’s lab.

“As soon as the poison begins to open the doors inside you,” Dorotea said, “you must move forward into the labyrinth of your sentience and guide yourself through. Many of your predecessors got hopelessly lost … and died. For this internal journey you will be alone, and you can only succeed through your own mental strength. But I can help strengthen you. I want each one of you to be my fellow Reverend Mother.”

She narrowed her eyes and looked at all the faces, remembering how these women had expressed concerns about Sister Ingrid’s death, how they shared Dorotea’s abhorrence of relying on thinking machines. Soon, when they also learned about the hidden computers, the Sisterhood would change significantly. And there was no time to waste.

The five candidates murmured private prayers, then swallowed their pills. Letting out sighs of anticipation, they settled back and closed their eyes. Dorotea went from one woman to the next, checking the straps that held them in place, so they could not injure themselves. Their heads lolled to the side.

Dorotea stood before them, listening to the hushed and eager murmur of voices in her head. It just might work this time. She watched the women begin to writhe in their restraints and cry out in pain.…

For hours, they struggled through their inner battles, converting the poison, breaking out of the cages in their minds. She knew what was happening to them.

Three of the women eventually opened their eyes and tried to absorb the whirlwind of lives that assailed them from the past. Dorotea brought their medical chairs upright and gave them time to orient themselves. As if hearing a communication broadcast in their ears, they listened inwardly for several minutes, to the voices of Other Memories.

The remaining two Sisters slumped in their reclined chairs with blood running from their ears, but Dorotea did not think of the dead, only of the three new Reverend Mothers who had joined her … allies who would also train others.

“A new day has dawned for the Sisterhood,” she announced.

*   *   *

THE WOMEN OF
Rossak celebrated the surprising success of three more Reverend Mothers. Watching over it all, Raquella appeared to be very proud, as if a great weight had been lifted from her.

Valya joined her in welcoming the cluster of new Reverend Mothers, though she felt uncertain. If she’d had the courage to take the pill along with Dorotea, she might have been one of them. She was no coward, but she was also not a fool to attempt something for which the failure rate had been so high.

However, if she had …

Dorotea came up to her now, and spoke in an accusing whisper. “I know you never took the poison I gave you. You were afraid.” Valya looked away as her mind spun furiously for a response, but Dorotea continued. “As your friend, I fully understand. But now I can help you through the process, and I have decided to give you a second chance.” She extended her hand, offering another dark-blue capsule like the one she’d offered Valya earlier. “Carry this with you to remind you of the possibilities. Take it when you’re ready.”

Valya accepted the capsule and tucked it into a pocket of her black robe. Dorotea put a hand on her shoulder, looking very sincere and encouraging. “I’ll help you through it. I would very much like to have you as one of my Reverend Mothers.”

“One of the
Sisterhood’s
Reverend Mothers, you mean.”

Dorotea looked at her new companions and smiled. “We all serve the Sisterhood.”

It requires a white-hot crucible to melt the hardest heart.

—the
Azhar Book

With anticipation, though burdened by her secret assignment from Reverend Mother Raquella, Dr. Zhoma awaited the liaison who would take her to the Emperor. Her exclusive patient. The position as Imperial physician would help her gain prestige for her school. If the new Suk School could skate across the thin ice of their financial disaster, they would grow stronger.

But Raquella warned that Salvador Corrino’s bloodline was flawed, even dangerous. Zhoma accepted the Sisterhood’s conclusion without question, and she would remain alert to discover signs for herself. She had brought a sterilization chemical with her, a substance easily hidden in a vitamin supplement that she would prescribe to the Emperor after she had made baseline physical examinations of the whole Corrino family. Before long, she would dispense with the obligation from the Sisterhood … she would be forgiven, and that long-term ache of shame would be gone.