And now the Tyrant's dream of the Golden Path takes on a new aspect, as we are no longer limited to one universe, and even its death will not cause the extinction of humanity. Did he foresee this? The evidence found by former Mother Superior Ograde would seem to say not, but I cannot shake the feeling we are still following the plan of that sly old worm.

- Personal Diary of Mother Superior Murbella

The cloaked no-ship was buffeted, as it plummeted through the atmosphere of Junction, the pilot considering his approach vectors and ease of evasion from any ground-based defences rather than the comfort of his passengers, despite their pre-eminence. This meeting was meant to merely
be an emergency forum to discuss the calamities which Duncan's escape had triggered, but the brief tyranny of the Honoured Matres over the Old Empire had triggered much resentment and loathing. Although the Bene Gesserit now appeared to be dominant, the fact that the Honoured Matres had been assimilated into them had transferred some of the distaste onto the Sisterhood; a fact accentuated by the fact that the current Mother Superior was a former Honoured Matre herself. Some parties whispered of a darker conspiracy; of the many similarities between the two groups of women, and the unseemly speed at which two groups which had been attempting to wipe each other from the universe had merged to become a single entity. It was in this climate of fear and mutual suspicion that the Mother Superior was shuttled down to the surface of the Guild planet to confer with the other major powers in the Old Empire, now seemingly stripped from its home like an orphan child.

Despite this, as Murbella stepped off the no-ship, with its recycled air, on the surface of Junction, even with its air tainted by the steady flow of Guild ships that flow from this hub of commerce, she could not help but sigh a breath of release. They headed off towards the central Guild buildings, across the landing strips. Murbella inwardly shuddered.

"Guild design. Always so grey and monotonous, and conservative," she thought.

"Naturally. The Guild has always been conservative. It is its major flaw. After all, that is how Paul Atredies was able to get the Imperial throne. And that lead to the Tyrant, did it not?" That was Ograde. Although dead, the former Mother Superior lived on as a member of Murbella's Other Memories. The other Memories were much more inactive, rarely interjecting comments in the manner that Ograde did, unless requested. This, Murbella had gathered, made Ograde extremely unusual. But, then again, the former Mother Superior had always been one of the Sisterhoods mavericks, only promoted to Mother Superior by an accident of proximity, and the death of Taraza, her predecessor.

"You'd think that they would have learned from their mistakes."

Ograde's voice, when it came, sounded disgusted. "They still rely upon their prescience too much, despite how much of the human population has the Siona genes. They believe that, if they cannot see the individuals, then they must see the events, even if they cannot see the protagonists. And of course they are trying to find a way to penetrate the invisibility given by no-fields, and even the Siona genes. The idiots would risk undoing the Golden Path to try and regain their monopoly. Fools."

"Like your father seemed to be able to do." They passed the perimeter of the Guild's main compound.

"We still don't know for certain, but … yes. How are the new Idaho and Teg gholas going?"

"They've both just been born from our axotl tanks. They're in the hands of a capable nurse"

"He won't be your Duncan, you know. His allies in Archives destroyed all our gene samples from him. You had to go back to the material from when we just received this ghola, when Tar was Mother Superior."

"I know."

"Emotion in a Bene Gesserit!" Ograde sounded shocked, an emotion Murbella was sure was faked. "That could be the death of the Sisterhood!"

"Quite. Though I suppose I should talk to the others, if only to give the inevitable Ixian bugs something to listen to."

They were now standing in the large entrance hallway of the Guild building. A functionary bustled up, mouthing prepared niceties. Murbella ignored her, until she finally got to the point, and informed them that, as the grav-tubes were out of operation, they would have to use the steps up to the meeting chambers. As the functionary bustled over to the Ixian delegation, Yvaine, a Reverend Mother in early middle years, and the replacement for Sheena upon the Council said, "Don't you find space travel so terribly inconvenient. The delays, the travel lag, and so forth." A seemingly perfectly innocuous comment. However, as she said that, her hand spelt out in the ancient Atredies battle gestures a different message. She tells the truth.

Bellonda interjected with a comment, "Yes, but they are so necessary for the existence of our systems. How else are we to communicate with others?" Secondary Projection; they have too much to lose by offending us. We control the only source of melange in the galaxy, as the Honoured Matres, wiped out the Tielaxu. We are now the ultimate power brokers.

The functionary had returned. "Good news. The Grav-lifts are functioning again. If you will but follow me, we may begin this terribly important meeting."

The Guild Navigator shifted in his melange-filled tank, and cleared his throat, the noise rasping and inhuman when fed through his tank's vocaliser. Around him the high-domed hall and its buzz of conversation fell away to silence, the only noise now being the hiss of the Navigator's tank, and the near-inaudible Ixian projectors, which were currently depicting the outside of the tower onto the walls.

"I now call this meeting to order. We of the Guild of Navigators have called this meeting, so that we may discuss with you the monumental events that have occurred in our… ah… political ecosystem over the last twenty standard years."

"Why did he use that term," wondered Murbella, while keeping her face behind the Bene Gesserit mask. "He wished to raise the fact that we all rely upon each other for a maintenance of the equilibrium. This Navigator, one of the Edric gene-stock, by my estimation, has been trained as a Zensunni philosopher. Strange; the Guild professes a distaste for the uncertainties of those teachings."

"And more importantly," added Ograde, "he believes that something has come to shift this balance."

"Due to the afore-mentioned changes, I will start by introducing all of the members of this council. Many of you may have not have met, as the fatalities of the members of the major political players have been regrettably high."

Murbella saw his eyes dart briefly in her direction. "Yes, I was an Honoured Matre, once," she thought. "We were responsible for many of those "regrettable fatalities"; those not killed by the Tielaxu Face Dancers, at least."

"I am Gethra, the Guild representative in this meeting and trained Navigator. To my left sits Murbella, Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, and also Great Honoured Matre." Murbella inclined her head. "With her sit Reverend Mothers Bellonda and Yvaine, of the Bene Gesserit Council. Moving clockwise around the table, we have Ignearn Subtlemann, Master of the Fish Speakers…"

"…and finally, upon my right we have Alea Demurge, leader of the Ixian Confederacy, accompanied by the Ixian Chief of Mentats, Caldir Ezamur."

Murbella stared at the pair, especially the woman. Alea was surprisingly young for a leader of such a power; perhaps in her late fourties, which was an infant in a civilisation where reaching three hundred standard years (which were, admittedly, twenty hours shorter than the primitive year) was not uncommon. Her appearance was, however, more striking. The left half of her face had been burnt away in the coup she had launched to gain control of Ix. Scorning the skin grafts and vat-grown eyes of the Suk doctors that surely Ix had in plenty, she had instead chosen to have a perfectly mirrored mask fixed directly to the burned skull below, so, if you were to look at her without knowledge of what she had done, it would appear that her outer layer of shin had partially been removed, to reveal a metal endoskeleton. Out of that macabre visage, a red, compound eye stared, unblinking and watchful. The remainder of the flesh on her face showed she had once been beautiful, in a Delphic manner, with broad, full lips, and olive-coloured skin. She wore a white hooded robe, with blue trimmings, in direct contrast to the soostone-bedecked finery of the rest of the room, with the exclusion of the Bene Gesserit delegation. Her mentat stood behind her, dressed in a similar robe. His face, that of a middle-aged, white-skinned man, seemed vaguely familiar to the Bene Gesserit present, as if it had been worn by several men they knew from Other Memory.

"Now that the niceties have been, ah, disposed of, we should get down to business. My first action, as chairman of this meeting, will be to put to a vote whether we should send out exploratory probes, so that we may ascertain exactly where we have ended up. The Guild, will, of course, expect all participants to provide an equal part of the costs that will be incurred by such an action. Will all who wish to be involved in this venture, please raise their hands."

All of the individuals in the broad circle in the room raised their hands, all with the exception of the Ixian and Bene Gesserit delegations.

"The motion has been carried. As an aside to the meeting, would the Bene Geeserit and the Ixian delegations care to explain the reason they failed to support a motion which would have done much good to support our political ecosystem, especially when they are among the richest of our factions."

"Definitely annoyed ," thought Murbella. "And there is that phrase again." She rose to her feet. "No, the Sisterhood would not care to explain why we did not support your motion. We are not subject to you!" The atonals for contempt and irritation were encoded into the final sentence, and the effects could be seen physically on the Navigator, for he coiled back in his tank, bumping against the rear wall. The rest of the hall shuddered at that sign of Bene Gesserit displeasure.

"And would the Ixian lady care to explain either," said the Navigator, attempting to reclaim some of the dignity swept away.

Alea stood from her chairdog. What flesh on her face that could be seen was wrapped in a smirk. "Why, yes, actually, we would." She stared at the Guildsman, favouring her left, morbid side. "Your mission is both slow and obsolete. At the time I left Ix, we had managed to map out approximately 47.57% of the nearest galaxy, as well as garner data upon its galaxo-political situation, most common life-forms and culture." She stared around the world, with that obnoxious smirk upon her face. "Are you telling you have done absolutely nothing in the ten months since this event (for it was not a disaster, but filled with possibilities)? As this meeting seems, to the Ixian Confederacy, to be entirely pointless, we will leave, but I will leave you with three things you might find interesting. Mentat."

"Certainly, Mistress. Firstly, humanity is not alone here. There are many other sentient species, although most of them seem to follow a humanoid template. Secondly, politically, it is very similar to the Empire before Paul Atredies, with many separate worlds which work with and against each other; even with an analog to the Laansraad, which they call the Galactic Senate. Finally, it appears to have been manipulated by so many outside forces, I cannot separate the threads of influence."

The slamming of the door to the hall seemed very loud in the silence.