"Letting the sayings of other memory warp our sense of reality is often the first and final step towards madness."
-Bene Gesserit saying
Duncan awoke in a dark room. As he sat up, he quickly assessed the surroundings. His quarters were barren of in furniture except for the cot he had been sleeping on. From his innate sense of time, he determined that he had slept for nearly ten hours, but without knowing what time of day it had been when he had first become conscious after his exodus from the Tleilaxu tank, it was impossible to know weather it was light or dark outside.
From the familiar vibrations of distant machinery, Duncan had determined that he was in a rather large no-ship. He also realized that the safety that had previously been afforded by remaining in the confines of a no-ship no longer existed. It was painfully obvious to anyone who bothered to examine the recent battle between the sisterhood and honored matres, that the young Teg ghola had the ability to see the no-ships.
Even though Teg had escaped with Sheena, Scytale, and the other Duncan ghola, it would only be a matter of time before the sisterhood developed another ghola with Teg's abilities.
"The other Idaho ghola…" Duncan murmured as a sudden wave of realization crept over him.
The other ghola's cells could not possibly have been incorporated in his creation, and yet Each held the other's memories. Even though not seeing it directly, Duncan knew immediately the mind of the other ghola. He saw the net stretching out between them connecting each ghola in an unbroken chain.
Below the net Duncan saw a rose garden attended by an old woman wearing an apron stained with earth and other evidences of her labor. The woman seemed to stare right back at him as Duncan turned his gaze upward and saw the blackened and charred remains of Dune.
The entire vision swirled around him as the drab gray walls surrounding him were replaced by the open expanse of desert. Ahead of him stood Paul surround by his Fedaykin guards. Paul's empty eye sockets burned with an inner fire as he turned to face Duncan.
Though Paul's mouth did not move, the ground trembled with his voice, "The future is in your hands Duncan. Return my eyes to Dune."
Duncan turned back and saw two figures standing in the rose garden. The old woman had collapsed to her knees and was crying softly. A man stood beside her with a stubby gray beard wearing a straw hat holding his left arm above his head as if reaching out to Duncan from across space and time.
Duncan sank back into his cot, Paul's words ringing in his ears.
"Return my eyes to Dune."
The voice was replaced by the ghostly chanting of the Fedaykin, "Maud'dib, Maud'dib, Maud'dib…" as he slipped back into unconsciousness.
Galen looked up from his screens for the first time in hours and motioned for Clicks to come over. "Where is the witch?" he asked as his eye adjusted to focus for Clicks' movement.
"I assume she is asleep."
Clicks noted that there was no vehemence in Galen's voice when he had called her 'the witch' he had merely been searching for a term that lined up with the Ixians ancestral memories of the Bene Gesserit. As one of the great schools of thought after the Butlerian Jihad, the Bene Gesserit had spit in the face of Ixian technology for millennia while still becoming steadily dependent on it.
"My scans show nothing out of the ordinary in the hallway while Duncan was staring at it, however when the reverend mother left the room, the temperature in her immediate area dropped nearly ten degrees with no explanation. And, a just a few moments ago the humidity in the ghola's room dropped to near zero with no explanation returning to normal soon after."
Clicks nodded silently. Something was happening indeed. Before he could voice his opinion, Clicks was nearly thrown to the floor as the deck shook violently beneath him. A new deep rumble alerted him to the fact that the no-ship was no longer sitting peacefully on the planet's surface. The deck shook once more then stopped as the ship entered foldspace.
-Bene Gesserit saying
Duncan awoke in a dark room. As he sat up, he quickly assessed the surroundings. His quarters were barren of in furniture except for the cot he had been sleeping on. From his innate sense of time, he determined that he had slept for nearly ten hours, but without knowing what time of day it had been when he had first become conscious after his exodus from the Tleilaxu tank, it was impossible to know weather it was light or dark outside.
From the familiar vibrations of distant machinery, Duncan had determined that he was in a rather large no-ship. He also realized that the safety that had previously been afforded by remaining in the confines of a no-ship no longer existed. It was painfully obvious to anyone who bothered to examine the recent battle between the sisterhood and honored matres, that the young Teg ghola had the ability to see the no-ships.
Even though Teg had escaped with Sheena, Scytale, and the other Duncan ghola, it would only be a matter of time before the sisterhood developed another ghola with Teg's abilities.
"The other Idaho ghola…" Duncan murmured as a sudden wave of realization crept over him.
The other ghola's cells could not possibly have been incorporated in his creation, and yet Each held the other's memories. Even though not seeing it directly, Duncan knew immediately the mind of the other ghola. He saw the net stretching out between them connecting each ghola in an unbroken chain.
Below the net Duncan saw a rose garden attended by an old woman wearing an apron stained with earth and other evidences of her labor. The woman seemed to stare right back at him as Duncan turned his gaze upward and saw the blackened and charred remains of Dune.
The entire vision swirled around him as the drab gray walls surrounding him were replaced by the open expanse of desert. Ahead of him stood Paul surround by his Fedaykin guards. Paul's empty eye sockets burned with an inner fire as he turned to face Duncan.
Though Paul's mouth did not move, the ground trembled with his voice, "The future is in your hands Duncan. Return my eyes to Dune."
Duncan turned back and saw two figures standing in the rose garden. The old woman had collapsed to her knees and was crying softly. A man stood beside her with a stubby gray beard wearing a straw hat holding his left arm above his head as if reaching out to Duncan from across space and time.
Duncan sank back into his cot, Paul's words ringing in his ears.
"Return my eyes to Dune."
The voice was replaced by the ghostly chanting of the Fedaykin, "Maud'dib, Maud'dib, Maud'dib…" as he slipped back into unconsciousness.
Galen looked up from his screens for the first time in hours and motioned for Clicks to come over. "Where is the witch?" he asked as his eye adjusted to focus for Clicks' movement.
"I assume she is asleep."
Clicks noted that there was no vehemence in Galen's voice when he had called her 'the witch' he had merely been searching for a term that lined up with the Ixians ancestral memories of the Bene Gesserit. As one of the great schools of thought after the Butlerian Jihad, the Bene Gesserit had spit in the face of Ixian technology for millennia while still becoming steadily dependent on it.
"My scans show nothing out of the ordinary in the hallway while Duncan was staring at it, however when the reverend mother left the room, the temperature in her immediate area dropped nearly ten degrees with no explanation. And, a just a few moments ago the humidity in the ghola's room dropped to near zero with no explanation returning to normal soon after."
Clicks nodded silently. Something was happening indeed. Before he could voice his opinion, Clicks was nearly thrown to the floor as the deck shook violently beneath him. A new deep rumble alerted him to the fact that the no-ship was no longer sitting peacefully on the planet's surface. The deck shook once more then stopped as the ship entered foldspace.