Chapter 4

For GOD so loved the world he didn't send a committee.

Fremen Axiom

Alexi had taken the Water of Life. A poison extracted from the Sand Worms of Dune. It was a dangerous ritual that had claimed a number of lives. It was necessary that Alexi endure what was commonly called The Agony. The agony for that is what was endured.

Farrah was about to conclude that Alexi would die from the Water of Life ritual, when the young woman awoke from her coma like state. Taking the Water of Life was a draining experience and once she was assured that Alexi had come through she left the new Reverend Mother to recuperate.

~*~*~*~*~

High up in the Dellecian Mountains of Caladan a small band of Special Ops personnel moved up the towards a cave. There seemed to have been only three guards outside, but on the off chance there were more on the inside the team moved cautiously. First Ammaso, followed by Andresa, then Alex and bringing in the rear was A'Ran.

They were teased mercilessly as Team A. "Imagine…" The Commander had observed, "…every member's name begins with A"



The group was soon under attack. Ammaso in the lead was the first to be assaulted. A'Ran leaped in to aid in the struggle.



As the two dealt with the attacker, Andresa was grabbed from behind, she automatically knelt dragging her assailant over her shoulder, landing him on the ground and she positioned herself to plunge her knife into him.



"Andresa! No! It's me M'ram!" He shouted and squirmed.



Her adrenaline was pumping, she was in battle mode and the kill action was in full motion. Her arm went up and the knife flashed as the descent motion began until Alex kicked the knife from her hand. Andresa looked at Alex with blood in her eyes.



Just as it quickly as it had cranked up, the adrenaline rush slowed down and the blood lust receded. She whipped round "M'ram! Oh God, M'ram! I could have killed you! What is the matter with you?!" She yelled.

They had come to rescue him and she'd nearly killed him.

~*~*~*~*~

Once the Water of Life had been taken the Sisterhood knew when another had joined. No mater where in the Universe it happened - it was one of the miracles of the transmutation of the water.

They all knew when Paul Atreides and gone through the agony, they had gone with him on that ride. He had occupied a place where none of them could look.

Once the faux pas of that program that had produced Paul Maud'Dib was over and the rule of his son the Tyrant concluded, they had reviewed the Kwisatz program and concluded that there were areas for improvement. So the Sisterhood had continued the program that had given them Alexi, but she was not the one. Now Farrah had to tell the young woman who had been raised to be the Kwisatz Haderach that she was not the one.

"I knew before I endured the agony." Alexi comforted Farrah once she told her.

Farrah was shocked at the response and Bene Gesserit's didn't shock easily. "How?" Farrah asked.

"I just did." The teen explained. "I am Bene Gesserit. I just knew."

[And there you have it.] Farrah thought. "Now we must go one generation forward."

"With an Atreides male." Alexi volunteered.

"Yes." Farrah confirmed. "I must assimilate the present data and make a projection."

"Either way Reverend Mother we need to go to Dune."

"Indeed we do."

On that note the two parted. Farrah shivered, Alexi seemed to be more than a Jessica look alike. The Kwisatz program seemed to be entering a key phase.

~*~*~*~*~

Valcyn was a forager and a hermit. He was middle aged as the spice extended life expectancy that made him about two hundred and fifty years old. To look at he was a typical Fremen: Tall, slim, fit: there was not water fat on this man, with the standard blue in blue eyes set against a smooth ebony skin.

He just happened to take Fremen independence to the logical conclusion and he had become a hermit. Fremen respected that and left Vaclyn to his own devices.

As evening turned into night he emerged to see what treasures the Desert had left for him. Wrapped in his abacas and with still suit firmly in place he set out.

Even through the nosepiece he could smell it: Something was dead. He climbed the dune to find out what and the closer to the crest he got the worse the smell became.

Finally he reached the top. It was a Giant Sand Worm, and it was not dead - yet. Valcyn stood transfixed as the Worm groaned in agony.

What had caused this? A sick worm? Who had ever heard of such? The skin looked cancerous all puffed and oozing a thick sticky liquid. The puss is what stank up the surrounds. As Valcyn stood there helpless, the worm died.

Relieved that the creature's agony was over he turned and headed the way he had come.

~*~*~*~*~

In the privacy of her chambers Mo'Hadin reviewed the data crystal.

"I have double checked the findings myself." Farrah reported. "There can be no doubt. Alexi is not The One and must now be mated to an Atreides." She changed topic. "As all the Universe knows, the 'negotiations' will go no where. The time has come to relocate the breeding program."

Mo'Hadin had no doubt of the findings. Farrah was not only a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother; she was the Coordinator of the Kwisatz Program and a formidable Mentat. No, she had no doubt that the conclusions were accurate. What gave the Ambassador pause was the proposed strategy - introduce the Atreides bloodline, again. A wild card at anytime.

She shut down the crystal, opened a new one and began her report to the Mother Superior. The mass movement of the Sisterhood would be a dangerous mission.

~*~*~*~*~

THE DELLECIAN MOUNTAIN RANGE



"Where is Zor?" Alex demanded.



"Here." Ammaso picked up what looked like the remains of a rag doll.



"Zor?" Alex asked.



"Yeah, it's me."



"Why'd you attack us?!" Ammaso demanded.



"Why not!" M'ram demanded. "We didn't know what was going on out there and it was a chance of maybe escaping!"



"So much for that thought." Alex said.



"Before life gets complicated… I think we should leave." Andresa said.



M'ram winked at her. "Oh, my goodness. The High Command sent Andresa."



"You nervous already?" She countered.



"And why would I be nervous?"



"Cause I nearly killed you!"



"But you didn't, you wouldn't, you couldn't." He grinned at her as they moved out of the cave toward the point where they had hidden their vehicle.

Then the earthquake struck…

~*~*~*~*~

Mentat logic dictates that to successfully hide anything; it must be done in the open. Based on that premise Reverend Mothers Farrah and Alexi discuised as Budislamic Pilgrims boarded a Highliner. Their destination was New Mecca via Arakkis.

Five thousand years ago a planet that fitted the description of Earth had been discovered. Not caring if it really was the Historic Planet the Peoples of the Universe had embraced the concept that the Ancestral Home had been found. There had been a ground swell to call it Terra Firma and so it became. The places on the Planet carried the names of Ancient Earth but some how "New" kept popping in. And so it was that Farrah and Alexi tickets indicated that they were headed for New Mecca on Terra Firma.

~*~*~*~*~

THE DELLECIAN MOUNTAIN RANGE

"Here's another one!!" A man shouted in Dellecian, the dialect native to the Zensunni people of the mountains, to anyone who could hear.

"Praises be to Allah." A woman replied. A group of people made their way through the rubble. As the woman approached the spot she marveled. "Ahmed, does he live?"

"If it is the will of Allah." Ahmed replied as he joined the chain of hands that began to move the rubble. "Many have died in this war and now with this earthquake many more may die, Sophia. As for this one?" he left the thought hanging.

There was a gasp. "Tell me!" Sophia demanded.

"He is an infidel!" Someone announced. "He is not Zensunni - he has blue in blue eyes!" The crowd stood back as if burned.

"And that is reason enough to stop?" She asked, "Has THE ONE taught you nothing? Show mercy to the man; besides, being an Off Worlder does not automatically make him an infidel. Many have seen the way and converted."

They reverently placed the corpses of Team A to a side and continued the rescue.

~*~*~*~*~

The latest Baron Harkonnen, opened the encoded message. AMASSO ATREIDES OF DUNE IS MISSING IN ACTION.

No sooner had he read the lines than the message burst into flames, self-destructing, almost burning his hands in the process.

"Damn it." He cursed. The last time the Harkonnen's and gotten mixed up with House Corrino there was a shift in the power base the likes of which was not seen until the God Emperor. Now here they were back at square one.

Conspiring!

This time with an Atreides, Vladimir must have rolled in his grave. What a trinity: Harkonnen – Corrino – Atreides.

Now the damn fool had gone missing. He needed to be found and fast if their plan was to unfold on schedule.

~*~*~*~*~

Ahmed approached the tent that now acted as a hospital for the victims of the earthquake, they had buried the dead, including the 'A' Team. He spotted Sophia and approached her. "How is he?"

She didn't have to ask of whom he spoke. "Alive by the will of Allah."

"Has he spoken?"

"All he will say is Dax. He has many injuries but they will heal." She replied. "As to whether his heart and soul will do the same…"

"Dax? What is a Dax?"

She shrugged, she had no idea.

"All in the hands of Allah." He said.

"All in the hands of Allah." She echoed.

~*~*~*~*~

Alexi stood at the window to their quarters and idly watched the boarding of other passengers and the loading of cargo. Just standing there she could make out her reflection in the Plexiglas and her mind wondered.

[I look like the Lady Jessica and I am Bene Gesserit who must mate with an Atreides male. There is a pattern here. Will I do as she did? Will I love this man choose for me and disobey my orders to have a female? Do I have a say in this or is it all pre ordained?]

She rested her head against the cool window. Her thoughts burned.

[Great Mother I hope I'm not to be the Bound Concubine to some six year old that I must wait upon! Or worse a one hundred year old! Reverend Mother Farrah has not told me the details only that it must be and that I am to produce a girl child.]

She was beginning to become agitated at the thought of the unforeseen future. She recited the Literary Against Fear, when that didn't seem to achieve the calm she sought she tried an even more Ancient entreaty.

[Great Mother] She prayed…

…make me an instrument of Thy peace,

Where there is hatred, let me so love,

Where there is injury, pardon,

Where there is doubt, faith,

Where there is despair, hope,

Where there is darkness, light,

Where there is sadness, joy…

Farrah rejoined her and found a clam, cool and collected Reverend Mother.