Chapter 10

Never fear the event.

Horatio, Lord Nelson – Warrior (1801)

Arista had received the report of Alexi's failure to bring her son to Shakira. There would be no repeat with her. She sent for her son and together they headed for the Chambers of the tester. There would be no resistance to this summons.

~*~*~*~*~

Dax followed.

As he followed he thought to himself, [Which carries the greater weight in my life? Arista my Mother? Or Arista the Empress?] He gave a mental shrug. Which ever it was it really didn't matter for he obeyed – to the best of his ability. Even to leaving his brother behind. [Amasso's trail was nearing the end and yet mother has summoned me.]

Still he followed.

They entered the Chamber of a Reverend Mother.

"Dax." Arista said. He turned to face his mother. "This is the Reverend Mother Shakira… Do as she asks." On that note she turned walked out, but paused at the door. "Dax…" he turned to look at her, "It's important." Then she left.

Dax refocused on the woman and waited.

She in turned eyed him from head to toe. "Come."

He remained where he was. She used the voice on him. "Come here."

Eventually he moved. [I really needed to work on my resistance to the Voice.] He thought as he moved forward and found himself before the woman.

"You are about to test me?" He asked calmly.

"What do you know of it?" She covered her surprise.

"That you use it to separate humans from animals; that you tested Paul Atreides. That then as now you hardly ever test males."

"You know much." She replied.

"I know much." He echoed. "I know that you will not test me today." He turned to leave.

But she was swift. "Hold!" She ordered. "If you know all that then you know I hold the Gom Jabbar at your throat. You will also know that you are to place your hand in that little black box there. So indulge an old woman." The purr hardened. "Put your hand in."

There was no choice now. He reluctantly put his hand in the box, and simultaneously he recited the litany against fear…

I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will allow my fear to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone I will turn my inner eye to see its path.

And where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

Only I will remain.

As had happened in the beginning so it unfolded now. The nerve-induced pain began as a twitch; it grew to an itch then a burning and finally a peeling of the shin.

The Reverend Mother held onto him as a praying mantis did to her prey. Through him she felt every phase of the test. It was easy to endure the itch at the start, then the burning, the sensation of skin peeling then falling off by the end of the trial Dax screamed from the effort. Drenched with sweat from the effort, he almost collapsed taking Sharika with him.

~*~*~*~*~

When Commander For'resten stood to deliver his closing argument, the atmosphere of the courtroom changed. He cleared his throat and walked to a position in front of the jury box. His major points were recounted, and then he said something that surprised Alexi and the other observers in the room.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Major Amasso Leto Atredies is an Officer and a Gentleman of the Fedaykin. We do not dispute that once upon a time he had a drinking problem. A problem addressed with the assistance of his family in particular his father Swords Master Duncan Idaho."

"He holds the horary title of Prince of Caladan. He is a young man trained for action with a strong sense of what is right and wrong. Planet Caladan is the Ancestral home of his Royal House - He perceived a call from his Home and responded. Would any of us have done different?"

The crowd murmured.

"The prosecution has failed to bring forth a case for any of the counts. Much of the testimony was hearsay and you were instructed to ignore this. A difficult instruction to follow... but follow it you must. This is a Court Martial not a fish market where all innuendo becomes truth. You yourselves are Officers and Gentlemen of the Fedaykin and as such you are under oath to be impartial."

He had the entire room straining to hear his every word.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Planet Caladan is in a turmoil the likes we've not seen in recent history. We all need to be hyper-vigilant against the possibility of tyranny in our midst, and understandably so. But there is a difference between being aware of that possibility and being paranoid. Major Atreides is being singled out because of his zeal and need to come to the rescue of his fellow man and historic brothers."

"I charge you to keep yourself from being paranoid. Don't let another witch hunt begin. You must acquit Major Atreides; he's done nothing wrong. He is not a terrorist and he certainly has committed no crime and certainly not this laundry list that has been paraded here."

Amasso was acquitted and as abruptly as the case had started it was over.

~*~*~*~*~

Kynes was sequestered up in his lab. He had not been out in days. Once he entered such a phase his assistants usually left him alone. So there he was with an emerging beard over his usually clean-shaven face, plates of untouched food and an array of reports for company.

Global Outgoing Longwave Heat Radiation: KERES instrument team

Global Reflected Shortwave Solar Radiation: KERES instrument team

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Records from Giedi Prime (39,124 – 39,164):

Global Average Near-Surface Temperature Anomalies, Arakkis Met Office 39,101 – 39,163

Global Stratospheric and Tropospheric Temperature Anomalies: Global Hydrology and Climate Center - Salusa Secundus

The evidence was there before him. The ozone was eroding at a faster rate than thought; there was nothing unique in that. It had happened before and undoubtedly it would happen again. What was unique… he grabbed a paper and scanned it.

What was unique was that it seemed to be happening on different planets at the same time! This had to be un-presedented. He needed to speak with other scientists to discuss his theory, multi planetary degradation did not happen every day.

~*~*~*~*~

Dax was fearful of the state of his hand maybe it was a stub. [I'll be turned out for the desert to judge me!]

Shakira instructed him, "Look at it." He hesitated. She repeated the instruction. He eventually pulled out his hand and looked at it. There it was intact. He heaved a mental sigh of relief.

"Nerve-induced." She explained as she removed the Gom Jabbar from her finger and boxed it. "Can't go round maiming all and sundry."

"I sense the truth of it." He was regaining control of his rampaging pulse.

She looked up sharply. "You can sense truth?"

"I can." Was all he would say on the topic, just how developed his abilities were no one had a clue … yet. "Now what?" Dax changed the topic.

She let the change pass. "Now, young human." She placed the box with the Gom Jabbar into a fold of her robe. "Now you go fulfill your destiny. Whatever it may be."

~*~*~*~*~

Amasso walked out of the courtroom with the assistance of Fedaykin. He had been famous before as the default heir to the Atreides Throne, but now he was also infamous and the combination of the two meant that there was nowhere to go where he was not known for one or the other.

But he needed to celebrate. He was free!

Again with Fedaykin assistance he eventually got away from the madding crowd. He headed for Burdel's there he was able to do justice to his freedom with the usual flair of Wine, Women and Song.

Not having learnt a single lesson from the trial, he eventually fell asleep in the arms of a prostitute.

~*~*~*~*~

All over the Planet 'thopters hovered low and moved across Cities, Towns and Villages. Gently as a mid summer drizzle that brings out the smell of the daffodils the aircraft showered the population with a one-page flyer. But unlike the gentle rains of Caladan what the Tleilaxu delivered that day was fire and brimstone.

It read simply...

The Tleilaxu Government finds it necessary at this juncture to remind citizens that six years ago the Tleilaxu Parlamento overwhelmingly passed The Marriage Separatist Act.

The law forbids Budislamics who marry Caladanians from obtaining Caladan citizenship or permits them to live with their spouses and children. Those who have married are in contravention of this law and will have to live apart. The Act also states that from the age of twelve, your children will be denied citizenship and may be forced to move out off Caladan.

All "family reunification," applications have been frozen with immediate effect.

This law only applies to Budislamics. Citizens of the Empire who marry Caladanians are entitled to become citizens.

This law is to take immediate effect.

Signed

Ali Ben Knesset

Tleilaxu Governor of Caladan