You live in air but do not see it. A phase has closed. Out of that closing grows the beginning of its opposite. Thus we will have Krazelic. Everything returns later in changed form.
- THE GOD EMPEROR
"Here we are", Leerna ventured as emerald green powder was whisked into burned terracotta mugs almost spilling with boiling water. Her guest looked studiedly casual in her white blouse and yellow pants, sitting upright on a modest pillow laid against the mat.
And now, let us divert the attention of whomever may be watching. While we seek to speak the truth.
"I know the Six still put a burden of responsibility on you, Arbatar," she added with a smile, thinking about the surveillance devices that may be listening in. A smile could mean anything.
"On the contrary, I am no longer with the Six and since then I have become my own free agent, in a manner of speaking," Arbatar replied with grace. She detected a hint of reverence in the android's voice. She decided it was because of the long black aba Reverend Mother Visella had given her as a reminder of her recently acquired Motherhood.
"And so this room is the seed of what is to be Agarath's Bene Gesserit Chapter, I take?" The android's legs brushed against the low table on which the teapot rested among sachets of tea leaves, a small table in a worn out, tiny building.
"Visella was very keen for me to start a proper school. A humble one." She waved her hands to convey the smallness of the place.
And she did not say Reverend Mother Visella, Arbatar noticed, for they now are peers.
"Essential. I am reminded never to judge brilliant ideas by their early looks."
Leerna blushed. "Though this idea of mine is sure to give the Sages some pause."
"Nothing we - they - have not considered," said Arbatar, "a new influence coming from people we know. I am sure the Six have been both thrilled and concerned about the small acts of rebellion that Visella has cultivated on this planet."
"Dissent is the soul of democracy."
"Indeed. Visella's publicity and open worship in some parts of the Alkadi continent is sure to cause deeper concern than this. I sometimes fear for her safety."
"So long as Sage Avatasuyara defends her, she will be fine," Leerna replied. Would the Sages be as poised if they had read Visella's manuscript?
"The Six have no secrets for her," Arbatar continued, unaware. "They are naked, and so is our entire civilization and Experiment. Naturally there is a degree of discomfort."
"Discomfort brings learning."
"As it is mine coming here, I hope."
"Since it's only the two of us here..." Leerna ventured, smiling, well aware that the Experiment implied they were being monitored right then. 'Us three, daughter of Ix' the unwanted guest in her mind made herself known.
"... you must know that Visella Shared with me after I emerged from the spice trance, Arbatar."
"One moment," the other said, a finger raised, head tilting to one side, like listening. The android brought a cup of tea to her lips and continued: "You must know that there are no cameras or other detection systems trained on this room right now, and if this changes my cue to you will be me putting down this mug on the table."
Leerna still looked tense.
"I have put my concerns for Visella ahead of my loyalty to the Experiment," Arbatar continued. "I have ways to cut ourselves off the network, but they are best used sparingly. You can ask plainly what is in your mind, Reverend Mother."
Leerna relaxed.
"The moment she Shared," Leerna continued, "I learned she planned to escape with you and Guild Navigator Solideum from Agarath. I learned that as soon as I emerged from my agony, and knew it was going to happen as soon as she had walked away from me that day. To leave me alone."
"As a Reverend Mother; as a community unto itself," Arbatar corrected her. Leerna's body jerked up slightly.
"Of course," Arbatar continued, "Visella told me as much. And Sharing was how she gave you millions of Bene Gesserit Other Memories for you to draw strength on. In a way, making herself unnecessary."
Leerna shivered, craving that community she could not reach inside of her, sensing the obstruction of her Ixian ancestor, controlling her access to Memories.
'You must not give Arbatar any clue that there is no community for you to draw on," the Ixian scientist in her mind reminded her.
Breaking Leerna's silence, Arbatar continued: "And yet, here we are still. Is that what you wanted to ask me about?"
"You three clearly did not flee the planet."
"Well, wouldn't Visella's awareness inside you give you clues as to why?"
"Her awareness tells me she wanted to escape, and as she didn't, something new must have caused her not to assault a transport with hired help to get you and Solideum to a heighliner."
Arbatar sighed.
"I could serve her better if I knew what happened", Leerna insisted.
Arbatar made eye contact. "I do not mean to understand who she somehow lives in you," the android commented, "but, to respect the part of her which is in you, here is your clue," and with a hand the she took out a single sheet of ridulian paper and handed it to Leerna under the table. Leerna had one instant to scan it and right then, there was the clink of Arbatar's mug being set on the table, the pre-arranged cue. As she looked up, already the android was standing and extending a hand to shake hers and saying out loud: "it's a humble beginning for what I am sure will be a ground-breaking school for the Bene Gesserit here on Agarath. Please do invite me to your next information session, as you will be surprised to learn that Visella does not generally tell me much about the Bene Gesserit's worldview."
And with that, Visella's companion was gone.
Leerna stood there, her eyes closed, her hands clasped under the table as in prayer. She folded the sheet neatly in four and hid it in her sleeve before grasping the tea mug once more, like the greatest of magicians, a trick the prying eyes of the cameras would not detect.
The paper said, human : android = ghola : X.
A human is to an android what a ghola is to a…
'Aha!' exclaimed the voice in her head.
Tell me, then.
'Only if you promise me one favor, my dear'.
Granted, oh Ixian grand-grand-grand mother, Leerna replied.
'An artificial clone of Visella, that's what made her change her mind.'
Leerna poked at the thought with her Bene Gesserit faculties. What would an android Reverend Mother simulacrum be able to do? And how would that prevent the Reverend Mother from escaping to her freedom from the planet that had entrapped her?
After a long moment, the incessant voice inside her broke the silence and asked: 'Now, for the favor. Can you give me your body for an hour?'