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.Do you know what I said to you when you restored mymemories? I said: 'Atreides! You're all so damned alike!' " "You hated.me?""Yes, and you were disgusted with yourself for what you did to me.Does thatgive you any idea of what I must do?""Yes, sir." Very low."Mother Superior says I must not betray your trust.yet you betrayed mytrust.""But I restored your memories?""See how easy it is to think of yourself as Bashar? You were shocked.And yes,you restored my memories.""That's all I want.""So you say.""Mother.Superior says you're a Mentat.Will that help.that I was aMentat, too?""Logic says 'Yes.' But we Mentats have a saying, that logic moves blindly.Andwe're aware there's a logic that kicks you out of the nest into chaos.""I know what chaos means!" Very proud of himself."So you think.""And I trust you!""Listen to me! We are servants of the Bene Gesserit.Reverend Mothers did notbuild their order on trust.""Shouldn't I trust Mother.Superior?""Within limits you will learn and appreciate.For now, I warn you the BeneGesserit work under a system of organized distrust.Have they taught you aboutdemocracy?""Yes, sir.That's where you vote for --""That's where you distrust anyone with power over you! The Sisters know itwell.Don't trust too much.""Then I should not trust you, either?""The only trust you can place in me is that I will do my best to restore youroriginal memories.""Then I don't care how much it hurts." He looked up at the comeyes, knowledgeof their purpose in his expression."Do they mind that you say these thingsabout them?""Their feelings don't concern a Mentat except as data." "Does that mean fact?""Facts are fragile.A Mentat can get tangled in them.Too much reliable data.It's like diplomacy.You need a few good lies to get at your projections.""I'm.confused." He used the word hesitantly, not sure it was what hemeant."I said that once to Mother Superior.She said: 'I've been behaving badly.' ""You're not supposed to.confuse me?""Unless it teaches." And when Teg still looked puzzled, Idaho said: "Let metell you a story."Teg immediately sat on the floor, an action revealing that Odrade often used thesame technique.Good.Teg already was receptive."In one of my lives I had a dog that hated clams," Idaho said."I've had clams.They come from the Great Sea.""Yes, well, my dog hated clams because one of them had the temerity to spit inhis eye.That stings.But even worse, it was an innocent hole in the sand thatdid the spitting.No clam visible.""What'd your dog do?" Leaning forward, chin on fist."He dug up the offender and brought it to me." Idaho grinned."Lesson one:Don't let the unknown spit in your eye."Teg laughed and clapped his hands."But look at it from the dog's viewpoint.Go after the spitter! Then --glorious reward: Master is pleased.""Did your dog dig more clams?""Every time we went to the beach.He went growling after spitters and Mastertook them away never to be seen again except as empty shells with bits of meatstill clinging to the insides.""You ate them.""See it as the dog did.Spitters get their just punishment.He has a way torid his world of offensive things and Master is pleased with him."Teg demonstrated his brightness."Do the Sisters think of us as dogs?""In a way.Never forget it.When you get back to your rooms, look up 'lesemajeste.' It helps place our relationship to our Masters."Teg looked up at the comeyes and back to Idaho but said nothing.Idaho lifted his attention to the door behind Teg and said: "That story was foryou, too." Teg jumped to his feet, turning and expecting to see Mother Superior.But itwas only Murbella.She was leaning against the wall near the door."Bell won't like you talking about the Sisterhood that way," she said."Odrade told me I have a free hand." He looked at Teg."We've wasted enoughtime on stories! Let me see if your body has learned anything."An odd feeling of excitement had come over Murbella as she entered the trainingarea and saw Duncan with the child.She watched for a time, aware that she wasseeing him in a new and almost Bene Gesserit light.Mother Superior's briefingcame out in Duncan's candor with Teg.Extremely odd sensation, this newawareness, as though she had come a full step away from her former associates.The feeling was poignant with loss.Murbella found herself missing strange things in her former life.Not thehunting in the streets, seeking new males to captivate and bring under HonoredMatre control.The powers that came from creating sexual addicts had lost theirsavor under Bene Gesserit teaching and her experiences with Duncan.Sheadmitted to missing one element of that power, though: the sense of belongingto a force nothing could stop.It was both abstract and specific.Not the recurrent conquests but theexpectation of inevitable victory that came in part from the drug she sharedwith Honored Matre Sisters [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]