Page 45 of Sandworms of Dune (Dune 8)

We believe that confession should lead to forgiveness and redemption. Usually, however, it leads only to further accusations.

--DR. WELLINGTON YUEH,

encrypted entry

The axlotl chamber smelled of fetid death. Duncan could not tear his gaze away from the still, cold flesh of the tank and the clear signs of necrosis. Rage and helplessness chewed at his gut. And who would the child have been? Sheeana hadn't even told him. Those damned Bene Gesserits and their secrets!

"Touch nothing," Teg warned. "Get me all security images right away. We will find the saboteur this time." One of the Sisters hurried to obtain the recordings.

Meanwhile, young Thufir cordoned off an area around the poisonravaged tank and its unborn ghola. Mostly recovered from the memory-trigger attempt that had gone so dramatically awry, he now sternly followed the methods the Bashar had taught him. The corrosive poison had completely destroyed the growing fetus and then eaten through the wall of the womb that kept the thing alive. Somehow the tank had fallen to the floor, and yellow puddles oozed around the dead flesh.

Sheeana turned to one of her Sisters. "Bring Jessica here. Immediately."

Duncan gave her a sharp look. "Why Jessica? Is she a suspect?"

"No, but she will be hurt by this. Maybe I shouldn't even tell her . . . ."

Presently, Teg received a surveillance holotube from one of the Bene Gesserits. "I will scan every second. There must be some piece of evidence pointing to the traitor among us."

"There is no need. I killed the ghola." A young man's voice. All of them spun to look at a grim-faced Dr. Wellington Yueh. "I had to." Thufir moved swiftly to seize him by the arm, and Yueh did not resist. He stood firm, ready to face the questions that would be thrown at him. "You can punish me, but I couldn't allow you to spawn another Twisted Mentat. Piter de Vries would only have caused bloodshed and pain."

While Duncan immediately grasped the implications of Yueh's confession, Sheeana sounded perplexed. "Piter? What are you talking about?"

Yueh didn't struggle in Thufir's firm grip. "I witnessed his evil firsthand, and I couldn't allow you to bring him back. Ever."

Just then, a breathless young Jessica hurried in with the three-year-old Alia in tow. Alia had intent, eager eyes, full of maturity and understanding that she should not have had. She carried a chubby doll that looked remarkably like a juvenile version of the fat Baron Harkonnen. One of its arms had almost torn loose. Leto II followed his grandmother, looking curious and worried.

Sheeana still didn't understand. "What does Piter de Vries have to do with any of this?"

Yueh made a distasteful expression. "Don't try to divert me with lies. I know who that ghola was."

"That baby was not Piter de Vries." Sheeana spoke her words in a normal tone. "It would have been Duke Leto Atreides."

Yueh looked as if he had been felled with an axe. "There was no doubt--I ran a genetic comparison!"

Jessica listened from just inside the doorway, her face flickering with a rush of hope before plunging into sadness. "My Leto?"

Yueh tried to sink to his knees, but Thufir held him upright.

"No! It can't be!"

With adult-sharp awareness, Alia tried to take her mother's hand, but Jessica pulled away from the two children to loom over the Suk doctor. "You killed my Duke? Again?"

He grabbed his temples. "It can't be. I saw the results myself. It was Piter de Vries."

Thufir Hawat raised his chin. "At least we have found our saboteur."

"I would never have killed the Duke! I loved Leto--"

"And now you've murdered him twice," Jessica said, stabbing with each icicle-sharp word. "Leto, my Leto . . ."

Finally, Thufir's comment seemed to sink in. "But I didn't kill the other three gholas or harm their tanks! I committed no other sabotage."

Teg said, "How can we believe you? This will require a great deal more investigation. I will review all evidence in light of this new information."

Sheeana was clearly troubled, but her words surprised everyone. "My own truthsense leads me to believe him."

The flesh tank and unborn fetus lay on the floor, chemically decomposing. Black streaks covered all tissue and spread into the surrounding puddle. Yueh struggled to throw himself into the poisonous corrosive, as if by doing so he could kill himself.

With an iron grip, Thufir held him away from it. "Not quite yet, Traitor."

"No good will come from any of this," the old Rabbi said, standing at the doorway of the medical center. No one had heard him arrive.

Desperate, Yueh looked at him. "I tested the samples you gave me--the baby was de Vries!"

The old man backed away like a startled bird. He looked indignant at the very sugges

tion he might have provoked the unstable young man. "Yes, I gave you a sample I obtained from the axlotl lab. But I merely raised a question--and never suggested that you should commit murder! Murder! I am a man of God, and you are a doctor--a Suk doctor! Who would imagine . . . ?" He shook his head. His gray beard looked especially wild today. "That tank you killed might have been Rebecca! I could never suggest such a thing."

Everyone in the room exchanged glances, silently agreeing that Yueh must be the saboteur after all.

"It wasn't me," he said. "Not the other times. Why would I confess to this but deny the others? My crime is the same."

"Not the same at all," Jessica said in a knotted voice. "This was my Duke . . . ." She turned and left, while Yueh stared beseechingly after her.

Each human, no matter how altruistic or peaceful he seems, carries the capacity to commit tremendous violence. I find this quality particularly fascinating, especially because it can lie dormant for extended periods and then flare up. For instance, consider their traditionally docile women. When these life-givers decide instead to take lives, it is a beautiful ferocity to behold.

--ERASMUS,

Laboratory Notes

On Chapterhouse, the meeting of Reverend Mothers degenerated quickly to murderous intent.

Eyes flashing, Kiria nudged the chairdog away from her as she stood. "Mother Commander, you have to accept certain facts. Chapterhouse is more than decimated. The Ixians still haven't produced the Obliterators they promised. We simply can't win this fight. As soon as we admit that, we can begin to make realistic plans."

Eyes bleary, Murbella gave the former Honored Matre a level look. "Such as?" The Mother Commander dealt with so many ongoing crises, obligations, and unsolvable problems that she could barely concentrate on the reports coming to the mostly empty Keep. The plague had passed on Chapterhouse, so everyone who was going to die was already dead. With the exception of the isolated inhabitants of the deep desert Shakkad Station, the only survivors on the planet were Reverend Mothers.

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