The man's lips shaped words but there was no sound. "We expected you."
Idaho's hands went to his console, fingers splayed in the comfield to grasp required elements of the circuit control. No time for niceties. Gross disruption. He was into the core within a second. From there, it was a simple matter to dump entire segments. Navigation went first. He saw the net begin to thin, the look of surprise on the man's face. Nullfields were next. Idaho felt the ship lurching in foldspace. The net tipped, becoming elongated with the two watchers foreshortened and thinned. Idaho wiped out star-memory circuits, taking his own data with them.
Net and watchers vanished.
How did I know they would be there?
He had no answer except a certainty rooted in the repeated visions.
Sheeana did not look up when he found her at the temporary flight-control board in the guard quarters. She was bent over the board, staring at it in consternation. The projection above her showed they had emerged from foldspace. Idaho recognized none of the visible star patterns but he had expected that.
Sheeana swiveled and looked at Garimi standing over her. "We've lost all data storage!"
Idaho tapped his temple with a forefinger. "No we haven't."
"But it'll take years to recover even the essentials!" Sheeana protested. "What happened?"
"We're an unidentifiable ship in an unidentifiable universe," Idaho said. "Isn't that what we wanted?"
***
There's no secret to balance. You just have to feel the waves.
Murbella felt that an age had passed since she recognized Duncan's decision.
Vanish into space! Leave me!
The unvarying time sense of the Agony told her only seconds had elapsed since awareness of his intentions but she felt she had known this from the first.
He must be stopped!
She was reaching for her comboard when Central began to shudder. The quaking continued for an interminable time and subsided slowly.
Bellonda was on her feet. "What..."
"The no-ship at the Flat has just lifted," Murbella said.
Bellonda reached for the comboard but Murbella stopped her.
"It's gone."
She must not see my pain.
"But who..." Bellonda fell silent. She had her own assessments of consequences and saw then what Murbella saw.
Murbella sighed. She had all of the curses of history at her disposal and wanted none of them.
"At lunchtime, I will eat in my private dining room. with councillors and I want you present," Murbella said. "Tell Duana oyster stew again."
Bellonda started to protest but all that came out was: "Again?" "You will recall I ate alone downstairs last night?" Murbella resumed her seat.
Mother Superior has duties!
There were maps to change and rivers to follow and Honored Matres to domesticate.
Some waves throw you, Murbella. But you get back up and go on with it. Seven times down, eight times up. You can balance on strange surfaces.
I know, Dar. Willing participation in your dream.
Bellonda stared at her until Murbella said, "I made my councillors sit at a distance from me at dinner last night. It was strange - only the two tables in the whole dining room."
Why do I continue this inane chatter? What excuses do I have for my extraordinary behavior?
"We wondered why none of us were permitted in our own dining room," Bellonda said.
"To save your lives! But you should have seen their interest. I read their lips. Angelika said: 'She's eating some kind of stew. I heard her discussing it with the chef. Isn't this a marvelous world we've acquired? We must sample that stew she ordered.' "
"Samples," Bellonda said. " I see." Then: "You know, don't you, Sheeana took the Van Gogh painting from... your sleeping chamber?"
Why does that hurt?
"I noticed it was missing."
"Said she was borrowing it for her room in the ship."
Murbella's lips went thin.
Damn them! Duncan and Sheeana! Teg, Scytale... all of them gone and no way to follow. But we still have axlotl tanks and Idaho cells from our children. Not the same... but close. He thinks he's escaped!
"Are you all right, Murbella?" Concern in Bell's voice.
You warned me about wild things, Dar, and I didn't listen.
"After we've eaten, I will take my councillors on an inspection tour of Central. Tell my acolyte I'll want cider before retiring."
Bellonda left, muttering. That was more like her.
How do you guide me now, Dar?
You want guidance? A guided tour of your life? Is that why I died?
But they took the Van Gogh, too!
Is that what you'll miss?
Why did they take it, Dar?
Caustic laughter greeted this and Murbella was glad no one else heard.
Can't you see what she intends?
The Missionaria scheme!
Oh, more than that. It's the next phase: Muad'Dib to Tyrant to Honored Matres to us to Sheeana... to what? Can't you see it? The thing is right there at the lip of your thoughts. Accept it as you would swallow a bitter drink.
Murbella shuddered.
See it? The bitter medicine of a Sheeana future? We once thought all medicines had to be bitter or they were not effective. No healing power in the sweet.
Must it happen, Dar?
Some will choke on that medicine. But the survivors may create interesting patterns.
***
Paired opposites define your longings and those longings imprison you.
"You deliberately let them get away, Daniel!"
The old woman rubbed her hands down the stained front of her garden apron. It was a summer morning around her, flowers blooming, birds calling from nearby trees. There was a misty look to the sky, a yellow radiance near the horizon.
"Now, Marty, it was not deliberate," Daniel said. He took off his porkpie hat and rubbed the bushy stubble of gray hair before replacing the hat. "He surprised me. I knew he saw us but I didn't suspect he saw the net."
"And I had such a nice planet picked out for them," Marty said. "One of the best. A real test of their abilities."
"No use moaning about it," Daniel said. "They're where we can't touch them now. He was spread so thin, though, I expected to catch him easy."
"They had a Tleilaxu Master, too," Marty said. "I saw him when they went under the net. I would have so liked to study another Master."
"Don't see why. Always whistling at us, always making it necessary to stomp them down. I don't like treating Masters that way and you know it! If it weren't for them..."
"They're not gods, Daniel."
"Neither are we."
"I still think you let them escape. You're so anxious to prune your roses!"
"What would you have said to the Master, anyway?" Daniel asked.
"I was going to joke when he asked who we were. They always ask that. I was going to say: 'What did you expect, God Himself with a flowing beard?' "
Daniel chuckled. "That would've been funny. They have such a hard time accepting that Face Dancers can be independent of them."
"I don't see why. It's a natural consequence. They gave us the power to absorb the memories and experiences of other people. Gather enough of those and..."
"It's personas we take, Marty."
"Whatever. The Masters should've known we would gather enough of them one day to make our own decisions about our own future."
"And theirs?"
"Oh, I'd have apologized to him after putting him in his place. You can do just so much managing of others, isn't that right, Daniel?"