[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
"Many can do that now, Moneo. They scattered when my Fish Speakers attacked.
The secret of the lxian device is spread far and wide."
Moneo's eyes went wide with alarm. "Lord, if anyone..."
"If they learn to be clever, they will leave no tracks," Leto said. "Tell me,
Moneo, what does
Nayla say about the Duncan? Does she resent reporting directly to you?"
"Whatever my Lord commands..." Moneo cleared his throat. He could not fathom
why his God Emperor spoke of hidden tracks, the Duncan and Nayla in the same
breath.
"Yes, of course," Leto said. "Whatever I command, Nayla obeys. And what does
she say of the
Duncan?"
"He has not tried to breed with Siona, if that is my Lord's. . .
"But what does he do with my puppet Naib, Garun, and the other Museum Fremen?"
"He speaks to them of the old ways, of the wars against the Harkonnens, of the
first Atreides here on Arrakis."
"On Dune!"
"Dune, yes."
"It's because there's no more Dune that there are no more Fremen," Leto said.
"Have you conveyed my message to Nayla?"
"Lord, why do you add to your peril?"
"Did you convey my message?"
"The messenger has been sent to Tuono, but I could still call her back."
"You will not call her back!"
"But, Lord.. ."
"What will she say to Nayla?"
"That . . . that is your command for Nayla to continue in absolute and
unquestioning obedience of my daughter except insofar. . . Lord! This is
dangerous!"
"Dangerous? Nayla is a Fish Speaker. She will obey me."
"But Siona . . . Lord, I fear that my daughter does not serve you with all of
her heart. And Nayla is. . ."
"Nayla must not deviate."
"Lord, let us hold your wedding in some other place."
"No!"
"Lord, I know that your vision has revealed. . ."
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"The Golden Path endures, Moneo. You know that as well as L"
Moneo sighed. "Infinity is yours, Lord. I do not question the. . ." He broke
off as a monstrous shuddering roar shook the tower, louder and louder.
Both of them turned toward the sound- a descending plume of blue-orange light
filled with swirling shockwaves came down to the desert less than a kilometer
away to the south.
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"Ahhh, my guest arrives," Leto said. "I will send you down on my cart, Moneo.
Bring only Malky back with you. Tell the Guildsmen this has earned my
forgiveness, then send them away."
"Your for... yes, Lord. But if they have the secret of. . ."
"They serve my purpose, Moneo. You must do the same. Bring Malky to me."
Obediently, Moneo went to the cart which lay in shadows at the far side of the
aerie chamber. He clambered on it, watched a mouth of night appear in the
Wall. A landing-lip extruded into that night. The cart drifted outward,
feather-light, and floated at an angle to the sand beside a Guild lighter
which stood upright like a distorted miniature of the Little Citadel's tower.
Leto watched from the balcony, his front segments lifted slightly to provide
him a better viewing angle. His acute eyesight identified the white movement
of Moneo standing on the cart in the moonlight. Long-legged Guild servitors
came out with a litter which they slid onto the cart, standing there a moment
in conversation with Moneo. When they left, Leto closed the cart's bubble
cover and saw moonlight reflected from it. At his beckoning thought, the cart
and its burden returned to the landing-lip. The Guild lighter lifted in its
noisy
rumbling while Leto was bringing the cart into the chamber's lights, closing
the entrance behind it. Leto opened the bubble cover. Sand grated beneath him
as he rolled to the litter and lifted his front segments to peer in at Malky
who lay as though sleeping, lashed into the litter by broad gray elastic
bindings. The man's face was ashen under dark gray hair.
Haw he has aged, Leto thought.
Moneo stepped down off the cart and looked back at the litter's occupant. "He
is injured, Lord.
They want to send a medical. . ."
"They wanted to send a spy."
Leto studied Malky the dark wrinkled skin, the sunken cheeks, that sharp nose
at such contrast with the rounded oval of his face. The heavy eyebrows had
turned almost white. There but for a lifetime of testosterone . . . yes.
Malky's eyes opened. Such a shock to find evil in those doe-like brown eyes! A
smile twitched
Malky's mouth.
"Lord Leto." Malky's voice was little more than a husky whisper. His eyes
turned right, focusing on the majordomo. "And Moneo. Forgive me for not rising
to the occasion."
"Are you in pain?" Leto asked.
"Sometimes." Malky's eyes moved to study his surroundings. "Where are the
houris?"
"I'm afraid I must deny you that pleasure, Malky."
"Just as well," Malky husked. "I don't really feel up to their demands. Those
were not houris you sent after me, Leto."
"They were professional in their obedience to me," Leto said.
"They were bloody hunters!"
"Anteac was the hunter. My Fish Speakers were merely the clean-up crew."
Moneo shifted his attention from one speaker to the other, back and forth.
There were disturbing undertones in this conversation. Despite the huskiness,
Malky sounded almost flippant . . . but then he had always been that way. A
dangerous man!
Leto said: "Just before your arrival, Moneo and I were discussing Infinity."
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"Poor Moneo," Malky said.
Leto smiled. "Do you remember, Malky? You once asked me to demonstrate
Infinity."
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"You said no Infinity exists to be demonstrated." Malky
swept his gaze toward Moneo. "Leto likes to play with paradox. He knows all
the tricks of language that have ever been discovered."
Moneo put down a surge of anger. He felt excluded from this conversation, an
object of amusement by two superior beings. Malky and the God Emperor were
almost like two old friends reliving the pleasures of a mutual past.
"Moneo accuses me of being the sole possessor of Infinity," Leto said. "He
refuses to believe that he has just as much of Infinity as I have."
Malky stared up at Leto. "You see, Moneo? You see how tricky he is with
words?"
"Tell me about your niece, Hwi Noree," Leto said.
"Is it true, Leto, what they say? That you are going to wed the gentle Hwi?"
"It is true."
Malky chuckled, then grimaced with pain. "They did terrible damage to me,
Leto," he whispered, then: "Tell me, old worm. . ."
Moneo gasped.
Malky took a moment to recover from pain, then: "Tell me, old worm, is there a
monster penis hidden in that monster body of yours? What a shock for the
gentle Hwi!"
"I told you the truth about that long ago," Leto said.
"Nobody tells the truth," Malky husked.
"You often told me the truth," Leto said. "Even when you didn't know it."
"That's because you're cleverer than the rest of us."
"Will you tell me about Hwi?"
"I think you already know it."
"I want to hear it from you," Leto said. "Did you get help from the Tleilaxu?"
"They gave us knowledge, nothing more. Everything else we did for ourselves."
"I thought it was not the Tleilaxus' doing."
Moneo could no longer contain his curiosity. "Lord, what is this of Hwi and
Tleilaxu? Why do you..."
"Here there, old friend Moneo," Malky said, rolling his gaze toward the
majordomo. "Don't you know what he. . ."
"I was never your friend!" Moneo snapped.
"Companion among the houris then," Malky said. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl exclamation.htw.pl
"Many can do that now, Moneo. They scattered when my Fish Speakers attacked.
The secret of the lxian device is spread far and wide."
Moneo's eyes went wide with alarm. "Lord, if anyone..."
"If they learn to be clever, they will leave no tracks," Leto said. "Tell me,
Moneo, what does
Nayla say about the Duncan? Does she resent reporting directly to you?"
"Whatever my Lord commands..." Moneo cleared his throat. He could not fathom
why his God Emperor spoke of hidden tracks, the Duncan and Nayla in the same
breath.
"Yes, of course," Leto said. "Whatever I command, Nayla obeys. And what does
she say of the
Duncan?"
"He has not tried to breed with Siona, if that is my Lord's. . .
"But what does he do with my puppet Naib, Garun, and the other Museum Fremen?"
"He speaks to them of the old ways, of the wars against the Harkonnens, of the
first Atreides here on Arrakis."
"On Dune!"
"Dune, yes."
"It's because there's no more Dune that there are no more Fremen," Leto said.
"Have you conveyed my message to Nayla?"
"Lord, why do you add to your peril?"
"Did you convey my message?"
"The messenger has been sent to Tuono, but I could still call her back."
"You will not call her back!"
"But, Lord.. ."
"What will she say to Nayla?"
"That . . . that is your command for Nayla to continue in absolute and
unquestioning obedience of my daughter except insofar. . . Lord! This is
dangerous!"
"Dangerous? Nayla is a Fish Speaker. She will obey me."
"But Siona . . . Lord, I fear that my daughter does not serve you with all of
her heart. And Nayla is. . ."
"Nayla must not deviate."
"Lord, let us hold your wedding in some other place."
"No!"
"Lord, I know that your vision has revealed. . ."
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"The Golden Path endures, Moneo. You know that as well as L"
Moneo sighed. "Infinity is yours, Lord. I do not question the. . ." He broke
off as a monstrous shuddering roar shook the tower, louder and louder.
Both of them turned toward the sound- a descending plume of blue-orange light
filled with swirling shockwaves came down to the desert less than a kilometer
away to the south.
Page 232
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Ahhh, my guest arrives," Leto said. "I will send you down on my cart, Moneo.
Bring only Malky back with you. Tell the Guildsmen this has earned my
forgiveness, then send them away."
"Your for... yes, Lord. But if they have the secret of. . ."
"They serve my purpose, Moneo. You must do the same. Bring Malky to me."
Obediently, Moneo went to the cart which lay in shadows at the far side of the
aerie chamber. He clambered on it, watched a mouth of night appear in the
Wall. A landing-lip extruded into that night. The cart drifted outward,
feather-light, and floated at an angle to the sand beside a Guild lighter
which stood upright like a distorted miniature of the Little Citadel's tower.
Leto watched from the balcony, his front segments lifted slightly to provide
him a better viewing angle. His acute eyesight identified the white movement
of Moneo standing on the cart in the moonlight. Long-legged Guild servitors
came out with a litter which they slid onto the cart, standing there a moment
in conversation with Moneo. When they left, Leto closed the cart's bubble
cover and saw moonlight reflected from it. At his beckoning thought, the cart
and its burden returned to the landing-lip. The Guild lighter lifted in its
noisy
rumbling while Leto was bringing the cart into the chamber's lights, closing
the entrance behind it. Leto opened the bubble cover. Sand grated beneath him
as he rolled to the litter and lifted his front segments to peer in at Malky
who lay as though sleeping, lashed into the litter by broad gray elastic
bindings. The man's face was ashen under dark gray hair.
Haw he has aged, Leto thought.
Moneo stepped down off the cart and looked back at the litter's occupant. "He
is injured, Lord.
They want to send a medical. . ."
"They wanted to send a spy."
Leto studied Malky the dark wrinkled skin, the sunken cheeks, that sharp nose
at such contrast with the rounded oval of his face. The heavy eyebrows had
turned almost white. There but for a lifetime of testosterone . . . yes.
Malky's eyes opened. Such a shock to find evil in those doe-like brown eyes! A
smile twitched
Malky's mouth.
"Lord Leto." Malky's voice was little more than a husky whisper. His eyes
turned right, focusing on the majordomo. "And Moneo. Forgive me for not rising
to the occasion."
"Are you in pain?" Leto asked.
"Sometimes." Malky's eyes moved to study his surroundings. "Where are the
houris?"
"I'm afraid I must deny you that pleasure, Malky."
"Just as well," Malky husked. "I don't really feel up to their demands. Those
were not houris you sent after me, Leto."
"They were professional in their obedience to me," Leto said.
"They were bloody hunters!"
"Anteac was the hunter. My Fish Speakers were merely the clean-up crew."
Moneo shifted his attention from one speaker to the other, back and forth.
There were disturbing undertones in this conversation. Despite the huskiness,
Malky sounded almost flippant . . . but then he had always been that way. A
dangerous man!
Leto said: "Just before your arrival, Moneo and I were discussing Infinity."
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"Poor Moneo," Malky said.
Leto smiled. "Do you remember, Malky? You once asked me to demonstrate
Infinity."
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"You said no Infinity exists to be demonstrated." Malky
swept his gaze toward Moneo. "Leto likes to play with paradox. He knows all
the tricks of language that have ever been discovered."
Moneo put down a surge of anger. He felt excluded from this conversation, an
object of amusement by two superior beings. Malky and the God Emperor were
almost like two old friends reliving the pleasures of a mutual past.
"Moneo accuses me of being the sole possessor of Infinity," Leto said. "He
refuses to believe that he has just as much of Infinity as I have."
Malky stared up at Leto. "You see, Moneo? You see how tricky he is with
words?"
"Tell me about your niece, Hwi Noree," Leto said.
"Is it true, Leto, what they say? That you are going to wed the gentle Hwi?"
"It is true."
Malky chuckled, then grimaced with pain. "They did terrible damage to me,
Leto," he whispered, then: "Tell me, old worm. . ."
Moneo gasped.
Malky took a moment to recover from pain, then: "Tell me, old worm, is there a
monster penis hidden in that monster body of yours? What a shock for the
gentle Hwi!"
"I told you the truth about that long ago," Leto said.
"Nobody tells the truth," Malky husked.
"You often told me the truth," Leto said. "Even when you didn't know it."
"That's because you're cleverer than the rest of us."
"Will you tell me about Hwi?"
"I think you already know it."
"I want to hear it from you," Leto said. "Did you get help from the Tleilaxu?"
"They gave us knowledge, nothing more. Everything else we did for ourselves."
"I thought it was not the Tleilaxus' doing."
Moneo could no longer contain his curiosity. "Lord, what is this of Hwi and
Tleilaxu? Why do you..."
"Here there, old friend Moneo," Malky said, rolling his gaze toward the
majordomo. "Don't you know what he. . ."
"I was never your friend!" Moneo snapped.
"Companion among the houris then," Malky said. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]