"Frank Herbert - Dune 2 - Dune Messiah (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

Before the Face Dancer could answer, Edric cleared his throat, said: "Let us not bandy
philosophical nonsense. Every question can be boiled down to the one: 'Why is there anything?'
Every religious, business and governmental question has the single derivative: 'Who will exercise
the power?' Alliances, combines, complexes, they all chase mirages unless they go for the power.
All else is nonsense, as most thinking beings come to realize."
Scytale shrugged, a gesture designed solely for the Reverend Mother. Edric had answered her
question for him. The pontificating fool was their major weakness. To make sure the Reverend
Mother understood, Scytale said: "Listening carefully to the teacher, one acquires an education."
The Reverend Mother nodded slowly.
"Princess," Edric said, "make your choice. You have been chosen as an instrument of destiny,
the very finest . . . "
"Save your praise for those who can be swayed by it," Irulan said. "Earlier, you mentioned a
ghost, a revenant with which we may contaminate the Emperor. Explain this."
"The Atreides will defeat himself!" Edric crowed.
"Stop talking riddles!" Irulan snapped. "What is this ghost?"
"A very unusual ghost," Edric said. "It has a body and a name. The body -- that's the flesh of
a renowned swordmaster known as Duncan Idaho. The name . . ."
"Idaho's dead," Irulan said. "Paul has mourned the loss often in my presence. He saw Idaho
killed by my father's Sardaukar."
"Even in defeat," Edric said, "your father's Sardaukar did not abandon wisdom. Let us suppose
a wise Sardaukar commander recognized the swordmaster in a corpse his men had slain. What then?
There exist uses for such flesh and training . . . if one acts swiftly."
"A Tleilaxu ghola," Irulan whispered, looking sideways at Scytale.
Scytale, observing her attention, exercised his Face-Dancer powers -- shape flowing into
shape, flesh moving and readjusting. Presently, a slender man stood before her. The face remained
somewhat round, but darker and with slightly flattened features. High cheekbones formed shelves
for eyes with definite epicanthic folds. The hair was black and unruly.
"A ghola of this appearance," Edric said, pointing to Scytale.
"Or merely another Face Dancer?" Irulan asked.
"No Face Dancer," Edric said. "A Face Dancer risks exposure under prolonged surveillance. No;
let us assume that our wise Sardaukar commander had Idaho's corpse preserved for the axolotl
tanks. Why not? This corpse held the flesh and nerves of one of the finest swordsmen in history,
an adviser to the Atreides, a military genius. What a waste to lose all that training and ability
when it might be revived as an instructor for the Sardaukar."
"I heard not a whisper of this and I was one of my father's confidantes," Irulan said.
"Ahh, but your father was a defeated man and within a few hours you had been sold to the new
Emperor," Edric said.
"Was it done?" she demanded.
With a maddening air of complacency, Edric said: "Let us presume that our wise Sardaukar
commander, knowing the need for speed, immediately sent the preserved flesh of Idaho to the Bene
Tleilaxu. Let us suppose further that the commander and his men died before conveying this
information to your father -- who couldn't have made much use of it anyway. There would remain
then a physical fact, a bit of flesh which had been sent off to the Tleilaxu. There was only one
way for it to be sent, of course, on a heighliner. We of the Guild naturally know every cargo we
transport. Learning of this one, would we not think it additional wisdom to purchase the ghola as
a gift befitting an Emperor?"
"You've done it then," Irulan said.
Scytale, who had resumed his roly-poly first appearance, said: "As our long-winded friend
indicates, we've done it."
"How has Idaho been conditioned?" Irulan asked.