"Frank Herbert - Dune 4 - God Emporer of Dune" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

seen her somewhere, but he could not fix the memory. Both women carried needle
knives in hip sheaths. Something about their movements told Idaho these women
would be extremely competent with such weapons.
The slender one spoke first.
"My name is Luli. Let me be the first to address you as Commander. My companion
must remain anonymous. Our Lord Leto has commanded it. You may address her as
Friend."
"Commander?" he asked.
"It is the Lord Leto's wish that you command his Royal Guard," Luli said.
"That so? Let's go talk to him about it."
"Oh, no!" Luli was visibly shocked. "The Lord Leto will
summon you when it is time. For now, he wishes us to make you comfortable and
happy."
"And I must obey?"
Luli merely shook her head in puzzlement.
"Am I a slave?"
Luli relaxed and smiled. "By no means. It's just. that the Lord Leto has many
great concerns which require his personal attention. He must make time for you.
He sent us because he was concerned about his Duncan Idaho. You have been a long
time in the hands of the dirty Tleilaxu."
Dirty Tleilaxu, Idaho thought.
That, at least, had not changed.
He was concerned, though, by a particular reference in Luli's explanation.
"His Duncan Idaho?"
"Are you not an Atreides warrior?" Luli asked.
She had him there. Idaho nodded, turning his head slightly to stare at the
enigmatic masked woman.
"Why are you masked?"
"It must not be known that I serve the Lord Leto," she said. Her voice was a
pleasant contralto, but Idaho suspected that this, too, was masked by the cibus
hood.
"Then why are you here?"
"The Lord Leto trusts me to determine if you have been tampered with by the
dirty Tleilaxu."
Idaho tried to swallow in a suddenly dry throat. This thought had occurred to
him several times aboard the Guild transport. If the Tleilaxu could condition a
ghola to attempt the murder of a dear friend, what else might they plant in the
psyche of the regrown flesh?
"I see that you have thought about this," the masked woman said.
"Are you a mentat?" Idaho asked.
"Oh, no!" Luli interrupted. "The Lord Leto does not permit the training of
mentats."
Idaho glanced at Luli, then returned his attention to the masked woman. No
mentats. The Tleilaxu history had not mentioned that interesting fact. Why would
Leto prohibit mentats? Surely, the human mind trained in the super abilities of
computation still had its uses. The Tleilaxu had assured him that the Great
Convention remained in force and that mechanical computers were still anathema.
Surely, these women would know that the Atreides themselves had used mentats.
"What is your opinion?" the masked woman asked. "Have the dirty Tleilaxu
tampered with your psyche?"