"Frank Herbert - Dune 6 - Chapterhouse Dune" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

Chapterhouse: Dune

Frank Herbert
April 1985




Those who would repeat the past must control the teaching of history.

-Bene Gesserit Coda


When the ghola-baby was delivered from the first Bene Gesserit axlotl tank,
Mother Superior Darwi Odrade ordered a quiet celebration in her private dining
room atop Central. It was barely dawn, and the two other members of her Council
-- Tamalane and Bellonda -- showed impatience at the summons, even though Odrade
had ordered breakfast served by her personal chef.

"It isn't every woman who can preside at the birth of her own father," Odrade
quipped when the others complained they had too many demands on their time to
permit of "time-wasting nonsense."

Only aged Tamalane showed sly amusement.

Bellonda held her over-fleshed features expressionless, often her equivalent of
a scowl.

Was it possible, Odrade wondered, that Bell had not exorcised resentment of the
relative opulence in Mother Superior's surroundings? Odrade's quarters were a
distinct mark of her position but the distinction represented her duties more
than any elevation over her Sisters. The small dining room allowed her to
consult aides during meals.

Bellonda glanced this way and that, obviously impatient to be gone. Much effort
had been expended without success in attempts to break through Bellonda's coldly
remote shell.

"It felt very odd to hold that baby in my arms and think: This is my father,"
Odrade said.

"I heard you the first time!" Bellonda spoke from the belly, almost a baritone
rumbling as though each word caused her vague indigestion.

She understood Odrade's wry jest, though. The old Bashar Miles Teg had, indeed,
been the Mother Superior's father. And Odrade herself had collected cells (as
fingernail scrapings) to grow this new ghola, part of a long-time "possibility
plan" should they ever succeed in duplicating Tleilaxu tanks. But Bellonda
would be drummed out of the Bene Gesserit rather than go along with Odrade's
comment on the Sisterhood's vital equipment.