"Frank Herbert - Dune 5 - Heretics of Dune (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

"You say very little," Schwangyu said. "This tells me that Taraza has warned
you against me."

"Do you have reason to believe assassins will try to kill this twelfth ghola?"
Lucilla asked.

"They already have tried."

Strange how the word "heresy" came to mind when thinking of Schwangyu, Lucilla
thought. Could there be heresy among the Reverend Mothers? The religious
overtones of the word seemed out of place in a Bene Gesserit context. How could
there be heretical movements among people who held a profoundly manipulative
attitude toward all things religious?
Lucilla shifted her attention down to the ghola, who took this moment to perform
a series of cartwheels that brought him around full circle until he once more
stood looking up at the two observers on the parapet.

"How prettily he performs!" Schwangyu sneered. The old voice did not completely
mask an underlying violence.

Lucilla glanced at Schwangyu. Heresy. Dissidence was not the proper word.
Opposition did not cover what could be sensed in the older woman. This was
something that could shatter the Bene Gesserit. Revolt against Taraza, against
the Reverend Mother Superior? Unthinkable! Mother Superiors were cast in the
mold of monarch. Once Taraza had accepted counsel and advice and then made her
decision, the Sisters were committed to obedience.

"This is no time to be creating new problems!" Schwangyu said.

Her meaning was clear. People from the Scattering were coming back and the
intent of some among those Lost Ones threatened the Sisterhood. Honored Matres!
How like "Reverend Mothers" the words sounded.

Lucilla ventured an exploratory sally: "So you think we should be concentrating
on the problem of those Honored Matres from the Scattering?"

"Concentrating? Hah! They do not have our powers. They do not show good
sense. And they do not have mastery of melange! That is what they want from
us, our spice knowledge."

"Perhaps," Lucilla agreed. She was not willing to concede this on the scanty
evidence.

"Mother Superior Taraza has taken leave of her senses to dally with this ghola
thing now," Schwangyu said.

Lucilla remained silent. The ghola project definitely had touched an old nerve
among the Sisters. The possibility, even remote, that they might arouse another
Kwisatz Haderach sent shudders of angry fear through the ranks. To meddle with
the worm-bound remnants of the Tyrant! That was dangerous in the extreme.