Chapter 54 Chapter Fifty-Four

The future has already been decided and there will be no change.The thread had become a rope, and Leto seemed to be familiar with it from birth.He looked at Tanzaofort in the distance in the afterglow of the setting sun.One hundred and seventy kilometers north from here is the Old Crack, which is a crack through the shield wall mountain, winding and twisting, where the first Fremen began to migrate to the desert. Leto no longer has any doubts in his heart.He knew why he stood alone in the desert, feeling like the master of the earth, which must obey his commands.He saw the bond that connected him to all of humanity, and he sensed the deepest need in the universe.This is a universe that conforms to objective logic, a universe that has rules to follow amidst numerous changes.

I understand this universe. Last night, the sandworm that carried him rushed to the bottom of his feet, then rushed out of the sand and stopped in front of his eyes, like a tame camel beast.He hopped on top of it, and with his membrane-enhanced hands, pulled the skin off its first body, forcing it to rest on the sandy surface.Sandworm was exhausted after racing north all night.The chemical "factory" in its body has reached the limit of its work, it exhales oxygen, and the wind blows its breath, forming a vortex that surrounds Leto.From time to time, the breath of sandworms made him feel dizzy, filling his mind with all kinds of weird thoughts.He turned his mind's eye to the ancestors in his body, and re-experienced part of his past on Earth, using history to compare the changes in the present.

He realized that he was now far from being human in the usual sense.He ate all the spices he could find, and the membranes that covered him were no more sandtrout, stimulated by them, any more than he was human.Sandtrout cilia pierced his flesh, creating a whole new creature that would evolve itself for countless generations to come. You see this, Father, but you reject it, he thought, a fear you cannot face. Leto knew what to think of his father, and why. Muad'di died of a prophetic vision. While alive, Paul Atreides transcended the real universe and entered the future shown by the precognitive vision, but he escaped from this future, and his son dared to try this future.

So Paul Atreides died, and now only the missionaries remained. Leto strode across the desert, his eyes fixed on the north.The sandworm would come from that direction, with two men on its back: a Freemen boy and a blind man. A group of gray and white bats passed over Leto's head and flew southeast.In the darkening sky, they looked like speckles scattered randomly in the air.An experienced pair of Freeman eyes can judge the location of the shelter ahead based on their flight trajectory.Missionaries should avoid that sanctuary.His destination is Suruchi, where there are no wild bats lest they attract unwanted strangers.

Sandworms appeared.At first, it looked like a dark trail of motion between the northern sky and the desert.The dying sandstorm rained sand from high above, blocking his vision for a few minutes, and then the sandworms became clearer and closer to him. The shady side at the base of the dune where Leto stood began to produce night vapors.He tasted the subtle moisture in his nostrils and adjusted the sandtrout membrane over his mouth.He no longer has to look around for water.Inherited from his mother's genes, he has a powerful Fremen stomach, which can absorb almost all the water that passes through it.And the living stillsuit he was wearing would capture any moisture it came in contact with.Even as he sat here, the part of the membrane that touched the sand was sticking out pseudopods, harvesting whatever bits of energy could be stored.

Leto studied the sandworms that kept approaching him.He knew that the young guide would have found himself by now—noticing the black spot on top of the dune.From this distance, the Sandworm Knights couldn't tell what the black dots were, but the Fremen already knew how to deal with it.Any unknown object is dangerous.Even without the precognitive visions, he could tell the young guide's reaction. As expected, the sandworm's advancing route was slightly deflected and came directly towards Leto.Fremen often use giant sandworms as weapons.In Araken, the Sandworms helped the Atreides defeat Shadum IV.However, the sandworm failed to carry out the driver's orders.It stopped ten meters away from Leto, no matter what the guide urged, it just refused to move forward, even if it only moved a grain of sand away.

Leto stood up, feeling the cilia retract immediately into the membrane of his back.He spat out the film in his mouth and shouted loudly: "Achilan, gas Achilan!" Welcome, double welcome! The blind man stood behind the guide, with his hand on the young man's shoulder.He raised his head high, pointed his nose in the direction of Leto's head, as if he wanted to smell the smell of blocking the way this time.The setting sun dyed a golden layer on his forehead. "Who is it?" The blind man asked, shaking the guide's shoulder, "Why did we stop?" His voice came out from the mask of the distillation suit, which seemed a little muffled.

The young man looked down at Leto in fear, and said, "Just a lonely traveler in the desert. Looks like a child. I tried to tell the worm to knock him down, but the worm wouldn't go any further." "Why didn't you say it earlier?" asked the blind man. "I thought he was just an ordinary desert traveler!" protested the young man, "but he is actually a devil." "It's really like what Jakrutu's son said." Leto said, "And you, sir, are you a missionary?" "Yes, I am." There was fear in the preacher's voice, as he finally came across his past.

"There is no garden here," Leto said, "but you are still welcome to spend this evening with me here." "Who are you?" asked the missionary, "how did you stop our sandworms?" From the missionary's voice, he had already anticipated the meaning of this meeting.Now, he recalls another vision... knowing that his life might end here. "He's a devil!" said the young guide reluctantly. "We must flee this place, or our souls..." "Quiet!" cried the missionary. "I am Leto Atreides," said Leto. "Your sandworm stopped because I ordered it to do so."

The missionary stood there silently. "Come, father," Leto said, "come down and spend the night with me. I've got syrup for you to suck. I saw you brought the Freeman survival kit and pitcher. We'll share our all of." "Leto was a child," retorted the missionary, "and they say he was killed by Corino's plot. There is no child in your voice." "You know me, my lord," Leto said. "I am young, but I have ancient experiences, and my voice is drawn from them." "What are you doing deep in the desert?" the missionary asked.

"Do nothing," Leto said.This is the answer of the true Sunni wanderer, who is able to live with the situation, does not contend with nature, but seeks to live in harmony with the environment. The missionary shook the guide by the shoulder. "Is he a child? Really a child?" "Yes." said the young man.He kept staring at Leto in horror. The missionary's body trembled, and finally let out a long sigh. "No!" he said. "It was a devil in the form of a child," said the guide. "You will spend the night here," Leto said. "Do as he says," said the missionary. He let go of the guide's shoulders, walked to the edge of the worm's body, slid down one of the joints, and when he reached the ground he jumped out a step, leaving enough distance between himself and the worm.Then he turned around and said, "Let the sandworm go back to the bottom of the sand. It's tired and won't bother us." "The sandworm won't move!" The young man responded dissatisfied. "It will go," Leto said, "but if you try to escape by riding on it, I will let it eat you." He took a few steps to the side, away from the sandworm's sensing range, and pointed at them. The direction at the time said, "In that direction." The young man struck the section of the sandworm behind him with a goad, and swung the spear hook that peeled off the sandworm's skin.The sandworm began to move slowly on the sandy ground, and followed the command of the spear hook to make a half-circle. Following Leto's voice, the missionary climbed the slope of the dune and stood two steps away from Leto.Throughout the process, his demeanor was full of confidence. Leto knew it was going to be a tough game. Here the illusion parted ways. Leto said, "Take off your mask, Father." The missionary obeyed, throwing back his hood and removing his mask. Leto imagined his own face in his mind, studying the face in front of him at the same time.He saw similarities between the two, as if illuminated by the setting sun.The outlines of the faces roughly merged, indicating that the genes had not made mistakes in the continuation process.Those outlines had been passed down to Leto's face from those days of whispering, from days of rain, from the Sea of ​​Miracles on Kaladan.But now they stood on the watershed of Arrakis, waiting for night to fall. "Father," Leto said, casting his eyes to the left as the young guide approached from where the sandworm had been abandoned. "Mu Zhenen!" said the missionary.He waved his right hand in a chopping gesture.This is not good! "Kurish Zhenen." Leto said softly.This is the best we can achieve.He added in Chicobusa: "I came here and I will stay here! We must not forget that, Father." The missionary's shoulders slumped.He covered his sunken eye sockets with his hands. "I have shared your vision, and your memory," Leto said. "I know your decision. I have been to your hiding place." "I know," the missionary dropped his hands, "will you stay?" "You named me after that man," Leto said. "Here I come, here I will stay—that's what he said!" The missionary sighed deeply. "How far has your operation progressed?" "My skin is no longer mine, Father." The missionary shuddered. "I finally understand how you found me here." "Yes," Leto said, "I need to spend the night with my father." "I'm not your father. I'm just a poor copy, a relic." He turned to listen to the voice of the guide coming this way, "I no longer enter those visions about my future." As he spoke, night fell completely on the desert.The stars twinkled above their heads. Leto also turned his head to look at the guide coming this way. "Ubak-u-kuha!" Leto called to the young man, "greetings to you!" The young man replied, "Sabku-an-na!" The missionary whispered in a hoarse voice, "That young Hassan Trigg is a dangerous man." "All Outcasts are dangerous," Leto whispered, "but he will not threaten me." "That's your illusion, I didn't see it," said the missionary. "Perhaps you have no choice at all," Leto said. "You are Phil Hatchka. Reality. You are Abu Dar, father of the Infinite Timeways." "I am but a bait in a trap," said the missionary.There was a hint of bitterness in his tone. "Alia swallowed that bait," Leto said, "but I didn't. I didn't like the taste of it." "You can't do that!" the preacher said hoarsely. "I've done that. My skin doesn't belong to me." "Maybe you still have time..." "It's too late." Leto turned his head to one side.He could hear Hassan Trigg crawling towards them along the dune slope, mingling with their conversation. "Greetings, Hassan Trigg of Suluzi," Leto said. The young man stopped on the slope just below Leto, his figure faintly visible in the starlight.He shrunk his neck and lowered his head, showing hesitation. "Yes," Leto said, "I am the one who escaped from Suruchi." "When I heard..." the missionary paused, "You can't do that." "I'm doing it. It won't help if you're blinded once more." "Do you think I'm afraid of death?" asked the missionary. "Don't you see what kind of guide they have for me?" "I see," Leto looked at Trigg again, "didn't you hear me, Hassan? I'm the one who escaped from Suluqi." "You are the devil," said the young man in a trembling voice. "It's your devil," Leto said, "but you're mine too." Leto feels conflict between himself and his father growing.This conflict seems to be a shadow play staged around them, showing their subconscious thoughts.In addition, Leto also felt the memory of his father in his body. The memory that happened in the past recorded the prediction of the future, and it recorded the scene that both of them are very familiar with at this moment. Trigg sensed the phantom battle between them.He slid a few steps down the slope. "You can't control the future," whispered the missionary.When he spoke, he looked very strenuous, as if he was lifting a heavy object. Leto felt the distance between them.He or his father will be forced to act as quickly as possible, and by action to make a decision, choosing whose phantasy needs to follow.His father was right: if you want to control the universe, all you have to do is provide the universe with a weapon that can defeat you.Selecting and manipulating an illusion requires you to balance a fragile thread—playing God on a high wire, with separate universes isolated from each other on either side.The challengers who stepped on the wire rope could not retreat from the dilemma.Each side of the wire has its own illusions and laws, and behind the challengers all illusions of the past are dying.When one challenger moves, the other moves against it, or the balance is broken.For them, the really important action is to separate themselves from those phantoms in the background, so as not to be engulfed by phantasms.There is no safe place, only constantly changing relationships, and the relationships themselves make the boundaries and laws change at any time.All they could rely on was desperate courage, but leto had two advantages over his father in comparison: he was on the verge of death, while his father still wanted room for maneuver and hadn't made up his mind yet. "You must not do this! You must not do this!" cried the missionary in a piercing voice. He sees an advantage in me, Leto thought. Leto hid his anxiety, maintained the composure needed for a master duel, and said in a calm tone: "I am not obsessed with the truth. I have no belief in anything but my own creation." Afterwards, he felt When it came to the interaction between his father and him, the subtle changes in the depths of both parties made Leto strengthen his belief.With this faith, he knew that he had set the signpost before the golden passage.One day, this signpost will guide future generations on how to become a real person, but the individual who gave this generous gift broke away from the category of human beings on the day of sending the gift.With that feeling in mind, Leto takes the ultimate gamble with aplomb. He sniffed the air lightly, searching for signs that both he and his father knew were coming.One question remained unresolved: would his father warn the fear-filled young guide who waited below them? Leto smelled ozone in his nostrils, indicating the presence of a shielding field nearby.In order to obey the orders given to him by the outcasts, the young Trigg was about to kill the two dangerous Atreides, but he didn't know what kind of terrible abyss this would lead mankind into. "No," said the missionary in a low voice. Leto smelled ozone, but there was no clanging in the air around him.Trigg uses the Desert Shield, a weapon specially designed for Arrakis.The Holtzmann effect summons the sandworm and drives it insane.Nothing can stop a sandworm like this - neither water nor sandtrout... anything.Yes, the young man buried this device on the slope of the dune just now, and now he is trying to sneak away from this extremely dangerous place. Leto jumped up from the top of the dune, his father's dissuading voice heard in his ear.The enhanced muscles unleashed terrifying power, propelling Leto's body forward like a rocket.With one hand he grabbed the collar of Trigg's distillation suit, and with the other he wrapped his arms around the poor fellow's waist.With a slight click, he snapped his neck.Then he jumped again and rushed to the place where the desert shield was buried.His fingers found the thing, lifted it out of the sand, and hurled it southward.The shielding field generator made a beautiful arc and landed far away from them. There was a loud hissing sound beneath the desert shield's original burial site.The sound gradually decreases and finally disappears completely.The desert was quiet again. Leto looked at his father standing at the top of the dune, still defiant but with a sense of frustration in his expression. Up there stood Paul Muad'di, blind, angry, and on the verge of collapse knowing he was moving away from Leto's vision. Leto jumped back to the top of the dune and said, "From now on, I will be your guide." "never!" "Do you want to go back to Suluqi? Seeing you go back alone, without Trigg, will they still welcome you? Besides, do you know where Suluqi moved? Your eyes can see Is it?" Paul confronted his son, his eye sockets staring at Leto. "Do you really understand the universe you've created here?" Leto heard the accent in his words.Both knew that, from this moment on, this phantom had embarked on a terrible journey, and that the future must be able to control it, creative control at that.Before that, the entire universe held a linear view of time, and human beings believed that the development of things was orderly.However, after this phantom was activated, human beings boarded a crazily moving train and could only run wildly along its trajectory. The only one who can stand against it is Leto, who holds the reins composed of multiple threads.He is the sighted man in the universe of the blind.His father no longer held the reins, only he could discern order.The dream of the far future is controlled by the present moment, in his hands. Only in the palm of his hand. Paul knew this, yet he could no longer see how Leto was pulling the reins, only the price Leto paid for it—he was no longer human.He thought: This is the change I've been praying for.Why should I be afraid of it?It's the golden channel! "Here, I give purpose to evolution and, therefore, meaning to our lives," Leto said. "Do you want to live for thousands of years and keep changing yourself?" Leto knew his father wasn't talking about his physical change.Both of them knew what was going to happen to his appearance: Leto would keep adapting, and so would the skin that wasn't his.The evolutionary forces of the two parts will merge with each other, and what will eventually emerge will be a single mutant.When the metamorphosis comes - if it can come - a living entity with a broad and deep mind will appear in the universe, and the universe will worship it. No... What Paul was referring to was inner changes, his thoughts and decisions that would profoundly affect his admirers. "Those who think you're dead," Leto said, "you know, they're spreading what they call your last words." "certainly." "'What I do now is what all life must do, the purpose of which is the continuation of life itself.'" Leto said, "You never said this, but someone who thinks you will never come back The Liar Priest put it on you." "I wouldn't call him a liar," Paul said, taking a deep breath. "That's a good last word." "Are you staying here, or are you going back to your shack in the Suruchi Basin?" Leto asked. "It's your universe now," Paul said. The sense of loss in his words stung Leto.Leto was so distressed that he couldn't speak for several minutes.When he was finally able to control his emotions, he said, "So, you tricked Alia, confused her, kept her from acting, and made her make bad decisions. Now she knows who you are .” "She knew... yes, she knew." Paul's voice was old, and there was dissatisfaction lurking in it.There was still a hint of arrogance in his demeanor.He said, "If I can do it, I will take the Vision from you." "Thousands of years of peace," Leto said, "that's all I can give them." "Hibernation! Stasis!" "Of course. Plus, I'll allow some violence. It will be a lesson that humanity will never forget." "I spit on your lesson!" Paul said, "You make this kind of choice, do you mean I haven't seen it before?" "You've seen it," Leto admitted. "Do you foresee a better future than mine?" "No, it could be worse," Leto said. "So, what choice do I have but to say no?" Paul asked. "Maybe you should kill me." "I'm not that naive. I know about your actions. I know about the aqueducts being destroyed and the riots in society." "Since Hassan Trigg can never go back to Suluqi again, you must go back with me." "I choose not to go back." How old his voice sounds, Leto thought, and the thought made him ache.He said, "I hid the Signet of House Atreides in my robes. Do you wish me to return it to you?" "It would be nice if I were dead," Paul said softly. "That night, when I walked into the desert, I really wanted to die, but I knew I couldn't leave this world. I had to come back—" "Reinventing the legend," Leto said. "I know. Jakrutu's lackeys were waiting for you that night, just where you predicted them. They need your illusion! You know that." "I refused. I never gave them any illusions." "But they polluted you. They fed you spices. You hallucinated." "Sometimes." How weak his voice sounded. "Will you take your signet ring?" Leto asked. Suddenly Paul sat down on the sand, looking like a stone in the light of the stars. "No!" The War of Illusions has escalated from delicate choices to rough cuts of all other paths, Leto thought. Paul knew he couldn't win, but he still hoped that the path Leto had chosen wouldn't work. Paul opened his mouth and said, "Yes, I was polluted by Jakrutu. But you polluted yourself." "True," Leto admitted. "Are you a good Freemen?" "yes." "Can you allow a blind man to end up in the desert? Can you allow me to find peace in my own way?" He stamped the sand beside him. "No, I won't allow it," Leto said, "but if you insist, you have the right to kill yourself." "Then you will have my body!" "yes." "No!" He understands everything, Leto thought.The body of Muad'di himself was enshrined by Muad'di's son, which would make Leto's illusion more unbreakable. "You never told them, did you, Father?" Leto asked. "I never told them." "But I told them," Leto said, "I told Muritz. Klaritzk, the ultimate fight." Paul's shoulders slumped. "You can't do that," he whispered, "You can't." "Can you say no to a big sandstorm?" Leto said. "You think I'm a coward to accept that future." Paul said in a hoarse trembling voice. "Oh, I know you too well, son. Divination or fortune-telling is a grueling business. But I never got lost in the possible future, because that future is too scary!" "Compared to that future, your jihad is a picnic on Kaladan." Leto agreed, "I'll take you to Gurney Halleck now." "Gurney! He served the sorority indirectly through my mother." Leto immediately understood the limits of his father's precognitive visions. "No, Father. Gurney no longer serves anyone. I know where to find him, and I'll take you there. It's time for a new legend." "I know I can't convince you. But I want to touch you because you are my son." Leto held out his right hand to meet the groping fingers.He felt the strength in his father's fingers, and began to increase his strength, resisting the undercurrent from Paul's arm. "Even a knife dipped in poison can't hurt me," Leto said. "The chemistry in my body is completely different." Tears welled up from a pair of blind eyes, and Paul gave up, dropping his hands limply on his thighs. "If I choose your future, I will become a devil. And you, what will you become?" "For a while, they'll call me the messenger of the devil," Leto said, "and then they'll start thinking, and eventually they'll understand. You didn't extend your vision far enough, Father. You His hands have accumulated many virtues, but also created many evils." "Evil is usually only revealed after the fact!" "Many heinous things are exactly like this." Leto said, "You only saw a part of my illusion, is it because your strength is not strong enough?" "You know, I can't stay in that illusion for long. If I knew something was evil in advance, I would never do it. I'm not Jakrutu." "Some say you were never a true Fremen," Leto said. "We Fremen know how to appoint a caliph. Our judges can choose between evil. We have always been made." "Fremen, are you? To be a slave to the future you created?" Paul took a step towards Leto, stretched out his hand towards Leto, and stroked his shelled arm, all the way up the arm , touched his exposed ears and cheeks, and finally touched his mouth, "Aha, it's not your skin yet." He said, "Where does this skin take you?" up his hand. "Go to a place where human beings create their own future all the time." "You said so. But an aberration might say the same thing." "I'm not a spirit, though I might have been," Leto said. "I saw what happened to Alia. A devil lived in her, father. Gunny and I knew the devil: he was the Baron, Your grandfather." Paul buried his face deep between his hands.His shoulders trembled for a moment, and then he lowered his hands, revealing his tightly drawn lips. "This is the curse that rests on our family. I prayed constantly that you would throw that ring into the desert. I prayed that you would deny my existence and turn around...and start your own life. You can do it." "At what cost?" After a long silence, Paul opened his mouth and said: "Future results will constantly adjust the development trajectory behind it. Only once, I gave up my principles. Only once. I accepted the saying that the savior came. I did it to For Jani, but that makes me an unqualified leader." Leto found himself unable to answer the question.The memory of that decision remained in him. "I can no longer lie to you like I lie to myself," Paul said. "I know that. I just ask you one thing: Is that ultimate fight really necessary?" "It's either that, or humanity is dead." Paul heard the sincerity in Leto's words.Realizing the breadth and depth of his vision of his son, he whispered, "I haven't seen that option." "I'm sure the Sisterhood is aware of this," Leto said, "otherwise there would be no explanation for Grandma's behavior." The cold night wind blew past them.The wind lifted Paul's robes and whipped his legs.He is shaking. Leto saw it and said, "You've got a survival kit, Father. I'll pitch the tent so we can get through the night comfortably." However, Paul could only shake his head secretly. He knew that starting tonight, he would never feel comfortable again.The hero Muad'di must be destroyed.He said so himself.Only missionaries can continue to live.