Chapter 14 Chapter Thirteen

"You actually left your post and came to me at this hour. Why take the risk?" Edric said, glaring at the Face Changer through the box wall. "How weak and narrow-minded you are," Scytale said. "Look who this man is visiting you?" Edric hesitated for a moment, then looked at the opponent's clumsy body, heavy eyelids, and dull expression.It was the morning, and Edric's metabolic system hadn't recovered yet, and his mind hadn't yet entered the state of sharpness brought about by the spices. "Could it be this body that's showing off outside?" Edric asked.

"Some of the shapes I've transformed today are so mundane that people have absolutely no interest in taking a second look," Scytel said. This chameleon thinks that changing its body shape is enough to avert disaster.Edric's thought was far more insightful than usual.He wondered if his presence in the cabal would really make them evade all precognitive powers, after all, the emperor had a younger sister... Edric shook his head, bursts of orange smoke suddenly stirred up in the box. "Why are you here?" "You have to try to stimulate that gift into action," Skelter said.

"impossible." "Something has to be done," Scytale insisted. "why?" "Things are not going our way. The Emperor is trying to drive a wedge between us. He has offered the Bee Geist Sisterhood a price." "Oh, that's why you came here." "It's for this! You must urge the undead..." "You were the ones who made him, Trealax." Edric said, "You know him better than you should have asked me this question." He paused, moving closer to the transparent box wall , "Or, you lied to us about the gift."

"lie?" "You said that this gift only needs to be aimed at the target and released, and there is no need to worry about it. Once the undead is sent out, we will no longer be able to do anything." "But the Necromancer can still be affected," Scytale said. "You just have to ask his predecessor." "How about asking about his predecessor?" "It can stimulate him to act in accordance with our intentions." "He's a Mentat, capable of logic and reasoning," Edric objected. "He might be able to guess what I'm planning... the younger sister can too. As long as she concentrates on... ..."

"Didn't you let us avoid the witch's predictive power? Or, you don't have this ability at all?" Scytel asked. "I'm not afraid of the power of prescience," Edric said. "What I'm worried about is logical reasoning, and real spies, the huge power of the empire, the control of spices, plus..." "Everything has a limit. Just remembering that will give you peace of mind about the Emperor and his power," Scytel said. The navigator rolled over in an odd position, his limbs writhing like a monstrous salamander.Scytale fought back his nausea.The navigator of the space guild was wearing a dark bodysuit as usual, with various bulging containers strapped to his belt.But... he felt naked when he moved.Scytel thinks it's because of the swimming, the stretching.Again he felt the fragility of their relationship as conspirators.They are not a harmonious team.This is their weak link.

Edric's movements gradually calmed down.He stared at Scyther, his eyes reddened by the orange gas around him.What the hell are the face-changers doing to save themselves?Edric thought.This Trealax always does the unexpected.This is an ominous sign. Something in the navigator's voice and movement told Scyther that he was more afraid of the sister than the Emperor himself.But the thought only flashed through his mind for an instant.Disturbing.Had they overlooked something most important about Alia?Was the weapon of the Necromancer enough to destroy those two men? "You know what people say about Alia?" Scytale asked tentatively.

"What do you mean?" The murloc twisted again. “No philosophy, no culture has had such a patroness so far,” Skelter said. “Happy, beautiful, fused into…” "Can happiness and beauty last?" Edric demanded. "We are going to destroy these two Atreides. Culture! The culture they spread is entirely in the service of dominion. Beauty! Their beauty is enslaving Beautiful. They've made a bunch of real idiots, the easiest kind of people to push around. They don't want to take chances. It's all chains! Everything they do is make chains to enslave others. But slaves always resist."

"That younger sister might marry and breed," Skelter said. "Why do you keep talking about the younger sister?" Edric asked. "The emperor may want to choose a mate for her," Scytell said. "Let him choose. It's too late anyway." "Even you cannot create what will happen in the next instant." Scytale warned, "You are not the creator... like the Atreides." He nodded, "Don't take it for granted. " "We're not the kind of people who say we're going to create something," Edric retorted, "and we're not the kind of people who want to make a prophet out of Muad'di. What the hell are you trying to do with all this crap? kind of question?"

"Because of the planet," Skelter said, "it's the planet that asked the question." "Planets can't talk!" "But this one will." "Oh?" "It speaks of creation. The wind and sand flow in the night, and that is creation." "The wind and sand flow..." "When you wake up, you see a new world. Everything is new. Everything you saw before you fell asleep has disappeared, leaving no trace on the desert." A desert without traces?Edric thought, create?He suddenly felt anxious, helpless anxiety.The sealed box, the furnishings of the room, everything was approaching him, squeezing him.

Traces in the desert. "You talk like a Freeman," Edric said. "That's the Fremen way of thinking, and it's instructive," Scytale agrees. "They say that Muad'di's jihad left its mark on the universe, just as the Fremen left their mark on the sand. .They have left their mark on the history of human life." "So what?" "And then the night came," Skelter said, "and the sand flowed." "Yeah," Edric said. "Jihad is limited. Muad'di used his jihad and..." "He didn't use the jihad," Skelter said. "The jihad used him. I think he'd rather stop the war if he could."

"If he can do it? He just needs to..." "Hold on to me and be awkward!" Scytale shouted. "The plague of the mind cannot be stopped. It spreads across the parsec from one person to another. It is an overwhelming Contagion, knocking down the unprepared side. We've done this before, but on a far smaller scale. Who can stop it? Muad'di can't find any antidote. It's rooted in In chaos, can the hand of order reach there?" "So, are you infected?" Edric asked. He turned slowly in the orange-red gas, not understanding why Scytale's voice was so frightened.Has the Face Changer withdrawn from the plot?There is no way now to peek into the future and see that this future has become a muddy river, overcrowded with prophecies large and small. "We're all infected," Skelter said. He reminded himself that Edric's intellect was very limited.How should I explain it so that the members of the Astronautics Guild can understand it? "But when we destroy him," Edric said, "these infections will be..." "I should have let you go on like an idiot," Scytale said. "It's a pity my duty doesn't allow it. Besides, it's putting us all at risk." Edric writhes again.To steady himself, a webbed foot kicked, stirring up a bubble of orange-red gas around his thigh. "It's strange what you say," he said. "This thing is coming to an end," said Scytale, her voice calmer. "It's about to burst into pieces. Once the conspiracy is broken, its fragments will affect centuries to come. Don't you see?" "We've dealt with religion before," argued Edric, "if this time..." "It's not just religion this time!" Skelter said.It is not known what Our Lady would have said about the poor education of the conspirators, "This is a regime of a religious nature, which is something else entirely. Muad'di's order of Qizara spread all over the world and replaced the previous governments. But he had no permanent administrative units, no interdependent institutions. All he had were dioceses, all isolated islands. At the center of each island was a single man. These men learned how to Acquiring and maintaining personal power, mutual suspicion and envy." "While they are fighting each other, let's break them one by one." Edlake said triumphantly, "If you cut off the head, the body will fall..." "This body has two heads," Skelter said. "That sister...maybe she will get married." "Of course I will." "I don't like the way you talk, Scytle." "I don't like your stupidity either." "What if she gets married? Will it derail our plans?" "It will shake the entire universe." "They are not the only ones who have the power of prescience. I, myself, have this power, it..." "You're just a baby. They're taking strides and you're just a toddler." "They are not the only ones who have the power of prediction!" "Mr. Navigator of the Guild, you forget that we also created a Kwizaki Hadenatch, a man who could see the future clearly. You can't threaten a man like that, any threat you make Both threaten you in return. So did Muad'di, who knew we were going to attack his Ghani. We must move faster. You must approach the Necromancer and press him as I instructed." "What if I don't?" "Lightning will fall on our heads."