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He waved the scroll in front of her nose. "I thought so!"
"No human law, Rabbi."
"You tell me these women who make religions to suit themselves believe in a . .
. in a power greater than themselves."
"Their belief would not accord with ours, Rabbi, but I do not think it evil."
"What is this . . . this belief?"
"They call it the 'leveling drift.' They see it genetically and as instinct.
Brilliant parents are likely to have children closer to the average, for
example."
"A drift? This is a belief?"
"That is why they avoid prominence. They are advisors, even king-makers on
occasion, but they do not want to be in the target foreground. "
"This drift . . . do they believe there is a Drift-Maker?"
"They don't assume there is. Only that there is this observable movement."
"So what do they do in this drift?"
"They take precautions."
"In the presence of Satan, I should think so!"
"They don't oppose the current but seem only to move across it, making it work
for them, using the back eddies."
"Oyyy!"
"Ancient sailing masters understood this quite well, Rabbi. The Sisterhood has
what amounts to current charts telling them places to avoid and where to make
their greatest efforts."
Again, he waved the scroll. "This is no current chart."
"You misinterpret, Rabbi. They know the fallacies about overwhelming machines."
She glanced at the laboring machinery. "They see us in currents machinery
cannot breast."
"These little wisdoms. I do not know, daughter. Meddling in politics, I
accept. But in holy matters . . ."
"A leveling drift, Rabbi. Mass influence on brilliant innovators who move out
of the pack and produce new things. Even when the new helps us, the drift
catches the innovator."
"Who is to say what helps, Rebecca?"
"I merely tell what they believe. They see taxation as evidence of the drift,
taking away free energy that might create more new things. A sensitized person
detects it, they say."
"And these . . . these Honored Matres?"
"They fit the pattern. Power-closed government intent on making all potential
challengers ineffectual. Screen out the bright ones. Blunt intelligence."
A tiny beeping sound came from the machinery area. Joshua was past them before
they could stand. He bent over the screen that revealed events on the surface.
"They are back," he said. "See! They dig in the ashes directly above us."
"Have they found us?" The Rabbi sounded almost relieved.
Joshua watched the screen.
Rebecca placed her head beside his, studying the diggers -- ten men with that
dreaming look in their eyes of those who had been bonded to Honored Matres.
"They only dig at random," Rebecca said, straightening.
"You're sure?" Joshua stood and looked into her face, seeking secret
confirmation.
Any Bene Gesserit could see it.
"Look for yourself." She gestured at the screen. "They are leaving. They go
to the sligsty now."
"Where they belong," the Rabbi muttered.
Making workable choices occurs in a crucible of informative mistakes. Thus
Intelligence accepts fallibility. And when absolute (infallible) choices are
not known, Intelligence takes chances with limited data in an arena where
mistakes are not only possible but also necessary.
-Darwi Odrade
Mother Superior did not just board an outgoing lighter and transfer to any
convenient no-ship. There were plans, arrangements, strategies -- contingencies
on contingencies.
It took eight hectic days. Timing with Teg had to be precise. Consultations
with Murbella ate up hours. Murbella had to know what she faced.
Discover their Achilles heel, Murbella, and you have it all. Stay on the
observation ship when Teg attacks but watch carefully.
Odrade took detailed advice from all who could help. Then came the vital-signs
implant with encrypting to transmit her secret observations. A no-ship and
long-range lighter had to be refitted, crew chosen by Teg.
Bellonda muttered and growled until Odrade intervened.
"You are distracting me! Is that your intent? Weaken me?" It was late morning
four days before departure and they were temporarily alone in the workroom.
Weather clear but unseasonably cold and air an ochre tinge from a dust storm
that had blown across Central in the night.
"Convocation was a mistake!" Bellonda needed her parting shot.
Odrade found herself snapping back at Bellonda, who had become a bit too
caustic. "Necessary!"
"To you, maybe! Saying goodbye to your family. Now, you leave us here taking
in each other's laundry."
"Did you just come up here to complain about the Convocation?"
"I don't like your latest comments on Honored Matres! You should have consulted
us before spreading --"
"They're parasites, Bell! It's time we made that clear: a known weakness. And
what does a body do when afflicted by parasites?" Odrade delivered this with a
broad grin.
"Dar, when you assume this . . . this pseudo-humorous pose, I would like to
throttle you!"
"Would you smile as you did it, Bell?"
"Damn you, Dar! One of these days . . ."
"We don't have many more days together, Bell, and that's what's eating you.
Answer my question."
"Answer it yourself!"
"The body welcomes periodic delousing. Even addicts dream of freedom."
"Ahhhhh." A Mentat peered from Bellonda's eyes. "You think addiction to
Honored Matres could be made painful?"
"In spite of your dreadful inability at humor, you still can function."
A cruel smile flexed Bellonda's mouth.
"I've managed to amuse you," Odrade said.
"Let me discuss this with Tam. She has a better head for strategy. Although .
. . Sharing softened her."
When Bellonda had gone, Odrade leaned back and laughed quietly. Softened!
"Don't go soft tomorrow, Dar, when you Share." The Mentat stumbles on logic and
misses the heart. She sees the process and worries about failure. What do we
do if . . . We open windows, Bell, and let in common sense. Even hilarity.
Puts more serious matters in perspective. Poor Bell, my flawed Sister. Always
something to occupy your nervousness.
Odrade left Central on departure morning much entangled in her thinking -- an
introspective mood, worried by what she had learned Sharing with Murbella and
Sheeana.
I'm being self-indulgent.
That offered no relief. Her thoughts were framed by Other Memory and almost
cynical fatalism.
Queen bees swarming?
That had been suggested of Honored Matres.
But Sheeana? And Tam approves?
This carried more in it than a Scattering.
I cannot follow into your wild place, Sheeana. My task is to produce order. I
cannot risk what you have dared. There are different kinds of artistry. Yours
repels me.
Absorbing lifetimes of Murbella's Other Memory helped. Murbella's knowledge was
a powerful leverage on Honored Matres but full of disturbing nuances.
Not hypnotrance. They use cellular induction, a byproduct of their damned T-
probes! Unconscious compulsion! How tempting to use it for ourselves. But
this is where Honored Matres are most vulnerable -- enormous unconsciousness
content locked in by their own decisions. Murbella's key only emphasizes its
danger to us.
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Dobre pomysły nie mają przeszłości, mają tylko przyszłość. Robert Mallet
De minimis - o najmniejszych rzeczach.
Dobroć jest ważniejsza niż mądrość, a uznanie tej prawdy to pierwszy krok do mądrości. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Dobro to tylko to, co szlachetne, zło to tylko to, co haniebne.
Dla człowieka nie tylko świat otaczający jest zagadką; jest on nią sam dla siebie. I z obu tajemnic bardziej dręczącą wydaje się ta druga. Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972)
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