I cannot quench your thirst
Because even if you yearn for the truth, you refuse to believe in it.
I cannot quench your thirst
Because no such truth exists that you are in anticipation for.
But I still want to quench your thirst.
Because I am the one that put you into the desert.
— From “Shintosunny Vinaya Pitaka” by Frederica Bernkastel
Mion accepted to carry out the plan, they would pay fare to have a heigliner move them to become a renegade house, of course the guild would take the planet in return, that is the way it always was. Though the plan was slightly different, the people of Tanna all boarded the ship, and shortly after their intentions were made clear. They had the atomics of House Sonozaki and would blow them up unless everyone left the ship, everyone but the Tannans of course.
It was a complete exodus, the guild saw baffled how the crazy three Minor Houses of Tanna took their heighliner and left as soon as everyone was on the ship. They would do it, the steersmen could see it in the immediate future, the Tannans would rather die than give up their priestess. The same crazy loyalty of the Fremen had towards the Emperor, these were farmers, soft people, but just as that they would die willingly for their religious leader.
Lord Kimiyoshi as well as his servants hid in their quarters for the entire ordeal, if the plan failed he could clean his hands blame Rika and Mion, thus the planet would not be punished by the Guild on its entirety. This is how it worked, House Sonozaki controlled the planet, even though it did not have any CHOAM shares it acted as a bank for House Minor, those Houses minor with such little power that CHOAM would not give them a loan relied on House Sonozaki.
Smugglers relied on them for money, so did semuta merchants. Mion did try to get into the spice business but CHOAM actually gave loans to those smugglers who dealt with spice.
House Sonozaki was not alone as such, though House Sonozaki was the only House Minor that did such business. It looked like their operation was bigger than it really was, their fortune did not ascend to more than 5 million Solaris, and half of that was money others owed them. House Sonozaki relied on favors, those who owed them would gladly do them a favor to be pardoned part of their debt. One such favors was what allowed them to threaten the Guild. The atomics was a gift from other Houses of the Landsraad.
Rika sat at the room of the steersman, a large room even though there were supposed to be two people, the driver and the steersman. Rika had never seen a Guild steersman, but the size of this room told her they required huge housings. To travel in space they must stop being human… I just look human, but I am probably far more gone than them. She stroked the controls, visions of death filled her path, along with a narrow one where they could travel, so many hidden dangers filled the void.
Mion came into the room holding a radio “Everyone is gone. Rika is at the wheel, deactivate the detonator” she walked close to Rika, the room reeked of cinnamon, Mion got slightly dizzy from the smell.
Rika turned to see her friend She gave them the detonator… Who is holding it? Probably Tomita, he is a leader of the people. Mion does not like to give orders, she just gives the means to do things that may benefit her… That is the key of the Sonozakis, that is what allowed them to stay strong while we grew weak.
“Satoko is with Prince Kimiyoshi, the plan was a success now it is all up to you” Mion smirked “Do not launch us towards a star”
“Where do you think we should go?” Rika’s newfound freedom made her feel helpless, not even Satoko could calculate where to go, the possibilities were endless, Rika could find another planet just like Tanna, that path was there, an empty planet for the taking. She could choose a paradise world, a planet full of adventures and excitement.
Mion looked at the void of space “We have a problem, perhaps this may help making you know where to go” She smiled “Many in our population are old, and they had been taking spice for long. Prince Kimiyoshi is nearing 150, his aging is slowed due to the small amounts of spice he eats”
Rika felt the controls, the paths narrowing, she was eliminating more with each word from Mion. Was this how the Guild acted? Yes it had to be, the other path was to walk at the edge of danger, taking a huge risk for a huge payout. The Emperor walked there, but many places he had to go through were inaccessible to her. She feared that place, and there he stood staring back at her, just as he told the old Reverend Mother Mohiam. Rika would not dare to look at those places either, but now they were even scarier with him standing there.
The guild was afraid of him, he intimidated them, of course he did. He intimidated Rika, he would cloud the vision of the Steersmen prescience the same way he clouded Rika’s own path, clouding those paths that may harm him. She did see paths were the Guild harmed him, some steersmen had taken it. Oh yes they had, Rika could see it more clearly now. Why can I see more now? She took a deep breath then it hit her.
The spice, this room was full of it, it was feeding her, enhancing her vision, letting her see new paths she had not seen. Yes, she could still talk to the guild, ally with them, become an open enemy of the Emperor, yes that was the path he stood by, the path he guarded against her. Using the atomics in Arrakis, there were more already doing that very action.
But even Satoko adviced Rika against it, Rika trusted Satoko in that, she was right. But there was a third path now. “We do not need much spice, we have enough to last a few decades. Nobody in Tanna ate more than a few grams per month”
Mion nodded “You are our biggest eater actually” She tried to hide her expression. There it was, I didn’t want to tell her… But she would figure it eventually. The first one to die from spice withdrawal would be Rika-chama. “I can call in our last favors before we leave for good, travel around those who owe me and ask for our payment in spice”
Rika saw that path as Mion said, yes, she would live up to 100, maybe a little more depending on the path. A full life, and those already into the spice diet would die at similar ages. New generations would have no spice to eat, their lifespan would be short but painless. It was not a bad path, a safe path. But why would she take the safe path? She already had the same knowledge as a 100-year-old Bene Gesserit at birth. Abomination. The incarnation of Oyashiro-sama the god of Tanna.
There was another path, a mixture of the choices already given to her by Satoko, it would be full of dangers, but it could be possible “Do you trust me Mion?”
Mion pouted and punched Rika lightly on the arm “I do not trust you at all! I think you want to take us to Arrakis and hand us over to the Emperor himself”
Yes she trusts me. Thought Rika, Mion would not answer if she did not trust her choice, Mion never gave a negative order, she learned that from her grandmother, the old Lady Sonozaki. Mion did not give orders, she gave suggestions. It was the Bene Gesserit way, here they were, two unorthodox Bene Gesserit following Bene Gesserit ways.
“I can’t tell you the whole thing… Many loops are closing, many end up in pain, but the way is narrowing, and the trail shines so bright it looks like it’s made out of gold. We will suffer right now, but when everyone else suffers we will remain safe” Rika allowed the spice to let her do the talking.
“You speak like Muad’Dib” Mion took a step back from Rika, she was afraid, but she knew Rika would mean her no harm.
“I can see him Mion, he is there… If you ever drink the Rossac Poison you will see him there too. He stands in the branches of time, he holds them as if they were his own, that is why the guild fears him. But he is as human as you and me” Rika held the controls and punched in the coordinates “Forgive me if we fail… But we have everything we need not to”
Mion looked at the destination and gulped on a dry throat, she nodded “If you say it is a trail that shines. I will follow you through hell to find it”
Rika turned on the Holtzman engines, the space began to fold around them, to twist them. She could see through time, and of course, through space, she could see the paths, the branches that space took, the dangerous turns that would bring them to safety, and those horrible turns that would shred them. The ship did not move in any dimension they could see, but it moved between the dimensions, in those folded dimensions strings danced in, they were now on top of a rock, circling a planet.
Rika turned off the engines. She saw the orange planet before them, a small ice cap on its pole and patches of green. Change was happening, she could see it more clearly now, this was the pivot of change, and their own personal branch would come out of here. This was the planet that made Emperors and destroyed them just as well. The planet that allowed the Guild to travel through space without moving. The planet for which billions of lives were lost, and the planet that birthed the army that would end the life of her own people if they did not escape. To flee from the Jihad they had come to the root of it.
“I don’t know what we need. But I know we will get it here” Rika smiled when seeing the Golden Path, yes that was it, the Golden Path, so clearly. She did not discover it, she was not meant to see it either, but Muad’Dib walked so often in it that all she had to do was follow. She avoided the parts that she could not see, but most of it was there, enough for her to understand.
“I’ll tell my men we have to steal a load of spice” Mion was not understanding the part of suffering, but yes, a full cargo of spice would allow them to live for a couple centuries, when the spice was gone so would those who depended on it to live. Granny died at 110, and she never tasted spice, neither had I. But Rika-chama won’t even have to worry about it, neither would Kimiyoshi or Keiichi.
“For now the mission is that. I don’t think it is spice, time is a mess here, I can’t see through the storm, but something in this planet, a gift from the planet. It may be spice, but I don’t think it is” Satoko will hate me for this… But I think she will be able to figure it out eventually.
Editorial 