What is it that you want to see?
I shall show it to you.
What is it that you want to hear?
I shall tell you about it.
But, please don’t expect anything.
For you who close your eyes and ears, surely, it is meaningless.
—From “Shintosunni analysis” by Furude Rika
He opened his eyes, the sheets were cold which was pleasant in such a warm day, the sound of the cicadas surrounded him, yes this was one of those dreams again, was it? They had become more frequent as of late, what was the last thing he had done? Yes, he was in Bandalong, his father had given him something to drink, signaled him to be careful.
Satoshi Waff, son of Tylwyth Waff, or rather said created. He knew the process too well, Tleilaxu were not limited by gender to bring in genetic qualities into a specimen. They knew that the Harkonnen genotype was the best for such a base. The prescient genes of House Furude were used instead of Atreides, much more reliable, those reverend mothers had been oracles for long before the trait came into other royal families, they were prone to violence, thus the gene had to be controlled very carefully.
House Furude gladly gave their genes for experimentation, in exchange for a Ghola of one of their ancestors, they even had a Harkonnen in their ranks, with that they had everything they needed. The ultimate test had to be done, there were many previous failures, all of them aware of the potential threat, but Satoshi was surviving the Rossac poison, it had been weeks, yes this was where he was really, Waff was checking his vitals right that moment.
Satoshi went back to the trance, that planet for him was a paradise, Tanna, the world of the cicada, a soft planet made to neutralize the harshness of a population. How foolish of the Bene Gesserit to blame it on genetics, the violence came from a pathogen, it came out along with the cicadas in their harvest cycles. House Furude had known this for long ago, the Tleilaxu found out about it within minutes of handling Rika’s blood.
By his side a sleeping woman, green long hair covered her face. He stared at her and smiled, yes, that was Shion, he had not met her yet, but it felt as he had known her forever. The vision blurred a little, they were now in a table, at the head of it there was Mion, at her right Rika, blue within blue eyes and a smiling expression. Satoshi had seen this future before, albeit a little different, before there was blood, there was destruction. Beyond them a golden path Satoshi was not willing to take, it was not for him to take, it would require fortitude beyond what he could. This path, for them was the best, their perfect ending.
The golden path required for them all to overthrow the current Empire, be at the right moment at the right time. Rika would know where to be, and she’d follow that path blindly, fooled by her own past selves. Among those memories, memories he was now unlocking there was the secret to the sandtrout, engineered by ancient humans to terraform, the fact that ate up water was a defect, but out of this defect came out the spice, a substance that enhanced the human mind. There were attempts at synthesizing the drugs, but even the thinking machines had a hard time running the simulations for possible paths of synthesis, he could see it now, yes the human body could produce it.
He had told it such to Waff before, spice could be produced by humans, and thus by the Axolotl tanks, there would be one day where this process would be run by humans internally, then and only then survival would be ensured. Though to find out the current synthesis was hard, and it would not be discovered soon. Waff would live to see it, but Satoshi did not mention how this would signal the nearing of his own death.
He saw his own path before him, he had tried to find a path for everyone to survive, but always, down the line, Shion died on his arms, and that was one of the best paths, usually they brought death upon themselves. Keiichi killed Rena in one, he stabbed her while she turned away to medicate him, he then killed Mion. After that Keiichi would leave to the forests of Tanna and claw his throat out.
Yes that was one of the bad paths, that one was already avoided, Rika had not chosen it, Keiichi had played his part too. Shion would go insane if she ever met him and he died, that would become another path, she’d die under Rena’s blade, a quick death, a stab through the heart, knowing Rena this was the most honorable thing she could do, giving her friend a quick death by the tip of the blade, not an elegant one by the edge.
Satoko turning into a full Reverend Mother was a threat, a threat she had already avoided long ago, but if she ever chose to drink the poison, without the guidance from Rika, then she’d suffer a fate much like that of Alia Atreides.
Lastly, the path they had chosen, it was already set, Rena would go insane, Rena turned into a demon was a very dangerous future, but Rika probably knew the risk she was taking, and many of those paths led to a happy ending for them all. Satoshi could see it clearly now, how to save those friends he had not met. He awakened from the trance of the poison, and began clawing his throat, alarms rung all around the room, and as he faded away from this world, Waff looked at him with worry in his eyes. A true sacrifice, the Tleilaxu Kwisatz Haderach had to die to save those he would consider close in a possible future.
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