I was the most unfortunate.
I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.
Then, he was the next unfortunate.
He did not know that there was no exit out of this maze.
But all the rest weren’t so unfortunate.
They didn’t know that they were in the maze in the first place.
— From “Shintosunni Dogma” by Frederica Bernkastel
Bernkastel sipped from her own reclaimed water, a disgusting taste but to waste a sip of water in such a place was madness. She looked at the entrance of the cave, it was well hidden within the rock, but there were enough signs of human activity in the stone itself, that small polishing or rock once it has been stepped on it too many times, even for Bene Gesserit would be hard to find it.
A Fremen outpost, a small cave system that housed a few tools, mostly for farming, also weapons. It was usually brimming with people, but the stone burner had been set off a few minutes ago, the right moment at the right time. The Tleilaxu expected insurrections to die out from their own lack of order, but cats are deadly even when disorganized, my cats are awaiting orders overhead, I say the word and they will come down to take what remains of the empire in my name! I just have to wait, to release the pathogen in my blood once Muad’Dib is lost in the desert. Let these fools get the Tanna sickness. We drove the Amporilos to madness, the Fremen will gut each other within minutes.
The pathogen of Tanna, thought to be a genetic predisposition by the Bene Gesserit, Hanyuu thought it that way too. Bernkastel knew the secret, a pathogen the population had brought ever since the days of old Terra, a bacteria that was incurable, yet controllable, a soft planet to keep the population under low stress. A place like Arrakis, a place where sole survival was stressful, the pathogen would have the Fremen go mad. Everyone will blame their fanaticism, all while her armies, the population that has already developed resistance to the sickness, take the empire for Bernkastel. Witch Empress Frederika Bernkastel, yes it has a good ring to it.
She dropped the lever that released the water into the chambers of the maker, the sandworm wriggled in pain as water sipped through its body, the strong smell of the poisonous spice essence filled Bernkastel’s nostrils. She bowed down and took a sip with her hand. Her awareness unfolded, awareness trained by the very people that tried to hold her back, unlocked by their own arts.
She could again see the paths of future, unfolded before her, many places she could walk. Oh, how powerful she was in this state, every breath changed the future in great degrees, everything she did had an action she could control. The entirety of the universe was at her feet. She would marry the son of the Atreides Emperor, do the same thing he had done to secure power. He was already afraid of her, he had seen her actions, he had tried to stop her using his own aunt Alia, but foolishly they both had walked into her trap, she was free, and they were helpless.
What could an infant do? Everyone he could be allied too was worried about the conspiracy against Muad’Dib. Pieces that did not belong to Bernkastel, a game of chess in which she had only small pawns, but the big pieces were already tearing each other apart.
Satoko was a possible threat, but she needed a threat, she needed a rival, or else it would be too easy. That was the problem with Paul, he stomped all of his rivals, he grew soft, and thus fools with less power than him took him out too easily.
Bernkastel would wait for her too, she would come in time, her path was already there. She laughed alone in that room, her genetic personalities surrounding her as black cats, meowing, begging for her to do the right thing. Rika was in a corner scared, but Bernkastel held her close and nurtured her, she was as well part of her, there was no need to scare her, she could even take the light at times, after all she liked her friends and said friends were worth having. She even tried to reach the emperor, but prescience does not work that way, even Bernkastel who has had said abilities for very long did not fully understand them. She could see him, clear as day, but he could not see her. The one who could see her, was the son, Leto II, he was there, staring back at her with a mixture of anger and fear. She realized it then, Muad’Dib was the Kwizats Haderach, but he was not perfect as one, he had that blind spot, a weakness that his conspirators used. Bernkastel could see them, planning their own doom, her success. What an easy game this was, there were many players. Bernkastel bit her finger, she was walking to another water container, another maker could be drowned in there, infecting that water, bringing the destruction of the Fremen from their own stress.
Editorial 