Magi Sabiyya: Magical Girls of Dune VI

Being Meguca is suffering

Fish speaker proberb

Leto’s vision had darkened, there was a bit of light at the end but the how was entirely obscure. At this moment in the way to his citadel there were hidden two Bene Gesserit. Homura had not expected Madoka to drink the water of life, she had it in her pocket this whole time.

Madoka stared at Ghanima’s body, if there was any chance to return things had changed now, they had killed the Empress and her concubine. Madoka pulled out the vial from her pocket, she had been keeping it from the start, this lack of decision had messed with her plans for long enough.

This was her plan, it had to be complete then.

Madoka drank the entire vial. Homura rushed to catch the bottle but it was too late, she could only catch Madoka as her consciousness started to unfold. The catalysis happened almost immediately, every mind in her genetic memory jumped out as if released from a cage the moment the spice entered her body.

Homura knew now there was nothing to do, in her vision she could see a white path covering the blood soaked golden one. A tall angelic figure loomed over humanity as it died slowly, not starvation, not war, slow acceptance. Only the blood of the Atreides soaked this path, not the blood of millions.

Madoka the martyr who will release the world from the God Emperor. Every voice took a hold of her body, the scream held more than one tone as consciousnesses were forced to merge, this was different from other awakenings, the memories stayed somewhere else, a council of sorts. Madoka was susceptible to those memories, spice would empower them to near abomination.

Madoka rose, she smiled at Homura, her expression was back at normal, it had been fast, too fast. Inside of her mind a million arrows were shot, Madoka had instead eaten all those personalities, engulfed them and forced them into her cells.

“The worm awaits for us” Madoka said “Do you trust me?”

Homura nodded and took Madoka’s hand.

At this point time had passed, but it didn’t matter. Homura still had a lasgun on hand, and she was crazy enough to not have any survival instinct. At this point Madoka’s voice rang in their ears, she was not like Leto, a figure of greatness they could bow to.

Madoka was no different, she had taken a bow on display from one of the rooms. With Homura nobody was willing to wear a shield, Madoka did not give them any chance to even get close. They arrived at the throne room, blood covered those who were trying to stop bloodshed.

Sayaka and Kyouko stood in front of him, willing to protect this tyrant, after all he was the key for humanity’s safety. Leto’s golden path had almost vanished from his view.

Desperation crept into his mind. Madoka had already turned her shield on, she knew that no amount of fighting would end this, it had to be here, it had to be decisive.

Though why had their genes be discarded for the Kwisatz Haderach?

“I guess she is as invisible to you as she is to me. How do you know what will happen?” Leto forced his voice to be calm, this was the last bit of control he had.

“I trust her” Madoka said “I planned more than she knows, I had to put myself in danger, yet I knew Homura would be here for me. Not prescience, just trust”

This message was something Leto already imagined, but she had answered, they were having doubts. This was why their lineages were not considered. It was love, not like the one where Lady Jessica decided to birth a son for her husband. It was closer to Lady Jessica willing to blow up Arrakeen the moment Duke Leto had passed. They loved each other more than they loved humanity, more than they loved their plans. This was why they had waited, when waiting even a second meant Leto could do something to stop them.

He could do something.

“Perhaps you have demonstrated your skill as warriors. I need that for myself, yet my presence will change your plans” Leto laughed, he was terrified but he had to make it seem like he had planned this. He was blind to these two. Homura hid very well and Madoka obscured her vision, she was even worse than Alia, she was worse than her father.

“If you’d prefer I could send you to Salusa Secundus, train an army of women there. You are free to do as you please in the planet, I trust you” Leto smiled “I shall keep your friends here as my bodyguards. Now that water is plenty they will be my fish. They speak for me, my fish speakers” He laughed.

Homura still held up her lasgun, but her finger was no longer in the trigger. Madoka could still see her white path, but her way ended here, the Golden Path took them to those dreams in Salusa Secundus. Leto himself was offering that planet for them to rule. Madoka could not see the fear, but she knew he was afraid, he was appeasing.

Madoka turned off her shield. She knelt and started to cry, she wanted to save everyone in the Golden Path. But she couldn’t bring herself to end the happy future she had. Homura would do it if she asked, but she clearly was tempted as well. Homura in fact was willing to end humanity as a whole because Madoka had asked her to.

Leto could now see his path again, so this was it. Madoka didn’t want to be selfish, but she also knew what both paths entailed. She was forcing herself to follow the white path, painless. Perhaps seeing her friends on his side was what chipped the armor, perhaps it was not her decision to make.

It was not Leto’s decision either, but he had put that burden on himself, he would happily take Madoka’s burden. She was allowed to be happy, she hated that she loved the idea.

With time Madoka and Homura became the basis for what Salusa Secundus became, for what the fish speakers became. Madoka looked and acted friendly, but her prescience made her as aware as the Emperor himself, she knew what would come after, she knew what to prepare for, Arafel was a threat in her eyes.

Homura at least got a happy ending

Magi Sabiyya: Magical Girls of Dune V

I won’t forget the promise we made
I’ll close my eyes and ascertain it
Shaking off the darkness that closed in on me

I advance on

When can I see again here
The future that I lost?

Akemi Homura- Collection of personal chants

Farad’n at least had the decency of a quick death, Homura used the sword just as a distraction, when he noticed the grenade on his belt it was already too late, the shield enclosed most of the explosion, this would be considered a dishonorable way to end one’s enemy, Homura considered leaving things to fate or pride to be the true dishonor.

Ghanima lacked a similar fate, Fremen do not give up even when wounded, Madoka at first tried to incapacitate her. Ghanima had trained under Duncan Idaho, but only under Duncan Idaho, Madoka had trained under several Ginaz battle masters, it was like fighting a Duncan that did not hold back.

Madoka in the end did not end it, Homura had pierced the shield with her pistol and delivered the coup de grace.

On yet another entrance of the Citadel Kyouko and Sayaka were standing before a fully armed Duncan Idaho. His metallic eyes reflecting back Sayaka’s own fearful face. She expected soldiers but not the Weapons master of House Atreides.

“We can take him” Sayaka said more in question than a statement.

Kyouko scratched the ground with her spear “Of course”

Duncan bowed “I shouldn’t allow you to tarnish your honor in such an unfair match”

Kyouko shrugged “Of course, 2 on 2, as it should be”

Sayaka shivered, she feared this would happen, it seemed Kyouko was more of a Ginaz fighter than a Reverend Mother.

Out from the corner came out Duncan’s support, with a spear in hand, her metallic eyes with a warm expression. Now Kyouko started to shake, this was Mami, a ghola of her.

“The God Emperor was expecting you” Duncan said with a smile “Awakening her was surprisingly difficult, turns out she was only afraid of her own death”

Mami sighed “I asked you to keep that a secret”

“I WAS EXPECTING GURNEY HALLECK!” Kyouko yelled from sheer shock.

Sayaka instead screamed and attacked Duncan right away, he barely had time to activate his shield, Sayaka was fighting without one which made it easy for Duncan to slid an artery below her armpit.

This didn’t stop Sayaka, she continued for long enough for Duncan to see that the wound had healed, her body didn’t seem to be tired while his was starting to ache, after all actual close quarters combat lasts for an extended period of time, it is a short game.

Sayaka’s sword broke though she managed to deactivate Duncan’s shield with the broken blade, she shook it and slowly the sword started to grow again to full size. Duncan’s muscles were screaming, no wound he had done lasted on Sayaka, she wasn’t trying to win but to tire him out.

Mami stared at the fight “Kull wahad!”

“Tleilaxu stuff… I thought you’d knew about this” Kyouko extended her hand “Let’s call it a draw?”

Mami nodded “Sure” she had trained Kyouko, she knew what kind of demon Kyouko would be if actually fighting. Perhaps this was why the Emperor had requested for a Ghola of this Bene Gesserit, they’d listen to her.

“Explain it like I’m dumb” Kyouko said, at this point Sayaka was just toying with Duncan whose hits no longer had any strength to them.

“Leto II wants to ensure humanity keeps on living, it’s not exactly a painless process. Madoka and Homura are here to stop it. Walpurgis was just a pawn in Madoka’s game so she could obtain something, what, we don’t know yet, she’s invisible to the Emperor”

Kyouko tossed her spear at Sayaka’s feet “Humanity lives but suffers, or we die a slow death?”

Sayaka frowned “We live of course, everything takes effort!” She placed her blade next to Duncan’s neck.

“We are on the same side then” Mami said “Madoka wants exactly the opposite”

Sayaka looked at Duncan, she wouldn’t trust this Atreides man, but Mami spoke no lie, this was the Mami they knew, a face dancer or an unawakened ghola would be easy to dismiss, Mami had always been their mentor, she always knew better.

Duncan fell on the ground sweating “I… I will catch you in a minute”

Kyouko shrugged, she had held back for this guy, not for her, well Duncan had not really tried to kill her, he could have gone for the neck instead of the arm, it wouldn’t have made a difference for Sayaka, though it would have made a difference for Duncan, Leto would soon need another Ghola if he wanted to keep that guy in his employment.

They were given a new set of clothes, which both denied, though Kyouko took the food, sweetmeats made with ground up pistachios and spice.

Magi Sabiyya: Magical Girls of Dune IV

Someday the light of love that you will share in your eyes
Will transcend time
Surely it will break one of the fleeting dreams
Rushing towards destruction

Casting aside hesitation
What is it that you desire?

Kaname Madoka -Magia Prana Bindu

Bene Gesserit assassins usually are what remains of the acolytes. Those whose results are not satisfactory to be archivists, truthsayers or marry into the Landsraad. Killing is not exactly difficult for a well trained Bene Gesserit. Though those who actually have training to kill, on top of the skills taught by the sisterhood, they end up working with Reverend Mother Bella in building QB.

Homura joined knowing she’d end up here, after all she had dreamed it. She also knew mentioning her dreams would only make the sisterhood assign her somewhere else. Prescience is a rare trait in the sisterhood, that is more a Guild type of thing.

The Atreides were all prescient, this is what made them terrifying, but other than that the sisterhood had few seers. Homura was a trained Sardaukar, not exactly bad for other tasks but the sisterhood could not waste the training of a soldier that way.

Homura was already a Reverend Mother when she joined, her prescience blown wide open, and she knew this was the place to be. The main reason was an obsession over another sister.

Kaname Madoka, she had requested to be here, yet another prescient sister, not a Reverend Mother yet but her potential was a match for St Alia of the Knife, this also terrified them. Would Madoka emerge a savior or a witch?

Homura did not know the answer either. Homura didn’t know Madoka’s face nor who she was she just knew here was the place to be, that Homura would be home here. Madoka was indeed it, she also had come here expecting something.

Madoka spoke of an old tale, the Wizard of Oz standing at the end of the yellow path, yet he is a liar and the path is full of suffering, the witches hid in fear of his gaze. Madoka had the strong belief that whoever wrote that had no idea his message had a hint of truth, prescience in old Terra, not like a legend but something that was just discovered to be a prophecy. The world was full of such things.

Madoka would believe her insane, but she had seen it, she had seen hints of it. Homura would not let her see the whole thing, she was afraid, at that point she saw only darkness. Madoka would trust Homura with her life, she had in several occasions.

Sayaka and Kyouko were less strange. Sayaka was in an arranged marriage with a musician that would play for House Corrino, the Jihad happened, the man married someone else and Sayaka had given up her humanity to become something closer to a face dancer.

Tleilaxu had tried before, all subjects developed cancers and died a painful death, their last attempt was with Sayaka, if a Reverend Mother came out of it unscathed it meant the process was unfit for anyone but Reverend Mothers, only they had the proper body control to keep the change stable. Sayaka being a success proved the efforts of the Tleilaxu were futile, the only way to attain immortality was through cloning.

Kyouko lost everything to the Jihad, the daughter of a priest in Ginaz, he was among the first to fall, he hated the Bene Gesserit and outright called Emperor Muad’Dib an abomination of nature, the proof that the sisterhood were seeking the end of civilization as they knew it. He called his wife and child witches, infiltrated agents to skew his religion, they were infiltrated indeed, but they were there to make sure others heard his message, slip bits of the missionaria protectiva in his discourse.

Kyouko never saw the Jihad as a curse, in fact it released her from a duty she heavily disliked.

She didn’t like the job as assassin either. In the end she left in her last assignment, fulfilled it but she did not return for a new one. Bella knew Kyouko would remain in Arrakis, she needed a Reverend Mother with no sense of self preservation to retrieve her, that was Sayaka.

Homura stood in the hall, pistol in her right hand and blade in her left. Sardaukar were trained from birth in their non-dominant hand, the weirding way of the Bene Gesserit basically made her ambidextrous. Madoka hid behind her, their shields produced a faint ozone smell.

In front of them yet another Sardaukar, just like Homura his uniform was changed, it held the Hawk of the Atreides, his robe was a jubba cloak, a fremen robe. Homura in the other hand wore the dark cloak of the Reverend Mother, her uniform bore a Bene Gesserit symbol.

Farad’n Corrino, yet another semi-prescient of the whole Kwisatz Haderach program, his hands sweating, every future in his eyes ended the same way, a dark shadow looming over Leto’s Golden path. A witch in a field of lillies holding a scythe.

“I’ll deal with the one behind” Ghanima said holding her crysknife, she switched on her shield.

Farad’n unsheathed his own ceramic blade, he could tell Ghanima how this was a bad idea, how the one behind was worse than the lillie witch, yet she probably knew already.

Magi Sabiyya: Magical Girls of Dune III

Neko Miko Reimu ai shiteru
Neko Miko Reimu nani shiteru
Neko Miko Reimu shuran yurari
Neko Miko Reimu muron furari

Ginaz battle chant

Kyouko stared at Sayaka while she mended her clothes, it was not the first time she saw someone heal quickly but not this quickly.

Sayaka put on her robe “Tleilaxu did something at the request of Reverend Mother Bella, I cannot have children. I still choose to age”

Kyouko smiled as she took a spiced date and ate it “Of course the Tleilaxu did something and no Reverend Mother would allow that to enter the genepool. A face dancer and a Reverend Mother, Bella really is desperate”

Sayaka unsheathed her sword, stared at its reflection “After the Rossak pain wounds stopped mattering, you know, nothing compares to it. I was to marry, he played the violin”

“The Zensunni Jihad?” Kyouko asked in a low voice

Sayaka laughed, it was forced, painful “I wish, a tragedy would sound better. He married someone else, after I gave myself to the Tleilaxu for their experiments. He had lost a hand, the Tleilaxu gave him a new one, I never told him I did it. I even wonder why I’m telling you this. I’m supposed to be better, I am Bene Gesserit!”

“We are still women” Kyouko ate another date, she offered one to Sayaka.

Sayaka took it, took a small nibble of it.

“Though, is this pain for the loss of the idea of the life you’d have? Or for him specifically?” Kyouko noticed pain in Sayaka’s story, but the pain was not when she mentioned him, the pain was when she mentioned someone else, Kyouko was observant enough to notice how Sayaka stared at her, quite normal for some Bene Gesserit, many of which never even considered breeding with men.

Sayaka blushed, she now considered the idea of having mended her clothes in another room. “Are you hitting on me?!”

Kyouko chuckled “So our plan is to storm the citadel?”

Sayaka shrugged “Homura just sent a quick transmission, I barely speak Sardau. Any ideas?”

The Sardaukar receiver was still strange to Kyouko, it basically received a message in morse code and printed it in a small iron needle. Kyouko stared at the markings, Homura had not encrypted it, but she used a lot of slang.

Kyouko shrugged “I thought you knew her better”

“I know only what Madoka tells me about her, though it sounds like an entirely different person” Sayaka rested against her chair “Any ideas then?”

Kyouko nodded “In a month there will be a large pilgrimage for the death of Muad’Dib, security will be tight but we can enter the citadel then”

Sayaka had expected more pushback from Kyouko, though she was a far better Reverend Mother than herself, she was quick to realize the trouble they were in, the odd idea of following orders from Homura’s prescience, it appeared to make no sense, she had saved Madoka putting her life at risk.

Homura’s motifs always seemed strange, in fact she always stopped Madoka from drinking the poison, perhaps she knew Madoka’s potential, she couldn’t be wasted to the Rossak poison. They needed the water of life. Perhaps this is what they needed to do, probably Kyouko had already come to the same conclusion.

Sayaka sheathed her sword “We have little time, we need little time”

Magi Sabiyya: Magical Girls of Dune II

Hondara handara tsukadoroba

Leave me alone if you want to survive

I’ll burn you and crush you

Survival of the fittest for generations to come

Salusan lullaby

Madoka woke up gently to the flap of the ‘topher, there was no muzzle, no handcuffs, somehow Homura always ended up saving her right in time, she had been captured and sedated but she was safe now.

“Not yet” Homura said

“Telepathy?!” Madoka cleared her head, she started thinking of nursery rimes.

“I just knew what you’d ask” Homura landed the ‘topher “We need to leave”

“Back to Wallach?” Madoka was still a bit hazy, the men of Walpurgis had used a strong dose of sedative knowing how quickly Bene Gesserits metabolized them.

“Arrakis” Madoka wondered why they’d be going to the Imperial capital, what was she thinking?

Homura checked her pockets, Madoka never fully knew how well armed she was, even for a Salusan, Homura always overprepared. Homura was trained to become Sardaukar, then a few months before she’d formally join the army the Padisha Emperor was overthrown, instead she got recruited by the sisterhood.

Madoka noticed what Homura was muttering.

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

She was just as nervous as when they met for the first time. She has mastered hiding her emotions but she had not mastered her emotions yet, perhaps she never would, at this point Homura had risked too much.

Madoka had dreams, she knew they could become reality, dreams where right then and there they would go to a different place, Salusa Secundus, where they’d find a nice house in the jungle and hunt for their food together. Dune was also in her dreams, the harsh sands of Arrakis, this was a different possibility. Homura perhaps saw the same images, perhaps she had seen a different dream.

Arrakis right away brought a bad taste to Madoka’s mouth, Arrakeen was still the only city with a port, the Emperor made it this way so he’d know who came in or who didn’t. Madoka shuffled a deck of cards she kept in her pocket, a cat tarot, a replica of a relic from old terra. Kitty White was a symbol of calmness, of an idyllic future, so Madoka preferred to use that old deck instead of the Dune tarot.

The devil, the king of cups, the king of swords, the king of pentacles, the king of wands. “Sayaka and Kyouko are here too” Madoka didn’t need to think much on who the devil was, his palace was right there.

“This is what Walpurgis wanted” Madoka muttered “Four bene Gesserit assassins trying to dispose of the Emperor”

Homura sighed “Every other future ends with her, unless we go directly to the Tyrant. We need to prepare Madoka”

Madoka shook her head “I doubt weapons will make any difference”

“We are prescient, we have that advantage” Homura rested in the shade, she was starting to feel her body losing too much water.

“We need to leave the open quickly” Madoka didn’t want to say a thing but if the desert alone could kill them what chance they stood against Leto II Atreides?

Homura nodded, they walked through the streets of Arrakeen until they reached a grilled meat place, Homura knocked on the backdoor with a strange rhythm, the door opened right away, at the other side a guy who was clearly washing dishes with sand, he stared at the two women in front of him, barely adults.

“You want the water?” The man said in Sardau

Homura replied almost instantly “Tradition dictates we do”

The man stepped aside and let them in. The guy cleaning the dishes, the one cooking and the one cutting meat were too corpulent to be common folk, these clearly were former Sardaukar who had been left in the planet after the fall of House Corrino.

“Bene Gesserit has Sardaukar now?” the butcher placed his knife on the board and served some raw meat on a plate, he added some salt and spice and mixed it with chopsticks.

Homura took the plate and ate a piece of meat, she handed the plate to Madoka who forced herself to do the same. “My options were mercenary work or the Bene Gesserit, at least now I have sisters”

The butcher nodded “More honorable than cooking for a living” He laughed.

Their only allies, three old and rusty soldiers who had lost a battle long ago. Their bodies had gone fat, their muscles had atrophied, yet they knew Arrakis, they survived it in their own way. Madoka somehow knew to trust these people, after all societies survive harsh planets when they have a strong sense of community and religion. Homura’s own strength came from this very sense of community, she would die for Madoka just like these men would die to protect them.

Madoka began to feel the effects of the spice in her body, a golden highway covered in blood, forcing humanity to continue through pain, Homura was there to cut down the way and allow humanity to die peacefully. A slow yet comforting end, a nice sleep unlike the other where humanity fought like a wounded animal.

Homura was given a small box, a lasgun pistol and a rifle, five energy cartridges, smoke grenades, shields and slow pellet throwers. She took out the throwing knives from her sleeves and instead placed the grenades there. They didn’t ask Homura what she was planning, they had learned that asking too many questions slowed things down, this way they also lacked the knowledge of the plan to truthsayers.

Madoka saw herself cleaning the blood off from the road, the blood itself was the road. Homura stood over protecting her, lasgun in hand. Somehow Madoka wished more for the future in which they eloped to Salusa Secundus.

Magi Sabiyya: Magical Girls of Dune I

Frogs go mlem mlem

Snakes go pbbppbpthpbthppth

Thanks for coming folks

Ginaz child song

Sayaka found the restaurant in a rundown neighborhood of Arrakis, this was far enough from the shrine of Leto, from Leto II’s citadel and construction projects. Inside the smell of spice attacked her nostrils, out of Arrakis spice would be used very sparingly in food, in Arrakis spice was rather common for food, Fremen cuisine had such large amounts of spice one had to remain grounded to reality itself to stay sane.

She sat at one of the tables, Sayaka took a date from a plate over the table, she found even this was spiced. Courtesy over a table was a sure sign that the owner of the establishment was not Arrakian, they had lived through such scarcity that no Arrakis business would give something for free unless it was charity.

Sayaka looked around, the waitress looked back, she bobbed her head once, Sayaka nodded. A few moments later Sayaka had a flat bread wrapping some spiced meat, it looked like a cigar.

“Can I order something else?” Sayaka asked to the waitress.

She smiled and chuckled “Burritos, spice beer and water, that’s all I sell”

Sayaka sighed and took a bite “I’ll have some water”

“That you’d need to pay upfront, 100 solaris for a glass” The waitress waved at a Fremen who had just sat down.

“What?! 100 for water?! How much is the food?!”

The waitress sighed “1 for a burrito 2 for a beer”

“How does that make any sense?! For all I knew I could distill the beer and drink that water”

The waitress shook her head “You have no idea how spice beer is made right? Seriously is that who they send for me? I was expecting more!” The waitress crossed her arms.

Now Sayaka started to notice a few things, this waitress looked too calm for such an environment, not out of apathy, she was aware of how many of her patrons were armed, she had received Sayaka as an important guest.

Sayaka noticed the shield generator at the waitress’ sleeve, even considering to attack would put this woman on edge. Sayaka instead started to eat “Bella knew you’d run if anyone else came”

The waitress relaxed “I’ll bring you a beer… I’ll tell you how it’s made after you eat”

Sayaka imagined something like the old processes to make sake, mikos chewing rice. The spice didn’t help. The image and the spice mixed in her head, she was aware the shrine was not there, but she could still see it. The blessing of the swords, this was not a genetic memory, this was not enough spice.

Sayaka was not the miko, her mother had forced Sayaka’s hand into a box that made her feel pain, in exchange she received a sword, she would have received it either way, but Sayaka would have been buried with it if she jerked away from the box.

Ginaz had adapted to the Bene Gesserit rather well, after all many forgotten techniques for weapons were perfectly remembered by Reverend Mothers who had actual memories from the times of old Terra. Sayaka’s sword was concealed under her robe, this was probably something this waitress had noticed, it was easy to hide it for the naked eye, not to another Bene Gesserit.

Sayaka waited until the restaurant was empty, it required hours but patience is a trait every member of the sisterhood had to learn. She left the solaris for her food over the table, then unsheathed her sword.

The waitress got out of the kitchen holding a spear. This was why this waitress wouldn’t run, it would be dishonorable to run from combat. Reverend Mother Bella knew that it required someone brash like Sayaka.

“Still the food is too cheap, and nobody here buys water” Sayaka’s sword had a slight blue tinge, ceramic, very light.

The waitress bowed “There are other ways to make money in Arrakis. The tyrant pays his bounties well”

“Miki Sayaka” She bowed, if two battlemasters of Ginaz fought it was customary to give their names, of course in a war nobody did, but in instances like this they followed tradition.

The waitress attacked, Sayaka moved out of the way though the spear detached into different segments linked with chain, the momentum hit Sayaka with the edge of the blade cutting deep into her chest.

“Sakura Kyouko” the spear became solid once more.

Sayaka started getting up, Kyouko was not expecting her to get up “Don’t push yourself, we can fight again when you are better”

Sayaka though was already getting better, the gash was quickly closing, until nothing remained.

Kyouko took a step back and readied herself. She wondered what monstrosity had the Tleilaxu done to Sayaka.

Kyouko’s spear wrapped around the sword, a tug was enough to break it, though just like Sayaka the blade fixed itself, it turned liquid and quickly made a new one. Kyouko dropped her spear, Sayaka stopped.

“Geez! What lab did you escape from?!” Kyouko smiled as Sayaka sheathed her blade again, then picked up the pieces that had broken, they had turned soft and gooey, Sayaka put them somewhere under her cape.

“Bella needs you. One of our acolytes got kidnapped by Count Walpurgis”

Kyouko picked up her spear and rested it on her shoulders “Send Mami then, she has you and she has Mami”

“Unless you want to wait for a ghola, an abomination named Charlotta took her out” Sayaka sighed “Or we wait until her daughter grows up and awaken those memories, but I doubt we have the time”

MAidS I: Pencil lead and poor design

Media stared out to earth, the colors were surprisingly different from a sunrise down on earth. She had smuggled a whole crate of mechanical pencil lead, well in fact it was pure graphite but no scanners would pick up anything strange. Planning rarely went the way one thought, Media knew this too well, she stopped planning a few weeks after actually being in the field.

Patience is useful, plans are not, even if the plan seems to work there is always a better way to do it. Americans were never really good at making AI, they did great semiconductors but lousy code, their Engineers barely understood mathematics. Media knew enough to know she didn’t know anything, which was more than the American engineers.

“Entirely artificial” A voice rang in her mind, a signal sent through a needle implant in her nerve, similar to an earpiece, undetectable conductive organic polymer, undetectable and very useful.

“Thanks baba” Media thought, yet another implant sent the signal back, the ping was slow in space, but then again patience was needed. Soviet code did not rely on AI, it was Intelligence but rather it came from imaging of a brain. The government gave everyone the option of uploading their mind into a main server. Baba was now Media’s eye on the Matrix, right now she had confirmed the Americans had not yet developed something entirely from nothing.

Sabotage, of course, then again creating AI’s was forbidden to them after the Y2K fiasco, it had become entirely independent thanks to a bug and SHRUB had tried to erase the middle east in a single nuclear barrage. It was an informatic war, PAH (pronounced ran), the AI in charge of the Jakumo institute’s supercomputer was the one to notice it and end SHRUB’s attempt.

Don’t do plans and wait. Though the Luna base looked entirely different. Why were the Americans so hateful of the Mexicans but still use their language even for their lunar bases? Hard to be racist when your immigrants enter Mexico and become refugees, some adults don’t even know how to read, that always impressed Media, one had to pay for basic human rights.

Well it was a good thing her English had been trained to sound neutral, even a bit New Yorker, nobody questioned the rudeness, it made them commit mistakes, many times her passport had glaring errors but fear made customs agents skim through it. They were watchful of men and brownish people, Media was exactly what they didn’t expect and hence she was assigned to look at this new Lunar supercomputer.

Patience, Media had entered MIT with forged credentials, Baba had made sure they checked against the database. Actually learn Computer Engineering, they had great logic but was primitive compared to the brain synapses, their semiconductors made up for it in speed.

Wait for the second semester and take a field trip to Luna base. Once inside Media had to find a way into the server and leave the payload, perhaps even leave evidence of young Maria being caught in the blast, the Americans wouldn’t even know Media was there.

“Scheduled visit to the server room. They sell tickets to the base, your alias is GR3EN, tomorrow morning. Take care” that last bit was slightly lost, they were now in jammer range. They sell tickets to military bases? Probably far away from the compound.

Not really, the Luna base was far different from how Media imagined it. She now understood why it was so hard to infiltrate it this time. Yet so easy once she passed the filter, the filter in question was a far guy dressed in a green uniform looking at her passport and let her pass.

They did not let Mark, the buff, blonde, coreback of the team enter, he looked Russian, he had as much understanding of Russian as Media did of Greek, yet they deemed him Russian looking because he looked too much like a villain from an 80’s movie.

The customs agent didn’t even bother to check Media’s bags, no clothes no books no cameras, everything was packed with graphite.

The next day nobody questioned when she came with her bags, they assumed the New Yorker was used to Hotel clerks stealing bags, they made fun of her, then agreed that the Luna base was weird now. There were red banners everywhere and many wore red caps over their head, LUNA, they said, Media didn’t bother to ask, asking too much would give her away.

During the lunch break she managed to break out of the group and some wet toilet paper placed in a good spot caused the lights to go out in the sector for a moment. The failure was simple, before the engineers could find it she had to move.

The server room was not exactly well guarded either. Almost like these people wanted it to die. Media ran into a couple of customs agents, they waved at her “Hey guys” Media said in a Californian accent “I need like, go real bad. I need to change like right now”

The guys pointed at the nearest bathroom, she rushed to it, then waited for the guys to get distracted to slowly walk into the main server room.

TRIUMPH in big gold letters set over a white slab of marble. Media kicked her handbag at the biggest terminal she could find, graphite dust began to scatter into the air, the terminal short circuited, an alarm began blaring.

The engineers looked at Media with concern, she grabbed a pen and the closest engineer she could find. Their eyes went directly to the main server, it was right below the white marble plaque, she rolled her eyes, it was like these guys had no idea about this actual situation.

“Triumph has survived other assassination attem…” The words of the engineer Media was holding were stopped once she let go of him and tossed her big luggage at the server, everything went dark, a fire started to break out.

Media ran out, perhaps a bit of the server could survive, but TRIUMPH was as good as dead. The escape was as chaotic as she expected it, a downside of not really planning things, but Media went into these missions with the idea that she had lived a long enough life, she has, not for a soldier but for a person overall.

She found an emergency mask, she searched her pockets and put on gloves, she had come prepared for this. She was out in the void soon enough, the fire had eaten through some of the atmospheric layers.

“Baba, it’s done, covered in graphite” Using emergency mask and a makeshift space suit she had fashioned from duct tape from the store earlier today, a pair of leather gloves dipped in wax. Media kind of had a death wish, she was tired, she knew another one just like TRIUMPH could arise again, she knew this game would never be over, at least she could die a hero.

The shuttle arrived soon. Baba had a way of knowing what type of stunt Media would pull, probably Baba thought of how the most lethal way of doing the job would be, then go from that. The tape was ripping already, her skin itched all over, she could hear her heart.

The voices were familiar, she knew none of these people. Chinese, Media spoke enough Mandarin to know that they were surprised she was even alive, they thought this was a retrieval mission.

“Water” Media said the best she could, it was good enough because they neared a tube to her mouth, she took a sip and let it hang in her mouth.

“We will take you to doctor” one of them said to Media, he had a thick accent but his Russian was clear, strange, neither spoke each other’s language fully but they spoke enough.

Baba spoke again “Not today honey, this life is bad, feel for me”

Media sighed, she had no answer for it, perhaps Baba was right. Media saw her grandma grow old, she was there when she died and now a copy of her mind kept an eye on her. The government allowed good server space for her because of Media’s status as an intelligence agent.

Maybe it was time to stop seeing this as a prison, Media felt her body had not failed her yet, perhaps this was all a gift. Perhaps she should make a honey cake and eat it, she had not done that in quite a while. Baba loved honey cake and tea, Media had not thought when was the last time she had that.

Protected: 237

When the Sandworms Cry XII

The pieces had been gathered

The pieces had been lined up

Out opponent isn’t here yet. Perfect

—From “Book of Kings” Harkonnen Library.

The small rock formation could hardly be seen from a distance, though Satoko already expected it to be that way, hidden in plain sight. The way the Dune battle tactics were against the Harkonnen required the Fremen to have outposts in the middle of the desert, there had to be one near Arrakeen, one where Rika could actually walk to, and surely enough there it was. Satoko landed the ‘topher near the entrance, making sure not to land on sand, or else they would be calling a sandworm.

Mion and Shion were to wait outside, they had a heavy load of spice. Satoko walked in noticing the heavy pungent aroma of the water of life, concentrated spice essence, the smell alone began driving Satoko’s awareness to new places.

“You are not Rika” Satoko saw the witch sitting inside the cave.

Bernkastel began to laugh “It’s a miracle on its own! You know who I am”

Satoko sighed. There was always the risk of her coming back. She neared the witch inside the cave.

Benkastel signaled the floor “Drink! You are wasting your full potential as is! You know what you are. Atreides were bred to see the future, Harkonnens were mentats, even Abulurd, that old fool was hard to overcome, he was not trained as one, but you know he had plans within plans”

Satoko smirked “Stating the obvious, are we? If it is certain then I know it. I found you in the middle of the desert, I could tell your plan would work but there was a risk. How did you avoid getting killed by the Emperor?”

Bernkastel opened her eyes, Satoko wasn’t omniscient but she very much seemed like it. She knew I’d meet the Emperor in Arrakeen, or someone related to him. “He cannot see other prescient people, and our group was small enough for him not to care. Greater forces are against him”

“The right place at the right time” Satoko said, that was Rika’s style, she played such a dangerous game that to make it work it had to be a miracle, though Satoko helped, she knew which miracles were more certain. She bowed down and drank from the water of life, there was no way she could talk to Bernkastel, her own mind would be overcome soon enough.

The awareness exploded, like a computer finally making connections it had not seen before, the possibilities opened before her like a tree. This was not prescience Satoko couldn’t calculate what she did not see, but after the purification of the water of life, it seemed like it was prescience, a mentat of such capacity that she could tell the causes and effects of what she knew. Yes this was what the Bene Gesserit wanted out of the Harkonnen, Rika’s prescience along with this mental capability would indeed be a match for the Emperor himself, perhaps even more so, now that it was a fact that people like Rika was a blind spot to him.

Satoko could see the memories of past reverend mothers, even before times of the guild, times of old terra. Yes it was there where she could see it clear as day, Arafel, God’s judgement upon humanity, the destruction of earth… Old Terra, was their doing.

Tleilaxu came from old earth! Tleilaxu had engineered modern humans! Their technology was way more ancient than it seemed. There it was, the first Tleilaxu Master, she had those Harkonnen eyes and lips as well. She had destroyed her own sanity in exchange for higher brain function. It was her and her proto-face dancer that saved humanity from certain extinction. She even discovered the Holtmann field, lost during the destruction of Terra, only to be discovered again by humans ages in the future. Vier Dreissig, her bloodline moved forward to create what is today the Harkonnen, she did not have children after that, she did not share her blood with the Tleilaxu after their escape.

Dreissig not only found the Holtzman theorem first, she found its implications, not just a set of equations, but the entire backbone of it, the unified theory, the key to controlling the Holtzman Engine, or 8MS as Dreissig called it. Bene Gesserit had seen those numbers, after all Satoko was not the first in her bloodline to be a Reverend Mother, but she was the first who could understand what those numbers meant, she herself has toyed with those equations before finding a roadblock when the quantification of the small met the relativity of the large, all unified beautifully with the Dressig conversion, the conversion that unified all physics. Holtzman had probably come to the same results as Dreissig, but he did not publish everything, now Satoko understood why. Time and space unfolded, they were connected, they were both malleable!

The Furude were prescient even before the spice was a thing, even back on earth their prescience was there. It was that what allowed them to survive, then the proto-face dancer, a tiny person of unspecified gender, made an abomination on purpose so that it could operate an arm sized heighliner weapon. That technology remained with the Tleilaxu, they knew how it worked, Holtzmann reactors as small as they came. Yes a shield and a small laser could make a pocket sized fusion reactor. The Tleilaxu had the secret for cold fusion! Yet they chose to keep it to themselves, last time it was free for humans they were not prepared and brought down Arafel upon themselves.

Though Satoko had to focus on the now, this very facts were already known by Paul and subsequently his son and daughter. Two? Yes it has to be two of them. Rika was afraid of a Kwizats Haderach, and the only way for that to happen, if the Emperor was blind to her, was the son who saw her. It did not have any use to know this, they were meant to survive, they were meant to separate and branch off from humanity, this path was there for humans, but Paul was meant to force humanity upon that path, Rika willingly took it, proof of her prescience.

But there was the danger of Bernkastel taking the helm of the Golden Path, that couldn’t be, needless bloodshed would happen. Satoko launched towards Rika, she managed to dodge her friend, but Shion tackled her. Shion had come to help! Satoko held Rika’s head and touched her forehead with her own. Satoko’s memories poured in.

Satoko was there now, engulfing Bernkastel as a shadow, allowing Hanyuu to return to her place asides Rika. Bernkastel would remain as a threat yes, but now Satoko alone was there to hold her back. Rika opened her eyes and noticed the dark cave, the danger she had thought was now averted, Satoko did figure it out, Shion came to help. Yes their future was certain now.

They had no resistance; they could indeed take the empire. Why leave the planet when they could have their people all living as nobles? Rika could see time, she could find the miracles within her awareness, Satoko now understood the certainty of uncertainty, the way time and space were controlled to your own liking. Hanyuu was not a gift, she was a spy, the Tleilaxu had placed her there, they knew what hid in their genes, they knew how dangerous they truly were.

They had to move before Hanyuu was awakened by the Tleilaxu, the Emperor would soon be dead, Rika and Satoko both saw this, and they had to hurry.

When the Sandworms Cry XI

The most intricate thing to find in this world.

Is it a needle that you lost in the desert?

The most intricate thing to find in this world.

Is it a crow’s feather that you lost in the darkness of the night?

The most intricate thing to find in this world is,

Realizing your own erroneous contemplation.

—From “Shintosunni sutras IV” by Frederica Bernkastel

Where was Rika? Satoko wondered, Mion and Shion decided to go anyway, take the ‘topher and arrive at the place where the smugglers held the spice. It was getting too late, and if it took them longer to arrive, they wouldn’t be able to get the so much needed spice. She was supposed to be there, to help them negotiate and act as a truthsayer, she also had to give them a status report on the soldiers of Arrakeen, how tight would their security be, when and where to leave the planet. They would deal with that later, the time window to get the spice was narrowing.

Shion looked at the place where the exchange of spice would happen. The weariness in the eyes of the people around them. They know? But how… Rena and Keiichi would arrive entirely on their own, exchange the knives for the pellets. She looked at the Fremen around them, they were asking questions among themselves in hand language, they knew Bene Gesserit speak Chakobsa.

Once they opened the warehouse the smell of blood hit Shion’s nose, she turned to see Satoko. Rena! The negotiating did not work, and Rena had to do the killing. They probably had investigated us more than we give them credit for… No stab scars, all traumas from the edge of the sword, only a handful of people in the universe know how to do that and they know our swordsmaster does that too.

Ahmed the smuggling leader looked at them then back at the bodies piled up behind him “I must admit your plan was good, it could have worked but we are aware of what your demon servant can do”

They know of the Harkonnen war! Shion thought. Mion was scared, but she showed none of it “Rena does not attack unless my husband was threatened. You threaten our water and we will respond. The deal is off!” She turned around and began walking away, the group closed on them.

Ahmed walked in front of them “Your water belongs to us now”

Mion smiled, she looked at the man and his own soldiers “Back off or it’ll be worse for you! You have no idea what we are capable of” Not much really, Rika I hope you saw this coming or else we are dead.

“A House Minor? We had received worse threats from bigger houses. These men had fought the Sardaukar and come out victorious so have I, three witches do not scare us” He laughed in her face.

Mion did not move “Let it be then, you will regret it” In the distance a flash of light broke out, they were far away from Arrakeen if they weren’t, they would had gone blind. At the right place at the right time, just how Rika does it… Who set off the stone burners anyway? She sent us to the planet right in the middle of an insurrection! She continued waiting, the explosion finally making Ahmed flinch.

“Atomics!” He screamed

Mion winked “There are more where that came from. The Jihad was coming to us, so we decided to act first. Do not worry sir, we just want spice and nobody in this planet will ever hear of us again”

Ahmed signaled his man to lower their weapons. How mad is she? Using atomics for a negotiation. “Very well then, but Muad’Dib will come for you”

Mion looked at the men “What are you waiting for? Load the spice onto our ‘topher!” She crossed her arms and have a smug smile.

Shion couldn’t help it but chuckle. What a miracle this was, typical of Rika.

Satoko began thinking where the last place was where they saw Rika, she had to be near Arrakeen, and she was not in the city, she would know about the Stone Burners, Rika relied on them in her plan for their survival. Rock formations around Arrakeen, most of them Fremen settlements, or cave systems where the Atreides went to die. It only leaves a handful of places where she can be.