The Road To Dune by Frank Herbert

Author:Frank Herbert [Herbert, Frank]
Format: epub
Publisher: Frank Herbert
Published: 2010-03-24T18:01:50.945000+00:00

(Several short scenes from the opening of Dune) On the inner wall beneath the window was a loose stone that

could be pulled out to reveal a hiding place for the treasures of his boyhood�fishhooks, a roll of meta-twine, a rock shaped like a lizard, a colored picture of a space frigate left behind by a visitor from the mysterious Spacing Guild. Paul removed the stone and looked at the hidden end of it where he had carved with his cutterray: "Remem�ber Paul Atreides, age 15, Anno 72 of Shaddam IV." Slowly, Paul replaced the stone above his treasures and knew he would never remove it again. He returned to his bed, slipped under the covers. His emotion was sad excitement, and this puzzled him. He had been taught by his mother to study a puzzling emotion in the Bene Gesserit fashion. Paul looked within himself and saw that the finality of his goodbyes carried the sadness. The excitement came from the ad�venture and strangeness that lay ahead. PAUL slipped OUT of bed in his shorts, began dressing. "Is she your mother?" he asked. "That's a fool's question, Paul," Jessica said. She turned. "Reverend Mother is merely a title. I never knew my mother. Few Bene Gesserits of the schools ever do; you know that." Paul put on his jacket, buttoned it. "Shall I wear a shield?" Jessica stared at him. "A shield? Here in your home? What ever put that idea into . . ." "Why're you afraid?" he demanded. A wry smile tugged one corner of her mouth. "I trained you too well. I..." She took a deep breath. "I don't like this move to Arrakis. You know this decision was made over my every objection. But. . ." She shrugged. "We haven't time to dally here." She took his hand the way she had done when he was smaller, led him out into the hall toward her morning room. Paul sensed the oddness of her taking his hand, felt the perspiration in her palm and thought: She doesn't lie very well, either. Not for a Bene Gesserit she doesn't. It isn't Arrakis that has her afraid. paul turned back to the Reverend Mother; thinking of the ex�posed idea within this test: Human or animal? "If you live as long as I have lived you will still remember your fear and your pain and your hate," the old woman said. "Never deny it. That would be like denying part of yourself." "Would you have killed me?" he asked. "Suppose you answer that for yourself, young human." He studied the wrinkled face, the level eyes. "You would have done it," he said. "Believe it," she said. "Just as I would've killed your mother in her day. A human can kill what she ... he loves. Given necessity enough. And there's something always to remember, lad: A human recognizes orders of necessity that animals cannot even imagine." "I don't see this necessity," he said. "You will," she said. "You're human, and you will.

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