With both Schwangyu and Patrin dead, there was the smell of conspiracy around the Gammu events, Could Teg be someone planted long ago by the Sisterhood's enemies? Impossible! His own family was proof against such doubts. Teg's daughter at the family home was as mystified as anyone.
Three months now and not a word.
Caution. She had warned Teg to exercise the utmost caution in protecting the ghola. Teg had seen the great danger on Gammu. Schwangyu's last reports made that clear.
Where could Teg and Lucilla have taken the ghola?
Where had they acquired a no-ship? Conspiracy?
Taraza's mind kept circling around her deep suspicions. Was it Odrade's doing? Then who conspired with Odrade? Lucilla? Odrade and Lucilla had never met before that brief encounter on Gammu. Or had they? Who bent close to Odrade and breathed a mutual air weighted with whispers? Odrade gave no sign, but what proof was that? Lucilla's loyalty had never been doubted. They both functioned perfectly as assigned. But so would conspirators.
Facts! Taraza hungered for facts. The bed rustled beneath her and her sense-insulation collapsed, shattered by worries as much as by the sound of her own movements. Resignedly, Taraza once more composed herself for relaxation.
Relaxation and then sleep.
Ships from the Scattering flitted through Taraza's fatigue-fogged imagination. Lost Ones returned in their uncounted no-ships. Was that where Teg found a ship? This possibility was being explored as quietly as they could on Gammu and elsewhere. She tried counting imaginary ships but they refused to proceed in the orderly fashion required for sleep induction. Taraza came alert without moving on her cot.
Her deepest mind was trying to reveal something. Fatigue had blocked that path of communication but now - she sat up fully awake.
The Tleilaxu had been dealing with people returned from the Scattering. With these whorish Honored Mattes and with returned Bene Tleilax as well. Taraza sensed a single design behind events. The Lost Ones did not return out of simple curiosity about their roots. The gregarious desire to reunite all of humankind was not enough in itself to bring them back. The Honored Matres clearly came with dreams of conquest.
But what if the Tleilaxu sent out in the Scattering had not carried with them the secret of the axlotl tanks? What then? Melange. The orange-eyed whores obviously used an inadequate substitute. The people of the Scattering might not have solved the mystery of the Tleilaxu tanks. They would know about axlotl tanks and try to recreate them. But if they failed - melange!
She began to explore this projection.
The Lost Ones ran out of the true melange their ancestors took into the Scattering. What sources did they have then? The worms of Rakis and the original Bene Tleilax. The whores would not dare reveal their true interest. Their ancestors believed that the worms could not be transplanted. Was it possible the Lost Ones had found a suitable planet for the worms? Of course it was possible. They might begin bargaining with the Tleilaxu as a diversion. Rakis would be their real target. Or the reverse could be true.
Transportable wealth.
She had seen Teg's reports on the wealth being accumulated on Gammu. Some among the ones returning had coinages and other negotiable chips. That much was plain from the banking activities.
What greater currency was there, though, than the spice?
Wealth. That was it, of course. And whatever the chips, the bargaining had begun.
Taraza grew aware of voices outside her door. The acolyte Sleep-Guard was arguing with someone. The voices were low but Taraza heard enough to bring her into full alert.
"She left a wake-up for late morning," the Sleep-Guard protested.
Someone else whispered: "She said she was to be told the moment I returned."
"I tell you she is very tired. She needs -"
"She needs to be obeyed! Tell her I'm back!"
Taraza sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the cot. Her feet found the floor. Gods! How her knees ached. It pained her, too, that she could not place the intruding whisper, the person arguing with her guard.
Whose return did I... Burzmali!
"I'm awake," Taraza called.
Her door opened and the Sleep-Guard leaned in. "Mother Superior, Burzmali has returned from Gammu."
"Send him in at once!" Taraza activated a single glowglobe at the head of her cot. Its yellow light washed away the room's darkness.
Burzmali entered and closed the door behind him. Without being told. he touched the sound-insulation switch on the door and all outside noises vanished.
Privacy? It was bad news then.
She looked up at Burzmali. He was a short, slender fellow with a sharply triangular face narrowing to a thin chin. Blond hair swept over a high forehead. His widely spaced green eyes were alert and watchful. He looked far too young for the responsibilities of a Bashar, but then Teg had looked even younger at Arbelough. We are getting old, damn it. She forced herself to relax and place her trust in the fact that Teg had trained this man and expressed full confidence in him.
"Tell me the bad news," Taraza said.
Burzmali cleared his throat. "Still no sign of the Bashar and his party on Gammu, Mother Superior." He had a heavy, masculine voice.
And that's not the worst of it, Taraza thought. She saw the clear signs of Burzmali's nervousness.
"Let's have it all," she ordered. "Obviously, you have completed your examination of the Keep's ruins."
"No survivors," he said. "The attackers were thorough."
"Tleilaxu?"
"Possible."
"You have doubts?"
"The attackers used that new Ixian explosive, 12-Uri. I... I think it may have been used to mislead us. There were mechanical brain-probe holes in Schwangyu's skull, too."