"What of Patrin?"
"Exactly as Schwangyu reported. He blew himself up in that decoy ship. They identified him from bits of two fingers and one intact eye. There was nothing left big enough to probe."
"But you have doubts! Get to them!"
"Schwangyu left a message that only we might read."
"In the wear marks on furniture?"
"Yes, Mother Superior, and -"
"Then she knew she would be attacked and had time to leave a message. I saw your earlier report on the devastation of the attack."
"It was quick and totally overpowering. The attackers did not try to take captives."
"What did she say?"
"Whores."
Taraza tried to contain her shock, although she had been expecting that word. The effort to remain calm almost drained her energies. This was very bad. Taraza permitted herself a deep sigh. Schwangyu's opposition had persisted to the end. But then, seeing disaster, she had made a proper decision. Knowing she would die without the opportunity to transfer her Memory Lives to another Reverend Mother, she had acted from the most basic loyalty. If you can do nothing else, arm your Sisters and frustrate the enemy.
So the Honored Matres have acted!
"Tell me about your search for the ghola," Taraza ordered.
"We were not the first searchers over that ground, Mother Superior. There was much additional burning of trees and rocks and underbrush."
"But it was a no-ship?"
"The marks of a no-ship."
Taraza nodded to herself. A silent message from Old Reliability?
"How closely did you examine the area?"
"I flew over it but on a routine trip from one place to another."
Taraza motioned Burzmali to a chair near the foot of her cot. "Sit down and relax. I want you to do some guessing for me."
Burzmali lowered himself carefully onto the chair. "Guessing?"
"You were his favorite student. I want you to imagine that you are Miles Teg. You know you must get the ghola out of the Keep. You do not place your full trust in anyone around you, not even in Lucilla. What will you do?"
"An unexpected thing, of course."
"Of course."
Burzmali rubbed his narrow chin. Presently, he said: "I trust Patrin. I trust him fully."
"All right, you and Patrin. What do you do?"
"Patrin is a native of Gammu."
"I have been wondering about that myself," she said.
Burzmali looked at the floor in front of him. "Patrin and I will make an emergency plan long before it is needed. I always prepare secondary ways of dealing with problems."
"Very good. Now - the plan. What do you do?"
"Why did Patrin kill himself?" Burzmali asked.
"You're sure that's what he did."
Chapter Eighteen
"You saw the reports. Schwangyu and several others were sure of it. I accept it. Patrin was loyal enough to do that for his Bashar."
"For you! You are Miles Teg now. What plan have you and Patrin concocted?"
"I would not deliberately send Patrin to certain death."
"Unless?"
"Patrin did that on his own. He might if the plan originated with him and not with... me. He might do it to protect me, to make sure no one discovered the plan."
"How could Patrin summon a no-ship without our learning of it?"
"Patrin was a Gammu native. His family goes back to the Giedi Prime days."
Taraza closed her eyes and turned her head away from Burzmali. So Burzmali followed the same suggestive tracks that she had been probing in her mind. We knew Patrin's origins. What was the significance of that Gammu association? Her mind refused to speculate. This was what came of allowing herself to become too tired! She looked once more at Burzmali.
"Did Patrin find a way to make secret contact with family and old friends?"
"We've explored every contact we could find."
"Depend on it; you haven't traced them all."
Burzmali shrugged. "Of course not. I have not acted on that assumption."
Taraza took a deep breath. "Go back to Gammu. Take with you as much help as our Security can spare. Tell Bellonda those are my orders. You must insinuate agents into every walk of life. Find out who Patrin knew. What of his surviving family? Friends? Winkle them out."
"That will cause a stir no matter how careful we are. Others will know."
"That cannot be helped. And Burzmali!"
He was on his feet. "Yes, Mother Superior?"
"The other searchers: You must stay ahead of them."
"May I use a Guild navigator?"
"No!"
"Then how -"
"Burzmali, what if Miles and Lucilla and our ghola are still on Gammu?"
"I've already told you that I do not accept the idea of their leaving in a no-ship!"
For a long silent period, Taraza studied the man standing at the foot of her cot. Trained by Miles Teg. The old Bashar's favorite student. What was Burzmali's trained instinct suggesting.
In a low voice, she prompted: "Yes?"
"Gammu was Giedi Prime, a Harkonnen place."
"What does that suggest to you?"
"They were rich, Mother Superior. Very rich."
"So?"
"Rich enough to accomplish the secret installation of a no-room... even of a large no-globe."
"There are no records! Ix has never even vaguely suggested such a thing. They have not probed on Gammu for..."
"Bribes, third-party purchases, many transshipments," Burzmali said. "The Famine Times were very disruptive and before that there were all those millennia of the Tyrant."