Chapter 10


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Freakzilla
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Chapter 10

Post by Freakzilla »

You must remember that I have at my internal demand every expertise known to our
history. This is the fund of energy I draw upon when I address the mentality of
war. If you have not heard the moaning cries of the wounded and the dying, you
do not know about war. I have heard those cries in such numbers that they haunt
me. I have cried out myself in the aftermath of battle. I have suffered wounds
in every epoch-wounds from fist and club and rock, from shell-studded limb and
bronze sword, from the mace and the cannon, from arrows and lasguns and the
silent smothering of atomic dust, from biological invasions which blacken the
tongue and drown the lungs, from the swift gush of flame and the silent working
of slow poisons. . . and more I will not recount! I have seen and felt them all.
To those who dare ask why I behave as I do, I say: With my memories, I can do
nothing else. I am not a coward and once I was human.

-The Stolen Journals

Moneo goes to the Crypt to discuss the peregrination to the Festival City of Onn with Leto. Leto notices Moneo's age, 118, and thinks he's only holding on to see Siona installed as commander of the Fish Speakers. Leto informs Moneo that the new Duncan is untainted and is intended to breed with Siona. Leto uses Duncan in his breeding program as a first-generation cross of older stock with the new products. He weeds out the recessives but refuses to discuss the mutations. Leto calls his breeding program transformational evolution. Leto tells him he is the ultimate predator, improving the human stock, he hungers for humans who can make truely long term decisions. Leto wants to test Siona soon, to sensitize her to the Golden Path, but Moneo fears she may not survive. If she does, she will be introduced to Duncan. Soon, Duncan will be introduced to Leto. Moneo leaves without being dismissed but knows Leto will forgive him, knowing how tired he is.
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Freakzilla
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Re: Chapter 10

Post by Freakzilla »

Revised
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Paul of Dune was so bad it gave me a seizure that dislocated both of my shoulders and prolapsed my anus.
~Pink Snowman
georgiedenbro
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Re: Chapter 10

Post by georgiedenbro »

This -
Let me see, Leto thought. Moneo will be one hundred and eighteen years old in the week after our return from Onn.
The man could live many times that long if he would take the spice, but he refused. Leto had no doubt of the reason. Moneo had entered that peculiar human state where he longed for death. He lingered now only to see Siona installed in the Royal Service, the next director of the Imperial Society of Fish Speakers.
coupled with this -
Moneo tried to conceal a constriction of fear. He bowed and backed away. "Yes, Lord, but there are some things which I must do."
Turning, he hurried away. It was not until he was ascending in the lift that Moneo realized he had left without being dismissed.
He must know how tired I am. He will forgive.
- makes me think of what Leto had to endure century after century. Moneo seems disenchanted with life; no surprises, Duncan after Duncan, Leto always in control, and the only novel thing in his life, Siona, seemed all but accounted for an planned by Leto already; her future set to end either in death or being part of Leto's plans. And this is only after 118 years, and without the curse of prescience as a temptation and OM to hide in. Moneo was already prepared for death and wanted an end to his long service so that Siona could take over; imagine how much Leto must have wanted it to end too. I suppose the difference lies in the ability to make long-term decisions, the brunt of which maybe involves patience and foresight mixed with faith that it's all worth it. Even if Moneo understood the Golden Path he couldn't have endured seeing it through. By the end of the chapter Moneo is so ready for death that he has ceased to even fear what Leto will do if he breaches protocol. This is such a subtle way of FH showing us that Moneo is both still loyal and yet also essentially ready to quit now that Siona is ready to be tested.
"um-m-m-ah-h-h-hm-m-m-m!"
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