Chapter 22
Posted: 01 Mar 2008 12:34
"Another Festival so soon?" the Lord Leto asked.
"It has been ten years," the majordomo said.
Do you think by this exchange that the Lord Leto betrays an ignorance of time's
passage?
-The Oral History
Durring the private audience prior to the Festival, Leto spends more than the alloted time with the new Ixian ambassador, Hwi Norree. Leto finds it obvious that she has been bred to charm him and find a chink in his armor. Despite this, he enjoys her company. He notes that she has been delicately trained by the Bene Gesserit. They talk about her ancestor who tried to assasinate him whom he crushed with his body, then turned the assasin's lasgun against himself to demonstrate his invulnerability (not aiming at his face, hands or arms, of course). He warns that none can escape his wrath, not even the colony they've planted beyond the Imperium. Hwi gets Leto's juices flowing again after a long time and makes him feel that he is still needed. He tells her to inform her superiors that she is precisely the kind of bait to dangle in front of him. He questions her about her childhood and admits he cannont discearn her birthplace. He deduces that she was born in a machine the Ixians are attempting to perfect for the Guild. He tells her to inform her master that he knows what they are doing and of their alleigance with the Tleilaxu. He makes her permanent ambassador and if they interfere with this order he will crush them. He then orders her to leave and can tell she is deeply saddened for his lost humanity and they both feel that in other circumstances they would have been lovers. He feels the Ixians are cruel for doing this to both of them. She reminds him of her uncle Malky, a former ambassador. The ambassadors always ask Leto why he tolerates Ix. He needs Ix, without their machines he couldn't write his Journals nor steer his cart. He decides though, that he must remind Ix of the danger of AI and the Guild of the dangers of their alliance with the Tleilaxu. If this new Machine works, the Guild will lose it's monopoly on space travel.
"It has been ten years," the majordomo said.
Do you think by this exchange that the Lord Leto betrays an ignorance of time's
passage?
-The Oral History
Durring the private audience prior to the Festival, Leto spends more than the alloted time with the new Ixian ambassador, Hwi Norree. Leto finds it obvious that she has been bred to charm him and find a chink in his armor. Despite this, he enjoys her company. He notes that she has been delicately trained by the Bene Gesserit. They talk about her ancestor who tried to assasinate him whom he crushed with his body, then turned the assasin's lasgun against himself to demonstrate his invulnerability (not aiming at his face, hands or arms, of course). He warns that none can escape his wrath, not even the colony they've planted beyond the Imperium. Hwi gets Leto's juices flowing again after a long time and makes him feel that he is still needed. He tells her to inform her superiors that she is precisely the kind of bait to dangle in front of him. He questions her about her childhood and admits he cannont discearn her birthplace. He deduces that she was born in a machine the Ixians are attempting to perfect for the Guild. He tells her to inform her master that he knows what they are doing and of their alleigance with the Tleilaxu. He makes her permanent ambassador and if they interfere with this order he will crush them. He then orders her to leave and can tell she is deeply saddened for his lost humanity and they both feel that in other circumstances they would have been lovers. He feels the Ixians are cruel for doing this to both of them. She reminds him of her uncle Malky, a former ambassador. The ambassadors always ask Leto why he tolerates Ix. He needs Ix, without their machines he couldn't write his Journals nor steer his cart. He decides though, that he must remind Ix of the danger of AI and the Guild of the dangers of their alliance with the Tleilaxu. If this new Machine works, the Guild will lose it's monopoly on space travel.