Chapter 32
Posted: 12 Feb 2008 17:54
The Fremen were supreme in that quality the ancients called "spannungsbogen"--
which is the self-imposed delay between desire for a thing and the act of
reaching out to grasp that thing.
-from "The Wisdom of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
They reach Cave of Ridges at sunrise and hurry inside as Stilgar posts guards for the first daywatch. Chani gives Paul some food reeking of spice and tells him to stay out of the way. Stilgar shows Jessica their green basin and points out the people moving on the other side, kilometers away, that is home and they will be there tonight. Jessica praises their discipline and Stilgar warns her that if she calls him out they would not follow her because she's not of the sand. He shares the Fremen dream of terraforming Arrakis with her and their bribes to the Guild to keep away satellites. Jessica sees Fremen riding a worm in the distance, Stilgar tells her it would be better to ride but they can't allow a maker in the basin. The implication that the Fremen ride the worms is shocking. Stilgar tries to hurry her inside, telling her that others are already jealous that he got to touch her in their struggle the night before. Jessica hears the hidden offer in his words and wonder if that would be a way to end the power conflict between them. Stilgar tells her the time may come, after he learns her powers, that they may have to challenge one another. An alternative would be for Jessica to become their Sayyadina or Reverend Mother, one who teaches and is a religious leader. He says that a good leader and indivuals are what seperate a people from a mob and justice is not always what is best. Jessica tells he she's underestimated him.
She probes him more about their Reverend Mother and He tells her of the legend that a Bene Gesserit and her offspring will hold the key to their future. She asks if he believes she is the one but says he doesn't know. She feels he's looking for a sign but doesn't want to ruin it by revealing the sign. She reflects on her Missionaria Protectiva training on how to adapt the techniques of legend and fear and hope to emergency needs, but she gets the impression that someone has allready capitalized on the Missionaria's imprint. She recites a prayer from her training in Cantu and Respondu and the Fremen accept this as the sign. She feels cynical bitterness at what she is doing, the Missionaria rarely fails.
Paul had never before eaten such a concentration of spice as in the food Chani gave him, he begins to feel his terrible purpose, the race consciousness again. He sinks to the floor with his back against the wall. He sees time in a trinocular focus, one vision of the past, one of the present and one of the future all combined. He can see all possible paths in the past and future. He sees a time-nexus in this cave where the slightes motion could change the universe. He sees violence but the outcomes shift with his slightest movement, he wants to freeze but this too has it's consequences. Countless lines of the future fan out from this cave, in most of them he sees his own dead body, blood flowing from a knife wound.
which is the self-imposed delay between desire for a thing and the act of
reaching out to grasp that thing.
-from "The Wisdom of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
They reach Cave of Ridges at sunrise and hurry inside as Stilgar posts guards for the first daywatch. Chani gives Paul some food reeking of spice and tells him to stay out of the way. Stilgar shows Jessica their green basin and points out the people moving on the other side, kilometers away, that is home and they will be there tonight. Jessica praises their discipline and Stilgar warns her that if she calls him out they would not follow her because she's not of the sand. He shares the Fremen dream of terraforming Arrakis with her and their bribes to the Guild to keep away satellites. Jessica sees Fremen riding a worm in the distance, Stilgar tells her it would be better to ride but they can't allow a maker in the basin. The implication that the Fremen ride the worms is shocking. Stilgar tries to hurry her inside, telling her that others are already jealous that he got to touch her in their struggle the night before. Jessica hears the hidden offer in his words and wonder if that would be a way to end the power conflict between them. Stilgar tells her the time may come, after he learns her powers, that they may have to challenge one another. An alternative would be for Jessica to become their Sayyadina or Reverend Mother, one who teaches and is a religious leader. He says that a good leader and indivuals are what seperate a people from a mob and justice is not always what is best. Jessica tells he she's underestimated him.
She probes him more about their Reverend Mother and He tells her of the legend that a Bene Gesserit and her offspring will hold the key to their future. She asks if he believes she is the one but says he doesn't know. She feels he's looking for a sign but doesn't want to ruin it by revealing the sign. She reflects on her Missionaria Protectiva training on how to adapt the techniques of legend and fear and hope to emergency needs, but she gets the impression that someone has allready capitalized on the Missionaria's imprint. She recites a prayer from her training in Cantu and Respondu and the Fremen accept this as the sign. She feels cynical bitterness at what she is doing, the Missionaria rarely fails.
Paul had never before eaten such a concentration of spice as in the food Chani gave him, he begins to feel his terrible purpose, the race consciousness again. He sinks to the floor with his back against the wall. He sees time in a trinocular focus, one vision of the past, one of the present and one of the future all combined. He can see all possible paths in the past and future. He sees a time-nexus in this cave where the slightes motion could change the universe. He sees violence but the outcomes shift with his slightest movement, he wants to freeze but this too has it's consequences. Countless lines of the future fan out from this cave, in most of them he sees his own dead body, blood flowing from a knife wound.