Chapterhouse: Dune

The Great Honored Matre, who is referred to as the Spider Queen or Dama by the Bene Gesserit, is interrogating a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother, who has resisted torture. Dama asks the Reverend Mother her name, and she introduces herself as Sabanda.

Dama asks her if she wants to see her capture weak males. Sabanda responds that she would rather die. She spots orange specs in Dama’s eyes, a sign of anger, and Dama kills Sabanda with an injection of drugs.

Miles Teg, the ghola child, is aware of his origin but doesn’t fully understand it. He quickly develops prodigal skills and abilities. He can sense the memories from his original life but cannot recall them. Odrade reveals he was cloned from cells scraped from Bashar Teg’s neck. Miles Teg has dim recollections of Bashar Teg. The garden is planted with scented plants that may help trigger his memory.

The Bene Gesserit see themselves as stewards of the land. Odrade elaborates on the long-term planning and symbiotic nature the order has with the planet they are on. Miles kicks a clump of grass, and Odrade scolds him, telling him about the important niches several plants hold, including the grape vines the farmers are cultivating.

They discuss a desert spreading across the south of the planet. Miles learns of the giant sandworm the Bene Gesserit took from Rakis. When it died, it gave birth to smaller worms called sandtrout, who are the reason the desert is spreading. Odrade says the vines will be the first thing to die when the desert expands for the sandworms, which will create Spice.

When the threat of the Honored Matres comes up, Miles instinctively refers to himself as Bashar, the genetic memories of his forbearer seeping through.

It is pitch black in Great Honored Matre’s sleeping chamber. Logno, a grand dame, enters. There are grunts and moans in the darkness. A voice in the darkness tells Logno to sit on the floor. She thinks about poisoning Dama.

She is asked about her discussion of The Weapon with the Ixians. This is a planet killer device that they used to destroy Rakis. They have 300, each is single use, and it can only be used when activated by The Council.

Logno reflects on The Ones of Many Faces, the great enemy that invented The Weapon and Futars and chased the Honored Matres into the Old Empire.

They discuss the planet Buzzell, which is undefended despite its abundance of precious gems. Dama suspects a trap. She also tells Logno to continue encouraging the Ixians to duplicate the technology of the weapon.

Odrade sits in her workroom. She recalls her childhood sea excursions, her father and mother, and how those early years influenced who she would become. She thinks about her time on Al Dhanab, a place designed to prepare those who were going to live on Dune.

The sea child within her remains intact. It warns her of danger, and she wonders if it is her touch of prescience, an artefact of her Atreides heritage. Bene Gesserit attempted to remove this from her genetic line to avoid another Kwizatz Hadderach.

She is suffering from vivid recurring dreams. She is walking a tightrope, and someone behind her is approaching with an axe to cut the rope. She feels that if she falls, the Sisterhood will fall. She reflects that some of her order have already fled, and those present on Chapterhouse are also ready to flee should the Honored Matres arrive. However, they are all prepared for destruction over surrender, leaving nothing for the Honored Matres to use.

If the Matres capture Duncan or Miles Teg, the Bene Gesserit will never be able to hide again. Bashar Teg developed minor prescience, including the ability to see normally undetectable no-ships. This suggests normal humans may be able to develop the ability to detect no-ships.

Odrade uses her holographic display to inspect her grounded no-ship. On board, there are three captives: Scytale—a Tleilaxu Master—and Murbella and Duncan Idaho, who are sexually bonded. Keeping the no-ship cloaked is a resource-intensive process.

Bellonda walks in with Ridulian crystal records and throws them down. She reports that the planet Lampadas has been attacked with no survivors. Outside, weather control has started winter. Odrade is horrified by the brutality of the Honored Matres. Tamalane joins. She is withdrawn, and Odrade foresees her replacement by Sheeana.

Lucilla thinks to herself that she is going to die. She wants to pass on the knowledge in her mind first. Her no-ship has been Damaged by the Honored Matres and won’t travel any further, and all the possible escape routes she could flee through have cloaked traps. She is hiding in a farmhouse awaiting a contact, a Suk doctor. She knows a deeper secret about his identity, a special classification not normally shared in the Sisterhood. She is only aware of it after veiled remarks made by Odrade about a secret society on Gammu: Jews. Lucilla must die before revealing knowledge of them—this is the price of their cooperation with the Bene Gesserit.

In flashback, Lucilla uses a memory crystal to learn about the Jews. Long ago, they decided to vanish from public perception due to persistent pogroms, hiding on countless planets. At some point, they struck up an accord with the Bene Gesserit to assist each other under certain circumstances.

In the present, Lucilla looks out of the farmhouse and notices a large produce carrier has entered the grounds. She reflects on her task and how she is changing to specialize in it. She recalls that she had trouble accepting that the Honored Matres sought to kill her. Her Rabbi host called it a pogrom.

The Rabbi revealed that there is a guild navigator helping search for her. She has Siona blood, meaning that the navigator can’t see her. The Rabbi reveals that he and the other Jews have a similar gift. However, the navigator’s presence means that she can’t safely leave the planet.

In the present, Lucilla notes that the Rabbi has been gone a long time and wonders if she was right to trust him. She uses a mental exercise to reflect on her previous interactions with the rabbi. The Rabbi returns and apologizes for his lateness. The Navigator summoned him, suspecting him of harboring Lucilla.

The Rabbi says that the economic view behind the activities of the Honored Matres is interesting. Lucilla fears that he’s selling her out and says there’s no way to get her off Gammu alive. He makes her promise not to turn on them if he reveals his solution to this dilemma. He opens a door to reveal Rebecca, an elder woman of her people. She has gone through The Agony that the Bene Gesserit do and can access her ancestor memories. She communes with Lucilla telepathically, and Lucilla says she must get back to her sisters. Rebecca promises that she will. She then reveals that they were going to turn her over to the Honored Matres to get her off the planet alive.

Bellonda is feeling the pressure of their evasion of the Honored Matres. She is organizing a list of who will flee in no-ships and who will remain. Odrade and Bellonda discuss the Duncan ghola. Murbella, his sexually bonded partner, has borne him three children. Each was removed at birth by the Bene Gesserit. They try to exploit Duncan’s sexual bond with Murbella to find out more about the Honored Matres sex addiction techniques, but she blocks up when asked. She threatens to kill Duncan, but that is psychologically impossible for her.

The Bene Gesserit are fascinated and repelled by the sexual control of the Honored Matres and their martial abilities. They hope they can use Murbella’s daughters to put these techniques into the Bene Gesserit bloodlines, but they fear becoming like the Honored Matres. Odrade worries that the original Matres were perhaps Bene Gesserit Reverend Mothers.

Watching footage of Duncan and Murbella, Bellonda suspects that he is a Mentat, a person with superhuman intelligence. This is something he has yet to admit as he fears the reaction of the Bene Gesserit. They speculate on the condition of their axolotl tanks and wonder if Scytale has deceived them to keep bargaining chips. The tanks are made from female humans, volunteers from the Bene Gesserit. Bellonda suggests that they kill Duncan and that Murbella will never allow herself to become a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother.

Rebecca is kneeling on the floor before Dama. She has waited for two hours while Dama eats lunch. She has eye implants to hide the fact that she has been through the Spice Agony. Another implant seeps Spice into her system to help disguise her dependence. She reflects on the changes she has felt in herself after absorbing the minds that Lucilla left Lampadas with.

Finally, Dama asks her to approach. Dama wants Rebecca to tell her about the lore of Truthsay, as she was married to one who is now dead. Dama then interrogates her about the Bene Gesserit, asking about their wealth, and the Gammu. Rebecca tries to flatter Dama by asking to enter her service, and Dama releases Rebecca.

Rebecca reminisces on her and her husband discussing how she should use total innocence and naivete to analyze statements. She recalls condemning the Rabbi for the acts of their ancestors, which she can now recall.