Read Online Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson
Ads: Link
mushrooms, lichen scraped from rocks, venom milked from large arachnids, squashed pupae of jungle moths. “How soon do you think we’ll be ready to test another volunteer?” Valya asked. Sister Tiana had died, and most unpleasantly, only a week earlier.
The old Sorceress raised her eyebrows, misinterpreting her question. “Are you stepping forward yourself? Do you finally believe you are ready, Sister Valya? I agree that you are more prepared than most of the previous volunteers. If anyone were to have a chance—”
“No, that’s not what I meant,” Valya said quickly. “I merely wanted to point out that we should proceed with the greatest care, or the Sisters will lose hope, given the number of deaths … the failures over the years.”
“Any true Sister will always believe there is hope in human potential,” Karee said, moving a beaker off a warming plate.
Valya had undergone instruction here on Rossak for five years, seeing the Rossak School of the Sisterhood as a way to emerge from the trap of her exiled family, and over the course of her training she had attracted the attention of the Reverend Mother. Valya was always looking for ways to advance herself in the order of women, and now that the Reverend Mother had let her into the inner circle, revealing the tremendous and terrifying secret of the breeding-record computers, she believed that many more doorways were opening for her.
How she wished she could tell Griffin!
Secretly, Valya was also keeping alert for opportunities throughout the Imperium. Normally, her disgraced family name would have slammed those doors shut in her face, but maybe, through the Sisterhood, she would be viewed differently. In the meantime, focusing on her studies here on Rossak, she continued her intensive mental and physical training.
The Reverend Mother hoped Valya would remain on the homeworld of the Sisterhood and devote herself to the order, but the young woman had no intention of remaining trapped here. That would not help House Harkonnen. One option she was considering would be to become one of the missionary Sisters like Sister Arlett, who had recruited her. Perhaps Valya could find a place in a nobleman’s household, or even at the Imperial Court on Salusa Secundus, just like Sister Dorotea—Sister Karee’s previous assistant here.
In the labs, Valya had watched volunteer after volunteer go into the medical beds with clenched jaws and determined gazes, as well as the hubris to believe that they could achieve the impossible and become Reverend Mothers like Raquella, when all others had failed before them. Most died in the ordeal, and those who survived fell into comas, lost memories wholesale, or suffered other forms of brain damage. No, Valya would not volunteer for that.
“We already have more candidates than we need,” Karee Marques said, “but there will be a delay until I am satisfied that a potential drug has a good chance of success.”
Fortunately, the Sorceresses of Rossak had kept the detailed pharmaceutical studies compiled by Aurelius Venport. Back in the days before the Jihad, Venport had amassed a fortune selling unique drugs and chemicals derived from the exotic flora and fauna on Rossak. Because the only apparent way for a Sister to cross the barrier and become a Reverend Mother required a direct mental confrontation at the farthest boundaries of mortality, Karee Marques had diligently set about testing the deadliest drugs that were found in the pharmacopeia.
Valya kept her expression blank, unreadable. And I do not intend to be one of the volunteers.
She moved to the laboratory equipment, stood beside Karee. “I will do anything to help, you know that,” she said, but she didn’t mean it.
“Somewhere here is the secret,” Karee said. “We just need to keep testing.”
* * *
BY NOW, REVEREND Mother Raquella no longer felt quite so awkward when the head of the Suk Medical School visited. Even though Dr. Ori Zhoma had been
The old Sorceress raised her eyebrows, misinterpreting her question. “Are you stepping forward yourself? Do you finally believe you are ready, Sister Valya? I agree that you are more prepared than most of the previous volunteers. If anyone were to have a chance—”
“No, that’s not what I meant,” Valya said quickly. “I merely wanted to point out that we should proceed with the greatest care, or the Sisters will lose hope, given the number of deaths … the failures over the years.”
“Any true Sister will always believe there is hope in human potential,” Karee said, moving a beaker off a warming plate.
Valya had undergone instruction here on Rossak for five years, seeing the Rossak School of the Sisterhood as a way to emerge from the trap of her exiled family, and over the course of her training she had attracted the attention of the Reverend Mother. Valya was always looking for ways to advance herself in the order of women, and now that the Reverend Mother had let her into the inner circle, revealing the tremendous and terrifying secret of the breeding-record computers, she believed that many more doorways were opening for her.
How she wished she could tell Griffin!
Secretly, Valya was also keeping alert for opportunities throughout the Imperium. Normally, her disgraced family name would have slammed those doors shut in her face, but maybe, through the Sisterhood, she would be viewed differently. In the meantime, focusing on her studies here on Rossak, she continued her intensive mental and physical training.
The Reverend Mother hoped Valya would remain on the homeworld of the Sisterhood and devote herself to the order, but the young woman had no intention of remaining trapped here. That would not help House Harkonnen. One option she was considering would be to become one of the missionary Sisters like Sister Arlett, who had recruited her. Perhaps Valya could find a place in a nobleman’s household, or even at the Imperial Court on Salusa Secundus, just like Sister Dorotea—Sister Karee’s previous assistant here.
In the labs, Valya had watched volunteer after volunteer go into the medical beds with clenched jaws and determined gazes, as well as the hubris to believe that they could achieve the impossible and become Reverend Mothers like Raquella, when all others had failed before them. Most died in the ordeal, and those who survived fell into comas, lost memories wholesale, or suffered other forms of brain damage. No, Valya would not volunteer for that.
“We already have more candidates than we need,” Karee Marques said, “but there will be a delay until I am satisfied that a potential drug has a good chance of success.”
Fortunately, the Sorceresses of Rossak had kept the detailed pharmaceutical studies compiled by Aurelius Venport. Back in the days before the Jihad, Venport had amassed a fortune selling unique drugs and chemicals derived from the exotic flora and fauna on Rossak. Because the only apparent way for a Sister to cross the barrier and become a Reverend Mother required a direct mental confrontation at the farthest boundaries of mortality, Karee Marques had diligently set about testing the deadliest drugs that were found in the pharmacopeia.
Valya kept her expression blank, unreadable. And I do not intend to be one of the volunteers.
She moved to the laboratory equipment, stood beside Karee. “I will do anything to help, you know that,” she said, but she didn’t mean it.
“Somewhere here is the secret,” Karee said. “We just need to keep testing.”
* * *
BY NOW, REVEREND Mother Raquella no longer felt quite so awkward when the head of the Suk Medical School visited. Even though Dr. Ori Zhoma had been
Similar Books
