Read Online The Dosadi Experiment by Frank Herbert - Free Book Online Page B

I’ll put him on.”
    Kidge had a phlegmatic Gowachin face and rumbling voice.
    â€œDo you want a status report, sir?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œMy Rim contacts believe the addictive substance is derived from a plant called ‘tibac.’ We have no prior record of such a plant, but the outer Rabble has been cultivating it lately. According to my contacts, it’s extremely addictive to Humans, even more so to us.”
    â€œNo record? What’s its origin? Do they say?”
    â€œI talked personally to a Human who’d recently returned from upriver where the outer Rabble reportedly has extensive plantations of this ‘tibac.’ I promised my informant a place in the Warrens if he provides me with a complete report on the stuff and a kilo packet of it. This informant says the cultivators believe tibac has religious significance. I didn’t see any point in exploring that.”
    â€œWhen do you expect him to deliver?”
    â€œBy nightfall at the latest.”
    Broey held his silence for a moment. Religious significance. More than likely the plant came from beyond the God Wall then, as Kidge implied. But why? What were they doing?

    â€œDo you have new instructions?” Kidge asked.
    â€œGet that substance up to me as soon as you can.”
    Kidge fidgeted. He obviously had another question, but was unwilling to ask it. Broey glared at him.
    â€œYes? What is it?”
    â€œDon’t you want the substance tested first?”
    It was a baffling question. Had Kidge withheld vital information about the dangers of this tibac? One never knew from what quarter an attack might come. But Kidge was held in his own special bondage. He knew what could happen to him if he failed Broey. And Jedrik had handled this stuff. But why had Kidge asked this question? Faced with such unknowns, Broey tended to withdraw into himself, eyes veiled by the nictating membrane while he weighed the possibilities. Presently, he stirred, looked at Kidge in the screen.
    â€œIf there’s enough of it, feed some to volunteers—both Human and Gowachin. Get the rest of it up to me immediately, even while you’re testing, but in a sealed container.”
    â€œSir, there are rumors about this stuff. It’ll be difficult getting real volunteers.”
    â€œYou’ll think of something.”
    Broey broke the connection, returned to the outer room to make his political peace with Gar and Tria. He was not ready to blunt that pair … not yet.
    They were sitting just as he’d left them. Tria was speaking:
    â€œ … the highest probability and I have to go on that.”
    Gar merely nodded.
    Broey seated himself, nodded to Tria, who continued as though there’d been no hiatus.
    â€œClearly, Jedrik’s a genius. And her Loyalty Index! That has to be false, contrived. And look at her decisions: one questionable decision in four years. One!”
    Gar moved a finger along the red line on the chart. It was a curiously sensuous gesture, as though he were stroking flesh.
    Broey gave him a verbal prod.
    â€œYes, Gar, what is it?”
    â€œI was just wondering if Jedrik could be another …”

    His glance darted ceilingward, back to the chart. They all understood his allusion to intruders from beyond the God Wall.
    Broey looked at Gar as though awakening from an interrupted thought. What’d that fool Gar mean by raising such a question at this juncture? The required responses were so obvious.
    â€œI agree with Tria’s analysis,” Broey said. “As to your question …” He gave a Human shrug. “Jedrik reveals some of the classic requirements, but …” Again, that shrug. “This is still the world God gave us.”
    Colored as they were by his years in the Sacred Congregation, Broey’s words took on an unctuous overtone, but in this room the message was strictly secular.
    â€œThe others have been such disappointments,” Gar