no reports from spice lighters that patches of greenery appear there?”
“There’ve always been such reports. Some were investigated—long ago. A few plants were seen. Many ’thopters were lost. Much too costly, Your Majesty. It’s a place where men cannot survive for long.”
“So,” the Emperor said. He snapped his fingers and a door opened at his left behind the throne. Through the door came two Sardaukar herding a girl-child who appeared to be about four years old. She wore a black aba, the hood thrown back to reveal the attachments of a stillsuit hanging free at her throat. Her eyes were Fremen blue, staring out of a soft, round face. She appeared completely unafraid and there was a look to her stare that made the Baron feel uneasy for no reason he could explain.
Even the old Bene Gesserit Truthsayer drew back as the child passed and made a warding sign in her direction. The old witch obviously was shaken by the child’s presence.
The Emperor cleared his throat to speak, but the child spoke first—a thin voice with traces of a soft-palate lisp, but clear nonetheless. “So here he is,” she said. She advanced to the edge of the dais. “He doesn’t appear much, does he—one frightened old fat man too weak to support his own flesh without the help of suspensors.”
It was such a totally unexpected statement from the mouth of a child that the Baron stared at her, speechless in spite of his anger. Is it a midget? he asked himself.
“My dear Baron,” the Emperor said, “become acquainted with the sister of Muad’Dib.”
“The sist….” The Baron shifted his attention to the Emperor. “I do not understand.”
“I, too, sometimes err on the side of caution,” the Emperor said. “It has been reported to me that your uninhabited south polar regions exhibit evidence of human activity.”
“But that’s impossible!” the Baron protested. “The worms … there’s sand clear to the ….”
“These people seem able to avoid the worms,” the Emperor said.
The child sat down on the dais beside the throne, dangled her feet over the edge, kicking them. There was such an air of sureness in the way she appraised her surroundings.
The Baron stared at the kicking feet, the way they moved the black robe, the wink of sandals beneath the fabric.
“Unfortunately,” the Emperor said, “I only sent in five troop carriers with a light attack force to pick up prisoners for questioning. We barely got away with three prisoners and one carrier. Mind you, Baron, my Sardaukar were almost overwhelmed by a force composed mostly of women, children, and old men. This child here was in command of one of the attacking groups.”
“You see, Your Majesty!” the Baron said. “You see how they are!”
“I allowed myself to be captured,” the child said. “I did not want to face my brother and have to tell him that his son had been killed.”
“Only a handful of our men got away,” the Emperor said. “Got away! You hear that?”
“We’d have had them, too,” the child said, “except for the flames.”
“My Sardaukar used the attitudinal jets on their carrier as flame-throwers,” the Emperor said. “A move of desperation and the only thing that got them away with their three prisoners. Mark that, my dear Baron: Sardaukar forced to retreat in confusion from women and children and old men!”
“We must attack in force,” the Baron rasped. “We must destroy every last vestige of—”
“Silence!” the Emperor roared. He pushed himself forward on his throne. “Do not abuse my intelligence any longer. You stand there in your foolish innocence and—”
“Majesty,” the old Truthsayer said.
He waved her to silence. “You say you don’t know about the activity we found, nor the fighting qualities of these superb people!” The Emperor lifted himself half off his throne. “What do you take me for, Baron?”
The Baron took two backward steps, thinking: It was Rabban. He has done this to me. Rabban has ….
“And this fake dispute with Duke Leto,” the Emperor purred, sinking back into his throne. “How beautifully you maneuvered it.”
“Majesty,” the Baron pleaded. “What are you—”
“Silence!”
The old Bene Gesserit put a hand on the Emperor’s shoulder, leaned close to whisper in his ear.
The child seated on the dais stopped kicking her feet, said: “Make him afraid some more, Shaddam. I shouldn’t enjoy this, but I find the pleasure impossible to suppress.”
“Quiet, child,” the Emperor said. He leaned forward, put a hand on her head, stared at the Baron. “Is it possible, Baron? Could you be as simpleminded as my Truthsayer suggests?