Dune: House Atreides (37 page)

"Ambassador, your prejudice is not welcome here in my Imperial anteroom. I have nothing but the utmost respect for your Earl . . . and, of course, his Lady Shando."

Shaddam looked at the Guild agents at the rear of the room. In subdued tones they conversed in a secret language. Presently they nodded to each other. A violation of the Butlerian Jihad was a most serious matter to them.

"But in two days my planet will be lost." Pilru sent a pleading look to the Guildsmen for support, but they remained silent and would not make eye contact.

"You can't do this -- you'll doom our people to destruction!" Yuta Brey shouted at Elrood.

"Messenger, you are impertinent, just like Dominic Vernius. Tax my patience no more." Looking sternly at the Tleilaxu representative, Elrood commanded:

"Ambassador Tooy, bring me your proof -- incontrovertible proof -- within two days, or withdraw your forces from Ix."

Mofra Tooy bowed. Concealed from the Guildsmen directly behind him, a slight smile worked briefly at the edges of his mouth, then faded.

"Very well then," the Ixian Ambassador said, trembling now with rage. "I hereby demand an immediate Security Council session of the Landsraad."

"And you shall have it, precisely according to law," Elrood said. "I have already acted in the manner I believe best serves the Imperium. Mofra Tooy here will address the Council in two days, and you may do the same. If you wish to return to your planet in the meantime, I will divert an express Heighliner for your use. But be warned, if these charges are indeed valid, Ambassador, House Vernius will have much to atone for."

WIPING PERSPIRATION FROM his shaven head, Dominic Vernius studied his Ambassador to Kaitain. Pilru had just delivered a shocking report to the Earl and his Lady. The man was clearly anxious to search for his missing son in the chaos of the underground city, though he had been back on the planet for less than an hour. They stood together in a subterranean operations center, deep within the ceiling of rock, since the transparent Orb Office in the Grand Palais was too vulnerable in time of war. Machinery sounds could be heard, tube transports moving Ixian troops and equipment through the catacombs of the planetary crust.

The defensive battles had not been going well. Through well-planned sabotage and carefully arranged bottlenecks, Tleilaxu now controlled most of the underworld, and the Ixians were being herded into smaller and smaller areas.

The rebellious suboids vastly outnumbered the besieged Ixian defenders, and the Tleilaxu invaders took full advantage, manipulating the pale-skinned workers with ease.

"Elrood has betrayed us, my love," Dominic said, holding his wife. They had only the dirty clothes on their backs and a few household treasures they had managed to rescue. He understood everything now, though. "I knew the Emperor hated me, but I never expected such loathsome behavior, not even from him. If only I could prove it."

Looking pale and more fragile than ever, though her eyes flared with iron determination, the Lady Shando drew a deep breath. Delicate lines etched around her exquisite eyes and mouth were the only indications of her advancing age, subtle reminders to Dominic to treasure her beauty, love, and fine character more each day. Stepping to his side, she looped one arm through his. "Maybe if I went to him and threw myself on his mercy? He might be reasonable, for whatever memories he still holds of me . . . .

"I wouldn't let you do it. He hates you now and resents me for marrying you.

Roody is beyond compassion." Dominic clenched his fists and studied Ambassador Pilru's face, but found no hope there. Looking back at Shando, he said,

"Knowing him, he's undoubtedly set up intrigues so complex that he couldn't withdraw now if he wanted to.

"We'll never receive war reparations, even if we are victorious. My family fortunes will be confiscated, my personal power stripped." He lowered his voice, trying to hide the despair. "And all to get even with me for taking his woman away from him a long, long time ago."

"I'll do whatever you want me to do, Dominic," she said softly. "You made me your wife instead of your concubine. I've always told you. . ." Her words trailed off.

"I know, my love." He squeezed her hand. "I'd do anything for you, too. It was worth the cost . . . even this."

"I await your orders, m'Lord," Ambassador Pilru said, deeply agitated. His son C'tair was out there somewhere, hiding, fighting, perhaps already dead.

Dominic chewed the inside of his mouth. "Clearly, House Vernius has been singled out for destruction, and there is but one alternative. All the fabricated charges mean nothing, and the paper shield of the law lies torn into shreds. The Emperor intends to destroy us, and we cannot fight House Corrino, especially against treachery such as this. I don't doubt that the Landsraad will stall and then pounce upon the spoils of war." Glowering, he squared his broad shoulders and stood straighter. "We will take our family atomics and shields and flee beyond the reach of the Imperium."

Pilru bit back an outcry. "Going . . . renegade, my Lord? What about the rest of us?"

"Unfortunately, we have no choice, Cammar. It's the only way we can escape with our lives. I want you to contact the Guild and request emergency transport.

Invoke any favors they owe us. The Guildsmen observed your session with the Emperor, so they know our situation. Tell them we want to take our military forces with us, too -- what little we have left." Dominic hung his head. "I never imagined it would come to this . . . thrust from our Palace and our cities

. . . ."

The Ambassador nodded stiffly, then departed through the shimmer of a shielded doorway.

One wall of the administrative center flashed alive with four projections on separate panels of battles raging all over the planet -- color scenes transmitted by portable comeyes. Ixian losses continued to mount.

Shaking his head, Dominic said, "Now we must speak to our closest friends and retainers and inform them of the dangers they will face if they accompany us.

It will be much more difficult and dangerous to flee with us than to be subjugated by the Tleilaxu. No one will be forced to go with us; it will be volunteers only. As a renegade House, all of our family members and supporters will be hunted by glory-seekers."

"Bounty hunters," Shando said, her voice heavy with mingled sorrow and anger.

"You and I will have to separate, Dominic -- to throw them off our trail and increase our chances."

On the wall, two image panels fizzled out, as the Tleilaxu found transmitting comeyes and disabled them.

Dominic softened his voice. "Later, after our House and planet have been restored to us, we'll remember what we did here and what was said. This is history. High drama. Let me tell you a little story, a parallel case study."

"I do enjoy your stories," she said with a gentle smile on her strong yet delicate face. Her hazel eyes danced. "Very well, what will we tell our grandchildren?"

Momentarily he focused on a fresh crack in the ceiling and water that trickled down a wall. "Salusa Secundus was once the Imperial capital world. Do you know why they moved it to Kaitain?"

"Some problem with atomics," she replied. "Devastation on Salusa."

"According to the Imperial version, it was an unfortunate accident. But House Corrino only says that because they don't want to give people ideas. The truth is that another renegade family, a Great House whose name was stripped from historical records, managed to land on Salusa with their family atomics. In a daring raid they bombed the capital and set off an ecological catastrophe. The world still hasn't recovered."

"An attack with atomics? I didn't know that."

"Afterward the survivors moved the Imperial throne to Kaitain, in a different, more secure solar system, where young Emperor Hassik III rebuilt the government." Seeing the concern on his wife's face, he drew her closer and held her tightly. "We won't fail, my love."

The last wall panels fizzled and went dead as the Tleilaxu knocked out the remaining comeyes.

In the Imperium there exists the "principle of the individual," noble but rarely utilized, whereby a person who violates a written law in a situation of extreme peril or need can request a special session of the court of jurisdiction in order to explain and support the necessity of his actions. A number of legal procedures derive from this principle, among them the Drey Jury, the Blind Tribunal, and the Trial by Forfeiture.

-Law of the Imperium: Commentaries

Despite disastrous military losses during the unexpected revolt, many secret places still remained on Ix. Centuries ago, during the paranoid times after House Vernius took over the machine operations, engineers sworn to secrecy had laid down an unrecorded honeycomb of transmission-shielded rooms, algae-chambers, and hideouts masked from discovery by remarkable Ixian ingenuity. It would take centuries for an enemy to ferret them out; even the ruling House had forgotten half of them.

Guided by Captain Zhaz and the troop of personal bodyguards, Leto and Rhombur concealed themselves in an algae-walled chamber, which was entered via an access tube that led upward into the crust of the planet. Routine enemy scans would detect only the life signs of the algae, since massive dampening fields surrounded the rest of the isolated chamber.

"We'll only have to stay here a few days," Rhombur said, struggling to recapture his usual optimism. "Surely by then, Landsraad or Imperial forces will have come to our rescue, and House Vernius can begin rebuilding Ix. Things will all work out."

Narrowing his eyes, Leto remained silent. If his suspicions were correct, it could well take much longer than that.

"This chamber is just a rendezvous point, Master Rhombur," Captain Zhaz said.

"We'll await the Earl and follow his orders."

Rhombur nodded vigorously. "Yes, my father'll know what to do. He's been in plenty of challenging military situations before." He smiled brightly. "Some of them with your own father, Leto."

Leto clapped a strong hand on the other Prince's shoulder, in a display of support for his friend. But he didn't know how many of Dominic Vernius's previous battle engagements had been desperate defensive measures like this; it was Leto's impression that Dominic's victories in the past had always been overwhelming charges against crumbling groups of rebels.

Remembering what his father had taught him -- know the details of your surroundings in any difficult circumstance -- Leto took a moment to inspect their hideaway. He searched for escape routes, vulnerable points. The algae-chamber had been hacked out of solid crustal rock, with an outer shell of thick green growth that gave the air a sour, organic taint. The bolt-hole had four apartments, an extensive kitchen complete with survival supplies, and a last-chance emergency ship that could make low-planetary orbit.

Frictionless, noiseless machinery operated nullentropy bins at the core of the chamber, keeping food and beverages fresh. Other bins contained clothing, weapons, filmbooks, and clever Ixian games for hidden refugees to while away the time. The endless waiting could be the most difficult part of this protected sanctuary, and boredom was an often-overlooked part of isolation and escape.

The Ixians, though, had thought of all necessary preparations.

It was already evening, as determined by their chronos. Zhaz set up his guards in the outer corridors and at the camouflaged doorhatch. Rhombur rattled off an endless stream of questions, most of which the captain could not answer: What was going on outside? Did they dare hope to be freed by Ixian loyalists, or would Tleilaxu invaders imprison them, or worse? Would an Ixian come to notify Rhombur of the death of his parents? Why hadn't the others shown up at the rendezvous point yet? Did they have any idea how much of the capital city of Vernii remained intact? If not, who could find out for them?

The klaxon of an intruder warning interrupted him. Someone was trying to enter the chamber.

Captain Zhaz flipped out a handheld monitor, pressed a button to illuminate the room and activate a videoscreen. Leto saw three familiar faces pressed close to the comeyes in the secondary corridor -- Dominic Vernius, and his daughter Kailea, her dress torn and her coppery hair in disarray. Between them they supported the Lady Shando, who seemed barely conscious, her arm and ribs crudely bandaged.

"Permission to enter," Dominic said, his voice tinny and granular across the speakers. "Open up, Rhombur. Zhaz! We need medical attention for Shando."

His eyes were shadowed, his teeth very white beneath the bushy mustache.

Rhombur Vernius rushed toward the controls, but the guard captain stopped him with an urgent tug at his arm. "By all the saints and sinners, remember the Face Dancers, young master!" Leto suddenly realized that Tleilaxu shapeshifters could assume familiar guises and walk into the most secure area. Leto held the Ixian Prince's other arm while Zhaz interrogated and received a countersign. Finally, a message appeared from the shielded chamber's biometric identity scanner. Confirmed: Earl Dominic Vernius.

"Permission granted," Rhombur said into the voice pickup. "Come in -- Mother, what happened?"

Kailea looked stricken, as if the floor had dropped out from beneath her plans for the future and she still couldn't believe she was falling. All of the newcomers smelled of sweat and smoke and fear.

"Your sister was scolding the suboids and telling them to get back to work,"

Shando said with a bit of mirth shining through her pain. "Very foolish."

"And some of them were about to do it, too --"the young woman said as a flush of anger blossomed beneath the soot smudges on her cheeks.

"Until one pulled a maula pistol and opened fire. Good thing the man couldn't aim." Shando touched her arm and side, wincing at the open wound.

Dominic knocked the guards aside and tore open a medkit to tend his wife's injuries himself. "Not serious, my love. I'll be around to kiss the scars later. But you shouldn't have taken such a risk."