Dune - Into the Worm

Emperor Paul Maud'Dib sat meditating in his austere sietch-like quarters inside the great Citadel of Maud'Dib on the desert planet Arrakis, better known as Dune. He wore light clothing, including a linen shirt with the House Atreides hawk crest sewn above the left breast.

Princess Irulan drew near, her clicking heels as distinct as any finger or voice print. He watched as the tall, emerald-eyed beauty came into view. A tiara and a sprinkling of diamonds decorated her curled blonde hair, and her cheeks had just the right hint of rouge to enhance her natural glow. She wore a shimmering offworld dress, as blue as the waters of Paul's homeworld of Caladan. It was all meant to entice him.

"You summoned me, my husband?" she asked.

Paul sighed. "Please stop calling me that, Irulan. It upsets Chani every time she hears it. One of these days she will spill your water. She is my Sihaya, the only woman I will ever love. And the future mother of my children. My wife in all but name."

"Is there no part of you for me to claim?" Irulan clenched and unclenched her jaw. "I married you so you could ascend my father's throne with a minimum of violence. I gave you legitimacy."

"I took legitimacy when my Fremen warriors defeated his Sardaukar terror troops outside on the Plain of Arrakeen. And I continue to acquire more legitimacy with each rebellious world the Fremen conquer in my name."

"It wouldn't hurt you to try a little more diplomacy with the Great Houses of the Landsraad. Your Jihad has already killed billions across hundreds of worlds. You have almost as many enemies as subjects."

"And I will create many more. Gene pools stagnate over time as societies settle into comfortable patterns of living. They become weak against invaders, unable to respond to crises. That is the current state of the human race. Extinction is stalking us down the corridors of time. An enemy that even I can't identify awaits our descendants. And the only way humans know to reinvigorate the gene pool is through fanatical bloody warfare. Rest assured, the fittest will survive my Jihad. Most may hate me now, but in the distant future, when my bones have long turned to dust, they may rewrite their history books."

"So, what name shall I use? Emperor, Paul Atreides, Maud'Dib, Usul, Lisan-al-Gaib, Mahdi, Kwisatz Haderach, Voice from the Outer World—"

Paul laughed. "I'm a many-faced hypocrite, am I not?" He smirked. "Why don't you call me what your Bene Gesserit superior, the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, calls me?"

"Chani would slit my throat if I called you that. And stop reading my communications with the Sisterhood or I'll encrypt them."

"No encrypted communications between you and those witches, Irulan. Otherwise, I'll cut off all your offworld contacts. Besides, any good Bene Gesserit knows how to conceal messages within messages. My mother taught me that skill before I was eight. I'm far too busy to intercept most of your communications, so you can rest assured their hidden meanings will remain private as long as my visions assure me the Sisterhood does not interfere with my plans."

"Very well. What can I do for you, Maud'Dib?"

"As you know, we intentionally left a great deal out of Dune, the biography of my youth that you wrote to inspire the Fremen who now conquer in my name."

Irulan nodded. "They revere it like the Orange Catholic Bible, but those who know you best dismiss it as fiction."

"All biographies are fiction. It's merely a question of degrees. However, prescience tells me the Fremen are beyond questioning that I am the Lisan al-Gaib — their long-awaited Messiah. It is now harmless to reveal that I am not an only child. Victor, as you know, died before I was born. However, James, with whom I grew up, died here on Dune. It is him I wish to honor. I swore an oath that his sacrifice for humanity would one day be known. The time has come to weave his tale back into the narrative of my family."