| Sandworms of Dune | |||||||
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by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson | |||||||
| Available Aug. 7, 2007, from Tor | |||||||
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Read an Excerpt | |||||
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About the Authors | |||||
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Visit the Dune novels site: http://www.dunenovels.com/ | |||||
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Hunters of Dune and the concluding volume, Sandworms of Dune, bring together the great story lines and beloved characters of Frank Herbert's classic Dune universe, ranging from the time of the Butlerian Jihad through the original Dune series and beyond. Based directly on Frank Herbert's final outline, which lay hidden in safe-deposit boxes for a decade, these two volumes have at long last answered the urgent questions Dune fans have been debating for decades. At the end of Frank Herbert's final novel, Chapterhouse: Dune, a ship carrying a crew of refugees escapes into the uncharted galaxy, fleeing from a terrifying, mysterious Enemy. The fugitives used genetic technology to revive key figures from Dune's past — including Paul Muad'Dib and Lady Jessica — to strengthen their chances of survival by using their special talents to meet the incredible challenges of the journey. Sandworms of Dune will reveal the origin of the Honored Matres, the tantalizing future of the planet Arrakis, the final revelation of the Kwisatz Haderach and the resolution of the war between man and machine. This breathtaking new novel in Frank Herbert's Dune series has surprises and plot twists galore — enough to please even the most demanding reader. | |||||||
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EXCERPT — the ghola of Lady Jessica Aboard the wandering no-ship Ithaca, Jessica witnessed the birth of her daughter with interest, but only as an observer. She and many others crowded the medical center, while two Bene Gesserit Suk doctors in the adjacent creche prepared to extract the tiny girl child from an axlotl tank. "Alia," one of the female doctors murmured, although this was not truly Jessica's daughter, but a ghola grown from preserved cells. None of the young gholas on the no-ship were "themselves" yet. They had regained none of their memories, none of their pasts. Jessica herself was only fourteen years old. Something tried to surface at the back of her mind, and though she worried at it like a loose tooth, Jessica could not directly recall the first time Alia had been born. In the archives, she had read the legendary accounts generated by Muad'Dib's biographers, over and over. But she couldn't remember. A dry and dusty sietch on Arrakis, surrounded by Fremen. Jessica and her son Paul had been on the run, taken in by the desert tribe. Duke Leto, the baby girl's father, was dead, murdered by Harkonnens. Pregnant, Jessica had drunk the Water of Life, forever changing the fetus inside her. From the moment of her birth, the original Alia had been different from all other babies, filled with ancient wisdom and madness, able to tap into Other Memory without having gone through the Spice Agony. Abomination! That had been another Alia. Another time and another way. Jessica stood beside her ghola "son" Paul — chronologically a year older than she — along with his beloved Fremen mate Chani and the nine-year-old ghola of a boy who had in turn been their son, Leto II. In a prior shuffle of lives, this had been Jessica's family. The Bene Gesserit order had resurrected these figures from history to help them stand against the terrible Outside Enemy that hunted them relentlessly. Thufir Hawat, the planetologist Liet-Kynes, the Fremen leader Stilgar, even the notorious Dr. Yueh. Now, after almost a decade of hiatus in the ghola program, Alia had joined them. Others would come soon; the three remaining axlotl tanks were already pregnant with new children: Gurney Halleck, Serena Butler, Xavier Harkonnen. Duncan gave Jessica a quizzical look. Eternal Duncan, with all of his memories restored from all of his prior lives… She wondered what he thought of this new ghola baby, a bubble of the past rising up to the roiling surface of the present. Long ago, the first ghola of Duncan had been Alia's consort…. Concealing his age well, the full-grown man with dark wiry hair looked exactly like the hero shown in so many archival records, from the time of Muad'Dib, through the god emperor's thirty-five century reign, to now, another fifteen centuries later. Breathless and late, the old Rabbi bustled into the chamber accompanied by twelve-year-old Wellington Yueh. Young Yueh's forehead did not bear the diamond tattoo of the famous Suk School. The bearded Rabbi seemed to think he could save the gangly young man from repeating the terrible crimes he had committed in his prior life. At the moment the Rabbi looked angry, as he invariably did near the axlotl tanks. Since the Bene Gesserit doctors ignored him, the old man vented his displeasure on Sheeana. "After years of sanity, you have done it again! You claim to lead the Sisters here. When will you learn to stop taunting God?" After receiving an ominous prescient dream she had declared a temporary moratorium on the ghola project that had been her passion from its inception. But more recently, their ordeal on the planet of the Handlers and their near capture by the Enemy hunters had forced Sheeana to reassess her decision. The wealth of historical and tactical experience the gholas could offer once their memories were awakened might be the greatest weapon the no-ship possessed. Sheeana had decided to take the risk. Perhaps we will be saved by Alia one day. Or by one of the other gholas… Tempting fate, Sheeana had performed an experiment on this unborn ghola in an effort to make it more like the Alia. Estimating the point in the pregnancy when the original Jessica had consumed the Water of Life, Sheeana had instructed Bene Gesserit Suk doctors to flood the axlotl tank with a near-fatal spice overdose. Saturating the fetus. Trying to re-create an Abomination. Jessica had been horrified to learn of it — too late, when she could do nothing about it. Sheeana was dabbling with lives again. How would the spice affect that innocent baby? Simply receiving melange was different from undergoing the Agony. One of the Suk doctors told the Rabbi to stay out of the birthing creche. Scowling, the old man held up a trembling hand, as if making a blessing on the pale flesh of the axlotl tank. "You witches think these tanks are no longer women, no longer human — but this is still Rebecca. She remains a child of my flock." "Rebecca fulfilled a vital need. All of the volunteers knew exactly what they were doing. She accepted her responsibility. Why can't you?" Sheeana said. The Rabbi turned in exasperation toward the young man at his side. "Speak to them, Yueh. Maybe they will listen to you." Jessica thought the sallow young ghola seemed more intrigued than incensed about the tanks. "As a Suk doctor," he said, "I delivered many children. But never like this. At least I don't think so. With my ghola memories still locked away, I get confused sometimes." "And Rebecca is human — not just some biological machine to produce melange and a brood of gholas. You have to see that." Yueh shrugged. "Because I was born in the same fashion, I cannot be entirely objective. Perhaps if my memories were restored, I'd agree with you." "You don't need original memories to think! You can think, can't you?" "The baby is ready," one of the doctors interrupted. "We must decant it now." She turned impatiently to the Rabbi. "Allow us to do our work — or the tank could be harmed as well." With a sound of disgust, the Rabbi shouldered his way from the birthing creche. Yueh remained behind, continuing to watch. One of the Suk women tied off the umbilical cord from the fleshy tank, while her shorter colleague cut the purplish-red whip. She wiped off the slick infant and lifted little Alia into the air. The child let out a loud and immediate cry, as if she had been impatient to be born. Jessica smiled at the healthy sound. Not an Abomination this time! According to the written accounts, the original newborn Alia had looked upon the world with the eyes and intelligence of a full adult. This baby's crying sounded normal. But it stopped abruptly. While one doctor tended the now-sagging axlotl tank, the other dried the infant and wrapped her in a blanket. Jessica couldn't help feeling a tug at her heart. She wanted to reach out and hold the baby, but resisted the urge. Would Alia suddenly start speaking, uttering voices from Other Memory? No, the baby looked around the medical center, without seeming to focus. Others would care for Alia, not unlike the way Bene Gesserit sisters took baby girls under their collective wing. The first Jessica, born under the close scrutiny of breeding mistresses, had never known a mother in the traditional sense. Nor would this Alia. Nor had all the experimental ghola babies, including herself. The new daughter, would be raised communally in an improvised society, more an object of scientific curiosity than love. "What an odd sort of family we are," Jessica whispered. |