Harian scowled. “That man always says he has an urgent message.”
“Yes, but sometimes he really does.” Manford turned to the courier. “Tell him to wait in my headquarters office. We will be there shortly.”
The young man ran off down the street without catching his breath.
Anari settled Manford onto her strong shoulders, and in the early morning light she carried him through town to the Butlerian headquarters. Deacon Harian and Sister Woodra accompanied them, while Ellonda stayed behind to tidy the house.
When the party marched in, Rolli Escon was pacing Manford’s office, nervous and flustered. He blurted out, “My Lord Torondo, I wanted—”
“Leader Torondo. I am no nobleman.”
Anari Idaho deposited Manford into his high desk chair and asserted herself. “We know your vessels are unsafe, Directeur. Leader Torondo should not travel aboard them.”
Escon was taken aback. “My vessels are not unsafe! I travel in them myself and will continue to do so.” He looked dyspeptic at the reminder, then changed the subject to his urgent news. “I come here, sir, to tell you about Baridge! I just learned it myself. Deacon Kalifer and his governmental leaders have turned against us.”
“How so?”
“The planet’s population voted to set aside your pledge and bow to Josef Venport’s ultimatum! They have requested an immediate shipment of supplies as soon as a VenHold ship can get there.”
“How do you know this?” Anari said.
“My ships were there! We heard the deacon’s transmission.”
Anger welled up within Manford. “If we let Baridge get away with their hypocrisy, then other weak worlds will fall. We cannot let them change their minds! I must go to Baridge myself.” He smiled tersely at Directeur Escon. “We may need to purge the entire planet — it’ll be a thousand times more instructive than the lesson you saw at Dove’s Haven.”
Escon looked decidedly ill.
In a firm voice, Anari said, “As I said earlier, Manford, it is too dangerous for you to travel aboard a spacefolder until EsconTran improves their safety record. Let me go to Baridge in your stead. I’ll take care of it personally.”
Manford flushed. “No, this is too important. I have to be—”
Anari cut him off in front of the other listeners, which irritated him, but she would not sway. “I’ll punish the hypocrites. And if Escon’s ship should vanish with me aboard, then you can send another deputy. And another after that. But for the sake of our sacred cause, you must remain safe.”
He did not want to argue in front of the others, nor did he want to seem petulant. “Then I’ll send my double … just so they can see me.”
“Your double is already delivering a speech on Walgis, Leader Torondo,” Harian pointed out. “He was dispatched last week to hold a rally on—”
Manford waved his hand to silence the deacon.
Anari turned to Rolli Escon. “We must go to Baridge right now. Since you insist that your ships are safe, you will fly with me.”
“My ships are safe!”
Sister Woodra watched him, then turned back to Manford. Her eyes had a strange glitter. “This man is not telling an outright lie, but he does doubt his own words.”
Manford regarded the Sister. “I don’t need a Truthsayer to tell me what is so obvious.”
Chapter 41 (The ideal form of mob behavior is controlled chaos)
The ideal form of mob behavior is controlled chaos.
— MANFORD TORONDO, comment to Anari Idaho
As a trained Sister, Dorotea did not normally dream, but when she did, the images often stuck in her mind like actual events. Sometimes she had trouble differentiating them from reality, especially with the distinct echoes from Other Memory.
She sat up in the darkness. Around her, the chamber was silent, as if holding its breath, but she had just experienced one of her more vivid, troubling dreams.
The Emperor had given Dorotea’s followers austere quarters in a former military barracks near the palace. She had her own suite of rooms in an officer’s section on the top level. After awakening, shaken, she rose from her bed and stood at the window, gazing across the grassy parade grounds, where she and her hundred faithful Sisters trained, along with the new acolytes they were now allowed to recruit. The parade grounds were empty, except for the night watchman’s silent vehicle as he made his rounds.
She opened the window to feel a cool breeze. The air was moist and clean, suggesting that rain had fallen while she’d been deep in her dream. Moisture still clung to the air … just as the dream clung to her awareness, trying to send her a wordless message. Dorotea felt the dream forming a sharper reality in her mind, sculpting an opening for itself, a place for it to remain.
Before going to bed, she’d been thinking about one of the Sister Mentats back on Rossak, an aged Sorceress named Karee Marques. Before the schism, Dorotea had liked the old Sorceress, and had tried to learn from her. Karee had investigated Rossak plants and fungi, preparing poisonous distillates that could be used for the Agony. Though Dorotea assisted Karee in her pharmaceutical work, the old Sorceress had always been reticent, leaving Dorotea to wonder what she was hiding. Karee had also been one of Raquella’s closest confidantes.
Did Karee know about the forbidden computers, the hidden breeding records? Did she know Raquella is my own grandmother?
These questions still lingered, even now, but by voicing her suspicions to Emperor Salvador, Dorotea had touched a spark to kindling. She hadn’t meant to cause such a disaster at the Rossak School. She had merely wanted to bring the Sisters back to the proper, safe path. The turbulence had gone out of her control — the massacre of the Sister Mentats, the disbanding of the Rossak order.
Now, she was determined that her orthodox Sisters would rebuild the order here on Salusa, correctly, with the full support of the Imperial throne.
The recent dream was sharper in her mind now, as if those other thoughts placed it in context, giving it a framework. While sleeping, Dorotea had seen herself talking with old Sister Karee about the important secrets Josef Venport was harboring — a conversation that was impossible, because Karee was dead, cut down by the Imperial soldiers.…
Nonetheless, the Sorceress was there in Dorotea’s dream, very much alive and talking about current events after the breakup of the Rossak School. Sister Karee explained that VenHold continued to operate profitably, that their ships flew safely in direct contradiction to so many tragic losses from other shipping companies. In the dream, Karee used her Mentat skills to counsel Dorotea, outlining circumstantial but convincing evidence that suggested Josef Venport had more than good luck on his side. Not only did his ships use the skills of mysterious Navigators, they might also be taking advantage of forbidden computers.
Without proof of his twisted dealings, though, Dorotea could not expose Venport. She had already made a grave error in voicing suspicions about the Sisterhood’s illicit computers, without having actual evidence. Many of her Sisters had died because of that. She would not make premature accusations again.
The dream-Karee wore the customary white robe of a Sorceress, giving her an air of mystery and secret knowledge. After the conversation, Karee watched Dorotea like a wise counselor while the younger woman ran a series of questions about Venport through her mind, as if she were using Truthsayer abilities on herself, rather than on someone else. Now her conscious mind asked questions of her subconscious, interrogating herself to get both sides of the truth.