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She wore a one-piece pajama suit of dark blue which stretched tightly across her wide shoulders as she hunched over the desk. The glowglobe illuminated closely cropped blonde hair and the right side of her face, emphasizing the square block of jaw. The jaw moved with silent words as her thick fingers carefully depressed the keys of a thin keyboard on the desk. She handled the machine with a deference which had originated as awe and moved reluctantly into fearsome excitement. Long familiarity with the machine had eliminated neither emotion.
As she wrote, words appeared on a screen concealed within the wall rectangle exposed by the downward folding of the desk.
"Siona continues actions which predict violent attack on Your Holy Person," she wrote. "Siona remains unswerving in her avowed purpose. She told me today that she will give copies of the stolen books to groups whose loyalty to You cannot be trusted. The named recipients are the Bene Gesserit, the Guild and the Ixians. She says the books contain Your enciphered words and, by this gift, she seeks help in translating Your Holy Words.
"Lord, I do not know what great revelations may be concealed on those pages but if they contain anything of threat to Your Holy Person, I beg You to relieve me from my vow of obedience to Siona. I do not understand why You made me take this vow, but I fear it.
"I remain Your worshipful servant, Nayla."
The chair creaked as Nayla sat back and thought about her words. The room fell into the almost soundless withdrawal of thick insulation. There was only Nayla's faint breathing and a distant throbbing of machinery felt more in the floor than in the air.
Nayla stared at her message on the screen. Destined only for the eyes of the God Emperor, it required more than holy truthfulness. It demanded a deep candor which she found draining. Presently, she nodded and pressed the key which would encode the words and prepare them for transmission. Bowing her head, she prayed silently before concealing the desk within the wall. These actions, she knew, transmitted the message. God himself had implanted a physical device within her head, swearing her to secrecy and warning her that there might come a time when he would speak to her through the thing within her skull. He had never done this. She suspected that Ixians had fashioned the device. It had possessed some of their look. But God Himself had done this thing and she could ignore the suspicion that there might be a computer in it, that it might be prohibited by the Great Convention.
"Make no device in the likeness of the mind!"
Nayla shuddered. She stood then and moved her chair to its regular position beside the cot. Her heavy, muscular body strained against the thin blue garment. There was a steady deliberation about her, the actions of someone constantly adjusting to great physical strength. She turned at the cot and studied the place where the desk had been. There was only a rectangular gray panel like all the others. No bit of lint, no strand of hair, nothing caught there to reveal the panel's secret.
Nayla took a deep, restorative breath and let herself out of the room's only door into a gray passage dimly lighted by widely spaced white glowglobes. The machinery sounds were louder here. She turned left and a few minutes later was with Siona in a somewhat larger room, a table at its center upon which things stolen from the Citadel had been arranged. Two silvery glowglobes illuminated the scene--Siona seated at the table, with an assistant named Topri standing beside her.
Nayla nurtured grudging admiration for Siona, but Topri, there was a man worthy of nothing except active dislike. He was a nervous fat man with bulging green eyes, a pug nose and thin lips above a dimpled chin. Topri squeaked when he spoke.
"Look here, Nayla! Look what Siona has found pressed between the pages of these two books."
Nayla closed and locked the room's single door.
"You talk too much, Topri," Nayla said. "You're a blurter. How could you know if I was alone in the passage?"
Topri paled. An angry scowl settled onto his face.
"I'm afraid she's right," Siona said. "What made you think I wanted Nayla to know about my discovery?"
"You trust her with everything!"
Siona turned her attention to Nayla. "Do you know why I trust you, Nayla?" The question was asked in a flat, unemotional voice.
Nayla put down a sudden surge of fear. Had Siona discovered her secret?
Have I failed my Lord?
"Have you no response to my question?" Siona asked.
"Have I ever given you cause to do otherwise?" Nayla asked.
"That's not a sufficient cause for trust," Siona said. "There's no such thing as perfection--not in human or machine."
"Then why do you trust me?"
"Your words and your actions always agree. It's a marvelous quality. For instance, you don't like Topri and you never try to conceal your dislike."
Nayla glanced at Topri, who cleared his throat.
"I don't trust him," Nayla said.
The words popped into her mind and out of her mouth without reflection. Only after she had spoken did Nayla realize the true core of her dislike: Topri would betray anyone for personal gain.
Has he found me out?
Still scowling, Topri said, "I am not going to stand here and accept your abuse." He started to leave but Siona held up a restraining hand. Topri hesitated.
"Although we speak the old Fremen words and swear our loyalty to each other, that is not what holds us together," Siona said. "Everything is based on performance. That is all I measure. Do you understand, both of you?"
Topri nodded automatically, but Nayla shook her head from side to side.
Siona smiled up at her. "You don't always agree with my decisions, do you, Nayla?"
"No." The word was forced from her.
"And you have never tried to conceal your disagreement, yet you always obey me. Why?"
"That is what I have sworn to do."
"But I have said this is not enough."
Nayla knew she was perspiring, knew this was revealing, but she could not move. What am I to do? I swore to God that I would obey Siona but I cannot tell her this.
"You must answer my question," Siona said. "I command it."
Nayla caught her breath. This was the dilemma she had most feared. There was no way out. She said a silent prayer and spoke in a low voice.
"I have sworn to God that I will obey you."
Siona clapped her hands in glee and laughed.
"I knew it!"
Topri chuckled.
"Shut up, Topri," Siona said. "I am trying to teach you a lesson. You don't believe in anything, not even in yourself."
"But I ..."
"Be still, I say! Nayla believes. I believe. This is what holds us together. Belief."
Topri was astonished. "Belief? You believe in ..."
"Not in the God Emperor, you fool! We believe that a higher power will settle with the tyrant worm. We are that higher power."
Nayla took a trembling breath.
"It's all right, Nayla," Siona said. "I don't care where you draw your strength, just as long as you believe."
Nayla managed a smile, then grinned. She had never been more profoundly stirred by the wisdom of her Lord. I may speak the truth and it works only for my God!
"Let me show you what I've found in these books," Siona said. She gestured at some sheets of ordinary paper on the table. "Pressed between the pages."
Nayla stepped around the table and looked down at it.
"First, there's this." Siona held up an object which Nayla had not noticed. It was a thin strand of something ... and what appeared to be a ...
"A flower?" Nayla asked.
"This was between two pages of paper. On the paper was written this."
Siona leaned over the table and read: "A strand of Ghanima's hair with a starflower blossom which she once brought me."
Looking up at Nayla, Siona said: "Our God Emperor is revealed as a sentimentalist. That is a weakness I had not expected."
"Ghanima?" Nayla asked.
"His sister! Remember your Oral History."
"O
h ... oh, yes. The Prayer to Ghanima."
"Now, listen to this." Siona took up another sheet of paper and read from it.
