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"We know about the weapons you carry," she said. Another bold lie suggested itself. "If you make a mistake now, the whores will also learn how you use those weapons."
Waff took three shallow breaths. When he spoke, he had himself under control: "We will not be Bene Gesserit satellites!"
Taraza responded in an even-toned, soothing voice: "I have not by word or action suggested such a role for you."
She waited. There was no change in Waff's expression, no slightest shift in the unfocused glare he directed at her.
"You threaten us," he muttered. "You demand that we share everything we--"
"Share!" she snapped. "One does not share with unequal partners."
"And what would you share with us?" he demanded.
She spoke with the chiding tone she would use to a child: "Ser Waff, ask yourself why you, a ruling member of your oligarchy, came to this meeting?"
His voice still firmly controlled, Waff countered: "And why did you, Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit, come here?"
She spoke mildly: "To strengthen us."
"You did not say what you would share," he accused. "You still hope for advantage."
Taraza continued to watch him carefully. She had seldom sensed such suppressed rage in a human. "Ask me openly what you want," she said.
"And you will give it out of your great generosity!"
"I will negotiate."
"Where was the negotiation when you ordered me ... ORDERED ME! to--"
"You came here firmly resolved to break any agreement we made," she said. "Not once have you tried to negotiate! You sit in front of someone willing to bargain with you and you can only--"
"Bargain?" Waff's memory was hurled back to the Honored Matre's anger at that word.
"I said it," Taraza said. "Bargain."
Something like a smile twitched the corners of Waff's mouth. "You think I have authority to bargain with you?"
"Have a care, Ser Waff," she said. "You have the ultimate authority. It resides in that final ability to destroy an opponent utterly. I have not threatened that, but you have." She glanced at his sleeves.
Waff sighed. What a quandary. She was powindah! How could one bargain with a powindah?
"We have a problem that cannot be resolved by rational means," Taraza said.
Waff hid his surprise. Those were the very words the Honored Matre had used! He cringed inwardly at what that might signify. Could Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres make common cause? Taraza's bitterness argued otherwise, but when were the witches to be trusted?
Once more, Waff wondered if he dared sacrifice himself to eliminate this witch. What would it serve? Others among them surely knew what she knew. It would only precipitate the disaster. There was that internal dispute among the witches, but, again, that might just be another ruse.
"You ask us to share something," Taraza said. "What if I were to offer you some of our prize human bloodlines?"
There was no mistaking how Waff's interest quickened.
He said: "Why should we come to you for such things? We have our tanks and we can pick up genetic examples almost anywhere."
"Examples of what?" she asked.
Waff sighed. You could never escape that Bene Gesserit incisiveness. It was like a sword thrust. He guessed that he had revealed things to her that led naturally to this subject. The damage already had been done. She correctly deduced (or spies had told her!) that the wild pool of human genes held little interest for the Tleilaxu with their more sophisticated knowledge of life's innermost language. It never paid to underestimate either the Bene Gesserit or the products of their breeding programs. God Himself knew they had produced Maud'dib and the Prophet!
"What more would you demand in exchange for this?" he asked.
"Bargaining at last!" Taraza said. "We both know, of course, that I am offering breeding mothers of the Atreides line." And she thought: "Let him hope for that! They will look like Atreides but they will not be Atreides!"
Waff felt his pulse quicken. Was this possible? Did she have the slightest idea what the Tleilaxu might learn from an examination of such source material?
"We would want first selection of their offspring," Taraza said.
"No!"
"Alternate first selection, then?"
"Perhaps. "
"What do you mean, perhaps?" She leaned forward. Waff's intensity told her she was on a hot trail.
"What else would you ask of us?"
"Our breeding mothers must have unfettered access to your genetic laboratories."
"Are you mad?" Waff shook his head in exasperation. Did she think the Tleilaxu would give away their strongest weapon just like that?
"Then we will accept a fully operational axlotl tank."
Waff merely stared at her.
Taraza shrugged. "I had to try."
"I suppose you did."
Taraza sat back and reviewed what she had learned here. Waff's reaction to tha
t Zensunni probe had been interesting. "A problem that cannot be resolved by rational means." The words had produced a subtle effect on him. He had seemed to rise out of some place within himself, a questioning look in his eyes. Gods preserve us all! Is Waff a secret Zensunni?
No matter the dangers, this had to be explored. Odrade must be armed with every possible advantage on Rakis.
"Perhaps we have done all we can for now," Taraza said. "There is time to complete our bargain. God alone in His infinite mercy has given us infinite universes where anything may happen."
Waff clapped his hands once without thinking. "The gift of surprises is the greatest gift of all!" he said.
Not just Zensunni, Taraza thought. Sufi also. Sufi! She began to readjust her perspective on the Tleilaxu. How long have they been holding this close to their breasts?
"Time does not count itself," Taraza said, probing. "One has only to look at any circle."
"Suns are circles," Waff said. "Each universe is a circle." He held his breath waiting for her response.
"Circles are enclosures," Taraza said, picking the proper response out of her Other Memories. "Whatever encloses and limits must expose itself to the infinite."
Waff raised his hands to show her his palms then dropped his arms into his lap. His shoulders lost some of their tense upward thrust. "Why did you not say these things at the beginning?" he asked.
I must exercise great care, Taraza cautioned herself. The admissions in Waff's words and manner required careful review.
"What has passed between us reveals nothing unless we speak more openly," she said. "Even then, we would only be using words."
Waff studied her face, trying to read in that Bene Gesserit mask some confirmation of the things implied by her words and manner. She was powindah, he reminded himself. The powindah could never be trusted ... but if she shared the Great Belief ...
"Did God not send His Prophet to Rakis, there to test us and teach us?" he asked.
Taraza delved deep into her Other Memories. A Prophet on Rakis? Maud'dib? No ... that did not square with either Sufi or Zensunni beliefs in ...
The Tyrant! She closed her mouth into a grim line. "What one cannot control one must accept," she said.
"For surely that is God's doing," Waff replied.
