—The Stolen Journals

“I have summoned you, Moneo, because of what my guards tell me,” Leto said.

They stood in the darkness of the crypt where, Moneo reminded himself, some of the God Emperor’s most painful decisions originated. Moneo, too, had heard reports. He had been expecting the summons all afternoon and, when it came shortly after the evening meal, a moment of terror had engulfed him.

“Is it about… about the Duncan, Lord?”

“Of course it’s about the Duncan!”

“I’m told, Lord… his behaviour…”

“Terminal behaviour, Moneo?”

Moneo bowed his head. “If you say it, Lord.”

“How long until the Tleilaxu could supply us with another one?”

“They say they have had problems, Lord. It might be as much as two years.”

“Do you know what my guards tell me, Moneo?”

Moneo held his breath. If the God Emperor had learned about this latest… No! Even the Fish Speakers were terrified by the affront. Had it been anyone but a Duncan the women would have taken it upon themselves to eliminate him.

“Well, Moneo?”

“I am told, Lord, that he called out a levy of guards and questioned them about their origins. On what worlds were they born? What of their parentage, their childhood?”

“And the answers did not please him.”

“He frightened them, Lord. He kept insisting.”

“As though repetition could elicit the truth, yes.”

Moneo allowed himself to hope that this might be the whole of his Lord’s concern. “Why do the Duncans always do this, Lord?”

“It was their early training, the Atreides training.”

“But how did that differ from…”

“The Atreides lived in the service of the people they governed. The measure of their government was found in the lives of the governed. Thus, the Duncans always want to know how the people live.”

“He has spent a night in one village, Lord. He has been to some of the towns. He has seen…”

“It’s all in how you interpret the results, Moneo. Evidence is nothing without judgments.”

“I have observed that he judges, Lord.”

“We all do, but the Duncans tend to believe that this universe is hostage to my will. And they know that you cannot do wrong in the name of right.”

“Is that what he says you…”

“It is what I say, what all of the Atreides in me say. This universe will not permit it. The things you attempt will not endure if you…”

“But, Lord! You do no wrong!”

“Poor Moneo. You cannot see that I have created a vehicle of injustice.”

Moneo could not speak. He realized that he had been diverted by a seeming return to mildness in the God Emperor. But now, Moneo sensed changes moving in that great body, and at this proximity… Moneo glanced around the crypt’s central chamber, reminding himself of the many deaths which had occurred here and which were enshrined here.

Is it my time?

Leto spoke in a musing tone. “You cannot succeed by taking hostages. That is a form of enslavement. One kind of human cannot own another kind of human. This universe will not permit it.”