Meanwhile, back in the Selamlik...

Has not lineal descendancy claimed a patent on canonicity for all of these millennia?

—The Tleilaxu Question, from Muad'dib Speaks

The air of Tleilax was crystalline, gripped by a stillness that was part the morning chill and part a sense of fear as though everything that was once sacred was now defiled. The MahiMahi, Master B, Master of the Masters, enjoyed this hour more than any other of the day. The city was his now as he looked out through his open window. Bandalong would come alive at his command. Master B would be faced with a difficult task, one that could only be resolved in Kehl. Would the Council see the importance of this task? Would all that was sacred and canon to the Bene Tleilax be cast aside by this one document?

The Anderson Manifesto. How will we counter this defiling of Tleilaxu canon?

The thought had crossed his mind so many times. Even as he stopped at the selamlik to distribute his particularly virile and vigorous sperm, the cloud of doubt hung over him like the time Mirlat had eaten that bean burrito.

Powindah food. He should have known better. One day Mirlat will be the MahiMahi. But that cannot be my concern now. I must convince the Council to stop the distribution of the Anderson Manifesto before all that we know as canon is destroyed. The Ascendancy is upon us, and if we don’t put an end to this treachery we will all have shortened life spans, lowered IQs, and an unnatural obsession with overweight powindah.

Master B’s task was clear. Today the fate of the Bene Tleilax would be in his hands....


Written by Tleilax Master B