Chapter 35

Miles Teg awakens bound and gagged, carried at night to a dilapidated shack that hides a clean interrogation room and a probe. Three interrogators—an official observer with a comeye, a square-faced operator named Yar, and a controlled, sympathetic woman called Materly—prepare a T-probe, noting Teg’s shere and Mentat training.

The probe inflicts extreme pain seeking access despite shere. Materly plays “friend,” urging restraint; the functionary demands maximum intensity. The T-probe bypasses memory to map Teg’s senses and bodily responses, isolating his awareness and attempting to simulate him. Teg observes its methods, retains Mentat control, and considers the real masters behind these “puppets.”

As the probe replays odors and elicits reactions, Teg learns the device’s patterns while recalling formative Bene Gesserit lessons about tailored responses. Realizing the probe is building a sensory duplicate, he matches and anticipates its intrusions. The pain catalyzes a shift: Teg attains a new, blistering speed and clarity.

Teg forces his eyes open against the probe’s commands, finds his bindings, and frees himself while the interrogators move in slow perception. He kills the functionary and Yar, then fells Materly, all before they can react. He shorts and erases the probe’s data, extinguishes the lights, and bursts outside, disabling the guards with the same accelerated prowess.

Regaining normal timebeat, Teg follows a downslope trail, sights Ysai, and concludes the true puppet masters are in the city. He is free and moving toward the source of his captors.