Contents
Chapter 29
Overview
Inside the Harkonnen no-globe, tensions explode as Duncan rejects Lucilla’s imprinting and resists Voice. Teg intervenes, forcing candor: Taraza’s aims for Duncan remain unclear, but Sheeana’s worm-command is central. Teg confirms contact from Burzmali, compels preparation for escape, and has them memorize maps for a covert rendezvous.
Summary
Tensions crest in the no-globe after another confrontation: Duncan rebuffs Lucilla’s seductive pressure, and Teg warns that her approach endangers their mission. Teg, drained by training and wary of unseen forces, probes Duncan’s resistance, learning he has withstood Voice and will not submit to imprinting.
Alone, Lucilla assesses Teg’s unusual insight, tracing it to his Reverend Mother mother, and battles her own trained impulses as she prepares to execute Taraza’s orders: complete Duncan’s sexual imprinting to ready him for Rakis. She gathers herself to proceed.
In the showers, Duncan laments the Sisterhood’s manipulations and reflects on his Atreides loyalty. When Lucilla approaches, he threatens lethal resistance. With Voice ineffective, Lucilla turns to truth, revealing Sheeana on Rakis and the worms’ obedience, yet admits she does not know Taraza’s full design for Duncan.
Teg interrupts with an unloaded lasgun to compel attention, deducing that Lucilla was to make Duncan broadly irresistible and that immense forces converge on Rakis. He reframes Duncan’s role amid the Breeding Mistresses’ aims, while Duncan seethes at being reduced to a “stud.”
Teg then reveals fresh external pressure: under life-shield he found Burzmali’s sign confirming receipt of Teg’s coded message. Anticipating pursuit, Teg orders immediate study and memorization of the library’s maps—updated from Harkonnen records with Bene Gesserit sanctuary markers—intending to erase them afterward and prepare for a rendezvous and potential flight.
Who Appears
- Miles TegMentat-Bashar; intervenes with an unloaded lasgun, deduces Lucilla’s orders, confirms Burzmali’s sign, and orders map memorization for escape.
- Duncan Idaho (ghola)Resists Lucilla’s imprinting and Voice, denounces being used, recalls Atreides loyalty, and prepares for Teg’s planned rendezvous.
- LucillaImprinter torn between orders and resistance; admits Sheeana’s significance, fails to sway Duncan, and yields to Teg’s plan.
- BurzmaliOffstage ally; leaves a sign confirming contact, prompting Teg to plan a rendezvous.
- TarazaReverend Mother Superior; her opaque orders drive Lucilla’s imprinting push and the Rakis-focused strategy.
- SheeanaRakis girl who commands worms; cited as central to the Sisterhood’s aims and Duncan’s unknown role.