Chapter 39

Near midnight in Ysai’s lower quarter, Lucilla and Burzmali move through crowded, volatile streets. They pass engineered sewer-gas workers—the Bordanos—and fend off sect children ready to stone them by invoking “Guldur,” the local name for the Tyrant. The streets teem with small merchants and tense bargaining.

Lucilla identifies a supposed tall man as two Tleilaxu Masters stacked in disguise, confirming hostile searchers nearby. They witness a banned hypnobong in use and detect the slum’s predatory economy. A seated figure with gleaming eyes is revealed as a Futar—an engineered human-animal hybrid from the Scattering—signaling new, dangerous arrivals on Gammu.

Keeping cover, they enter a shabby-looking commerciél to blend in, then leave quickly as the street atmosphere turns more menacing. Burzmali leads Lucilla to a windowless plasteel-faced building, where old comeyes watch. Inside, scents of melange, semuta, and masked explosive work betray layered illicit activities. Burzmali triggers a hidden switch, and an ominous silence falls.

An aged woman in a yellow smock admits them to a carefully arranged room. Lucilla reads the woman’s signals and identifies her as Rakian; the woman confirms she was once a priestess. Despite Lucilla’s harsh threat, Burzmali insists these contacts are their route to Rakis. The woman acknowledges local devotion to “Great Guldur,” underlining the sectarian climate.

As they settle to rest, Lucilla recognizes Burzmali’s fear for her and confronts a shocking realization: she hates the people of Gammu, a perilous emotion for a Reverend Mother that could invert into misplaced love. She struggles to purge this hatred while memories surface, ending with a personal recollection that reveals how deeply Gammu has unsettled her.