Pages 1-50 Summary

On the planet Gammu, Reverend Mother (RM) Schwangyu notes bitterly that they are on their twelfth Duncan Idaho ghola, shocking the RM Lucilla by such impersonal language. They are observing the sturdy, black-haired, well-tanned 12-year-old exercising in the courtyard below under armed guard. Lucilla's task as an Imprinter is to awaken his original memories and turn him over to her look-alike, Darwi Odrade, the Bene Gesserit's Senior Security Mother, in preparation for mating with Sheeana Brugh of Rakis. Sheeana may be the "Sandrider" predicted by the Tyrant Leto II 3,500 years earlier.

Meanwhile, on Chapter House Planet, tall, supple, graceful Taraza makes a final decision on sending Odrade to Rakis. Taraza remarks that while conflicts under the Golden Path are a mere 2% of those before, there are forces at work seeking to return to pre-Tyrant conditions. Tleilaxu arms are being stockpiled on...