Post by The Shreeve on Dec 1, 2019 1:02:49 GMT -5
"See this?" she asked. From the folds of her gown she lifted a green metal cube about fifteen centimeters on a side. She turned it and Leonard saw that one side was open black and oddly frightening. No light penetrated that open blackness.
"Put your penis in the box," she said.
Fear shot through Leonard. He started to back away but the old woman said: "Is this how you obey your mother?"
He looked up into bird-bright eyes.
Slowly feeling the cumpulsions and unable to inhibit them, Leonard put his penis into the box. He felt first a sense of cold as the blackness closed around his penis, then slick metal against his penis and a prickling as though his penis were asleep.
A predatory look filled the old woman's features. She lifted her right hand away from the box and poised the hand close to the side of Leonard's neck. He saw a glint of metal there and started to turn toward it.
"Stop!" she snapped.
Using the Voice again! He swung his attention back to her face.
"I hold at your neck the gom jabbar," she said. "The gom jabbar, the high-handed enemy. It's a needle with a drop of poison on its tip. Ah-ah! Don't pull away (or should I say pull out) or you'll feel that poison."
Leonard tried to swallow in a dry throat. He could not take his attention from the seamed old face, the glistening eyes, the pale gums around silvery metal teeth that flashed as she spoke.
"A duke's son must know about poisons," she said.
"It's the way of our times, eh? Musky, to be poisoned in your drink. Aumas, to be poisoned in your food, The quick ones and the slow ones and the ones in between. Here's a new one for you: the gom jabbar. It kills only animals."
Pride overcame Leonard's fear. "You dare suggest a duke's son is an animal?" he demanded.
"Let us say I suggest you may be human," she said.
"Steady! I warn you not to try jerking away. I am old, but my hand can drive this needle into your neck before you escape me."
"Who are you?" he whispered. "How did you trick my mother into leaving me alone with you? Are you from the Harkonnens?"
"The Harkonnes? Bless us, no! Now, be silent." A dry finger touched his neck and he stilled the involuntary urge to leap away.
"Good," she said. "You pass the first test. Now, here's the way of the rest of it: If you withdraw your penis from the box you die. This is the only rule. Keep your penis in the box and live. Withdraw it and die."
Leonard took a deep breath to still his trembling. "If I call out there'll be servants on you in seconds and you'll die."
"Servants will not pass your mother who stands guard outside that door. Depend on it. Your mother survived this test. Now it's your turn. Be honored. We seldom administer this to men-children."
Curiosity reduced Leonard's fear to a manageable level. He heard truth in the old woman's voice, no denying it. If his mother stood guard out there...if this were truly a test....And whatever it was. he knew himself caught in it, trapped by that hand at his neck: the gom jabbar. He recalled the response from the Litany against Fear as his mother had taught him out of the Bene Gesserit rite. "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
He felt calmness return, said "Get on with it, old woman." "Old woman!" she snapped. "You've courage, and that can't be denied. Well, we shall see, sirra." She bent close, lowered her voice almost to a whisper. "You will feel pain in this penis within the box. Pain. But! Withdraw the penis and I'll touch your neck with my gom jabbar the death so swift it's like the fall of the headsman's axe. Withdraw your penis and the gom jabbar takes you. Understand?"
"What's in the box?"
"Pain."
He felt increased tingling in his penis, pressed his lips tightly together. How could this be a test? he wondered. The tingling became an itch. The old woman said: "You've heard of animals chewing off a leg to escape a trap? There's an animal kind of trick. A human would remain in the trap, endure the pain, feigning death that he might kill the trapper and remove a threat to his kind." The itch became the faintest burning. "Why are you doing this?" he demanded.
"To determine if you're human. Be silent."
Leonard clenched his left hand into a fist as the burning sensation increased in the other testicle. It mounted slowly: heat upon heat upon heat...upon heat.
"It burns," he whispered.
"Silence!"
Pain throbbed up his penis. Sweat stood out on his forehead. Every fiber cried out to withdraw the penis from that burning pit...but...the gom jabbar. Without turning his head, he tried to move his eyes to see that terrible needle poised beside his neck. He sensed that he was breathing in gaps, tried to show his breaths and couldn't.
Pain!
His world emptied of everything except that penis immersed in agony, the ancient face inches away staring at him.
His lips were so dry he had difficulty separating them.
The burning! The burning!
He though he could feel skin curling black on that agonized penis, the flesh crisping and dropping away until only a charred boner remained.
It stopped!
As though a switch had been turned off, the pain stopped.
Leonard felt his penis trembling, felt sweat bathing his body.
"Enough," the old woman muttered. "Kull wahad! No woman-child ever withstood that much. I must've wanted you to fail." She leaned back, withdrawing the gom jabbar from the side of his neck. "Take your penis from the box, young human, and look at it."
He fought down an aching shiver, stared at the lightless void where his penis seemed to remain of its own volition. Memory of pain inhibited every movement. Reason told him he would withdraw a blackened stump from that box.
"Do it!" she snapped.
He jerked his penis from the box, stared at it astonished. not a mark. No sign of agony on the flesh. He held up the penis, turned it, flexed it.
"Pain by nerve induction," she said. "Can't go around maiming potential humans. There're those who'd give a pretty for the secret of this box, though." She slipped it into the folds of her gown.
"But the pain" he said.
"Pain," she sniffed. "A human can override any nerve in the body."
Leonard felt his left hand aching, uncurled the clenched fingers, looked at four bloody marks where fingernails had bitten his palm. He dropped the hand to his side, looked at the old woman. "You did that to my mother once?"
"Ever sift sand through a screen?" she asked.
The tangential slash of her question shocked his mind into a higher awareness. Sand through a screen. He nodded.
"We Bene Gesserit sift people to find the humans."
He lifted his penis, willing the memory of the pain "And that's all there is to it pain?"
"I observed you in pain, lad. Pain's merely the axis of the test. Your mother's told you about our ways of observing. I see the sings of her teaching in you. Our test is crisis and observation."
He heard the confirmation in her voice, said" "It's truth!"
She stared at him. He senses truth! Could he be the one? Could he truly be the one? She extinguished the excitement, reminding herself: "Hope clouds observation."
"Put your penis in the box," she said.
Fear shot through Leonard. He started to back away but the old woman said: "Is this how you obey your mother?"
He looked up into bird-bright eyes.
Slowly feeling the cumpulsions and unable to inhibit them, Leonard put his penis into the box. He felt first a sense of cold as the blackness closed around his penis, then slick metal against his penis and a prickling as though his penis were asleep.
A predatory look filled the old woman's features. She lifted her right hand away from the box and poised the hand close to the side of Leonard's neck. He saw a glint of metal there and started to turn toward it.
"Stop!" she snapped.
Using the Voice again! He swung his attention back to her face.
"I hold at your neck the gom jabbar," she said. "The gom jabbar, the high-handed enemy. It's a needle with a drop of poison on its tip. Ah-ah! Don't pull away (or should I say pull out) or you'll feel that poison."
Leonard tried to swallow in a dry throat. He could not take his attention from the seamed old face, the glistening eyes, the pale gums around silvery metal teeth that flashed as she spoke.
"A duke's son must know about poisons," she said.
"It's the way of our times, eh? Musky, to be poisoned in your drink. Aumas, to be poisoned in your food, The quick ones and the slow ones and the ones in between. Here's a new one for you: the gom jabbar. It kills only animals."
Pride overcame Leonard's fear. "You dare suggest a duke's son is an animal?" he demanded.
"Let us say I suggest you may be human," she said.
"Steady! I warn you not to try jerking away. I am old, but my hand can drive this needle into your neck before you escape me."
"Who are you?" he whispered. "How did you trick my mother into leaving me alone with you? Are you from the Harkonnens?"
"The Harkonnes? Bless us, no! Now, be silent." A dry finger touched his neck and he stilled the involuntary urge to leap away.
"Good," she said. "You pass the first test. Now, here's the way of the rest of it: If you withdraw your penis from the box you die. This is the only rule. Keep your penis in the box and live. Withdraw it and die."
Leonard took a deep breath to still his trembling. "If I call out there'll be servants on you in seconds and you'll die."
"Servants will not pass your mother who stands guard outside that door. Depend on it. Your mother survived this test. Now it's your turn. Be honored. We seldom administer this to men-children."
Curiosity reduced Leonard's fear to a manageable level. He heard truth in the old woman's voice, no denying it. If his mother stood guard out there...if this were truly a test....And whatever it was. he knew himself caught in it, trapped by that hand at his neck: the gom jabbar. He recalled the response from the Litany against Fear as his mother had taught him out of the Bene Gesserit rite. "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
He felt calmness return, said "Get on with it, old woman." "Old woman!" she snapped. "You've courage, and that can't be denied. Well, we shall see, sirra." She bent close, lowered her voice almost to a whisper. "You will feel pain in this penis within the box. Pain. But! Withdraw the penis and I'll touch your neck with my gom jabbar the death so swift it's like the fall of the headsman's axe. Withdraw your penis and the gom jabbar takes you. Understand?"
"What's in the box?"
"Pain."
He felt increased tingling in his penis, pressed his lips tightly together. How could this be a test? he wondered. The tingling became an itch. The old woman said: "You've heard of animals chewing off a leg to escape a trap? There's an animal kind of trick. A human would remain in the trap, endure the pain, feigning death that he might kill the trapper and remove a threat to his kind." The itch became the faintest burning. "Why are you doing this?" he demanded.
"To determine if you're human. Be silent."
Leonard clenched his left hand into a fist as the burning sensation increased in the other testicle. It mounted slowly: heat upon heat upon heat...upon heat.
"It burns," he whispered.
"Silence!"
Pain throbbed up his penis. Sweat stood out on his forehead. Every fiber cried out to withdraw the penis from that burning pit...but...the gom jabbar. Without turning his head, he tried to move his eyes to see that terrible needle poised beside his neck. He sensed that he was breathing in gaps, tried to show his breaths and couldn't.
Pain!
His world emptied of everything except that penis immersed in agony, the ancient face inches away staring at him.
His lips were so dry he had difficulty separating them.
The burning! The burning!
He though he could feel skin curling black on that agonized penis, the flesh crisping and dropping away until only a charred boner remained.
It stopped!
As though a switch had been turned off, the pain stopped.
Leonard felt his penis trembling, felt sweat bathing his body.
"Enough," the old woman muttered. "Kull wahad! No woman-child ever withstood that much. I must've wanted you to fail." She leaned back, withdrawing the gom jabbar from the side of his neck. "Take your penis from the box, young human, and look at it."
He fought down an aching shiver, stared at the lightless void where his penis seemed to remain of its own volition. Memory of pain inhibited every movement. Reason told him he would withdraw a blackened stump from that box.
"Do it!" she snapped.
He jerked his penis from the box, stared at it astonished. not a mark. No sign of agony on the flesh. He held up the penis, turned it, flexed it.
"Pain by nerve induction," she said. "Can't go around maiming potential humans. There're those who'd give a pretty for the secret of this box, though." She slipped it into the folds of her gown.
"But the pain" he said.
"Pain," she sniffed. "A human can override any nerve in the body."
Leonard felt his left hand aching, uncurled the clenched fingers, looked at four bloody marks where fingernails had bitten his palm. He dropped the hand to his side, looked at the old woman. "You did that to my mother once?"
"Ever sift sand through a screen?" she asked.
The tangential slash of her question shocked his mind into a higher awareness. Sand through a screen. He nodded.
"We Bene Gesserit sift people to find the humans."
He lifted his penis, willing the memory of the pain "And that's all there is to it pain?"
"I observed you in pain, lad. Pain's merely the axis of the test. Your mother's told you about our ways of observing. I see the sings of her teaching in you. Our test is crisis and observation."
He heard the confirmation in her voice, said" "It's truth!"
She stared at him. He senses truth! Could he be the one? Could he truly be the one? She extinguished the excitement, reminding herself: "Hope clouds observation."