Not that the Bene Gesserit have given up hope, it is after all not really in their character, but they consider their situation as worse than when they were under the domination of the God Emperor. Darwi Odrade has managed to make her temporary leadership of the Bene Gesserit (upon sharing with the dying Taraza) permanent and so responsibility lies in her province. Her sense of the danger the Bene Gesserit is in is all the more heightened by her limited prescience with which she sees herself being ever more closer pursued by an unknown axeman. But she is still resolute and is not without hope: if anyone is to find the creative solution to the problem of the Honoured Matre's then it is she.

The Bene Gesserit are also well on the way to creating a new Dune on their home planet Chapterhouse and Sheeana - now in charge of the Worm project - hopes to see worms anyday. And as backup the Bene Gesserit have been scattering groups of Bene Gesserit with sandtrout and axotl tanks to ensure something of thir order survives the current conflict.

The Honoured Matre's in their conquest of the Old Empire also wiped out the Bene Tleilax, who assumed that their control of their spice guaranteed their protection, but the Honoured Matre's surprisingly and perhaps illogically cared little for the Spice. The Bene Gesserit fortitiously rescued a Tleilaxu master from the destruction and he in gratitiude and as payment provided the Bene Gesserit with the secret to the axotl tanks. In doing do he dirtied the hands of the Bene Gesserit, because the Tleilaxu solution was to use the original - the female womb - and turn women into 'tanks'. Reluctantly the Bene Gesserit found 'volunteers', and the first ghola they decided to produce was a new Miles Teg, whose military genius they felt was utterly necessary given their desperate struggle with the Honoured Matre's.

The Bene Gesserit have three important prisoners on Chapterhouse - Scytale (the Tleilaxu master they captured), Duncan Idaho and Murbella (the only Honoured Matre they have ever captured). The Bene Gesserit agenda with Scytale is to wear down his resistance so that he provides more of the secrets of the Bene Tleilaxu, the most important being that of how to create spice from the axotl tanks.

Duncan Idaho and Murbella, are now living together, the bond created by their initial sexual meeting has proved impossible for either to withstand and they are somewhat reluctant partners. The Bene Gesserit watch these three with the utmost attention, trying to mold all three to their subtle needs. The Bene Gesserit have accepted Murbella as a novice and are training her to be a Bene Gesserit, in spite of the fact they are aware that she plans to steal their secrets and escape back to the Honoured Matres.

The Bene Gesserit wonder about Idaho's capabilities and potential, they are increasingly sure that he remembers more than one ghola existence, because they see signs that he is a mentat, a talent lacked by the original. Their suspicions about Duncan Idaho are correct. He does remember more than one ghola existence, indeed he amazingly remembers them all, which mystifies him, because he realizes that the Bene Tleilaxu could not have included all in his genetic make up, which means his existence is linked somehow outside of time. As well as this he has developed a new vision which allows him to see something new…

The action then moves on a few years later when circumstances are even more desperate for the Bene Gesserit. Lampadas, the jewel of the planets of the Bene Gesserit, their teaching planet, has fallen to the Honoured Matres, and there were apparently no survivors. Despair grips the Bene Gesserit.

There was actually one survivor. Lucilla, managed to escape the disaster of Lampadas, in a small no-ship. She is desperate to reach Chapterhouse because she carries a treasure beyond price to the sisterhood, she carries the minds of all the Reverand Mothers of Lampadas, who had in extremis had merged minds until one carried them all. Unfortunately, Lucilla's ship did not escape the attack on Lampadas without cost, badly damaged by a mine, she had been forced to land on Gammu, and seek safety with some long term allies of the sisterhood.

Lucilla sought refuge with Jews. Long ago, the Jews decided on a new response to the repeated pogroms against them, and disappeared from sight in the planets of humanity. So successful were they in this respect that it was believed by historians that they had been anihilated thousands of years ago. Of course, the Bene Gesserit with their memories of the past were not fooled by this, and decided to create relationship of mutual benefit with the Jews. Over the centuries this bond had become a powerful thing for both groups and most honoured.

So pursued by the Honoured Matre's Lucilla felt the secret Jewish settlement on Gammu was her best chance. The Jewish Rabbi, trapped in the web of mutual obligation gave Lucilla sanctuary, but the Honoured Matre's search was remorseless, and so in order to help Lucilla he was forced to reveal a secret that he would much rather have kept secret. Lucillla herself was beyond saving, he admitted, but her knowledge was another thing, and to Lucilla's shock he revealed Rebecca, a wild Reverand Mother. Lucilla and she merge minds and Rebecca promised to take minds of Lampadas safely back to the sisterhood. Lucilla was then 'betrayed' to the Honoured Matre's.

Back on Chapterhouse, Odrade's plans were reaching fruition, and so as step one in her plan she confronts Duncan Idaho, and forces him to admit that he is a mentat, and thus in possession of many ghola lives. To some degree this was a relief to Duncan, as he no longer had to disguise his abilities, but he realized this made his position still more precarious.

Scytale chafes under his imprisonment with the Bene Gesserit. He regrets bitterly supplying the Bene Gesserit with the ability to make gholas, but still has many more secrets within his mind and body, The Bene Gesserit do not know but within his body he has a nullentrophy tube containing the cells of all the other Tleilaxu masters, Tleilaxu servants, Tleilaxu experiments, and all the important people of the last few millennia. Scytale is capable of wholly recreating the Bene Tleilax by himself, and thus still retains his sense of destiny.

Lucilla was taken before the Great Honoured Matre, leader of her people, and much to her surprise she was not killed out of hand. She began a game of words with the Great Honoured Matre, who tries to get her to join the Honoured Matre's, and surrender Bene Gesserit secrets. The Honoured Matre's actually only want one secret from the Bene Gesserit, they want their ability to modify their body chemistry and hence protect themselves from illness and disease. The Honoured Matre's fled biological weapons out in the Scattering.

Meanwhile Murbella collapses under the pressure of Bene Gesserit training and pregnancy. This was precipated when the 'word weapons' that the Bene Gesserit planted to undermine her earlier Honoured Matre training finally did their work, and Murbella realized that she really admired and wanted to be Bene Gesserit, and saw her sisters in the Honoured Matres as like ignorant children. The words of her swearing day came back to her and this time she repeated them with an emphasis not on the original.

Dortujla, the head of a sisterhood keep on Buzzel arrived at Chapterhouse in a personal no-ship. She reported that Handlers and Futars had come to Buzzel and offered 'alliance', though Dortujla's mentat analysis suggested they intended dominance. She also reported that if the Handlers had found Buzzel then obviously the Honoured Matre's would share this knowledge as well, because smugglers would have sold their information indiscriminately, so it was something of mystery why they Honoured Matre's had not already attacked. Odrade saw this situation as an opportunity, and suggested that Dortujla returned with the Sisterhood's offer of surrender, as the second stage of her plan, Dortujla's mission was to make sure the meeting point would be Junction, the huge old Spacing Guild complex above Gammu, which the Honoured Matre's controlled in force, but which the Bashar Miles Teg had the complete plans of in his head.

Lucillas battles of words with the Great Honoured Matre continued for weeks but finally she pushed to hard and revealed to Dama, that the Bene Gesserit knew how to control the populance, but actually practiced democracy. Dama's desire to destroy the sisterhood was redoubled, they taught dangerous knowledge, and believed in ridiculous ideas like democracy!

Odrade decided that the job of awakening Teg was best suited to Duncan Idaho, and so he and Murbella took over Teg's training. It was a job that Duncan excelled at, but he was not satisfied with the traditional way of awakening a ghola, remembering the pain he went through to release his memories.

Odrade and Tamalane went off on a tour of Chapterhouse and a visit to Sheeana to assess he suitability for promotion. Arriving at the inland sea of Chapterhouse, Odrade was dismayed to see how small it had shrunk. She had a swim in the shrunken sea, and decided that that some decisions must be ruthless, and returned to the shore with the decision to accelerate the terraforming, by removing the last sea on the planet.

Arriving at Desert Watch, Odrade confronts Sheeana as a test of her suitability for promotion. But Odrade is undermined by her lingering affection for Sheeana and so does not force the full truth out of Sheeana. Odrade discovers that Duncan and Sheeana, have been allied together for some time and have swapped far more information than had been previously thought. But Sheeana did not reveal that they had been considering the option of reawakening Tegs memory through imprinting. Nor did Odrade discover that Sheeana had the keys to the no-ship prison of Duncan.

While Odrade is away on her tour, Bellonda - a chief adviser to Odrade - decides that this is her opportunity to get rid of Duncan Idaho who she believes is too dangerous to let live. However she totally underestimates Duncan capabilities, and so when she confronts him, he protects himself with Teg, pointing out to Bellonda that what chance did they have of getting Teg to serve them if he saw Bellonda kill Duncan for no good reason? With Bellonds defanged, Duncan then goes on the attack and using the knowledge and awareness of centuries of living manipulates Bellonda's responses, and at the same time revealing his genius as a mentat, showng that he was too useful a tool to waste. He chides the sisterhood pointing out things that they refuse to face. He suggests that their whole policy of scattering is fatally flawed, pointing out the message revealed by the fact that none of the scattered has ever returned, ergo they are being trapped each and every one of them. Bellonda leaves much chastened, by Duncans ability to manipulate her, the fact that Duncan is a better mentat, and the realization that Odrade had manipulated into this precise situation. She releases the blocks on Duncan's information flow, if you have a tool use it properly she admits to herself!

Odrade's moulding of Scytale continues apace. She points out of him that his dream of Scytale's great revivial is fatally flawed, because the Tleilaxu who scattered are no longer true to his beliefs and indeed serve the Honoured Matre's. Scytale's mind is stretched to breaking point when Sheeana arrives with a baby worm, which had been attraced to the first spice blow. The Bene Gesserit had their long term supply of spice, they no longer absolutely needed his ability to make spice with the axotl tanks.

Teg is awakened by Sheeana using imprinting techniques at Duncan's suggestion. His mother had implanted in him a resistance to imprinting and so under Sheeana's sensual assault his old conditioning clicked in and his memories are awoken. In his awakening he can't help but reveal the new physical abilities given to him by the T-Probe the Honoured Matre's used to torture him. Odrade not unsurprised and decides that if she can't trust Miles Teg then who can she trust and gives him his freedom, and control of the military forces of the sisterhood for the assault on the Honoured Matres

Finally it is decided that Murbella is ready to become a Reverand Mother, and they begin the spice ceremony. Odrade relaxes the strictures and for the first time ever a man - Duncan - is allowed to watch the proceedings. Duncan is filled trepidation, first that Murbella will not survive the ceremony, and secondly he wonders whether she will still love him after going through this life changing experience. Odrade watches with equal trepidation because Murbella is vital to her plan to deal with the Honoured Matres. Murbella, Odrade is pleased to find, takes and survives the hard path to becoming an Honoured Matre.

Murbella goes through a manic phase after becoming an Honoured Matre, and her feelings for Duncan are not the same, a fact that worries Odrade as much as Duncan. Whether it is a temporary effect of the experience or a permanent one is unknown, but certainly she doesn't care for Duncan as much as she did.

Odrade calls a convocation - a meeting of all the Bene Gesserit - and announces her plan to attack the Honoured Matres. She tells them that this attack will be lead by Teg. She also announces who she consider are the candidates to succeed her as Mother Superior, by saying she will share before she leaves with Murbella and Sheeana.

Odrade goes to meet the Great Honoured Matre with Dortujla, Tamalane and Suipol(an acolyte). They are treated with disdain but finally Odrade meets with Dama, the leader of the Honoured Matres. To Odrades surprise Dama does actually try to negotiate with her, and Odrade wonders whether she was wise to have prearranged the attack, but while talking to Dama, she realizes that Dama intends no reasonable negotiation.

Under cover of Odrade's diplomacy the Bene Gesserit forces under the leadership of Teg, and using technology developed by Duncan attack Gammu with tremendous force. Teg uses his ability to see no-ships to secure control of the system. Survivors of the attack flee to Junction, and Teg follows them there and carries all with him. Victory for the Bene Gesserit seems inevitable. In midst of this battle the Jews including Rebecca with her precious memories take refuge with the Bene Gesserit fleet.

In the confusion of dealing with Odrade, and the unexpected and very successful attack Logno - chief adviser to Dama - manages to kill Dama with poison, and assume control of the Honoured Matres. Her first act surprises Odrade greatly she surrenders to Odrade. Teg arrives, and reports come in. Too late Odrade and Teg realize it is a trap, and the Honoured Matres use the 'Weapon' a secret weapon they have managed to salvage from their defeat in the Scattering, and turn defeat into victory. Murbella saves as much of the Bene Gesserit force as she can and they begin to withdraw to Chapterhouse.

However, the failure of the Bene Gesserit attack was not unanticipated by Odrade and she left Murbella instructions for a last desperate gamble to win victory from the jaws of defeat. Murbella pilots a small craft down to the surface, announcing herself as a Honoured Matre who had managed to escape the Bene Gesserit in the confusion, with all their secrets. She arrives on the planet and immediately announces her intentions by killing an overeager Honoured Matre with a blinding speed enhanced by Bene Gesserit training which makes her faster than any Honoured Matre before her.

Murbella is taken to the Great Honoured Matre and immediately declares herself as an enemy of the Great Honoured Matre. She insults Logno, until Logno cannot help herself by attack, Murbella disposes of her easily as well as a couple of Logno's allies. Odrade sacrifices herself in the struggle. Murbella shares with Odrade, and then takes charge of the Honoured Matres.

Murbella's ascension to the leadership of the Honoured Matre's and by necessity the Bene Gesserit is not accepted as victory by all the Bene Gesserit. Some feel that she will suborn the spirit of the Bene Gesserit and many worry that her attempt is doomed to failure. Some then decide to escape, notably Sheeana who has a vision of her own. They ask Duncan and Teg whether they wish to join them and they flee Chapterhouse in the giant no-ship, taking also Scytale and the Jews.

Murbella realizes their plan at the last minute and is powerless to stop them, realizing at them same time that Duncan's departure solves many problems for her.

A proper conclusion to the Dune saga?

Others aren't so unhappy, because is a sense Chapterhouse Dune is like life. There is no stopping point to life, all endings are new beginnings. The lives of are heroes don't end because a book ends, they go on in our imagination and that is a wonderful gift.

However, it does seem we will find out what happens. Apparently Frank Herbert left a full plot for Dune 7, and when Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson have finished milking the prequels to Dune, they intend to get back to Dune 7 and complete it.

We cannot know anything ahout them in detail, because Frank Herbert deliberately leaves them unknown. But we can say some things about them:

• At one level the old couple are clearly Frank Herbert and Beverly his wife and partner, with whom he have a very close relationship. It marks in some way a goodbye to his fans.
• At another level, they reveal the true insignificance of the Old Empire, by revealing two 'godlike' powers, who seem beyond human concerns.

What happened in the Scattering?

See also