Who are youT' And she said, "I'm die Procuratrix Are you & lay sister?" ' 'Certainly not. I am a regularly professed sister and have been for forty years And what, I'd like to know, is a lay sister?" She said, "Oh, think of it as a little joke." And then she began the most garbled and incredible story I've ever heard It seems there are three kinds of sisters-the regular ones that live m the chapter houses, and some that go into the world and marry and have families-well, I knew that-but then there are others, the la> sisters (some joke1), whose job is to infiltrate the Great Houses and iet the sisterhood know what's going on "Aren't the women sent to the courts regular sisters f" 1 asked "Well, they are," she said, "in a manner of speaking You know '' "No, I don't," I said "Well, put it this way," she said, ' they serve as concubines and sometimes even wives They come here to bamont to learn the best ways of pleasing themselves and their royal lovers " Maxine (that was her name) wanted to give me some brandy, but I'd never drmk anything in that place I went back to the carnage and straight to the hotel Bertha was gone again, but I thought, she's on her own this time I packed m> things And Bertha came back with Pol, and I said "I'm leaving " But she said, "We have so many beads left" "Do as you please," I said, "but tomorrow I'm going " Tryildav JVtWfettfe Matilda's Day, neSheus tim 29 When I checked out this morning, I just sat in the lobby I didn't know where to go-I don't care about Eden or The Ol' Plantation or Harem World, but I don't want to go back to Wallach either I'm not young, I know, but I'm not stupid, and I'm not sneaky, either There are things I can do, and -do well, and that ought to be enough for anybody I won't use other people because I wouldn't want them to use me, and I won't be a part of anything that does I know what my duty is-I need to tell the Emperor just what's going on here-then it's his problem and I wash my hands of the matter Pol and Ahmed are here-they flipped a coin (they said it's a local custom) and Ahmed is my guide today So this diary goes m an envelope for the Imperial Mail I'll have Ahmed take it there, then I'm going to take my bags and go ask for a job at one of the other places I saw With my expenence I know there'll be something for me to do at "Suds and Bubbles " J R M 265 GHOLA. One of the extraorduwy and unique capabilities of the Bene Tlcilax was the production of human duplicates., known as gholas The early gholas, such as the Spacing Guild s gift to Paul Atreides, Hayt, the first ghola of Duncan Idaho were produced by tissue regeneration requiring die immediate cryo-transport of complete cadavers to the axolotl tanks of Tleilax Gholas so produced retained their gene patterns and specific skills but lacked conscious memories of their pasts They were frequently conditioned to respond with specific actions or behaviors to s particular w