is easy to imagine how volatile this place specific legend and prophecy became when it mingled with the anticipations ot the Mahdi brought to Arrakis by the oppressed Zensunm/Fremen The cues implanted to signal the coming of a "savior ' may have been similar everywhere The Dunebuk evidence about the "messiah s appearance is straightforward The Missionana Protectiva planted a swath of indicators to serve as signals He was to be 'a child who thinks and speaks like a man," win) ' questing eyes' and an air of 'reserved candor " And he would seek to know Fremen ways as though born to them " In a society that holds MISSIONARIA PROTECTIVA 387 MISSIONARIA PROTECTIVA important hopes and where discomfort is accepted because toda> 's pain will speed the achievement of tomorrow's hopes, a glimpse of the signs of coming success is itself urgently desired The more desperate the civilization, in other words, the easier it was to establish a pattern of signals the populace would seize upon The Missionana Protecttva's scattering of hints that might signal the coming of a Kwisatz Haderach fell on fertile soil m the persecuted, resigned, yet hopeful Fremen culture Thus Paul Atreides' acceptance by the Fremen was eased significantly by the latent prophecies planted by the Missionana Protectiva Much more important, however, was the scheme established to guarantee the acceptance of a "Great Motiier" The risks on both sides were high The "candidate," the mysterious woman who might be bringing useful techniques, had to be tested If she failed the test, she deserved the fate of any threatening outsider sacrificial expulsion If those doing the testing did not administer the sequence correctly, they might either disquah fy a deserving stranger or preserve one who ought to have been sacrificed Therefore two circumstances had to be arranged There had to be more than one test, with the sequence moving from relatively easy responses to more difficult challenges And the sequence had to develop "naturaBy", there could be no suspicion of conspiracy in aid of the candidate The Missionary Protectiva arranged their legend implantations so that the tests could be passed only by Bene Gessent initiates Cued responses were a part of the candidate s training For Arrakis, the Missionana Protectiva made the "prophesied" challenges so difficult that only a potential Reverend Mother would have had the training to meet all of them The recitation of the "prayer of the salat" would qualify a Bene Gessent to play the role of "Auhya," or "handmaiden of God", rt prepared the Fpemen to accept her as a candidate for their version of a "Reverend Mother" Notice that an "adab" test, rooted in the unconscious level of advanced Bene Gessent trainmg, was the end of the Missionana Protectiva's password sequence The Fremen adapted the legend by insisting that she had to be championed by someone who had come with her This modification was not a Missionana Protectiva implantation it would not have made a Bene Gessent's survival contingent on a male companion This Fremen requirement was a mutation, a product of the intermingling of Zensunm hentage, Missionana Protectiva prophecies about a Kwisatz Haderach and the special spice planet overlay The Bene Gessent then was faced with the final challenge the Fremen addition of the transformation of the Water of Life This was truly a Reverend Mother's challenge A neophyte Bene Gessent and even some adepts would not be able to work the catalytic transformation by way of homeostatic ad justment Only dn individual who possessed both proper genes and specialized training could change the poison into elixir This requirement had not been inserted by the Missionana Protectiva into the Fremen tradition Their goal was survival for a threatened Bene Gessent, not high visibility and power for the survivor Paul Atreides was correct when he wrote that the Missionana Protectiva had "bought them a bolt-hole in the desert They had indeed arranged, as best they could to pre serve any Bene Gessent adept who stumbled into a strange environment They had escalat ed the mythology on Arratos so that even a Reverend Mother was likely to be recog mzed as a deeply threatening 'witch ' In relation to their onginal purpose, the Missionana Protectiva made a minor contribution to the saga recorded in Arrakeen history They were supposed to have been a second line of defense behind the genetic redundancy arrangements against accidents mat might disturb the breeding program Incidentally, they were to help prepare the galaxy for the eventual arrival of the Kwisatz Haderach Intended to guard against accidents, the Missionana Protectiva helped, umnten tionally to bring about an important, and extremely unlikely, coincidence They laced Zensunm legends with Kwisatz Haderach preparations thus reinforcing the ancient ex pectations of the Mahdi They set up Arrakis 388 to welcome a Reverend Mother They did not, however, track the several reinforcing vectors, especially the harmonics of Zensunm plus Arrakis toward the forging of Fremen fanatics Nor did they comprehend the combination of ecological hope and historic despair that converged m the Fremen, making the nexus of their prophecies so volatile and irresistibly self-fulfilling E I Further reftraKcr BENE GBSSERIT entries, Princess Irulan Atreides ed The Dmebuk, Rafas Rrf Cat 7Z331 MOHIAm, REVERETiD MOTHER CWWS HELEN.