ved as experimental subjects Axolorl technology was not confined to the "tank" itself, which was little better that an artificial womb The tanks were actually vessels for the end products and hosted a wide spectrum of activities centered on 0NA recombination After the expert meat emerged from die axolatl solution, these results could be tested The nature of this solution and of the tank was determined by the product being manufactured The entire technology became increasingly refined and sophisticated as the TIeilaxu curiosity and the demands of the Impenutn increased In the beginning such products as thralls and thirgoya had been difficult to obtain Later after the Guild made itself known the TIeilaxu marshaled their expertise to discov er and explore what has been called the DNA Touchstone Template (DTT), the key to the basic mechanism and functioning of the fundamental double helix Manipulation of the DTT naturally required the develop ment of an advanced technology the break through pre Butlenan societies had simul taneously dreamed of and feared Thereafter it was a simple matter for the Bene Tleilax to delve into the potential of double-helix recombination and manipulation Development of the three lower classes of the Tleifaxu-thrall thirgoya and tharaxu- might be considered child s play compared with what the Bene lleilax later accomplished After the discovery of the DTT, the TIeilaxu were challenged by the Guild Could DTT manipulation produce a superior breed of steersmen and navigators with heightened spice-trance ability7 DNA recombination produced Guildsmen who were transferred directly from the axo lotl tank to the prescience chamber filled with a liquid enriched with oxygen and me lange gas These members of the Fraternity were produced with fish like gills, in addi Uon to lungs to aid in respiration The oxygen melange mixture in the prescience chambers was extremely heavy and the Guildsmen were further equipped with webbed hands similar to those of a frog to maintain their equilibrium The result was both effec tive and grotesque A technocratic society the Bene Tleilax organized their genetic manipulations into product departments One dealt with twisted mentals, one with the Guild, one with sexua! surrogates, one with religious engineering, one with gholas one with face dancers, and still another with TIeilaxu archetypes and their kwisatz haderach program These several departments and more overlapped sharing knowledge and techniques each ultimately represented on the Bene Tleilax Commis sanum, the supreme forum The axolotl tank itself is thus significant more in terms of symbol than technology Artificial wombs had been created before AZHARBOOK 107 Humans had been nurtured in solution long ago The tank was not a Tleilaxu invention but no one has ever refined genetic engineer ing to the extent of the Tleilaxu For better or worse the DNA Touchstone Template appears to have been lost during the Scattering Further