At the underground Xuttuh spaceport, research director Hidar Fen Ajidica watched Fenring’s shuttle lift off from the canyon wall, a wide rift in the crust of the planet. Ostensibly a scenic gorge when viewed from above, the fissure provided access to the secure worlds below. Fenring’s craft dwindled to a speck in the cold, blue sky.

Good riddance! He could always hope that the meddling Imperial observer might die in a spacecraft explosion, but unfortunately, again, he reached orbit safely.

Ajidica turned back into the tunnels, taking a lift tube down into the deep levels. He’d had enough fresh air and open sky for one day.

The Spice Minister’s unannounced inspection visit had consumed two days . . . wasted time, as far as the Master Researcher was concerned. He was anxious to get back to his long-term artificial spice experiments, which were nearing their final phase. How am I to accomplish anything with that man breathing down my neck?

To make matters worse, a Tleilaxu representative was scheduled to arrive in a week— now it seemed as if Ajidica’s own people didn’t trust him. They took their reports back to the Masters on the sacred home planet, who discussed it in the central kehl, the highest holy council of his people. More inspections. More interference.

But I have almost achieved my goal. . . .

Pursuant to the Master Researcher’s precise instructions, his laboratory assistants had prepared an important modification in the new axlotl tanks, the sacred biological receptacles in which counterfeit spice variations were grown. With those adjustments, he could proceed to the next stage: actual testing, and then the production of amal.

Inside the sealed research pavilion, Hidar Fen Ajidica and his team had been much more successful than he’d dared reveal to the weasel Fenring or even to his own people. Within another year, two at the most, he expected to solve the elusive riddle. And then he would activate the plan he’d already set in motion, stealing the secret of amal and putting it to his own uses.

By that time, not even the legions of Sardaukar secretly stationed here could stop him. Before they realized anything, Ajidica would slip away with his prize, destroying the laboratories in his wake. And keeping the artificial spice for himself.

Of course, there were other things that could interfere with Ajidica’s grand scheme— unknowns. Spies were in operation on Xuttuh; the Sardaukar and Ajidica’s own security force had located and executed more than a dozen from the various Houses Major. But there had been rumors of a covert Bene Gesserit woman at work here, too. He wished those witches would mind their own business.

On the railcar ride back to his high-security facility, the Master Researcher popped a red lozenge into his mouth and chewed it. The medication, which treated his phobia of being underground, tasted like rotten slig meat from a fouled tank. He wondered why pharmacists couldn’t formulate drugs that tasted better. Surely it was only a matter of additives?

Ahead, the research pavilion was comprised of fifteen white buildings connected by overpasses, conveyors, and track systems, all surrounded by powerful defense mechanisms and reinforced one-way windows. Sardaukar troops protected the complex.

Ajidica had adapted Tleilaxu genetic science to the advanced manufacturing facilities left behind when House Vernius had been driven away. The victors had commandeered stockpiles of raw materials and, through intermediaries, obtained additional resources off-world. In exchange for their lives, a number of Ixian factory managers and scientists had aided in this process.

The railcar came to a smooth stop at the pavilion walls. After working his way through cumbersome security procedures, Ajidica stepped onto a clean white platform. From there he took a lift tube to the largest, scan-muffled section, where new “candidates” were fitted to modified axlotl tanks. Every Ixian survivor wanted to know what occurred inside the secret facility, but no one had any evidence. Only suspicions, and mounting fears.

In the research pavilion, Ajidica had the most advanced fabrication facility in the Imperium, including elaborate materials-handling systems for transporting samples. The experimental nature of Project Amal required a broad spectrum of chemicals and specimens and the disposal of large quantities of toxic waste, all of which he was able to do with unparallelled efficiency. He’d never had access to anything so advanced on Tleilax itself.

Ajidica passed through a biosecurity doorway, entered an immense room where workers were finishing the rough connections in the floor, preparing for the new, still-living axlotl tanks that would be brought in.

My tests must continue. When I have learned the secret, I will control the spice, and I can destroy all of those devils who depend on it.