I assure my Sisterhood now that what follows, exactly as he spoke them, are the words uttered then by the Lord Leto:
“To my certain knowledge, when I am no longer consciously present here among you, when I am here only as a fearsome creature of the desert, many people will look back upon me as a tyrant.
“Fair enough. I have been tyrannical.
“A tyrant-not fully human, not insane, merely a tyrant. But even ordinary tyrants have motives and feelings beyond those usually assigned them by facile historians, and they will
think of me as a great tyrant. Thus. my feelings and motives are a legacy I would preserve lest history distort them too much. History has a way of magnifying some characteristics while it discards others. “People will try to understand me and to frame me in their words. They will seek truth. But the truth always carries the ambiguity of the words used to express it. “You will not understand me. The harder you try the more remote I will become until finally I vanish into eternal myth-a Living God at last! “That’s it, you see. I am not a leader nor even a guide. A god. Remember that. I am quite different from leaders and guides. Gods need take no responsibility for anything except genesis. Gods accept everything and thus accept nothing. Gods must be identifiable yet remain anonymous. Gods do not need a spirit world. My spirits dwell within me. answerable to my slightest summons. I share with you, because it pleases me to do so, what I have learned about them and through them. They are my truth. “Beware of the truth, gentle Sister. Although much sought after, truth can be dangerous to the seeker. Myths and reassuring lies are much easier to find and believe. If you find a truth, even a temporary one, it can demand that you make painful changes. Conceal your truths within words. Natural ambiguity will protect you then. Words are much easier to absorb than are the sharp Delphic stabs of wordless portent. With words, you can cry out in the chorus: “Why didn’t someone warn me?” “But I did warn you. I warned you by example, not with words.” “There are inevitably more than enough words. You record them in your marvelous memory even now. And someday, my journals will be discovered-more words. I warn you that you read my words at your peril. The wordless movement of terrible events lies just below their surface. Be deaf! You do not need to hear or, hearing, you do not need to remember. How soothing it is to forget. And how dangerous! “Words such as mine have long been recognized for their mysterious power. There is a secret knowledge here which can be used to rule the forgetful. My truths are the substance of myths and lies which tyrants have always counted on to maneuver the masses for selfish design. “You see? I share it all with you, even the greatest mystery
of all time, the mystery by which I compose my life. I reveal it to you in words:
“The only past which endures lies wordlessly within you.”
The God Emperor fell silent then. I dared to ask: “Are those all of the words that my Lord wishes me to preserve`.'”
“Those are the words,” the God Emperor said, and I thought he sounded tired, discouraged. He had the sound of someone uttering a last testament. I recalled that he had said he would never see me again, and I was fearful but I praise my teachers because the fear did not emerge in my voice.
“Lord Leto,” I said, “these journals of which you speak, for whom are they written?”
“For posterity after the span of millennia. I personalize those distant readers, Sister Chenoeh. I think of them as distant cousins filled with family curiosities. They are intent on unraveling the dramas which only I can recount. They want to make the personal connections to their own lives. They want the meanings, the truth!”
“But you warn us against truth, Lord,” I said.
“Indeed! All of history is a malleable instrument in my hands. Ohhh, I have accumulated all of these pasts and I possess every fact-yet the facts are mine to use as I will and, even using them truthfully, I change them. What am I speaking to you now? What is a diary, a journal`? Words.”