Day 4 | Morning | The Infirmary

[Ambrose Pantazis]

"I've heard some about Suk conditioning." Ambrose continued as he took a seat for himself, "Is it true you can't bring harm? That must make it real hard for some treatments. One of the big causes of separation in combat medicine is having to do a little harm in order to heal, especially on the battle field when expediency ranks magnitudes above comfort. What if you had to tear a wound open so you could grab their artery and stop them from bleeding out?"

[Kannon]

"You've answered your question. Pain or blood loss are not ultimate criteria. Life and health are. But in most cases I'd just use surgical tools and analgesics. Suk rarely attend battlefields."

[Ambrose Pantazis]

"Right. I would say practicing medicine's its own battlefield, but you probably don't have to deal with the same issues working a commission like yours... Or maybe it's worse. Guess it depends on who's paying that commission. Speaking of, do you choose who you work with or are you assigned? Did you choose the Duke or did some Suk doctor admin pull your file when the Duke came looking?"

[Kannon]

"There are requests sent to Kaitain or Parmentier for adepts of the Suk School by those who can afford the substantial expense. In my case, I had once served House Richese before I offered my services to the Duke. I believe I am the first Suk serving the Atreides in several generations, Caladan not being the richest of planetary fiefs. My work here started with cybernetic restoration of Prince Vernius' body but has evolved since then."

[Ambrose Pantazis]

"I see. I didn't mean to question your loyalty if it came off that way."

Ambrose hesitated a moment before continuing on, "That does bring up something I had questions about though. How do you know when to draw the line, with the cybernetics that is? We ran into some... repurposed cybernetics out there. The sight of it, the delicate and intricate design, how closely it mimicked the human body. It was alarming to say the least."

[Kannon]

"It didn't come off this way." Yueh calmly remarked, hoping to see him wife this afternoon and tell her of two individuals speaking Bene Gesserit oaths in his infirmary. Her return from Arrakis safe and sound despite being this close to capture had brought cathartic peace into his life few could tug at with any consequence.

"My religion draws the line for me. 'Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.' 'Thou shalt not disfigure the soul.' Nothing about legs or livers. The only difficult part is how to provide neural control over the replacements, but there are methods which do not dehumanise. One way is to ensure sensing doesn't depend on machinery as our minds and souls build on qualia. Still, superstition is strong. Prince Rhombur in his cyborg form was raising suspicions, but that came also from the general reputation of Ix."

Yueh didn't inquire about the cybernetics they had found. He had a suspicion he might be told anyway.