Heretics of Dune – Entry #6

     Inevitably, the Bene Gesserit would learn without any doubts what the axlotl tanks really were.  The closest anyone had really come to identify the true nature of the tanks was C’tair during the Tleilaxu/Corrino occupation of Ix which began when the first Leto was just a teenager.  This secret had died on Ix and the Bene Tleilax had kept it a carefully guarded secret.

     “What if the axlotl tanks are not … tanks?”

     “What do you mean?”

     “Waff reveals the kinds of behavior you see when a family tries to conceal a deformed child or a mad uncle.  I swear to you, he is embarrassed when we begin to touch on the tanks.”

     “But what could they possibly …”

     “Surrogate mothers.”

     “But they would have to be …” Taraza fell silent, shocked by the possibilities this question opened.

     “Who has ever seen a Tleilaxu female?” Odrade said.

(Heretics of Dune, p. 361)