Dune: The Butlerian Jihad (12 page)

How many more times must I keep trying before I replace him with another breeder?
Once more, she decided— she would attempt to get pregnant again, within the next few months. It would be Venport’s last chance.

Zufa was also disappointed in Norma’s independence and defiance. Too often the teenager spun off on obscure mathematical tangents that no one could comprehend. Norma seemed lost in her own world.

My daughter, you should have been so much more!

No one had a heavier burden of responsibility than the small clan of Sorceresses on the planet, and Zufa’s burden was the greatest of all. If only she could count on everyone else, especially in light of this latest danger from the cymeks.

Since stunted Norma could never take part in the mental battle, Zufa had to concentrate on her daughters in spirit, those few young women who had won the “genetic lottery” and acquired superior mental abilities. Zufa would train and encourage them, showing them how to eradicate the enemy.

From her cliffside perch, she watched her lover Aurelius and young Norma reach the other side of the suspension bridge and begin to negotiate a circular network of ladders that led to the deeply shadowed jungle floor. Like two happy-go-lucky outcasts, Norma and Aurelius had grown close emotionally, using one another as crutches.

Engrossed in their own petty concerns that had nothing to do with victory, neither of them had even noticed Zufa’s return on the shuttle. No doubt the two misfits would spend hours poking through the foliage in search of new drug resources, which Aurelius would incorporate into his business ventures.

The Sorceress shook her head, not understanding his priorities. Those drugs the men developed were of little more use than Norma’s arcane mathematics. Admittedly, Aurelius was a highly intelligent and skilled businessman, but what good were enormous profits if free humanity was doomed to enslavement?

Disappointed in both of them, knowing that she and her Sorceresses would have to do the real fighting, Zufa set out to find the most powerful young women she had recruited to learn the devastating new technique she planned to unleash against the cymeks.

AS NORMA FOLLOWED him through the fleshy underbrush, Aurelius consumed capsules of a focused stimulant that his expert chemists had synthesized from the pungent pheromones of a boulder-sized burrowing beetle. Venport felt stronger, his perceptions sharpened, his reflexes enhanced. Not quite like the telepathic powers of icy Zufa, but better than his natural abilities.

Someday he would make a breakthrough, allowing him to meet the powerful Sorceress on his own terms. Maybe he and Norma would do it together.

Aurelius maintained a benign fondness for the girl’s stern mother. He tolerated Zufa’s moods and scornful attitude with good grace; Rossak women rarely allowed themselves the luxury of romantic love.

Though Aurelius knew full well that Zufa had selected him for his breeding potential, he saw through the woman’s stoic, demanding exterior. Attempting to conceal her weaknesses, the powerful Sorceress showed her doubts on occasion, afraid that she could not fulfill the responsibilities she had placed on herself. Once, when Aurelius commented that he knew how strong she was trying to be, Zufa had grown embarrassed and angry. “Somebody has to be strong” was all she had said.

Since he lacked telepathic ability, Zufa had little interest in engaging him in conversation. Perhaps she recognized his skills as a businessman, investor, and politician, but she valued none of those abilities as much as her own narrow goals. The Sorceress frequently tried to make him feel like a failure, but her derision only served to ignite his ambition, especially his desire to find a drug that would give him telepathic powers equivalent to her own.

There were other ways to fight a war.

The silvery-purple jungles offered a treasure-trove to cure diseases, expand the mind, and improve human abilities. The choices were overwhelming, but Aurelius sought to investigate everything. From proper development and marketing, the products of Rossak had already put him on the path to great wealth. He was even grudgingly respected by a number of the Sorceresses— except by his own mate.

As a visionary entrepreneur, he was accustomed to exploring alternatives. Like paths through a dense jungle, many routes could lead to the same place. Sometimes, one just had to hack through with a machete.

So far, though, the right drug eluded him.

In another venture, he had proudly distributed Norma’s exotic mathematical work among scholarly scientific circles. Though he didn’t understand her theorems, he had a gut feeling that she might come up with something important. Maybe she had already done so, and it took expert eyes to recognize it. Venport liked the intense girl, acting as a big brother to her. As far as he was concerned, Norma was a mathematical prodigy, so who cared about her height or her appearance? He was willing to give her a chance, even if her mother never would.

Beside him, Norma studied the design of a broad purple leaf, using a light-beam caliper to measure its various dimensions and the relationships among angles in the sap-filled veins. The depth of her concentration added a wistful cast to her plain features.

Glancing back at him, Norma said in a surprisingly mature voice, “This leaf has been designed and constructed by the Earth mother Gaia, or the Master Creator God, or Buddallah, or whatever you want to call it.” With blunt fingers, she held up the fleshy leaf and passed a beam of light through it, so that the intricate cellular designs showed clearly. “Patterns within patterns, all tied together in complex relationships.”

In his drug-enhanced, euphoric state, Aurelius found the design hypnotic. “God is in everything,” he said. The stimulant he had taken seemed to supercharge his synapses. He squinted through the illuminated fabric of the leaf as she pointed to the internal shapes.

“God is the mathematician of the universe. There is an ancient correlation known as the Golden Mean, a pleasing ratio of form and structure that is found in this leaf, in seashells, and in the living creatures of many planets. It is the tiniest part of the key, known since the time of the Greeks and Egyptians of Earth. They used it in their architecture and pyramids, in their Pythagorean pentagram and Fibonacci sequence.” She discarded the leaf. “But there is so much more.”

Nodding, Venport touched a moistened fingertip to a pouch of fine black powder at his belt; he rubbed the powder under the sensitive tissue of his tongue and felt another drug penetrating his senses, merging with the remnants of the last one. Norma kept talking; though he did not follow her logical development, he was certain the revelations must be fabulous.

“Give me a practical example,” he slurred. “Something with a function that I can understand.”

He had grown accustomed to Norma spouting off obscure formulations. Her basis might have been in classical geometry, but she applied her knowledge in much more complex ways. “I can envision calculations all the way to infinity,” she said, as if in a trance. “I don’t have to write them down.”

And she doesn’t even need mind-enhancement drugs to accomplish it,
Aurelius marveled.

“At this very moment I envision a huge and efficient structure that could be built at a reasonable cost, tens of kilometers long— and based upon the ratio of the Golden Mean.”

“But who would ever need something so immense?”

“I cannot peer into the future, Aurelius.” Norma teased him. Then they trudged deeper into the weird jungle, still curious and intent on what they might discover. Norma’s face was radiant with energy. “But there might be something . . . something I haven’t thought of yet.”

F
or four months, Tercero Xavier Harkonnen and his six Armada survey vessels traveled along a predetermined route, stopping to inspect and assess the military facilities and defensive preparations of the League Worlds. After many years of no more than a few skirmishes, no one knew where Omnius might strike next.

Xavier had never wavered from the difficult decision he’d made during the cymek attack on Zimia. The Viceroy had praised him for his nerve and determination; even so, Manion Butler had wisely sent the young officer away during the major rebuilding activities, giving Salusans time to heal their wounds without looking for a scapegoat.

Xavier listened to no excuses from tightwad nobles unwilling to commit the necessary resources. No expense must be spared. Any free world that fell to machine aggression would be a loss for the entire human race.

The survey ships traveled from the mines of Hagal to the broad river plains of Poritrin, then made their way to Seneca where the weather was poor and the rain so corrosive that even thinking machines would break down soon after a conquest.

The League planets of Relicon followed, then Kirana III, then Richese, with its burgeoning high-tech industries that made so many other League noblemen uneasy. In theory, the sophisticated manufacturing devices contained no computerization or artificial intelligence, but there were always questions, always doubts.

Finally Xavier’s team arrived at their final inspection stop, Giedi Prime. At last, his tour was about to end. He could return home, see Serena again, and they could make good on their promises to each other. . . .

All other League Worlds had installed scrambler field towers. The shields’ known weakness against cymeks did not completely devalue Holtzman’s ingenious work, and the costly barriers still provided substantial protection against all-out thinking machine offensives. In addition, every human world had long ago built up enormous stockpiles of atomics as part of a doomsday defense. With so many nuclear warheads, an iron-willed planetary governor could turn his world into slag rather than allowing it to fall to Omnius.

Although the thinking machines also had access to atomics, Omnius had concluded that atomics were an inefficient and nonselective way to impose control, and radioactive cleanup afterward was difficult. Besides, with unlimited resources and a deep reservoir of patience, the relentless evermind had no need of such weapons.

Now, as Xavier disembarked from the lead survey ship at the Giedi City spaceport, he blinked under bright sunlight. The well-maintained metropolis sprawled in front of him, with its habitation complexes and productive industrial buildings amid manicured parks and canals. The colors were bright and fresh, and flowers bloomed in ornate beds, although with his new Tlulaxa lungs and tissues he could smell only a hint of the most potent scents, even when he breathed deeply.

“This would be a fine place to bring Serena one day,” he said wistfully as he stood in the heat-shimmer of spaceship exhaust. If he married her, perhaps this would be a suitable world for their honeymoon. During the current inspection tour, he had kept his eyes open, trying to find a likely spot.

After four months in space, Xavier missed Serena terribly. He knew the two of them were destined for each other. His life operated on a smooth, clearly defined path. When he returned to Salusa, he promised himself that he would formalize their betrothal. He saw no point in waiting any longer.

Viceroy Butler already treated him like a son, and the young officer had received the blessing of his adoptive father Emil Tantor. As far as Xavier could determine, everyone in the League agreed it would be a fine joining of noble houses.

He smiled, thinking of Serena’s face, of her intriguing lavender eyes . . . and then looked across the landing field to see Magnus Sumi approaching the survey ships. The elected leader was accompanied by a dozen members of the Giedi Prime Home Guard.

The Magnus was a thin man in late middle age with pale skin and gray-blond hair that hung to his shoulders. Sumi raised a hand. “Ah, Tercero Harkonnen! We welcome the League Armada and are eager to see how Giedi Prime can improve its defenses against the thinking machines.”

Xavier snapped a stiff bow in return. “Your cooperation pleases me, Eminence. Against Omnius, we must not use low-cost materials or stopgap systems that would not adequately protect your people.”

After the Battle of Zimia, Xavier’s corps of engineers had made requests for mandatory strategic improvements throughout the League. The nobles dug into their coffers, increasing taxes on their subjects and spending the necessary money to build up their defenses. At each stop, planet after planet, month after month, Xavier had assigned teams of engineers and Armada troops where he deemed they were most needed.

Soon, though, he would be going back home.
Soon
. As the time drew near, he thought of Serena more and more.

Well dressed and well armed, the Home Guard stood at attention around the survey ships. Magnus Sumi gestured for Xavier to follow him. “I look forward to clarifying everything over a sumptuous banquet, Tercero Harkonnen. I’ve set up twelve fine courses with dancers, musicians, and our best poets. You and I can relax in my government residence while we discuss plans. I am certain you must be weary from your journey. How long can you stay with us?”

Xavier could form only a tight smile, thinking of how far away he was from Salusa Secundus. Even after leaving Giedi Prime, the ships would still need another month of fast space travel to return home. The sooner he departed here, the sooner he could hold Serena in his arms again.

“Eminence, this is the final stop on our long tour. If it pleases you, I would prefer to spend less time with festivities and more on the inspection.” He gestured toward his survey ship. “We have a schedule to keep. I’m afraid I can allot only two days for Giedi Prime. It is best that we concentrate on our work.”

The Magnus looked crestfallen. “Yes, I suppose celebration is not appropriate after the damage done to Salusa Secundus.”

FOR TWO DAYS, Xavier gave the planetary defenses a quick, almost cursory inspection. He found Giedi Prime to be a dazzling and prosperous world with many resources, perhaps even a suitable place to settle down and start an estate of his own one day.