Erasmus’s attention continued to roam throughout the school. The time ticked away as he studied activities that had once been so fascinating, but now were boring. In an instruction chamber, seven Mentat students stared at a wall that projected blips of light in predetermined grid squares, following a complex pattern that the trainees were asked to decipher. The lights twinkled like a random display of static, and the trainees tried to predict the sequence. Most of them failed. Only one — the intriguing Anna Corrino — identified the correct sequence every time. He watched her lips move as she muttered the answers.
For a thinking machine, time was infinitely flexible, every second broken into countless pieces, but Erasmus chose to speed up the time now, slowing down his thought processes so that the lonely day passed in a blink. When he let himself become aware again, it was night outside — and Anna had returned to her quarters. Now, things would get interesting.
His external sensor pickups detected a cacophony of swamp noises, buzzing and clicking, mating calls, the screams of dispatched prey, the rustling of large animals through the underbrush, a splash of razorjaws swimming through the thick sangrove swamp.
He channeled his attention into Anna’s quarters. She was eager to go to bed every night now, because whenever she lay next to the tiny speakers implanted in the walls, she listened for his soothing voice, and answered him.
“Tell me again about your lover, Hirondo Nef,” Erasmus said.
The young woman grew alternately emotional and detached as she talked about the palace chef who had made her swoon but who — in Erasmus’s assessment — had been a mere diversion and certainly not worthy of a majestic and valuable female specimen such as Anna.
“Salvador destroyed our love,” she said with a hitch in her voice, glad to have a sympathetic listener. “He sent Hirondo away, drove us apart.”
“I’m sure he had your best interest at heart,” Erasmus suggested.
“No, my brother was thinking only of protecting his throne. He murdered Hirondo. I know it!”
Indeed, Erasmus hoped so. He wished he could witness her reaction if she discovered proof that it had really happened. It would be interesting to see the emotions on her face, and hear her screams of despair. “Tell me more about your brother,” he said.
Anna blinked in the dimness. “Which one? Roderick, or Salvador?”
“Both. We have plenty of time.”
She began to list a curiously organized set of facts: the birth dates of Roderick and Salvador, their heights, the names of their wives, the names and birth dates of Roderick’s four children. From the dreary tone in her voice, Erasmus could tell that she missed all of them terribly.
Then Anna slipped out of her analytical state. “Why do you ask so many questions? Aren’t you a memory inside my head? You should know all of this.”
“I am your friend, and friends talk with each other.” Erasmus thought of how Gilbertus had been his loyal and worshipful student, how the two of them had talked at great length, played pyramid chess until late hours, and studied the results of experiments on various human subjects. “Whatever you have to say, Anna, I will find it fascinating. You are a most intriguing—” He caught himself before he said specimen. Instead, he said, “—young woman. I want you to be my special protégée.”
He thought of the swamp dragon the Mentat trainees had dissected. Someday, if Erasmus ever got a new body so he could handle tools and equipment, perhaps he would study Anna’s brain more closely, cutting it apart and deconstructing it in order to help her … or at least in order to learn more about the human mind in general.
“I want to be a friend like you’ve never had.”
She caught her breath. “I have always wanted that.”
Anna continued talking about her brothers, and about Lady Orenna, whom she viewed as a true mother-figure. She told him how much she missed the palace on Salusa and her special retreat in the tangles of a fogwood tree.
Partway through one of her stories, Anna began to sob. Erasmus could have offered her simple platitudes to make her feel better, but he remained silent, while continuing to observe closely. Better to let this moment play out, so he could study where it would go.
Yes, she was a unique and fascinating young woman, and he could envision her brain cut wide open on a laboratory table.
Chapter 19 (The past is always with us)
The past is always with us, in one form or another. Those with the proper perception can see it.
— maxim of the Sisterhood
The traitor Dorotea and her orthodox Sisters had split from Raquella’s teachings because they refused to accept any form of advanced technology, regardless of the need. It was her blind spot, Valya knew. While pretending to be Dorotea’s friend, Valya had noted a disturbing edge of unreason in the other woman’s eyes and comments. During a years-long assignment on Lampadas to observe the Butlerian movement, Dorotea had been poisoned by their beliefs.
It was no wonder Dorotea had let her emotions get the best of her, turning like a viper against the Sisterhood.
Unlike the orthodox Sisters, Valya did not despise advanced technology: It was a tool to be used for her own purposes and for the success of the Sisterhood’s goals. Given the vast complexity of the breeding-record computers and their capacity for predictive analysis, she grasped the necessity for those tamed thinking machines. Besides, those exhaustive databases had allowed her to track down Atreides bloodlines. Technology was a means to an end, and Valya would use any weapon available to achieve her goals, which were far more important than any esoteric moral challenge.
While Butlerians stormed across the Imperium and destroyed anything that resembled a thinking machine, Venport Holdings promoted technology for the benefit of the human race. Now Cioba Venport arranged to transport Valya’s team to Rossak in secret so they could retrieve the buried computers. A loyal Sister, Cioba knew not to ask questions.
As their camouflaged shuttle dropped out of a huge VenHold spacefolder, guided down by a skilled Sisterhood pilot, Valya sat among fifteen women who had demonstrated combat proficiency in test exercises on Wallach IX, specially cleared Sisters from Raquella’s most trusted inner circle. Some of the commando Sisters were armed, and all of them were weapons in their own right. There was a chance they might have to face Imperial soldiers the Emperor had left behind to watch over the abandoned cliff city. If that happened, Valya was confident her Sisters could still prevail, but it would be better if they managed to slip in and out of the jungles without being noticed. She preferred not to have to explain bodies.…
Sister Olivia, one of the recently graduated Sister Mentats, selected a seat next to Valya as the shuttle descended through the atmosphere. “I spent a year on Rossak before going to Lampadas for Mentat training. It will be sad to see our great cliff city abandoned.”
Olivia was young and wide at the hips, with long blond hair and an assertive personality that Valya found grating at times, perhaps because it reminded her of herself. Olivia had formed a solid friendship with Fielle in their time together at the Mentat School, and Valya gauged the influence of all the new Sister Mentats. Fielle in particular was a shining star who already held much of the Mother Superior’s attention. Valya was keeping a close eye on her, assessing whether she would be a powerful ally or rival.
“Stay near me at all times,” she warned Olivia. “The shuttle will land far from any Imperial military defenses, and we’ll make our way through the thickest wilderness. It’s a testing ground, and there are many hazards for the unwary.”