ANARI IDAHO BURST into Manford’s office, her eyes uncharacteristically wide in panic. “Venport has come for us — we are under attack by his fleet! They’ve opened fire on our ships in orbit.”
Startled, Manford quickly concealed the Erasmus journal he’d been reading behind a pile of other papers. His rush of guilt vanished when he saw her look of urgency. “Venport?” he said. “But we obliterated Kolhar — what can he possibly have left to fight with?” He scowled. “I didn’t know he was even still alive.”
Deacon Harian strode into the room, his face flushed. “Apparently, he had more assets than just Kolhar, and now he intends to get his revenge.”
Anari nodded. “Venport’s ships have dropped more than a hundred armored projectiles through the atmosphere, just like the ones we saw before. I believe they are cymeks — and they are on the way down to Empok.”
As if to confirm her statement, the projectiles began to crash around the city, and Manford felt a sickening chill. We used atomics against him, and now he turns thinking machines against us.
Anari reached down to grab him. “Let me take you to safety in the deep tunnels, Manford. I’ll seal you in an armored room and guard you myself. We’ll send your body double outside—”
“You will not!” He shook free of her grasp. “The demon machines are our greatest enemies, and I will not hide while Venport’s monsters lay waste to my world. Now is the time for me to guide my followers — I will rally them!”
In a stern voice, Deacon Harian said, “Leader Torondo, this is the reason your body double exists. Let that expendable man take the risk. Anari can carry him into battle.”
Manford was growing angry. “Millions of my followers came to Lampadas for me, to be my weapons in the fight for the human soul. Now is the time I need them most, and I won’t let them be led by a counterfeit. Enough! There will be no further discussion.”
Outside in the streets, the crowd was roaring like a beast. Some fled in panic with no safe place to go, while others tried to form a solid defense against the cymeks that emerged from their crash pods. Manford could hear explosions and the heavy grating sounds of mechanical limbs, humming pistons, and thudding footfalls — far too close. The giant walkers began to march.
“Take me out there, Anari. My faith is strong enough to face down these demons.”
She looked torn. “But I swore to keep you safe, Manford.”
“Then don’t allow any harm to come to me.”
Anari’s thoughts and loyalties seesawed, and finally she secured her shoulder harness in place and lifted him onto it. Then she grabbed her sword and carried him out into battle.
WITH THE MENTAT at his side, Josef returned to the bridge of his flagship, which Norma herself had guided to Lampadas. Like birds of prey, more than two hundred VenHold ships had arrived at the Butlerian planet. Now, the enemy vessels standing against them were exactly what Josef had expected, the same ragtag vessels that had appeared unexpectedly at Salusa Secundus … the same ones that had bombarded Kolhar with atomics.
He would show the fanatics that reckless enthusiasm could not make up for the combined shortfall of inadequate shields and out-of-date weapons. Emperor Roderick would be pleased … as Josef himself would be.
By the time he and Draigo reached the bridge, the cymeks had been deployed on Lampadas, and above them the space battle was already under way. Josef expected to mop up the skirmish quickly; it was his task to take care of the barbarian ships in orbit.
The Butlerians shot projectile weapons at the VenHold fleet, and Josef frowned in annoyance as the bridge deck vibrated from the buffeting of explosions against his ship’s shield. After watching the outnumbered ragtag ships closing in like small, overconfident guard dogs, he said, “Cut them to ribbons.”
With Mentat focus, Draigo studied the warship positions, made a quick assessment, and issued instructions. With short, staccato sentences, he directed specific VenHold vessels to take designated positions and open fire. In less than fifteen minutes, seven enemy vessels had been destroyed and three others so severely damaged that they reeled away from the fight.
No, this would not take long. Josef drew a deep, satisfied breath.
Though he didn’t issue additional commands for the time being, he sat back in the captain’s chair, observing and enjoying. Down on the surface, Ptolemy and the new cymeks should be having an easy time mowing down the savages.
Beside him, Draigo gave a surprised gasp, and the command crew shouted. In an unexpected tactic, four Butlerian ships drove at full speed toward a large VenHold carrier in a suicidal charge. The Butlerians fired a spray of projectile weapons, hammering and hammering the VenHold shields in a frenzied effort, until the single ship’s defenses were overwhelmed. When the VenHold shields finally failed, three of the enemy ships peeled away at the last moment, while the fourth continued forward, accelerating like a battering ram. It plowed into the spacefolder, and explosions scattered the debris of both ships.
Josef stared in disbelief. After a moment’s assessment, Draigo said, “We’re heading into the den of a madman — I am not surprised he would encourage the use of suicide tactics against us.”
Josef’s skin crawled as he looked around. “It might be worse than that. The half-Manford was willing to use atomics against us at Kolhar. What if he uses atomics again? We thought he wouldn’t use them on Lampadas, not wanting to foul his own nest. But we might have been wrong.”
The Mentat’s answer was swift and cold. “We will find out soon enough.”
Josef leaned forward. “Put all our ships on high alert to watch out for warheads being launched, and prepare for evasive action if necessary. He’s not going to catch us by surprise. In the meantime, close ranks and open fire. Destroy as many of those ships as you can. They can’t launch atomics if their ships are wiped out.”
As soon as the VenHold fleet turned their weapons against the fanatical forces, the outnumbered Butlerian ships fell, one after another, slaughtered like cannon fodder. With each vessel he destroyed, Josef chalked up another bit of revenge for what these savages had done at Kolhar.
In addition to atomics, the barbarians had found ways to reveal even more aspects of their insanity, and they suddenly demonstrated one such tactic: The antique ships had been outfitted with old-style lasguns, a type of energy weapon from the time of the Jihad. Lasguns were known to interact violently with Holtzman shields, resulting in an energy release equivalent to a small atomic warhead. Thus, lasguns had been removed from any scenario in which shields might be present. No one wanted to take the risk of complete mutual destruction.
Except the Butlerians.
One fanatic ship fired a lasbeam directly at a heavily shielded VenHold vessel — intentionally — and the lasgun-shield interaction triggered a vaporization shock wave that disintegrated both the VenHold ship and its Butlerian attacker.
Appalled, Josef let out a wordless shout, rising to his feet. “This is insane!”
In the uproar on his bridge, even Draigo could barely keep his calm. “Lasguns, Directeur! If all the Butlerian ships are outfitted with them, they won’t even need atomics against us.”
Josef choked out the words. “They are completely mad!”
A second enemy ship fired a lasgun beam, triggering another blinding detonation that wiped out a VenHold warship while simultaneously eliminating itself. It was total mutual destruction, one Butlerian vessel for each VenHold vessel … and the fanatics were willing to accept the losses.
The Mentat was coldly analytical. “We outnumber them, Directeur. If they continue the attrition until nothing remains of their forces, part of our fleet will still remain.”