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  For Jan, whose beauty and intelligence continue to dazzle me. My life began when I met you.

  —BRIAN HERBERT

  For Rebecca, who continues to explore exotic and exciting new places and ideas with me, and there are still countless new universes to imagine.

  —KEVIN J. ANDERSON

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  As with all our books, we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to our wives, Janet Herbert and Rebecca Moesta Anderson, for their love and creative support. We would also like to express our gratitude to Tom Doherty at Tor Books, our editors, Pat LoBrutto (Tor) and Maxine Hitchcock (Simon & Schuster UK), and our agent, John Silbersack (Trident Media Group). In addition, Kim Herbert and Byron Merritt have worked tirelessly to help raise awareness of the D from Salusa Secundus MentatArrakisune novels through promotional efforts, convention appearances, and website work. Kevin would also like to thank Mary Thomson for her many hours of transcription, and test readers

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Epigraphs

  Epigraph

  Chapter 1 (What do all our accomplishments matter)

  Chapter 2 (Blind adherence to foolish)

  Chapter 3 (The mind of man is holy)

  Chapter 4 (Can you feel it)

  Chapter 5 (Never underestimate the power of revenge)

  Chapter 6 (How do you develop a strategy against insanity)

  Chapter 7 (A leader must use great care in selecting)

  Chapter 8 (While animals camouflage themselves)

  Chapter 9 (A memory can be the most painful)

  Chapter 10 (Some people look up into the night)

  Chapter 11 (With human imagination)

  Chapter 12 (Humans and machines are fundamentally)

  Chapter 13 (There is great wisdom in)

  Chapter 14 (The wise instructor does not teach everything she knows)

  Chapter 15 (Anyone who searches for the meaning)

  Chapter 16 (The desert is endless)

  Chapter 17 (From a certain perspective, history)

  Chapter 18 (Humans are endlessly perplexing)

  Chapter 19 (The past is always with us)

  Chapter 20 (Is anything truly as we perceive it)

  Chapter 21 (There is strength in numbers)

  Chapter 22 (If you strike me, I will strike you harder)

  Chapter 23 (Every hammer has the innate capacity to strike a nail)

  Chapter 24 (Thinking machines did not have a monopoly on cruelty)

  Chapter 25 (We can never atone for all the harm we cause)

  Chapter 26 (There can be only one result on a critical mission)

  Chapter 27 (It is not enough to survive great adversity)

  Chapter 28 (With the right tools and proper concentration)

  Chapter 29 (Just repeating a statement often)

  Chapter 30 (One man’s mission is another man’s folly)

  Chapter 31 (Humans never stop looking)

  Chapter 32 (Crossing the line from friend)

  Chapter 33 (There is no such thing as perfect security)

  Chapter 34 (History often distorts through a lens of fear)

  Chapter 35 (Every memory has a trigger)

  Chapter 36 (Every person can be manipulated)

  Chapter 37 (Success is a matter of definitions)

  Chapter 38 (Human imagination is a powerful thing)

  Chapter 39 (Every grain of sand in the desert is different)

  Chapter 40 (If a person is properly instructed)

  Chapter 41 (The ideal form of mob behavior is controlled chaos)

  Chapter 42 (Those Sisters flock together like birds—carrion birds)

  Chapter 43 (Successful people sort through priorities)

  Chapter 44 (Every person has a powerful urge to return home)

  Chapter 45 (I keep my eyes open and observe)

  Chapter 46 (Sometimes the best way to see the familiar is to go far from it)

  Chapter 47 ( had no idea who he really was on his m that How many people can be told a secret, before it is no longer considered a secret)

  Chapter 48 (Evil is apparent to all)

  Chapter 49 (I am an educated, rational businessman)

  Chapter 50 (Symbols are powerful motivators of human behavior)

  Chapter 51 (A threat works only if the recipient believes)

  Chapter 52 (There is beauty in the eyes)

  Chapter 53 (In hand-to-hand combat)

  Chapter 54 (How can you call my actions atrocities)

  Chapter 55 (We are human not because of our physical form)

  Chapter 56 (One of my primary tasks in advancing the)

  Chapter 57 (All power bases are made of flesh)

  Chapter 58 (I prefer to celebrate my decisions)

  Chapter 59 (Truth is an amorphous thing)

  Chapter 60 (The wrongful death of a child)

  Chapter 61 (I long for something that has always)

  Chapter 62 (Inflexible convictions are powerful things)

  Chapter 63 (In any major conflict, each side fights for its own cause)

  Chapter 64 (As a human being)

  Chapter 65 (An Emperor’s grasp can encompass a million worlds)

  Chapter 66 (The universe does not always allow)

  Chapter 67 (The happiest moments can be a heartbeat away from the saddest)

  Chapter 68 (Every Mentat knows there)

  Chapter 69 (Some of us carry a portion of our)

  Chapter 70 (Even an Emperor must)

  Chapter 71 (When the weak become powerful)

  Chapter 72 (I now understand regret)

  Chapter 73 (Is it better to make a vow to a person or to principles)

  Chapter 74 (There are far more pleasant places for an Emperor)

  Chapter 75 (I only hope I have enough time) an urgent message. p

  Chapter 76 (The tangible expression of the human)

  Chapter 77 (Sand flows through my veins)

  Chapter 78 (When I gaze up into the night sky)

  Chapter 79 (How do we measure the loss of Salvador Corrino)

  Chapter 80 (For too long, the Imperium has been)

  Chapter 81 (Murder is murder)

  Chapter 82 (When studying history)

  The Dune Series

  Abo

  If we accept advanced technology in any form, we will begin to make excuses and justifications for using it. There are so many ways to take the wrong path and tumble down a slippery slope, down, down, down. Loyal Butlerians, we must be ever-vigilant and strong! The Emperor’s Committee of Orthodoxy does not go far enough. If we let machines do even menial chores for us, they will soon become our masters again.

  I call upon all my faithful followers, across all the worlds of the Imperium, to demand that every planetary leader sign my antitechnology pledge. If any refuse, my Butlerians—and God—will know who they are. No one can hide.

  —MANFORD TORONDO, citizen’s decree

  The idiocy of it all! I cannot decide whether to laugh at Butlerian insanity, or weep for the future of our species. What will those fanatics demand
next? The complete absence of medical technology? Would they outlaw fire, and declare the existence of the wheel too dangerous? Are we all to be relegated to huddling in forests and fields?

  Enough. This is the decree of Venport Holdings: No VenHold cargo ship or passenger transport shall trade with any planet that signs Manford Torondo’s antitechnology pledge. We will deliver no goods or passengers, transmit no communications, engage in no commerce with any world that shares his dangerous, barbarian philosophy.

  Make your choice: Do you prefer to bask in the glow of civilization, or cower in the shadows of primitive despair? Decide.

  Each time I solve a crisis, another springs forth like a noxious weed. What am I to do, Roderick? Problems come at me from all directions!

  I disbanded the Sisterhood school on Rossak because they were suspected of possessing forbidden computers—though I could never prove it, and they made me look like a fool. And after what happened to our dear sister Anna when she was among them.… What a terrible shame! Will she ever be the same?

  When the treachery of the Suk doctors was exposed, I nearly broke them, too. Despite their purported Imperial Conditioning, and even though I now force them to operate under close scrutiny, I do not trust them. Yet, with my numerous health issues, I have no choice but to let them tend me.

  Manford Torondo pressures me to adopt his Butlerian nonsense and follow his every whim, while Josef Venport demands the opposite. They are both madmen, but if I ignore Manford Torondo, he can summon wild and destructive mobs. And if I don’t appease Venport, he holds our entire economy hostage.

  I feel like a man chained between two Salusan bulls pulling in opposite directions! I am the third Corrino to sit on the Imperial throne since the defeat of the thinking machines—why is it so difficult to make my own citizens listen to me? Help me decide what to do, dear brother. As always, I value your advice above all others.

  —private Corrino correspondence, EMPEROR

  What do all our accomplishments matter, if they do not last beyond our lifetimes?

  —HEADMASTER GILBERTUS ALBANS, Mentat School Archives

  The great Mentat School was his—from the initial concept seven decades ago, to choosing this location in the remote marshes on Lampadas, to the many graduates he had trained over the years. With quiet efficiency and determination, Gilbertus Albans was changing the course of human civilization.

  And he would not let Emperor Salvador Corrino or the fanatical antitechnology Butlerians take it away from him.

  In the nearly two centuriesIn hand-to-hand combat Mentat it was of his artificially extended life, Gilbertus had learned how to survive. Realizing that controversial and charismatic figures tended not to remain alive for long, he played his public role with great care—remaining quiet and unobtrusive, even consenting to distasteful alliances that, according to his projections, helped the overall goals of his Mentat School.

  Mentats: humans with minds so organized they could function as computers in a reactionary society that reviled any hint of thinking machines. Not even his own trainees knew that Gilbertus secretly drew upon the unique background, wisdom, and experiences of his mentor, the notorious robot Erasmus. He feared that even his most supportive students would balk at that. Nevertheless, after years of consistently reliable performance, his Mentat graduates were becoming indispensable to the noble houses of the Imperium.

  In such dangerous times, though, any question or mere suspicion could bring down the school. He knew what had happened to the Sisterhood on Rossak. If he made the slightest mistake and revealed his true identity …

  Inside his office in the main academy building, he glanced at the chronometer. The Emperor’s brother, Roderick Corrino, was due to arrive on a sanctioned military transport, to confirm that their sister was safe in the care of the Mentat School. Some time ago, Gilbertus had promised the Corrinos that his rigorous teaching methods could help the mentally damaged girl to improve, if not thrive. But the human mind was a tricky thing, and the damage done to her brain by the Rossak poison was not quantifiable, nor could the young woman be cured in any obvious way. Gilbertus hoped Roderick Corrino understood that.

  Before emerging into the school commons, he donned his distinguished carmine-red Headmaster robe. He had already attended to his makeup for the day—dusting false gray into his hair, roughening his skin—in order to hide his youthful appearance. Now he hurried, knowing that the Imperial military shuttle would arrive on time. He had to make sure Anna was ready to put on a good show for her brother.

  Gilbertus left the academy building and shaded his eyes. The bright air was sopping with humidity; each suspended droplet seemed to hang in front of his eyes like a magnifying glass. Wooden walkways connected the school structures that floated on the edge of a murky marsh lake. Originally the school had been anchored farther out in the water, but after problems with aggressive aquatic creatures, the entire complex had been moved to a more protected position on the shore.

  Now the school included a mixture of the original structures and new ones that looked more elegant, with domes and elevated observation decks. Bridges at varying levels linked the dormitories, study halls, laboratories, meditation buildings, and libraries. High defensive walls surrounded the entire complex, augmented by a hidden shield grid, sophisticated underwater electronics, and watchtowers.

  While portions of Lampadas were bucolic and pleasant, this lake and the bordering swamps were the planet’s razor edge, fraught with hazards and predators. As the Headmaster made his way to the observatory, swamp sounds burbled into the air, and a hum of biting flies swirled around him. This was no serene environment where students could develop their mental skills through hours of uninterrupted meditation. Gilbertus had chosen this inhospitable area with a specific purpose in mind. He believed the danger and isolation would help focus the minds of his elite candidates.

  Even with the school’s defenses against natural hazards, Gilbertus was actually more concerned about what the increasingly unpredictable Butlerians might do. A sophisticated military force and attentive s woman could easily destroy the school with an aerial or space bombardment, but the antitechnology fanatics would use no high-tech weaponry; nevertheless, their overwhelming numbers could cause great havoc, as they had already proved with mob uprisings on several worlds in the Imperium. Gilbertus had to walk a fine line.

  At face value, the Butlerians applauded the basic underpinnings of Mentat training—that humans could do anything that thinking machines could, and more. Their leader, legless Manford Torondo, often made use of Mentat calculations or strategies to achieve his ends, but he was also suspicious of any open exchange of ideas during lively discussions among the students. In an earlier semester, Gilbertus had exposed the school to great danger when he suggested during a hypothetical intellectual debate that thinking machines might not be as terrible as Butlerian propaganda made them out to be. The school, and Gilbertus himself, had barely survived their backlash. He had learned his lesson. Since then he’d remained quiet and conciliatory to avoid inflaming anyone again.

  As he walked toward the outbuildings, one of the minor administrators transmitted an alert that the Imperial shuttle was on descent. Gilbertus touched his earadio. “Thank you. I will bring Anna Corrino to the landing zone.” He hoped she was having one of her lucid days, so she could interact with her brother, rather than remaining lost in a mental maze.

  The school’s tallest building served as a naked-eye observatory, where Mentat students could study the universe, count the stars at night, and memorize the infinite patterns as a recall exercise. During the day, the high open deck would be empty—except for Anna Corrino, staring at her surroundings.

  The young woman was fixated on the local landscape, where a labyrinth of sangrove trees created an impassable barrier to the east, and soupy marshes, quicksand, and tangled stagnant waterways made travel difficult to the south; the large, shallow marsh lake bounded the school to the north and west.

  Gilbertus s
tepped up next to Anna. “Your brother is coming. He will be glad to see you.”

  She did not acknowledge the Headmaster, but a small twitch in her cheek and a flicker of her eyelids told him she was aware of his presence. She turned to stare at a drained section of swamp that served as a landing field for shuttles and local flyers. Dangerous lake beasts had damaged the previous raft airfield, making it impractical to keep under repair.

  His primary aide, Zendur, and a crew of Mentat trainees used blunt-nozzle devices to spray fire streams across the marsh grasses, clearing an area for Roderick Corrino’s shuttle. Because vegetation grew so rapidly here, the landing zone had to be groomed for each expected arrival; Gilbertus did not have trainees maintain the site otherwise, since he didn’t want to encourage unexpected visitors—Manford Torondo in particular.

  Anna did not take her eyes from the clearing crew as she spoke. “How many flies do you think they’re killing?”

  “Or how many blades of grass?” Gilbertus said, knowing it was a game for her.

  Anna considered the problem. “If I knew the acreage of swampland for the landing field, I could calculate a probable distribution of grass blades. Given a certain amount of swamp grass, I could estimate how many flies are likely to inhabit it.”

  “And how many spiders to eat them,” Gilbertus suggested, trying to keep her thoughts nimble.

  “I can make a cascade projection following the food chain.” Anna’s narrow shoulders twitched, and she formed aA">whizz-clack of the Maula pistol. p small smile, turning to focus on him for the first time that day. “But it doesn’t really matter, does it? Because the grass will grow back, the flies will return, the spiders will eat them, and the swamp will reclaim its territory—until the next time we clear it.”

  “I am going to meet your brother’s shuttle now. Would you join me?”

  Anna considered. “I prefer to wait here and watch.”

  “Prince Roderick is anxious to see you.”

  “He is a good brother. I’ll talk with him … but I need time to arrange my thoughts first. I’ll be ready when you bring him here. I don’t want to disappoint him.”