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Luyseyal discarded all pretense of Bene Gesserit self-control, a fine comment on her recognition of Leto's powers. Her voice almost screeched: "Do you know what the lxians boast? That their machine will predict your actions!"
"Why should I fear that? The closer they come to me, the more they must be my allies. They ca
Anteac made to speak but stopped when Luyseyal touched her arm.
"Are you already allied with Ix?" Luyseyal asked. "We hear that you conferred overlong with their new Ambassador, this Hwi Noree."
"I have no allies," he said. "Only servants, students and enemies."
"And you do not fear the lxians' machine?" Anteac insisted.
"Is automation synonymous with conscious intelligence?" he asked.
Anteac's eyes went wide and filmy as she withdrew into her memories. Leto found himself caught by fascination with what she must be encountering there within her own internal mob.
We share some of those memories, he thought.
Leto felt then the seductive attraction of community with Reverend Mothers. It would be so familiar, so supportive... and so deadly. Anteac was trying to lure him once more.
She spoke: "The machine ca
"You still have the power of reason," he said.
"Share!" Luyseyal said. It was a command to Anteac and it revealed with sharp abruptness who really dominated this pair-the younger over the older.
Exquisite, Leto thought.
"Intelligence adapts," Anteac said.
Parsimonious with her words, too, Leto thought, hiding his amusement.
"Intelligence creates," Leto said. "That means you must deal with responses never before imagined. You must confront the new."
"Such as the possibility of the Ixian Machine," Anteac said. It was not a question.
"Isn't it interesting," Leto asked, "that being a superb Reverend Mother is not enough?"
His acute senses detected the sudden fearful tightening in both of the women. Truthsayers, indeed!
"You are right to fear me," he said. Raising his voice, he demanded: "How do you know you're even alive?"
As Moneo had done so many times, they heard in his voice the deadly consequences of failure to answer him correctly. It fascinated Leto that both women glanced at Moneo before either responded.
"I am the mirror of myself," Luyseyal said, a pat Bene Gesserit answer which Leto found offensive.
"I don't need pre-set tools to deal with my human problems." Anteac said. "Your question is sophomoric`."
"Hah, hah!" Leto laughed. "How would you like to quit the Bene Gesserit and join me'?"
He could see her consider and then reject the invitation, but she did not hide her amusement.
Leto looked at the puzzled Luyseyal. "If it falls outside your yardsticks, then you are engaged with intelligence, not with automation," he said. And he thought: That Luyseyal will ill newer again dominate old Anteac.
Luyseyal was angry now and not bothering to conceal it. She said: "The lxians are rumored to have provided you with machines that simulate human thinking. If you have such a low opinion of them, why..."
"She should not be let out of the Chapter House without a guardian," Leto said, addressing Anteac. "Is she afraid to address her own memories?"
Luyseyal paled, but remained silent.
Leto studied her coldly. "Our ancestors' long unconscious relationship with machines has taught us something, don't you think?"
Luyseyal merely glared at him, not ready yet to risk death through open defiance of the God Emperor.
"Would you say we at least know the attraction of machines'?" Leto asked.
Luyseyal nodded.
"A well-maintained machine can be more reliable than a human servant," Leto said. "We can trust machines not to indulge in emotional distractions."
Luyseyal found her voice. "Does this mean you intend to remove the Butlerian prohibition against abominable machines?"
"I swear to you," Leto said, speaking in his icy voice of disdain, "that if you display further such stupidity, I will have you publicly executed. I am not your Oracle!"
Luyseyal opened her mouth and closed it without speaking.
Anteac touched her companion's arm, sending a quick tremor through Luyseyal's body. Anteac spoke softly in a exquisite demonstration of Voice: "Our God Emperor will never openly defy the proscriptions of the Butlerian Jihad."
Leto smiled at her, a gentle commendation. It was such a pleasure to see a professional performing at her best.
"That should be obvious to any conscious intelligence," he said. "There are limits of my own choosing, places where I will not interfere."
He could see both women absorbing the multi-pronged thrust of his words, weighing the possible meanings and intents. Was the God Emperor distracting them, focusing their attention on the lxians while he maneuvered elsewhere? Was he telling the Bene Gesserit that the time had come to choose sides against the lxians? Was it possible his words had no more than their surface motivations? Whatever his reasons, they could not be ignored. He was undoubtedly the most devious creature the universe had ever spawned.Leto scowled at Luyseyal, knowing he could only add to their confusion. "I point out to you, Marcus Claire Luyseyal, a lesson from past over-machined societies which you appear not to have learned. The devices themselves condition the users to employ each other the way they employ machines."
He turned his attention to Moneo. "Moneo?"
"I see him, Lord."
Moneo craned his neck to peer over the Bene Gesserit entourage. Duncan Idaho had entered the far portal, and strode across the open floor of the chamber toward Leto. Moneo did not relax his wariness, his distrust of the Bene Gesserit, but he recognized the nature of Leto's lecture. He is testing, always testing.
Anteac cleared her throat. "Lord, what of our reward?"
"You are brave," Leto said. "No doubt that's why you were chosen for this Embassy. Very well, for the next decade I will continue your spice allotment at its present level. As for the rest, I will ignore what you really intended with the spice essence. Am I not generous?"
"Most generous, Lord," Anteac said, and there was not the slightest hint of bitterness in her voice.
Duncan Idaho brushed past the women then and stopped beside Moneo to peer up at Leto. "M'Lord, there's..." He broke off and glanced at the two Reverend Mothers.
"Speak openly," Leto commanded.
"Yes, m'Lord." There was reluctance in him, but he obeyed.
"We were attacked at the southeast edge of the City, a distraction I believe because there now are reports of more violence in the City and in the Forbidden Forest-many scattered raiding parties."
"They are hunting my wolves," Leto said. "In the forest and in the City, they are hunting my wolves."
Idaho's brows contracted into a puzzled frown. "Wolves in the City, m'Lord?"
"Predators," Leto said. "Wolves-to me there is no essential difference."
Moneo gasped.
Leto smiled at him, thinking how beautiful it was to observe a moment of realization-a veil pulled away from the eyes, the mind opened.
"I have brought a large force of guards to protect this place," Idaho said. "They are posted through the..."
"I knew you would," Leto said. "Now pay close attention while I tell you where to send the rest of your forces."
As the Reverend Mothers watched in awe, Leto laid out for Idaho the exact points for ambushes, detailing the size of each force and even some of the specific perso