Mentats of Dune

A

Erasmus didn’t remember any of that, since by then he had gone into hiding with Gilbertus. Some former machine captives surely knew that the independent robot kept a pet human, but he had vanished among them. Fortunately, enough time had passed that virtually no eyewitnesses remained alive, though there were still some old images.

A

“I am real, A

“Then what is your name? Why don’t you have a name?”

“I have a name, but it would frighten you.”

She chuckled. “You can’t frighten me. I know you too well.”

Erasmus went through countless calculations, following decision tree after decision tree with the techniques that he himself had taught Gilbertus. “How do I know you can keep a secret?”

“Because you know me. Who would I tell, anyway? I have no friends here. Even at the Sisterhood school on Rossak, Valya was the only one I was close to, and she’s gone now. You’re my last remaining friend. If you tell me a secret, I couldn’t possibly discuss it with anyone but you.”

The chain of reasoning was a human sort of logic, but Erasmus believed her. She was so earnest. Though he completed his calculations in a fraction of a second, he hesitated intentionally so that she would understand how carefully he weighed the decision.

“There’s something I need to show you,” he said. “Follow my instructions carefully.”

WHEN HE HEARD about the uprising on Baridge, Gilbertus Albans was appalled, though he let himself show no emotion. A quick report had been rushed back to the Butlerian headquarters while Anari Idaho tied up the loose ends, and Manford Torondo transmitted his victorious news across Lampadas. He was actually proud of what his mobs had accomplished.

Gilbertus remembered Draigo urging him to stand up and expose the folly of the Butlerians. It would have been suicide, of course — and certainly the end of the great Mentat School. Nevertheless, being forced to maintain a meek silence rather than condemning the actions disturbed him. Gilbertus wanted to set an example for humanity, but his inaction in the face of such atrocities seemed cowardly.

Maybe Draigo and Erasmus were right. He should pull up stakes from Lampadas and just leave, change his identity and appearance, go back to a quiet bucolic life on Lectaire. Maybe eventually, in a century or so, he could form a new school somewhere else, possibly on Kolhar.

He was aware that many of the Mentat trainees — maybe even most — held the same mindset as he did, a tolerance of technology as long as it was properly controlled, yet they remained quiet because of the many vehement Butlerian students among them.

The Headmaster finished teaching his class, then gave the Mentat trainees hours of intense exercises under the supervision of his administrator Zendur. Gilbertus returned to his office, deeply troubled. Before making any major decision, he would discuss this with Erasmus, hoping to find some bastion of sanity.

When he opened his office door, he found A

Gilbertus stopped in astonishment. To his great dismay, he saw that she had found the secret wall panel behind his bookcase — and was cupping the Erasmus memory core in her palms as if it were a magical talisman!

He was so stu

A

“How did you … how did you know where to find him?”

“He told me. It’s our secret.” Her brow furrowed, and she looked at the Headmaster. “He said we can trust you not to tell anyone.”

The idea that Gilbertus might be a threat took him aback. He had rescued the robot and kept him safe ever since the fall of Corrin. “Of course I won’t tell anyone.” He did not like the sudden precariousness of the situation, now that his greatest secret was known by an unstable person.

The gelsphere thrummed, activating the small speakers. “We needed another ally, son, so I told her where to find me. A

“And I need you.” A

“This is extremely dangerous, Father — if she lets slip any word, any hint at all … Alys Carroll watches her, and the other Butlerian trainees are always looking for me to make the slightest mistake.” The possibilities continued to unfold for him in a series of disastrous Mentat projections. “And Manford Torondo might decide to take A

A

“She needs to be involved in our dilemma,” Erasmus said, “especially if we have to escape and find another sanctuary — just as Draigo Roget suggested. You should have listened to him when he was here.”

“I haven’t decided to leave,” Gilbertus said.

“But I’ve decided that we can’t stay. Look at the data, Mentat! You realize how great the danger is becoming. I am not confident the school’s defenses will be sufficient if the Butlerian mob comes. What if someone discovers your true identity?”

Gilbertus thought this over. The old and harmless Horus Rakka, a former machine sympathizer, had been lynched because of what he had done eighty years before.… Considering the recent outrage on Baridge, as well as the frenzied rampage festival in Zimia, and the earlier battle at the Thonaris shipyards, Gilbertus could not deny that the antitechnology movement was growing increasingly out of hand.

But if he simply fled in order to save himself and Erasmus, who could quench the flames of fanaticism? He had to do something to protect the school.

“I have analyzed the mind of A

“The Corrinos may not be as strong as you think,” Gilbertus warned, though he very much wanted the young woman’s mind repaired. “And the Butlerians may be more volatile than we can possibly imagine.”

Chapter 48 (Evil is apparent to all)

Evil is apparent to all who have eyes to see, yet evil also has insidious roots that plunge deep out of sight, like those of a noxious weed that must be uprooted and destroyed wherever it tries to spread.

— MANFORD TORONDO, Lampadas rallies

After the uprising, Baridge was suitably chastened — Anari Idaho had seen to it, and she sent a report back to Manford. Even now, the faithful on Lampadas would be celebrating. And when she returned, she would tell Manford in person what she had discovered about Directeur Venport’s monstrous Navigators and the true reason for his stranglehold on spice.

Anari would have preferred to make a more drawn-out example of Deacon Kalifer, forcing him to endure a long trial and public humiliation before his execution. But the people had been too eager. The mayhem surrounding the deacon’s demise, as well as the spectacle of the mutant Navigator’s body, were satisfying enough.