Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson - Dune 11 - The Machine Cr

1082 Pages·2016·2.76 MB·English

by  Herbert Brian & Frank

Herbert, Brian & Anderson, Kevin - The Machine Crusade
LEGENDS OF DUNE
THE MACHINE CRUSADE

The Dune Novels by Frank Herbert

DUNE

dune MESSIAH

children of dune

god emperor of dune

heretics of dune

chapterhouse: dune

Prelude to Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson HOUSE
ATREIDES
HOUSE HARKONNEN

HOUSE CORRINO

Legends of Dune

THE BUTIERIAN JIHAD THE MACHINE CRUSADE *THE BATTLE OF
CORRIN
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Herbert, Brian & Anderson, Kevin - The Machine Crusade
* forthcoming

Legends of DUNE
THE MACHINE CRUSADE

Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson

Hodder & Stoughton copyright © 2003 by Herbert Enterprises LLC
First published in Great Britain in 2003 by Hodder and Stoughton Published
simultaneously in paperback in 2003 by Hodder and Stoughton A division of
Hodder Headline

The right of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson to be identified as the
Authors of the Work has been asserted by them in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All right reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior
written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of
binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real
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Herbert, Brian & Anderson, Kevin - The Machine Crusade persons, living or
dead is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN o 340 82333 X Hardback ISBN o 340 82334 8 Trade Paperback Typeset
in Scala by Hewer Text Ltd, Edinburgh

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham Ltd, Chatham,
Kent Hodder and Stoughton
A division of Hodder Headline

Euston Road

London NWi 3BH

To PENNY and RON MERRITT,

Fellow travelers in the DUNE universe, with love and appreciation for helping
us maintain the legacy of Frank Herbert.

Acknowledgments

When we finished the manuscript of this book, the work had only begun. Pat
LoBrutto and Carolyn Caughey showed their editorial genius, guiding us!
through numerous iterations and fine tuning to produce this final version. Our
agents, Robert Gottlieb and Matt Bialer of Trident Media Group, have been
supportive and excited about this project from the start. Tom Doherty, Linda
Quinton, Jennifer Marcus, Heather Drucker, and Paul Stevens at Tor Books, and
Julie Crisp at Hodder & Stoughton, helped keep all matters of production and
promotion on track without letting their enthusiasm flag for a moment.

As always, Catherine Sidor at WordFire, Inc., worked tirelessly to transcribe
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Herbert, Brian & Anderson, Kevin - The Machine Crusade dozens of
microcassettes, input corrections, and maintain consistency in the face of a full-
steam-ahead work pace. Diane E. Jones served as test reader and guinea pig,
giving us her honest reactions and suggested additional scenes that helped make
this a stronger book.

Rebecca Moesta Anderson devoted uncounted hours of energy, concentration,
advice and criticism (always tempered with love), never letting the phrase “good
enough” enter her vocabulary. Jan Herbert, as always, offered her support,
patience, and understanding in the face of the unpredictable needs of a writer.

Javier Barriopedro and Christian Gossett gave us “Swordmaster” inspiration.
Dr.
Attila Torkos gave the final manuscript his fine-tooth-comb scrutiny, helping
us to avoid inconsistencies.

The Herbert Limited Partnership, including Penny and Ron Merritt, David
Merritt, Byron Merritt, Julie Herbert, Robert Merritt, Kimberly Herbert,
Margaux Herbert, and Theresa Shackelford gave us their enthusiastic support,
entrusting us with the care of Frank Herbert’s vision.

Without Beverly Herbert’s almost four decades of support and devotion to
him, Frank Herbert would not have created such a vast and fascinating universe
for us to explore. We are greatly indebted to them both.

Historians do not agree on the messages carried in detritus of the long-ago
past.
As one delves into history â such ancient, chaotic time! â the more facts
become fluid, the stories contradictory. Across the ocean of time and fallible
memory, true heroes metamorphose into archetypes; battles grow more
significant than they actually were. Legends and truth are difficult to reconcile.

As the First Official Historian of the Jihad, I must set down this record as best
I can, relying upon oral traditions and fragmentary documents preserved for a
hundred centuries. Which is more accurate â a carefully documented history
such as mine, or an accumulation of myths and folktales?

I, Naam the Elder, must write honestly, even if it invites the wrath of my
superiors.
Read this history carefully, as I begin with Rendik Tolu-Far’s Manifesto of
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Herbert, Brian & Anderson, Kevin - The Machine Crusade Protest, a document
that was confiscated by the Jipol: “We are weary of fighting â weary unto death!
Billions upon billions have already been slaughtered in this crusade against the
thinking machines. The casualties include not only uniformed soldiers of the
Jihad and their hired mercenaries, but also innocent colonists and human slaves
on the Synchronized Worlds. No one bothers to count the number of enemy
machines that have been destroyed.”

‘The computer evermind Omnius has dominated many planets for over a
millennium, but it was twenty-four years ago that the murder of Priestess Serena
Butler’s innocent child triggered an all-out human revolt. She used this tragedy
to incite a fervor in the League of Nobles, precipitating the Armada’s full-scale
attack and the atomic destruction of Earth.
‘Yes, this was a blow to Omnius, but it killed every last human living on that
planet and left the birthplace of humanity a radioactive ruin, uninhabitable for
centuries to come. What a horrendous cost! â and that was not a victory, not an
end, but only the opening act in this long struggle.

“For more than two decades, Serena’s holy war has raged against the thinking
machines. Our strikes against Synchronized Worlds ax countered by robotic
incursions against League colonies. Again and again.”

“Priestess Serena appears to be a devout woman, and I would like to believe
in her purity and sanctity. She has spent years in the study of available writings
and doctrines from ancient human philosophers. No other person has spent so
much time talking with Kwyna, the Cogitor in residence at the City of
Introspection.
Serena’s passion is evident and her beliefs beyond reproach, but is she aware
of all of the things that are done in her name?”

“Serena Butler is little more than a figurehead, while Iblis Ginjo is her
political proxy. He styles himself the ‘Grand Patriarch of the Jihad’ and leads the
Jihad Council, an emergency governing body that rules outside the boundaries of
the League Parliament. And we allow this to happen!”

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Herbert, Brian & Anderson, Kevin - The Machine Crusade “I have watched the
Grand Patriarchâa former slave master on earthâuse his charismatic oratory skills
to transform Serena’s tragedy into a weapon. Is everyone blind to how he builds
his own political power? Why else would he have married Camie Boro, who
traces her bloodline back a thousand years to the last, weak ruler of the Old
Empire ? A man does not wed the only living descendant of the last emperor
merely for love!”

“To ferret out human traitors and clandestine saboteurs, Iblis Ginjo has
established his Jihad Police, the Jipol. Think of those thousands who have been
arrested in recent years â can they all be traitors working for the machines, as
Jipol claims? Is it not convenient that so many of them are the Grand Patriarch’s
political enemies?”

“I do not criticize the military commanders, the brave soldiers, or even the
mercenaries, for all of them are fighting the Jihad to the best of their abilities.
Humans from every free planet have set out to destroy machine outposts and
to block robot depredations. But how can we ever hope to achieve victory? The
machines can always build more fighters⦠and they keep coming back.”

“We are exhausted from this endless warfare. What hope do we have for
peace?
What possibility exists for an accord with Omnius? Thinking machines never
tire.”

“And they never forget.”

B.G.
(Before Guild)

JIHAD YEAR

The weakness of thinking machines is that they actually believe all the
information they receive, and react accordingly.

âVorian Atreides, fourth debriefing interview with League Armada Leading a
group of five ballistas in orbit over the canyon-scarred planet, Primero
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Herbert, Brian & Anderson, Kevin - The Machine Crusade Vorian Atreides
studied the robotic enemy forces aligned against him: sleek and silver, like
predatory fish. Their efficient, functional design gave them the unintentional
grace of sharp knives.

Omnius’s combat monstrosities outnumbered the human ships ten to one, but
because the Jihad battleships were equipped with overlapping layers of
Holtzman shields, the enemy fleet could bombard the human vessels without
inflicting any damage, and without advancing toward the surface of IV Anbus.

Although the human defenders did not have the necessary firepower to crush
the machine forces or even repel them, the jihadis would continue to fight
anyway. It was a standoff, humans and machines facing each other above the
planet.
Omnius and his forces had secured many victories in the past seven years,
conquering small backwater colonies and establishing outposts from which they
launched relentless waves of attack. But now the Army of the Jihad had sworn to
defend this Unallied Planet against the thinking machines at all costs â whether
or not the native population wanted it.

Down on the planet’s surface, his fellow Primero, Xavier Harkonnen, was
attempting yet another diplomatic foray with Zenshüte elders, the leaders of a
primitive Buddislamic sect. Vor doubted his friend would make much progress.
Xavier was too inflexible to be a good negotiator: h)is sense of duty and strict
adherence to the objectives of the mission were always paramount in his mind.

Besides that, Xavier was biased against these people⦠and they undoubtedly
realized it.

The thinking machines wanted IV Anbus. The Army of the Jihad had to stop
them. If the Zenshütes wished to isolate themselves from the galactic conflict
and not cooperate with the brave soldiers fighting to keep the human race free,
then they were worthless. One time, Vor had jokingly compared Xavier to a
machine, since he saw things in black-and-white terms, and the other man had
scowled icily in response.

According to reports from the surface, the Zenshüte religious leaders had
shown themselves to be just as stubborn as Primero Harkonnen. Both sides had
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Herbert, Brian & Anderson, Kevin - The Machine Crusade their heels.