Dune_ House Atreides - Brian Herbert [124]
“Ah, yes. In that case, we could request to see this alleged evidence from the Tleilaxu Ambassador, and then give Pilru a set time to respond afterward.” Shaddam paused, looked at Fenring for encouragement. “By the end of the day, the Emperor could issue a request for a temporary cessation of hostilities.”
“It’ll be too late, then,” Chamberlain Hesban said.
“Exactly. Ix will fall, and there will be nothing they can do about it.”
Like many culinary delicacies, revenge is a dish best savored slowly, after long and delicate preparation.
—EMPEROR ELROOD IX,
Deathbed Insights
Half an hour later, Shaddam watched the opposing Ambassadors enter the Emperor’s anteroom for a private audience meant to “resolve the matter.” At Fenring’s suggestion, he had changed into a more formal outfit with subtle military trappings, so that while his father looked unkempt and sloppy, he had the appearance of a leader.
The Ixian Ambassador had a broad, flesh-fat face with pink cheeks. His entire body looked rumpled in a serge singlesuit with wide lapels and fluffed collar. His thin gray hair had been combed hurriedly. Since he admitted he wasn’t personally familiar with the crisis conditions on Ix, he brought along the Courier Yuta Brey, an eyewitness.
The only Tleilaxu delegate they could find, Mofra Tooy, was a man of small stature with scruffy orange hair and grayish skin. The man exuded a barely suppressed rage, seething as his small dark eyes bored holes through his Ixian counterpart. Tooy had been briefed in exactly what to say.
Ambassador Pilru remained shocked by the entire situation, only now beginning to grasp the death of his wife S’tina and mourn her. It all seemed unreal to him. A nightmare. He shifted uneasily on his feet, concerned for his world, his position, and his missing son C’tair. The Ambassador’s gaze flitted around the room, looking for support among the Emperor’s advisors and staff. It gave him a chill to see their hard gazes turned back at him.
Two Guild agents hovered at the rear of the anteroom, looking on expressionlessly. One of them had a ruddy face with scars. The other’s head was misshapen, bubbled out at the back. Shaddam had seen similar people before, people who had begun training as Guild Navigators, but had failed the rigors of the selection process.
“We will hear from Mofra Tooy first,” the Emperor said in a rasping voice. “I would have him explain himself and his people’s suspicions.”
“And why they are taking such unprecedented and violent action!” Pilru interjected. The others ignored his outburst.
“We have discovered illegal activities on Ix,” the Tleilaxu began, in a childlike voice. “The Bene Tleilax felt it imperative to stop this scourge before another insidious machine intelligence could be unleashed in the Imperium. If we had waited, the human race might have been subjected to more millennia of slavery. We had no choice but to act as we did.”
“Liar!” Pilru snarled. “What makes you the enforcers of the strictures, without due process of law? You have no proof because there have been no illegal activities on Ix. We have adhered carefully to all guidelines from the Jihad.”
With remarkable calm for a Tleilaxu, Tooy kept his gaze on the others in the room, as if Pilru were beneath contempt. “Our forces took necessary action before the evidence could be destroyed. Have we not learned from the Great Revolt? Once active, a machine intelligence may become vindictive and it can develop the ability to copy itself and spread like wildfire. Ix is the source of all machine minds. We Tleilaxu are continuing the holy war only to keep the universe free of this enemy.” Though Ambassador Pilru stood two heads taller than he, Tooy screamed at him, “Jihad! Jihad!”
“Now see here, sir,” Pilru said, falling back several steps. “This behavior is uncalled-for.”
“ ‘Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind,’ ” the Tleilaxu snapped. “You and House Vernius will be damned for your sins!”
“Calm yourself.