Sandworms of Dune - Brian Herbert [180]
Confidence infused him, and he thought he might discover a way to make grand, epic changes . . . but not under the control of the thinking machines. Instead, Duncan would find his own way. He would be a real Kwisatz Haderach, independent as well as all-powerful.
Dispassionately, he gazed upon the old woman in her frumpy floralprint dress and gardening apron, complete with scuffs of dirt. Her face appeared careworn, as if from nurturing people her entire life. “Something of Omnius has vanished from me, but not all.”
Finally forsaking the old-woman disguise, Erasmus resumed the liquid-metal form of the independent robot attired in an elegant crimson and gold robe. “I can learn much from you, Duncan Idaho. As the new god-messiah of humankind, you are the optimal specimen for me to study.”
“I am not another specimen for your laboratory analysis.” Too many others had treated him that way, in too many of his past lives.
“A mere slip of my tongue.” The robot smiled cheerily, as if attempting to veil his looming violence. “I have long desired a perfect understanding of what it means to be human. Now it seems you have all the answers I so assiduously sought.”
“I recognize the myth in which I live.” Duncan recalled Paul Atreides making similar pronouncements. Paul had felt trapped by his own mythos, which had become a force beyond his control. Duncan, however, had no fear of the forces that would emerge, either for or against him.
With penetrating vision he saw through, and around, Erasmus and his minions. Across the hall he watched Paul Atreides standing unsteadily, aided by Chani and Jessica after his terrible ordeal. Paul drank from a water flagon, which he had taken from a table near the Baron’s body.
Outside, the crashing of sandworms against robotic defenders had begun to subside. Though the huge creatures had not destroyed the machine cathedral, they had caused extensive damage to the city of Synchrony.
At the perimeter of the great chamber, quicksilver robots stood attentively, the charges in their integral weapons glowing in a display of readiness. Even without the evermind, Erasmus could direct these machines to fire a deadly barrage against the humans in the vaulted room. The independent robot could attempt to kill every mortal here in a show of petulant revenge. And perhaps he would make the effort. . . .
“Neither you nor your robots can make any difference here,” Duncan warned. “All of you are far too slow.”
“Either you are overconfident, or you are fully aware of what you can do.” The flowmetal smile tightened, just a little, and the bright optic threads glistened a bit more. “Perhaps it is the latter, and perhaps not.” Somehow, Duncan knew with absolute certainty that Erasmus meant to unleash all the destructive power under his control, wreaking whatever havoc he could.
Before the robot made half a turn, Duncan was upon him with all the speed Miles Teg had shown, knocking him backward. Erasmus crashed to the floor, his weapons disabled. Was it just a test? Another experiment?
Duncan’s heart pounded and his body radiated heat as he stood over the robot, but he felt exhilarated, not exhausted. He could keep fighting like this against any machines Erasmus chose to send against him. At that thought, he left the independent robot where he had fallen, dashed at hyperspeed around the circle, and battered the silvery sentinel robots with quick kicks and punches until they shattered into debris. It was so easy for him now. Before the metal pieces had finished falling to the floor, he was back, looming over Erasmus.
“I sensed your doubts as well as your intentions,” Duncan said. “Admit it. Even as a thinking machine, you wanted more proof, didn’t you?”
Lying on his back and looking upward through the hole in the dome at the thousands of huge Guild Heighliners in the sky, Erasmus said, “Assuming you are the long-awaited superman, why don’t you simply destroy me? With Omnius gone, removing me would assure the victory of humanity.”
“If the solution were that simple,