Well, it's been over 3 months since I last wrote here. This has been a very hectic semester but most importantly has been my time spent on the Presidential Search Committee to help the college select the best candidate to replace our current president who will retire in August. It is so wonderful to think I have a little time to indulge in the world of Dune even though it is the week prior to finals and there is still a lot to do. I put in a long day yesterday just so I could NOT do any school work today. So back in to the Dune universe ... aaahhh.
Back at Chapterhouse, Murbella was preparing for a suicidal attack on the machine fleet. There were so many Enemy ships! "It seemed obvious that the evermind had learned the value of intimidation and showmanship, as well as the wisdom of redundancy" (Sandworms of Dune, p. 464). But the Enemy attack didn't come. The Oracle, Norma Cenva, had removed the evermind and left the machine fleet to drift aimlessly without a leader or a purpose.
But there was still a stand-off on Synchrony. There was Erasmus to deal with as well as the Face Dancer myriad. But first ... the confrontation with Erasmus is too awesome to not include in its entirety:
"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, a Kwisatz Haderach would not be needed to implement it." Duncan surprised Erasmus, and himself, by reaching down and helping the robot to his feet. "To end Kralizec and truly change the future requires more than just the annihilation of one side or the other."
Erasmus examined his body core and his robes to ensure his appearance, then looked up with a broad smile. "I think we just might have a meeting of the minds -- something I never really achieved with Omnius."(Sandworms of Dune, p. 469-470)
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