Sandworms of Dune - Entry #2

     Since I have only read this particular Dune book once before, I can't remember how I felt about it the first time around as that is some time ago now.  I remember being enthralled with the ending but it takes some time to put all the pieces in place.  One of the pieces is "Paulo", Omnius' attempt to have his own Kwisatz Haderach.  Omnius decides to have the Baron and Paulo brought to Synchrony, the evermind's city, to complete the process of awakening his memories and winning the war.  The Baron, although twisted and evil, is no dummy and can have great insight as is clear in this quote:

The Baron found it amusing how the thinking machines viewed everything as an absolute.  After fifteen thousand years, they should know better.

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 155)

Sandworms of Dune - Entry #1

     As I begin Sandworms of Dune, I can't believe that I am soon ending this journey and that it has been over a month since my last entry!  What will I write about after this?  Will I miss blogging?  I feel like I will be dragging my feet a little to finish this up.

     But on to the matter at hand.  So Omnius has launched a vast fleet to eradicate the humans.

     For centuries Omnius had been building his invincible force.  Using traditional but supremely efficient lightspeed engines, the millions and millions of machine vessels now swept forward and spread out, conquering one start system at a time.  The evermind could have made use of the surrogate mathematical navigation systems, which his Face Dancers had "given" to the Spacing Guild, but one element of the Holtzman technology simply remained too incomprehensible.  Something indefinably human was required to travel through foldspace, an intangible "leap of faith." The evermind would never admit that the bizarre technology actually made him ... nervous.

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 10)

     The fact that the machine fleet will not fold space to travel buys some time for the humans to get their act together.