Sandworms of Dune - Entry #19

The Epilogue (provides insight in to the next decade).

1. Duncan returns to Qelso with thinking machines to help Liet and Stilgar.
2. Jessica and Dr. Yueh returned to Caladan.  Scytale had grown a ghola of Duke Leto whose memories would one day be awakened so that Jessica and her beloved Duke could be together again. (Yeah, she'll be 20 years older than him but she is Bene Gesserit you know).
3. Mother Superior Sheeana led the small band of settlers on Synchrony where they established an orthodox Bene Gesserit center.  She also had Scytale grow a ghola ... Serena Butler. 
4. Last but not least, Paul and Chani returned to Dune.  There they worked at building a new sietch and starting a new family ... this time with no Irulan to interfere, there were no problems with her pregnancy.  Together, in peace, and in love.

I'll wrap this up with one of the last chapter starters and some good advice:

     Some problems are best solved with an optimistic approach.  Optimism shines a light on alternatives that are otherwise not visible.

-- SHEEANA

Reflections on the New Order

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 516)

Sandworms of Dune - Entry #18

     Technically, there are 44 more pages in the book, but the last scene ending with Erasmus's death is really the meaningful end to one story and, in essence, the beginning of an altogether new chapter in human history.

     In these last pages, we get a glimpse of that future with each of our favorite characters.

     First, Murbella is brought to Synchrony and although the intense love addiction is no more, there is tremendous respect and caring between Duncan and Murbella.  And also between Duncan and Sheeana.

     Duncan assigned the Bene Gesserit group from the Ithaca to settle in Synchrony with Sheeana as their leader. Sheeana embraced the idea and invited any of them to stay who wanted to take on the challenge ... including Scytale.

     Duncan would return to Chapterhouse with Murbella to help "shepherd the reintroduction and integration of superior technology into a thriving society" (Sandworms of Dune, p. 518).  As they began their landing on Chapterhouse, he saw that he wouldn't call it home ... he realized the entire universe was his home.  In that moment, Erasmus spoke to him, much like Other Memory speaks to the Reverend Mother ... and just like Other Memory, he could use Erasmus as a resource, as long as he was in control.  The work he had to do across the universe was a very big undertaking and he had already commissioned Scytale to make another ghola of Miles Teg to help him!

     Everything was woven together in a tighter tapestry than history had ever known, and at last Duncan grasped the extent of his newfound strength.  He was not the first human in history to possess great power, and he vowed not to forget what he had learned as a pawn of the God Emperor, Leto II.
     The human race would never forget the thousands of years under that terrible reign, and Duncan's comprehensive racial memory held a roadmap that showed him where the pitfalls were, thus enabling him to avoid them.  The great Tyrant had suffered from a flaw he hadn't recognized.  Weighed down by his sense of terrible purpose, Leto II had isolated himself from his humanity.
     In contrast, Duncan clung to the knowledge that Murbella would be with him, and Sheeana, too.  He could talk with his daughter Janess as well, and perhaps even his other surviving daughter, Tanidia.  In addition, he had all the memories of great and loyal friends, of dozens of loves, and a succession of comrades, wives, families, joys, and beliefs.
     Though he was the ultimate Kwisatz Haderach with immeasurable power, Duncan had known the best parts of being human.  Life after life.  He didn't need to feel alienated and worried, when he could be filled with love instead.

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 524-525)

   Yeah, it's a little sappy.  But you have to just LOVE Duncan Idaho.

Sandworms of Dune - Entry #17

     Now with all the knowledge and control from Erasmus, what should Duncan do?

     Jessica said, "Shut them down, Duncan.  Finish it now! Think of all the trillions they've killed, all the planets they've destroyed."
     Duncan looked at his hands in wonder.  "And is that the honorable thing to do?"
     Erasmus kept his voice carefully neutral, not pleading.  "For millennia I studied humans and tried to understand them ... I even emulated them.  But when was the last time humans bothered to consider what thinking machines could do? You only despise us.  Your Great Convention with its terrible stricture, 'Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.' Is that really what you want Duncan? To win this ultimate war by exterminating every vestige of us ... the way Omnius wanted to win the war by eliminating you? Didn't you hate the evermind for that fixed attitude?  Do you have the same attitude yourself?"

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 498)

     But Duncan would not have such an attitude.  Noble, loyal, patient, and, having learned from so many lives, wise.  I have to include here a long passage because this is really the climax, where the pieces fall in to place.

     Duncan turned to face Paul and the others.  "After the Butlerian Jihad, human civilization went too far by completely banning artificial intelligence.  But in forbidding any sort of computers, we humans denied ourselves valuable tools. That overreaction created an unstable situation.  History has shown that such absolute, draconian prohibitions cannot be sustained."
     Jessica said skeptically, "Yet eradicating computers for so many generations forced us to grow stronger and become independent.  For thousands of years, humanity advanced without artificial constructions to think and decide for us."
     "As the Fremen learned to live on Arrakis," Chani said with clear pride.  "It is a good thing."
     "Yes, but that backlash also tied our hands and prevented us from reaching other potentials.  Just because a man's legs will grow stronger walking, should we deny him a vehicle? Our memory improves through steady practice; should we therefore deny ourselves the means to write or record our thoughts?" 

... 

     Duncan let his eyes take on a far-off glaze.  "We can do much, much more.  I see it now.  Humans and machines cooperating fully, with neither side enslaving the other.  I shall stand between them, as a bridge."
     The robot responded with genuine excitement.  "Now you see, Kwisatz Haderach! You have helped me to achieve understanding along with you.  You have shortened my way, too."  Erasmus's flowmetal body shifted like a mechanical version of a Face Dancer, becoming again the wrinkled body of the kindly old woman.  "My long quest is complete.  At last, after thousands of years, I understand so much." He smiled.  "In fact, there is very little that interests me anymore."
     The old woman walked over to where the still-transfixed Paolo lay, staring blankly upward.  "This failed, ruined Kwisatz Haderach is an object lesson for me.  The boy paid the price of too much knowledge." Paolo's unblinking eyes seemed to be drying out.  He would probably wither away and starve to death, lost in the infinite maze of absolute prescience.  "I don't want to be bored.  So I ask you, Kwisatz Haderach, help me understand something I could never truly experience, the last fascinating aspect of humanity."
     "A demand?" Duncan asked. "Or a favor?"
     "A debt of honor." The old woman patted his sleeve with a gnarled hand. "You now epitomize the finest qualities of man and machine.  Allow me to do what only living beings can do. Guide me to my own death."
     Duncan had not foreseen this.  "You want to die? How can I help you do that?"
     The old woman shrugged her bony shoulders.  "All your lives and deaths have made you an expert on the matter.  Look inside yourself, and you'll know." 

... 

     "You want me to serve as a guide," Duncan said, "not just an executioner."
     "A fine way to put it, my friend.  I think you understand." The old woman looked at him, and now her smile held a hint of nervousness. "After all, Duncan Idaho, you have done this over and over again.  But this is my first time."
     Duncan touched her forehead. The skin was warm and dry.  "Whenever you're ready."
     The old woman sat on the stone steps.  Folding her hands in her lap, she closed her eyes.  "Do you suppose I will ever see Serena again?"
     "I can't answer that." With a mental command, Duncan activated one of the new codes he possessed.  From inside his own mind, reaching down to touch his own numerous death experiences, he showed Erasmus what he knew, even if he didn't entirely comprehend it himself.  He wasn't certain the ancient independent robot could follow.  Erasmus would have to make his own way.  He and Duncan parted, both of the traveling on utterly separate journeys.
     The aged body slumped quietly on the steps, and a long sigh flowed from the old woman's lips.  Her expression became utterly serene ... and then went completely motionless, with the eyes staring straight ahead.
     In death, the robot's human shape held.

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 499-502)

Sandworms of Dune - Entry #16

     Back in the "cathedral", Duncan was mind-melding with Erasmus so that he would have control over the machines and then would help guide the new future where humans and thinking machines do not oppose each other.  It is also the beginning of the scene where we really get to see what Erasmus had been looking for all along, why he studied humans for so long.

     Duncan knew this was the point of no return.  Do it.     The mental floodgates opened, filling his mind to bursting with the robot's experiences and coldly factual, regimented information.  And he began to see things from that entirely alien viewpoint.
     In thousands upon thousands of years of experimentation, Erasmus had struggled to understand humans.  How could they remain so mysterious?  The robot's incredible range of experiences made even Duncan's numerous lives seem insignificant.  Visions and memories roared around the Kwisatz Haderach, and he knew it would take him much more than another lifetime just to sift through it all.
     He saw Serena Butler in the flesh, along with her baby, and the startling reaction of the multitudes to what Erasmus had thought was a simple, meaningless death ... howling humans rising up in a fight they had no chance to win.  They were irrational, desperate, and in the end, victorious.  Incomprehensible.  Illogical.  And yet, they had achieved the impossible.
     For fifteen thousand years, Erasmus had longed to understand, but had lacked the fundamental revelation.  Duncan could feel the robot digging around inside him, looking for the secret, not out of any need for domination and conquest, but simply to know.

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 496)

Sandworms of Dune - Entry #15

     Meanwhile, Leto II and Sheeana are out in the dead city.  Destruction and stillness ... and the sandworms from the Ithaca ... surround them.  Sheeana had felt exhilarated at the apparent victory but not Leto.  His memories had returned.  He had given so much of himself to humanity, including his own humanity.

     With a sigh, the boy added, "I miss the people I used to know, especially Ghanima.  Your ghola program didn't bring her back with me."
     "We didn't consider personal costs or consequences," Sheeana said.  "I'm sorry."
Tears welled in Leto's dark blue eyes.  "There are so many painful memories from before I took the sandtrout as part of me.  My father refused to make the choice I did -- refused to pay the price in blood for the Golden Path, but I thought I knew better.  Ah, how arrogant we can be in our youth!"
     In front of Leto, the largest worm lifted.  Its open mouth looked like a cave full of rich spice.
     "Fortunately I know how to go back into the dreaming essence of the Tyrant, the God Emperor.  To the real son of Muad'Dib." With a glance at her, he said, "I take my last few sips of humanity." Then he entered the towering mouth and climbed over the maw-fence of crystalline teeth.

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 492-493)

So sad.

Sandworms of Dune - Entry #14

     When I was in Rome in March visiting my daughter who was studying architecture for a semester in Rome, we went to the MAXXI - a national museum of 21st century art.  An exhibit there was the "Erasmus Effect". Naturally, I had to look up why this exhibit was named this way.  Here is what I got from the press release:

     Italian architects abroad, realised by MAXXI Architettura, directed by Margherita Guccione, documents a specific aspect of contemporary Italian architecture: the ever-growing numbers of designers who choose to move to other countries. The title of the exhibition in fact derives from the name of the European university exchange programme Erasmus, created by the European Community in 1987 to permit students to undertake a period of study at a foreign university.
     However, the exhibition takes that literal meaning and expands on it to recount the stories of long-term expatriates such as Bo Bardi, Soleri and Belluschi and to describe a phenomenon that goes well beyond the confines of Europe and within which the desire for experience abroad is interwoven with the economic climate and the difficulties faced by architecture in Italy.

(www.fondazionemaxxi.it)

Exhibition at the MAXXI, Rome, Italy (March 9, 2014)

     So I did a little research to find out about the name "Erasmus".  In the context of the exhibition at the MAXXI, ERASMUS stands for EuRopean community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (The Erasmus Programme Moves Ahead - A First Series of Community Aids to 240 Inter-University Cooperation Programmes, European Commission - IP/87/423   14/10/1987).  The EU's website claims that the program also takes its name from a16th century Dutch scholar, Erasmus.  Evidently, this scholar was Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus known as Erasmus, "a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian" according to Wikipedia ... not the most reliable of sources but for now, it does the trick.

     But I digress ... back to the book.

     So, Erasmus' effect on human history as told in this epic story is long and dramatic.  Remember, the Butlerian Jihad was sparked by his toss of little Manion off the rooftop balcony.  How much more a role had he played, Duncan wonders.

     "Are you saying I made up the prophecies?" Erasmus asked.  "Perhaps as a way to guide an evermind stubbornly intent on a narrow-minded course of action? Perhaps to bring us precisely to this juncture? A very interesting hypothesis.  One worthy of a true Kwisatz Haderach." The grin on his face seemed more genuine than ever.
     Smiling coolly, Duncan said, "As the Kwisatz Haderach, I know there are -- and always will be, even as I evolve -- limitations on my knowledge and my abilities." He tapped the robot in the center of his chest.  "Answer me.  Did you manipulate the prophecies?"
     "Humans created countless projections and legends long before I existed.  I simply adapted the ones I liked best, generated the complex calculations that would produce the desired projections, and fed them to the evermind, Omnius, with his usual myopia, saw only what he wanted to see.  He convinced himself that in the 'end' a 'great change in the universe' required a 'victory' for him. And for that he needed the Kwisatz Haderach.  Omnius learned many things, but he learned arrogance too well."  Erasmus swirled his robes.  "No matter what the evermind or the Face Dancers thought -- I have always been in control."
     Raising his hands, the robot gestured to the sentient metal cathedral around them, indicating the whole city of Synchrony and the rest of the thinking-machine empire.  "Our forces are not entirely leaderless.  With the evermind gone, I now control the thinking machines.  I have all the codes, the intricate, interlinked programming."
     Duncan had an idea that was part prescience, part intuition, and part gamble.  "Or the final Kwisatz Haderach can take control."
     "That seems a much neater solution."  An odd expression moved across the robot's flowmetal face.  "You interest me, Duncan Idaho."

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 487-488)

Indeed.

Sandworms of Dune - Entry #13

     The honor and integrity of Duncan Idaho is so strong and apparent in the next scene.  Erasmus is nearly giddy over what he has done.

     "You would never have known most of them. With memory imprints, some even believed they were human.  All across what remains of your former empire, a great many people are probably quite surprised as comrades, leaders, friends, and spouses drop dead where they stand and transform into Face Dancers."  Erasmus laughed again.  "With a single thought I've eliminated our enemies.  Our common enemy.  You see, Duncan Idaho, we need not be at odds."
     Duncan shook his head, feeling oddly sickened.  "Once again, the thinking machine sees total genocide as a simple solution to a problem."
     Now Erasmus was surprised.  "Don't underestimate the Face Dancers. They were ... evil.  Yes, that is the correct word.  And since each one was fundamentally part of a hive mind, they were all evil.  They would have destroyed you, and they would have destroyed us."
     ... 

     Duncan looked at all the dead Face Dancers, realizing how much damage the shape-shifters had done for centuries, whether they were guided by the evermind or by their own schemes.  Face Dancers had killed Garimi, sabotaged the no-ship, and caused the death of Miles Teg ...
     Looking at the robot, Duncan narrowed his eyes.  "I can't say I'm terribly sorry, but there was no honor in what you -- or the Face Dancers -- did here.  I cannot agree with it.  Don't think we are indebted to you."
     "On the contrary, it is I who owe so much to you!" Erasmus could barely contain his pleasure.  "That is exactly the way I'd hoped you would react.  After thousands of years of study, I believe I finally understand honor and loyalty -- especially in you, Duncan Idaho, the very embodiment of the concept.  Even after an event that obviously helps your race, you still object to my tactics on a moral basis.  Oh, how wonderful."
     He looked down at all the Face Dancers, the astonished and confused expression on Khrone's face.  "These creatures are the exact opposite.  And my fellow machines are not loyal or honorable, either.  They merely follow instructions because they are programmed to.  You have shown me what I needed to know, Kwisatz Haderach.  I am very much in your debt."
     Duncan stepped closer, searching for some way to access the new abilities he knew lay dormant inside him.  Just knowing he was the much-anticipated Kwisatz Haderach was not enough.  "Good.  Because now I want something from you."

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 478-479)

Sandworms of Dune - Entry #12

     Enter Khrone.  Khrone thought this was the Face Dancers' opportunity to take over.  But Erasmus already saw the truth and depth in Duncan Idaho and knew that Duncan's powers were even just emerging.  He had to laugh at what he already knew was not only a hopeless attack on the humans with their Kwisatz Haderach, but on the robot world also.

     Ignoring Khrone, [Erasmus] spoke to Duncan.  "I am laughing because the inherent differences between humans and Face Dancers are painfully hilarious.  I hold great fondness for your species -- as more than specimens, more than pets.  You have never ceased to astonish me.  In defiance of my most careful predictions, you still manage to do the unexpected!  Even when those actions work to the detriment of thinking machines, I can appreciate them for their uniqueness."

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 475)

     But Khrone was still convinced they had the upper hand and their victory was eminent.  But he couldn't have been more wrong.

      "Now who is drawing conclusions from insufficient data?  Ever since the end of the Butlerian Jihad, when Omnius and I were sent out here on our long exile to start the machine empire all over again, I was the one in control.  I allowed Omnius to continue believing he ruled everything and made all the decisions, but even in his first incarnation he was a self-aggrandizing annoyance, overconfident and unconscionably stubborn.  More so that most humans!"  The robot swirled his plush robes.  "The evermind never learned to adapt and never bothered to face his mistakes, so I refused to let him ruin our chances again.  Thus, I took control of the Face Dancer program from the moment the first of you arrived on our fringe planets."
      Khrone remained defiant, though his voice carried a slightly uncertain undertone.  "Yes, you manufactured us -- made us stronger than ever."
     "I manufactured you, and I wisely planted a fail-safe routine in each and every Face Dancer.  You are biological machines, evolved and manipulated over thousands of years, according to my own exacting specifications."  Erasmus moved closer.  "A tool should never confuse itself with the hand that wields it."

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 476-477)

     No surprise at what happens next.  Death to all Face Dancers.

Sandworms of Dune - Entry #11

     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)

Sandworms of Dune - Entry #10

     The whole scene with the duel between Paolo and Paul is pretty intense although somewhat drawn out and certainly not as well-written as I would expect from Frank Herbert's writing.  Recall, this final chapter of the Dune story was written by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson based off of a detailed outline found in a safe deposit box well after Frank Herbert's passing.

     The remaining pages are filled with drama, suspense, and closure.  Closure over the many, many years that this story encompasses.  A satisfying yet too "neat" piece of closure is the killing of the Baron ghola by the Dr. Yueh ghola.  Of course it is rewarding that Yueh can do "right" by his Atreides friends but just a little too predictable.

     But an ear-to-ear smile came to my face at the following passage.  Here's the scene:  Paul, having his original life's memories pour back to him by the near-death experience, mended what had appeared to be a fatal wound given to him by Paolo with the ancient knife that had been in his possession before and had been used in an attempt to murder him before.  As Paul lay weakened on the floor, Duncan, who had struck out in battle against the machines came running in.

     In spite of his miraculous survival and rebirth, he still was not the perfect Kwisatz Haderach, and clearly Paolo was not, either.  As Paul's vision cleared, he focused on a realization that none of them had seen --  not Omnius, Erasmus, Sheeana, nor any of the gholas.
     "Duncan, " he said in a hoarse voice. "Duncan, it's you!"
     After hesitating a moment, his old friend came closer, this loyal Atreides fighter who had been through the ghola process more times than any other individual in history.
     "You're the one they've been looking for.  Duncan.  It's you."

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 454)

     When the Oracle of Time arrives on the scene with a thousand Guild Heighliners piloted by Guild Navigators and explains that she was once Norma Cenva, she too confirms this conclusion about Duncan.

     "Duncan Idaho, you have finally come to your realization.  Kwisatz Haderach, I tried to protect you.  Before you, Paul Muad'Dib and his son Leto the God Emperor were imperfect prophets.  Even they realized their flaws.  Now through a confluence of the cosmos, the nexus of all nexuses, you have become the singularity in a bold new universe, the vital point from which everything flows outward for the rest of eternity.  The hopes of humankind -- and much more -- are distilled in you."

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 458)

     Duncan had lived his life repeatedly for thousands of years.  Not only had the Tleilaxu tinkered with his genetics to give him abilities to fight the Honored Matres, they had combined his cells so that he retained all of his previous lives, every one of them.  With all those memories, he possessed a breadth of experience and wisdom that no one could match.  This Duncan Idaho had more knowledge than the most advanced Mentat or the evermind Omnius, and more understanding of human nature than even the great Tyrant Leto II.

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 460)

     I just can't resist including all of this passage here.  The story is climaxing and I want to record this so I can easily look back on it later.

     Duncan's Mentat mind burned through the data, confirming his conclusion, knowing that the Oracle of Time must be correct.  "Truly, I am the Kwisatz Haderach!"  He wished Miles Teg could have been there with him.  "And what of the Great War -- Kralizec?"
     "We are in the midst of it now.  Kralizec is not merely a war, but a point of change."  Her image flickered.  "And you are the culmination of it."
     "But what about the rest of humanity?"  Murbella.  "They need to know.  How will they understand what has happened?"
     "My Navigators will inform them, perhaps even bring their leaders here.  First, however, I need to eliminate a threat that should have been gone millennia ago.  An enemy I fought ten thousand years before you were first born."
     The Oracle slid through the air toward the indignant-looking old man, Omnius.  Facing him, she made her voice boom more loudly than the evermind's speakers ever had.  "I must ensure that the thinking machines can no longer harm anyone.  That was my mission ages ago, when I was merely a woman, when I invented the concept of foldspace engine, when I discovered the mind-expanding powers of melange.  I shall remove you, Omnius."

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 460-461)

Sandworms of Dune - Entry #9

Who is the Kwisatz Haderach the prophecies speak of that will emerge at the End Times?

     A key turned in Sheeana's mind, unlocking other thoughts.  Perhaps in the solemn twelve-year-old Leto, the thinking machines had a blind spot!  Could he be the final Kwisatz Haderach they sought?  Had Omnius even considered the possibility that the machines might have the wrong one?  Her pulse quickened.  Prophecies were notorious for misdirection.  Maybe Erasmus had missed the obvious!  She could hear the inner voice of Serena Butler laughing at the possibility, and she allowed herself to cling to a tiny kernel of hope.

(Sandworms of Dune, pp. 414 - 415)

Sandworms of Dune - Entry #8

     Erasmus.  Hateful creature.  But in trying to figure out how Serena could exist in Other Memory, Erasmus conjectured a possibility.  In fact, Erasmus had created many clones of Serena in his attempt to bring her back.  He had used these clones multiple times during the Butlerian Jihad.  Perhaps, one of those clones who had Serena's being locked up in her DNA, had survived, had children, and had eventually awakened the memories within.

     I have to admit that the transference of Other Memory from one Bene Gesserit to the next is not as well-developed as some of the other special skills demonstrated in the Dune story.  But at least this presents a "feasible" possibility and demonstrates the authors' ability to tie pieces of the story over a 15,000 year span.

     And then there's the Face Dancers.  Erasmus finds the young Master Scytale in the medical center.  Scytale was destroying the axlotl tanks to assure that "thinking machines and traitorous Face Dancers" (Sandworms of Dune, p. 392) didn't just take the secret of making melange using the tanks.  Erasmus tries to convince Scytale to come to his side ... and to help him make a ghola although he doesn't tell him that he wants a ghola of Serena Butler.  In the argument that ensues, Scytale insists that he would always oppose the thinking machines even if it meant aligning with the witches.  Here is a piece of their exchange:

     "Interesting. New enemies make unexpected alliances."
     The Tleilaxu didn't move.  "In the final assessment, we're all humans -- and you are not."
     Erasmus chuckled.  "And what about Face Dancers?  They fall between, don't they?  These aren't the shape-shifters you produced long ago, but are instead far superior biological machines that I helped create.  And because of them, Omnius and I are, in effect, the greatest of all Face Dancers -- among many other things."
     Scytale didn't move.  "Haven't you noticed the Face Dancers are no longer reliable?"
     "Ah, but they are reliable to me."
     "Are you sure?"

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 393)

Sandworms of Dune - Entry #7

     Chapter Starter:

Time is a commodity more precious than melange.  Even the wealthiest man cannot buy more minutes to put into each hour.

-- DUKE LETO ATREIDES,

last message from Caladan

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 353)

     Teg's special talent of acceleration also accelerated time thus expending time in his life.  When finally the interminable patience of the thinking machines allowed them to catch the Ithaca with the help of a face dancer replacement of the Rabbi, Teg expended all he had to free the ship from the machine's tachyon net.  He died in this failed attempt.  So heroic and tragic.  Duncan, feeling so frustrated that he could not take advantage of Teg's work to free them, said that he shouldn't have done it.

     Sheeana fixed a hard look on him.  "He shouldn't have tried?  We're humans.  We have to try, no matter what the odds are.  There are never any guarantees.  Every action in life is a gamble.  The Bashar fought to the last instant of his existence, because he believed there was a chance.  I intend to do the same."

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 342)

    See, again, why I love Sheeana.

     When Erasmus first boarded the captured Ithaca on Synchrony, it was Sheeana who recognized the "old woman" Duncan said they were hiding from.  Serena Butler's voice from within cried out to her: "Erasmus! Destroy him!" (Sandworms of Dune, p. 387).  Erasmus was thrilled to be able to "speak" to Serena again and asked to be brought to her private quarters saying  "[a] human's den reveals much about the individual personality" (Sandworms of Dune, p. 388).  When Serena refused Erasmus responded with this:

     The robot's voice hardened.  "Be reasonable.  Or should I decapitate a few of your fellow passengers to encourage your cooperation?  Ask Serena Butler inside you -- she knows I will do it."

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 388)

     There, of course, Erasmus finds the ancient Van Gogh painting, Cottages at Cordeville, and comments: "Ah, yes! I remember this clearly, I painted it myself" (Sandworms of Dune, p. 389).  Serena reels at the thought that this has been a forgery all along.  But how do you explain to a robot that even a perfect copy is still just a copy, not another work of genius?  Cannot be done.  Erasmus didn't understand that point 15,000 years ago and he still doesn't get it.

Sandworms of Dune - Entry #6

     "The Golden Path".  Always questions about it since Leto II never divulged what it was and where it led.  Each of our most important characters have struggled with this, curious and questioning.  As Murbella is trying to map out a strategy for the humans to fight the machines, she too struggles with it:

     If the Tyrant's prescience was so formidable, how could he not have foreseen the existence of the great machine empire, no matter how far away it was?  How could the God Emperor not have known that another titanic conflict awaited humankind?  She felt a faint shudder.  Or had he, and everything was playing out exactly as the Tyrant planned?

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 342)

     By the way, notice the use of "humankind" not "mankind".  Love that.

Sandworms of Dune - Entry #5

     I liked this little explanation that Erasmus gave to the Baron and Paolo to explain the advanced Face Dancers that Omnius employed:

     "Long ago -- during your original lifetime, dear Baron -- a Tleilaxu researcher named Hidar Fen Ajidica created an artificial spice that he called amal.  Though the substance proved to have significant defects, Ajidica consumed huge quantities of it himself, and as a result he went increasingly mad, which led to his demise."
     "Sounds like a failure," Paolo said.
     "Oh, Ajidica failed spectacularly, but he did accomplish something very important.  Call it a side effect.  For his special ambassadors, he created greatly improved Face Dancers, with which he intended to populate a new domain.  He dispatched them into deep space as scouts, colonizers, preparers of the way.  He died before he could join them.  Poor foolish man."

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 297)

     Such long history telling.  This dates back 5,000 years and ties to storytelling in the prequel to Dune books.

Sandworms of Dune - Entry #4

     I think I have said this already, but Sheeana, Duncan, and Murbella are my favorite characters, regardless of the author ... Frank Herbert or his son.  I also really liked Teg since we first met him when he was training the young ghola of Duncan Idaho on Gammu (which once was Geidi Prime).  This little exchange between Teg and Sheeana, as they analyzed their situation as captives on a planet they had stopped to investigate, demonstrates their intensity and confidence:

     "Duncan is wise, and I trained him well.  He will know what to do."
     Sheeana stared at the door as if in meditative trance.  "Duncan has lived hundreds of lives and remembers them all, Miles.  I doubt you taught him anything new."

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 208)

     The planet they were captive on had been seeded with worms from Chapterhouse.  When the native people had realized what the Bene Gesserits who had come to their world had unleashed on it, they killed them all.  The people were trying to fight the worms and save their planet not believing that this was likely futile.  The native people offered to take Sheeana, Teg, Liet, and Stilgar into the desert to watch them kill a worm. As a planetologist, the awakened Liet Kynes ghola was fascinated but Stilgar was unsettled by the situation.

     "Shai-Hulud." Stilgar said with great uneasiness.  "Fremen used to worship the great worms."
     "Fremen depended upon the worms and the spice, " Liet replied quietly.  "These people do not."

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 214)

     And then, when Duncan realized that the landing party must be in jeopardy and in need of rescue, his reaction was classic Duncan Idaho:

     "No -- I will do it personally."  Before either could argue with him, Duncan strode toward the lift, and they were forced to follow him.  "I'm sick of hiding.  My plan has been to run and remain unobtrusive, staying one step ahead of that strange net.  But in doing so, I've left too much of myself behind.  I am Duncan Idaho." He raised his voice as they entered the lift.  "I was Swordmaster of House Atreides and consort of St. Alia of the Knife.  I acted as advisor and companion to the God Emperor.  If the Enemy is out there, I won't leave the rest of humanity to face it themselves.  If Sheeana and the Bashar need my help, then I'm going to help."

(Sandworms of Dune, p. 234)