Dune: The Butlerian Jihad Read Free

command, as if he were much older than his years and accustomed to battling Omnius every day. In reality, this would be his first engagement with the thinking machines.
    Years ago, his parents and older brother had been killed in a marrauding cymek attack while en route from an inspection of family holdings on Hagal. The soulless machine forces had always been a threat to the League Worlds, but the humans and Omnius had maintained an uneasy peace for decades.
    On a wall grid, a map of the Gamma Waiping system showed the orbital locations of Salusa Secundus and six other planets, along with the deployment of sixteen patrol battle groups and the vigilant picket ships that were scattered at random. Cuarto Steff Young hurried to update the tactical projection, plotting her best guess of the location of the approaching robot battle group.
    “Contact Segundo Lauderdale, and call in all perimeter warships. Tell them to engage and destroy any enemy they encounter,” said Primero Meach, then he sighed. “It’ll take half a day at maximum acceleration to retrieve our heavy battle groups from the fringe, but the machines might still be trying to get through by then. Could be a field day for our guys.” Cuarto Young followed the order with easy efficiency, dispatching a message that would take hours to reach the outskirts of the system.
    Meach nodded to himself, going through the much-drilled sequence. Always living under the specter of the machines, the Salusan Militia trained regularly for every scenario, as did Armada detachments for every major League system. “Activate the Holtzman scrambler shields around the planet and issue warnings to all commercial air and space traffic. I want the city’s shield transmitter output up to full within ten minutes.”
    “That should be enough to brain-fry any thinking machine gelcircuitry,” Xavier said with forced confidence. “We’ve all seen the tests.” This, however, is not just a test .
    Once the enemy encountered the defenses the Salusans had installed, he hoped they would calculate their losses to be too heavy, and retreat. Thinking machines didn’t like to take risks.
    He stared at a panel. But there are so many of them
    Then he straightened from his summary screens, full of bad news. “Primero Meach, if our velocity data for the machine fleet is correct, even at deceleration speed, they are traveling almost as fast as the warning signal we received from our scouts.”
    “Then they could already be here!” said Quinto Wilby.
    Now Meach reacted with sharp alarm, triggering a full emergency alert. “Sound evacuation orders! Open the underground shelters.”
    “Evacuation under way, sir,” reported Cuarto Young moments later, her fingers working the update panels as she spoke. The intent young woman touched a communication wire at her temple. “We’re sending Viceroy Butler all the information we have.”
    Serena is with him at the Hall of Parliament , Xavier realized, thinking of the Viceroy’s nineteen-year-old daughter. His heart clenched with concern for her, yet he did not dare reveal his fear to his compatriots. Everything in its time and place.
    In his mind he could see the many threads he needed to weave, doing his part while Primero Meach directed the overall defense.
    “Cuarto Chiry, take a squadron and escort Viceroy Butler, his daughter, and all of the League representatives deep into the subterranean shelters.”
    “They should be heading there already, sir,” the officer said.
    Xavier gave him a stiff smile. “Do you trust politicians to do the smart thing first?” The cuarto ran to do as he was told.

Most histories are written by the winners of conflicts, but those written by the losers— if they survive— are often more interesting.

    — IBLIS GINJO,

    The Landscape of Humanity
    S alusa Secundus was a green world of temperate climate, home to hundreds of millions of free humans in the League of Nobles. Abundant water flowed through open