Read Online Dune: The Butlerian Jihad by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson
Tags: Science-Fiction
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Just forward of Vor’s work station, the Dream Voyager ‘s captain, an autonomous robot, checked instruments unerringly. Seurat’s coppery-metal skinfilm flowed over a man-shaped body of polymer struts, alloy supports, gelcircuitry processors, and wound elastic-weave musculature.
While Seurat studied the instruments, he intermittently tapped into the ship’s long-range scanners or looked out the windowport with focused optic threads. Multiprocessing as he conversed, the robot captain continued the interplay with his subservient human copilot. Seurat had a strange and unfortunate penchant for telling odd jokes.
“Vorian, what do you get when you breed a pig with a human?”
“What?”
“A creature that still eats a great deal, still stinks, and still does no work!”
Vorian favored the captain with a polite chuckle. Most of the time, Seurat’s jokes only demonstrated that the robot did not truly understand humor. But if Vor didn’t laugh, Seurat would simply tell another one, and another, until he obtained the desired reaction. “Aren’t you afraid you’ll make an error by telling jokes while monitoring our navigation systems?”
“I don’t make mistakes,” Seurat said, in his staccato mechanical voice.
Vor brightened with the challenge. “Ah, but what if I sabotaged one of the ship’s vital functions? We’re the only ones aboard, and I am a deceitful human after all, your mortal enemy. It would serve you right for all those terrible jokes.”
“I might expect that of a lowly slave or even an artisan worker, but you would never do that, Vorian. You have too much to lose.” With an eerily smooth movement, Seurat turned his rippled coppery head, paying even less attention to the Dream Voyager ‘s controls. “And even if you did, I would figure it out.”
“Don’t underestimate me, old Metalmind. My father teaches me that, despite our many weaknesses, we humans have a trump card with our very unpredictability.” Smiling, Vorian went to the robot captain’s side and studied the metric screens. “Why do you think Omnius asks me to throw a wrench into his careful simulations every time he plans an encounter with the hrethgir ?”
“Your outrageous and reckless chaos is the only reason you are able to beat me in any strategy game,” Seurat said. “It certainly has nothing to do with your innate skills.”
“A winner has more skills than a loser,” Vor said, “no matter how you define the competition.”
The update ship traveled on a regular, continuous route throughout the Synchronized Worlds. One of fifteen such vessels, the Dream Voyager carried copies of the current version of Omnius to synchronize the separate computer everminds on widely separated planets.
Circuitry limitations and electronic transmission speeds constrained the physical size of any individual machine; thus, the same computer evermind could not viably extend beyond a single planet. Nonetheless, duplicate copies of Omnius existed everywhere, like mental clones. With regular updates continually exchanged by ships like the Dream Voyager , all the separate Omnius incarnations remained virtually identical across the machine-dominated autarchy.
After many voyages, Vor knew how to operate the ship and could access all onboard data banks using Seurat’s codes. Over the years, he and the robot captain had become fast friends in a way that others were not likely to understand. Because of the extended time they shared in deep space, talking about many things, playing games of skill, telling stories— they bridged much of the gap between machine and man.
Sometimes, for amusement, Vor and Seurat traded places, and Vor pretended to be the captain of the ship, while Seurat became his robotic underling, as in the days of the Old Empire. During one role-playing session, Vorian had impulsively christened the ship Dream Voyager , a bit of poetic nonsense that Seurat not only
Just forward of Vor’s work station, the Dream Voyager ‘s captain, an autonomous robot, checked instruments unerringly. Seurat’s coppery-metal skinfilm flowed over a man-shaped body of polymer struts, alloy supports, gelcircuitry processors, and wound elastic-weave musculature.
While Seurat studied the instruments, he intermittently tapped into the ship’s long-range scanners or looked out the windowport with focused optic threads. Multiprocessing as he conversed, the robot captain continued the interplay with his subservient human copilot. Seurat had a strange and unfortunate penchant for telling odd jokes.
“Vorian, what do you get when you breed a pig with a human?”
“What?”
“A creature that still eats a great deal, still stinks, and still does no work!”
Vorian favored the captain with a polite chuckle. Most of the time, Seurat’s jokes only demonstrated that the robot did not truly understand humor. But if Vor didn’t laugh, Seurat would simply tell another one, and another, until he obtained the desired reaction. “Aren’t you afraid you’ll make an error by telling jokes while monitoring our navigation systems?”
“I don’t make mistakes,” Seurat said, in his staccato mechanical voice.
Vor brightened with the challenge. “Ah, but what if I sabotaged one of the ship’s vital functions? We’re the only ones aboard, and I am a deceitful human after all, your mortal enemy. It would serve you right for all those terrible jokes.”
“I might expect that of a lowly slave or even an artisan worker, but you would never do that, Vorian. You have too much to lose.” With an eerily smooth movement, Seurat turned his rippled coppery head, paying even less attention to the Dream Voyager ‘s controls. “And even if you did, I would figure it out.”
“Don’t underestimate me, old Metalmind. My father teaches me that, despite our many weaknesses, we humans have a trump card with our very unpredictability.” Smiling, Vorian went to the robot captain’s side and studied the metric screens. “Why do you think Omnius asks me to throw a wrench into his careful simulations every time he plans an encounter with the hrethgir ?”
“Your outrageous and reckless chaos is the only reason you are able to beat me in any strategy game,” Seurat said. “It certainly has nothing to do with your innate skills.”
“A winner has more skills than a loser,” Vor said, “no matter how you define the competition.”
The update ship traveled on a regular, continuous route throughout the Synchronized Worlds. One of fifteen such vessels, the Dream Voyager carried copies of the current version of Omnius to synchronize the separate computer everminds on widely separated planets.
Circuitry limitations and electronic transmission speeds constrained the physical size of any individual machine; thus, the same computer evermind could not viably extend beyond a single planet. Nonetheless, duplicate copies of Omnius existed everywhere, like mental clones. With regular updates continually exchanged by ships like the Dream Voyager , all the separate Omnius incarnations remained virtually identical across the machine-dominated autarchy.
After many voyages, Vor knew how to operate the ship and could access all onboard data banks using Seurat’s codes. Over the years, he and the robot captain had become fast friends in a way that others were not likely to understand. Because of the extended time they shared in deep space, talking about many things, playing games of skill, telling stories— they bridged much of the gap between machine and man.
Sometimes, for amusement, Vor and Seurat traded places, and Vor pretended to be the captain of the ship, while Seurat became his robotic underling, as in the days of the Old Empire. During one role-playing session, Vorian had impulsively christened the ship Dream Voyager , a bit of poetic nonsense that Seurat not only
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