Brian Herbert - Navigators of Dune

Now the robot noticed slight differences in the body, smooth skin that should have been scarred, a missing mole on the left shoulder. This mindless twin looked eerily similar, but was not the same. “Did you encounter any errors in the growth process?” Erasmus inquired. “Why are there any differences at all?”

“The DNA is the same, but even identical twins are not entirely the same. Biology is not perfect.”

“Of course. I have realized that many times.” He knew that this body was never meant to be a new Gilbertus Albans, but rather a new Erasmus .

“I think it’s beautiful,” Anna said. “And it will be even more beautiful once it becomes you , with your mind and storehouse of memories.”

“The body is acceptable,” Erasmus said. He could think of so much to do after he entered this body and controlled its movements, so much to experience! So much to see and touch and feel! “A far greater challenge will be to install and interface my memory core with the nervous system.”

“We have experience with similar situations,” Danebh said. “Our cymek work has paved the way.”

In recent months, the Denali surgeons had become quite adept at connecting human minds to compatible, receptive machine components. Now they had to do the reverse: unite a thinking machine memory core with human systems.

Utilizing the sensory package connected to his gelsphere, he watched Anna study the newly decanted body. She reached out to touch the face, caressed the skin.

Soon, Erasmus would have his new body and would feel her touch—a biological form for the first time in his centuries of existence. His thoughts churned with anticipation. He said to Danebh, “I am anxious to begin.”

USING THEIR SOPHISTICATED cymek bodies and precision surgical apparatus, Ptolemy and Administrator Noffe performed the operation themselves, supervised and assisted by Danebh.

Once disconnected from the sensory package he’d been using thus far, Erasmus could not determine exactly what was happening around him. He was in limbo, with no stimuli except for his own thoughts and memories … all internal. So he immersed himself in replaying an accelerated recollection of his existence under the computer evermind Omnius—the days of humanity’s enslavement and his own part in their eventual revolt, followed by the years of hiding.

Today, Erasmus would at last achieve a new stage, the greatest of his long list of experiments involving human beings! He had dissected countless specimens, pried apart innumerable human bodies and minds (sometimes when the subjects were still alive), all in an effort to understand them.

Now he could finally become one of them.…

When the lengthy installation procedure was done, Erasmus opened his eyes, and the bright lights of the laboratory dome flooded him with a new reality, revealing to him for the first time the way humans looked at things. Every sense in his body awakened at once with an accompanying avalanche of sights, sounds, colors, smells—so many sensations pouring in through the myriad nerves that were woven through the flesh.

It was as if all filters had been torn away and the sensory inputs had been turned to maximum levels. He could hardly stand it, and could scarcely get enough. He flexed his fingers, inhaled the air, smelled the laboratory and its blend of odors.

Anna reached out to touch his face with an expression that he interpreted as wonder. Her contact felt warm to him, and her expression was filled with adulation. And as she touched him, he felt the complexity of her fingertips.

When Erasmus spoke a moment later, he experienced the sounds coming from his lungs, his chest, his larynx, and his mouth all at once—unlike the bland speakerpatches he had used for his entire previous existence.

“I am awake. I am alive,” he said, and his voice sounded wonderful to him. “Finally, I am human!”

To study the captive Navigator specimen Admiral Harte had delivered to Salusa, Roderick commanded the most advanced research laboratory that Imperial funds could construct on short notice. Desperate to understand how he could make such creatures for his own Imperial purposes, he staffed the facility with skilled and eager scientists, most of them drawn from the Suk Medical School. Roderick knew that time was short and the research itself was dangerous. He had no idea what Josef Venport would do next.

Not daring to inflame the Butlerians who still infested the capital city, the Emperor had ordered the construction of the underground laboratory in great secrecy, and stationed more than a thousand soldiers to guard it. If Manford Torondo ever learned that a captive Navigator was held somewhere in Zimia, he might summon a mob in an attempt to breach the facility, smash the large tank, and destroy the critically important work. Even worse, that might just be the beginning: Roderick recalled reports of what the violent, rampaging Butlerians had done to another Navigator they seized on Baridge.

He hoped the heavily armed soldiers he had stationed to guard the Navigator would prevent that, and he was also concerned about something else. When Roderick ordered the stationing of the troops, he’d said to the commander, “Just as we were about to arrest Josef Venport in the throne room, Norma Cenva appeared in her tank and whisked him away, vanishing into the folds of space. If her tank appears anywhere near our captive Navigator, you are to immediately open fire on the prisoner. We will not let her have him back.…”

Now, through a secure access, the Emperor and Haditha entered the underground facility, accompanied by a confident Umberto Harte. Roderick smelled the odor of melange, noted the jumpsuited scientists and assistants who surrounded the creature’s tank. The Suk researchers monitored the thing’s vital signs while trying to glean useful data from blood and cellular samples. Roderick had authorized all investigatory measures, including dissection, should the thing die in the course of research.

“It says its name is Dobrec,” said Harte, looking at the tank.

“It also says it has no use for appellations, or for our concerns.” Roderick had read the preliminary reports. “We need to find answers, so we can seize this advantage from Directeur Venport.”

“Are you saying we need to create our own Navigators like this?” Haditha stopped beside the tank, looked deeply troubled. “What horrible things Directeur Venport must do to them—”

The Navigator swiveled toward her, pressing close to the speakerpatch. “Wondrous things. I am much more than I ever was before.”

“I doubt we will convince him to switch his allegiance, Sire,” said Harte. “But if we understand the process, we can recruit new Navigators—ones that are loyal to you.”

Roderick frowned. “That is still a long way off, Admiral.”

“You are incapable of understanding what to do,” Dobrec said. “Only Norma Cenva knows how to guide and nurture us through the transformation.” He enfolded himself in the dense gas.

“I hope you can find some use for him, Sire,” Harte said.

Roderick was impressed with the Admiral. Umberto Harte was not an egotistical man, and accepted the need to hide the sensational news that he had captured a fully developed Navigator alive. For the time being, Harte’s soldiers were sequestered, not allowed to communicate with their own families. A press announcement assured the cheering Zimia citizens that the survivors were just being debriefed about Directeur Venport’s defenses at Kolhar. The entire force was confined at one of the largest Salusan military bases, many kilometers from the Imperial city. In order to keep the important secret, Roderick would likely dispatch them on another off-planet mission for the time being.