"Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson - Dune 10 - The Butlerian " - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

often disagreed over major decisions. As soon as Salusa Secundus was crushed, the
unstable alliance would disintegrate in a panic; resistance would crumble.
But first Agamemnon's cymeks had to shut down the scrambler shields. Then Salusa
would be defenseless and quivering, ready for the main robot fleet to deal the lethal
blow, like a huge mechanical boot squashing an insect.
The cymek leader jockeyed his dropcarriage into position, ready to lead the second
wave with the rest of the extermination fleet. Agamemnon switched off all computerized
systems and followed Xerxes down. His brain floated in limbo inside its preservation
canister. Blind and deaf, the general did not feel the heat or violent vibrations as his
armored craft roared toward the unsuspecting target.
The intelligent machine is an evil genie, escaped from its bottle.
тАФBARBAROSSA,

Anatomy of a Rebellion
When Salusa's sensor network detected the arrival of the robotic war fleet, Xavier
Harkonnen took action immediately. Once again, the thinking machines meant to test
the defenses of free humanity.
Though he bore the rank of tercero in the Salusan MilitiaтАФthe local, autonomous
branch of the overall League ArmadaтАФXavier had not yet been born during the last real
skirmishes against League worlds. The most recent major battle had been nearly a
hundred years ago. After all these years, the aggressive machines might be counting on
soft human defenses, but Xavier swore they would fail.
 'Primero Meach, we've received an urgent warning and a vidstream clip from one of
our peripheral scouts," he said to his commander. "But the transmission cut off."
'Look at them all!" squawked Quinto Wilby as he scanned images from the outlying
sensor network. The low-ranking officer stood with other soldiers at banks of instrument
panels inside a domed building. "Omnius never sent anything like this before."
Vannibal Meach, the short but loud-voiced primero of the Salusan Militia, stood in
the control center of the planet's defenses, coolly absorbing the flow of information.
"Our last report from the perimeter is hours old due to signal lag. By now they've
engaged our pickets, and they'll try to get closer. They'll fail, of course." Though this
was his first warning of the impending invasion, he reacted as if he had expected the
machines to arrive any day.
In the control room's illumination, Xavier's dark brown hair glinted with reddish
cinnamon highlights. He was a serious young man, prone to honesty and with a
tendency to see things in black and white. As a member of the third military ranking
tier, Tercero Harkonnen was Meach's backup commander of the local defense outposts.
Much admired by his superiors, Xavier had been promoted quickly; equally respected by
his soldiers, he was the sort of trusted man they would follow into battle.
Despite the sheer size and firepower of the robotic force, he willed himself to
calmness, then signaled for reports from the nearest picket ships and put the
spaceguard defense fleet on highest alert in close orbit. The warship commanders had
already called their crews to battle-ready status as soon as they'd heard the urgent
transmission from the now-destroyed scout ships.
Around Xavier, automated systems hummed with activity. Listening to the oscillating
sirens, the chatter of orders and status reports in the control room, he drew a slow
breath, prioritizing tasks. "We can stop them," he said. "We will stop them." His voice
carried a tone of firm 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.