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

Years ago, his parents and older brother had been killed in a mar-rauding 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 gelcir-cuitry," 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 s ters.
'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
losersтАФif they surviveтАФare often more interesting.