"Herbert, Brian - The Butlerian Jihad" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

Prior to launching this important attack, the computer evermind had insisted on running simulation after simulation, trying to develop plans for every contingency. Agamemnon, though, knew it was futile to plan too precisely when it came to unruly humans.

Now, while the immense robot war fleet engaged the expected League orbital defenses and perimeter ships, Agamemnon's mind probed outward from his sensor-connected container, and he felt his guideship as an extension of his long-lost human body. The integral weapons were part of himself. He saw with a thousand eyes, and the powerful engines made him feel as if he had muscular legs again and could run like the wind.

"Prepare for ground assault. Once our dropcarriages penetrate the Salusan defenses, we must strike fast and hard." Recalling that watcheyes would record every moment of the battle for the evermind's later scrutiny once the fleet returned, he added, "We will sterilize this filthy planet for the glory of Omnius." Agamemnon slowed his descent, and the others followed suit. "Xerxes, take the lead. Send in your neo-cymeks to draw their fire and flush them out."

Hesitant as usual, Xerxes complained. "Will I have your full support as I go in? This is the most dangerous part of --"

Agamemnon silenced him. "Be grateful for this opportunity to prove yourself. Now go! Every second you delay gives more time to the hrethgir." This was the derogatory term that intelligent machines and their cymek lackeys used for human vermin.

Another voice crackled across the comlink: the robot operator of the machine fleet battling the human protective force orbiting Salusa. "We await your signal, General Agamemnon. Human resistance is intensifying."

"We're on our way," Agamemnon said. "Xerxes, do as I instructed!"

Xerxes, who always fell short of complete defiance, stifled further comment and summoned three neo-cymeks, later-generation machines with human minds. The quartet of pyramidal ships shut down their subsidiary systems, and their armored dropcarriages fell unguided into the atmosphere. For a few dangerous moments they would be easy targets, and the League's missile-and-aerial defenses might hit a few of the cluster. But the dropcarriages' dense material shielding would protect them against the brunt of the bombardment, keeping them intact even through a wild crash-landing on the outskirts of the prime city of Zimia, where the main shield-generating towers were located.

Thus far the League of Nobles had preserved unruly humanity against the organized efficiency of Omnius, but the feral biologicals governed themselves ineffectively and 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.

-- BARBAROSSA,
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 Militia -- the local, autonomous branch of the overall League Armada -- Xavier 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.

Years ago, his parents and older brother had been killed in a marauding 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 Wai ping 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. Quarto Staff Young hurried to update the tactical projection, plotting her best guess of the location of the approaching robot battle group.

"Contact Segno 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.