Dune: Legends of Dune 02 - The Machine Crusade by Herbert Brian & Anderson Kevin J

Author:Herbert, Brian & Anderson, Kevin J. [Herbert, Brian & Anderson, Kevin J.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science-Fiction:Dune
ISBN: 0312711085
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: 2006-10-02T21:00:00+00:00

Life is about choices— good and bad— and their cumulative effects.

— NORMA CENVA, Mathematical Philosophies

Irritated but curious, Zufa Cenva arrived on Kolhar in response to the strange telepathic demand that had targeted her from across space. The Sorceress found the planet austere and rudimentary; the colony there had survived but wasn’t exactly thriving. Why would anyone want her to come here? The world had few resources and a bleak climate just on the survivable edge of harshness.

But the summons had been undeniable. Who could want me here? And how dare they summon me?

While she’d been training her most talented sisters on Rossak, leading them through dangerous mental exercises in the noisome jungles, the compulsion had yanked her thoughts so severely that she’d nearly allowed her mental focus to collapse, with potentially disastrous results. The Sorceress recruits who depended upon Zufa’s guidance had desperately juggled their deadly energies, barely containing the holocaust in their minds.

But she couldn’t drive the thought away, or ignore it. The calling had been like a loud shout in Zufa’s brain, demanding that she leave immediately. Come to Kolhar. Meet me there. She, the Supreme Sorceress of the Jihad, had no choice.

This unremarkable planet was on the nearby trade routes from Ginaz, but she had never thought much about it. Kolhar had always been beneath her notice. Zufa had other priorities in the Jihad.

Come to Kolhar!

Now, as her private spacecraft descended and her ship’s onboard systems scanned for a dry spot to land near the rough settlements at the edge of the cold marshy wastes, a leaden dullness seeped into her like poison. The sky, the water, the soggy ground, and even the twisted trees, all looked ashen.

Mother. Come to Kolhar. Now!

Mother? Could it be some strange communication from the unborn fetus growing inside Zufa, the daughter of Iblis Ginjo… already prescient and sending her on a mission? If so, this could be the greatest Sorceress of all time. Smiling to herself, Zufa touched her abdomen, which did not yet show signs of pregnancy.

Certainly, stunted Norma could not possibly have such powers…. She had heard nothing from her daughter in years. Even Savant Holtzman had stopped wasting time on her, and may have deported her from Poritrin prior to the disastrous slave uprising there.

Did that mean that Norma was alive, that she had survived? Despite her disappointment in Norma, Zufa was her mother, and still cared about her.

But even if Norma had survived, this message could not possibly be from her….

A dusky outpost city with an outdated spaceport came into view. The primary Kolhar settlement held only a few hundred thousand inhabitants at most.

As she approached for a landing, the Sorceress received clearance from a thin-voiced male attendant. Zufa noticed no other offworld ships anywhere, only the lethargic movement of local traffic. “We have a berth reserved for your vessel, Sorceress, and instructions for your arrival. We have been expecting you.”

Curious to the point of annoyance, Zufa pressed him, even used a bit of telepathic nudging, but the man simply couldn’t tell her anything more.

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