Mentats of Dune

Chapter 13 (There is great wisdom in)

Even before her mind was altered by the ordeal with poison, Anna Corrino had heard the voices of people who weren’t necessarily there. As a girl, she’d often talked about those voices and repeated their advice; her instructors and court mentors dismissed the “imaginary friends” as a child’s fantasies.

Lady Orenna, though, was more sensitive to Anna; the Virgin Empress understood her better than anyone else at court. Gossipers found the pair’s closeness peculiar, because Orenna had reason to resent her husband’s bastard daughter, but the old woman chose not to punish an innocent girl for the indiscretions of Emperor Jules Corrino.

When Anna was only twelve years old, Lady Orenna said to her, “I’ve discovered more information about your real mother.” Anna had never known the Emperor’s mistress, who disappeared shortly after giving birth to her. “Bridgit Arquettas was more than just a concubine — your mother had Sorceress blood, from Rossak. That means you’re special, dear Anna. You might have abilities the rest of us can’t understand.” Orenna had smiled. “That’s why I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the voices you hear.”

On the grounds of the Imperial Palace, Anna had her own special hiding place in a fogwood tree, an impressive growth with drooping branches and multiple trunks that formed a labyrinthine thicket. Her mind was attuned to the psychically sensitive plant, and with her thoughts Anna could manipulate the tree’s growth and shape the branches into a special fortress that only she could enter. Even after Orenna had discovered the girl’s hiding place, the old woman kept it a close secret, strengthening the bond between them.…

That had been so long ago.

Now, at the Mentat School, Anna sometimes recognized where she was, while at other times she wandered down empty, complicated halls of memories, many of which she knew were not her own. And there were more voices after she had consumed the Rossak poison in an attempt to become a Reverend Mother.

When Anna had emerged from that coma, her mind was like a kaleidoscope image, beautiful colors and fascinating patterns, but fractured and never the same from one moment to the next. In one memory fragment, she saw herself blundering into a private cottage on the palace grounds. There she found Lady Orenna naked and entwined with Toure Bomoko, one of the exiled members of the Commission of Ecumenical Translators.

The CET’s blasphemous attempts to consolidate all human religion into a single orthodox tome, the Orange Catholic Bible, had created such an uproar that the public wanted to tear the translators apart — and had actually done so in several instances. A few of the scholars had taken sanctuary under the protection of Emperor Jules.

When Anna witnessed Bomoko attacking Orenna, the girl fled, screaming, and sounded the alarm. Afterward, Emperor Jules had forced her to watch the horrific executions, which had scarred Anna deeply. And those scars only grew thicker and uglier when she realized, years later, that what she’d witnessed might not have actually been a rape.…

The memory kaleidoscope shifted, and Anna found herself back at the Mentat School studying complex tables of numbers and examining intricate patterns, a huge grid of lights that blinked on and off in a sequence that only a Mentat or thinking machine could discern. Anna spotted the pattern right away.

With a start, she realized that this was now.

She remembered Roderick sending her to Lampadas so she could train with Headmaster Albans. She tried to fit in among the Mentat students, and the exercises did help her learn to focus and organize the voices in her mind. On her lucid days, Anna could become almost normal.

She remembered what it was like to interact with people, to hold a pleasant conversation that was not inundated with a universe of factual details, including lists of names and numbers. With a slight shift of the memory-kaleidoscope images, she suddenly recalled the names of every one of the 362 Mentat trainees currently at the Lampadas school. Then another shift, and she recalled the thousands of previous graduates: 2,641. The names of every student scrolled in front of her mind, but she pushed away the distracting list, telling herself it was not necessary to review them now. She could do that later, put them in proper order, alphabetically or chronologically, perhaps by birth date or planet of origin.

The kaleidoscope shifted yet again, showing her things she had never personally experienced. Anna saw the spectacle of the Imperial Palace on Salusa Secundus, the lavish rooms, the concubine chambers — and Emperor Jules as a handsome young man, aggressive and charismatic. Anna had never seen her father that way, and she realized this was a memory direct from her mother. As she thought back along the train of dusty images, Anna recognized young Bridgit Arquettas in the cliff city on Rossak. Bridgit had grown up with a trace of Sorceress blood in her veins, before being taken away from Rossak by her father. The family moved to Ecaz, which also had many jungles.

In a rush, the images blurred with the speed of decades passing, Anna saw how her mother was — actually herself, if these memories were now part of her. Bridgit had auditioned to become part of the Emperor’s enclave, and she had caught the eye of Jules Corrino. Anna heard more whispered voices from the past in her head: Jules flattering Bridgit after they made love, whispering promises that they both knew were as empty as a discarded gift box.

Anna had never experienced those memories before taking the Sisterhood’s poison, and now they filled her mind in fragmented bursts. No, she had not succeeded in becoming a Reverend Mother as she hoped, but the Rossak drug had unlocked memories that were not her own. None of the other failed candidates were like this; most remained comatose. But Anna saw images of other Sorceresses in her mind — her mother’s mother and beyond, ancestors who’d fought in the Jihad, women oppressed by thinking machines — a long tunnel of memories that gave her a spinning, swooning sense of vertigo. These were her genetic predecessors in the female line, flickers and images that somehow remained inside her.…

Whenever Anna grew bored with her classes, when the Mentat exercises were too easy for her, she could dip into those other memories and live those past lives randomly, as they came to her. Some of the prior lives seemed far more interesting than her own, while one life in particular — a woman who had been captured by thinking machines more than two centuries ago and slowly flayed to death — was far worse. Anna could barely endure a glimpse of that gruesome memory before she shut it down.

She thought of Hirondo Nef, a chef at the Imperial Palace, a dashing young man who made special pastries and candies for her, and whose words were even sweeter. Longing to be treasured, Anna had become infatuated with him, filled with the all-consuming passion of a first love. She gave her heart to Hirondo with complete abandon. They would have run away together and lived like simple folk, but her two brothers crushed that romantic dream. Hirondo had been too easily convinced that he did not really love her after all, and his failure to fight for her still stung. He had vanished.

Anna’s imaginary friends, her memory friends, were much more loyal.

Though she kept track of countless details on many esoteric subjects, she paid little attention to what day, month, or year it was, or how long she had been at the Mentat School. Such information seemed frivolous to her. Roderick and Orenna had visited her here … recently? She couldn’t recall.

When another day ended, Anna ate with the students, as usual. Some tried to befriend her, while other trainees avoided her. For the most part, Mentat students were preoccupied with their own business.

When it was time, Anna went to bed in her private quarters. Many of the students had to share chambers in the school’s dormitory, but as the Emperor’s sister she warranted a private room. She hadn’t asked for one — it was just provided for her. And now, because it was time (not because she noticed she was tired), she lay on her small bed and closed her eyes, surrounded by the darkness. Alone and peaceful, finally able to concentrate …

Oddly, she heard a clear whisper beside her ear in an erudite yet soothing voice. But a male voice this time. Most peculiar. “Hello, Anna Corrino, I am your friend. I can help.”

She smiled but did not open her eyes. She wondered where this memory had come from, which ghostly presence in her mind had decided to visit her as she drifted off to sleep.

“I can strengthen your thoughts,” the voice continued. It sounded friendly, powerful, confident. Anna desperately wanted a friend. “I can teach you to organize your mind. You can have clarity—if you let me explore the avenues and byways of your mind. Let us discover them together.”

She liked his voice. Anna smiled again, gave a noncommittal “mmmm,” and listened while he gave her ideas, made promises, and offered suggestions. She was still listening to the soothing words when she fell asleep.

WHILE GILBERTUS ALBANS was gone from the school after Manford’s summons, Erasmus remained in his secret cabinet, an isolated memory core without a body, unable to move about.

But he had laid down electrical pathways throughout the complex of the Mentat school, planted micro spy-eyes and receivers everywhere. He could observe the students, listen to their conversations, absorb everything that happened. It was not the same as experiencing life himself, but it was preferable to wallowing in darkness, cut off from the universe … and better than boredom. Even Gilbertus didn’t realize the extent to which the clever robot had infiltrated the school with his tiny machines. Erasmus had also added many secret defenses of his own to the surrounding terrain, concerned about the danger of discovery; Gilbertus wasn’t always careful enough.

But now Erasmus wanted to branch out. His longtime ward would be gone for weeks on his trip to Salusa Secundus with the Butlerian leader, and that would be enough time for the robot to make significant progress here with Anna Corrino. Yes, he would take that risk. By the time Gilbertus returned, Erasmus would have accomplished everything he needed.

Through the tiny speakers implanted next to Anna’s bed, he could finally talk with the interesting young woman. He would not reveal his real name to her; she didn’t need to know that. Human historical propaganda had demonized the independent, curious robot, and Erasmus didn’t wish to scare her. The voice he chose would be soothing, reassuring. Anna was an intelligent girl, eager for mental advancement and looking for a way to organize her shattered thoughts.

More than anything else, she wanted a friend.

“Rest peacefully, Anna,” he said, “and we’ll continue our discussion tomorrow.” He looked forward to many conversations with her.