extent of their anxiety. True confidence was quiet and invisible. 'The Spacing Guild has needs,' said Administrator Gorus, sweeping the room with his milky but not-blind eyes. 'If Ix can fulfill them, we are willing to pay any reasonable price. Find us a way out of the manacles the New Sisterhood has placed on us.'
Shayama Sen folded his hands together and smiled. 'And what is it you need?'
The nails on his two forefingers were metallic and patterned with the kaleidoscopic lines of circuitry.
Edrik swam close to the speaker in his thick-walled tank. 'The Guild needs spice so that we may guide our ships. Can Ix's machinery create melange? I see no point in coming here.'
Gorus gave the Navigator a glare of pure annoyance. 'I am not so skeptical. The Spacing Guild wonders if Ixian technology could be used regularly and reliably for navigation—at least during this difficult transition period. Since the time of the God Emperor, Ix has produced certain calculating machines that can take the place of Navigators.'
'Only in part. The machines have always been inferior,' Edrik said. 'Poor copies of a real Navigator.'
'Nevertheless, they proved useful in times of great need,' Shayama Sen pointed out. 'During the various waves of Scatterings, many ships used the primitive devices to travel without the benefit of spice or Navigators.'
'And a vast number of those ships were lost,' Edrik interrupted. 'We will never know how many blundered through suns or dense nebulae. We will never know how many were simply… lost, arriving in unknown star systems and unidentified worlds, never able to find their way back.'
'Recently, when melange was plentiful—thanks to Tleilaxu tank-manufactured spice—the Guild had no qualms about relying solely on our Navigators,' Administrator Gorus said, sounding quite reasonable. 'Now, however, times have changed. If we can prove to the New Sisterhood that we don't rely entirely on them, then their monopoly has no teeth. Then, perhaps, they will not be so haughty and intractable, and they will be more willing to sell us spice.'
'That remains to be proved,' grumbled the Navigator.
'Navigation devices have remained in use among certain parties,' Shayama Sen added. 'When the Honored Matres began to return from the outside fringes, they did not have Navigators. Only when they needed to know the full landscape of the Old Empire did they rely upon the services of the Guild.'
'And you cooperated with them,' Khrone said, using his words like a needle.
'Is that not why the Sisterhood is displeased with you?'
'The witches also used their own ships, bypassing the Guild,' Gorus said, in a huff. 'Until recently, they did not trust even us with the coordinates of Chapterhouse, fearing we would have sold the location to the Honored Matres.'
'And would you have?' Sen seemed amused. 'Yes, I think so.'
'This has nothing to do with the discussion of navigation machines.' The Guild Administrator abruptly cut off further discussion.
The Chief Fabricator smiled and tapped his fingernails together, unleashing a flurry of sparks along the circuit paths like tiny phosphorescent rats scurrying through a maze. 'Though such artificial devices were not accurate, or practical, or necessary, we still installed them in a few ships, even in recent times. Though neither Guildships nor independent vessels relied upon them, their primary purpose was to demonstrate to the Tleilaxu and the Priests of the Divided God that we could indeed function without their spice. However, the plans have been shelved for many centuries.'
Gorus continued, 'Perhaps given sufficient monetary incentive, you could revisit that old technology and develop it to a higher level?'
Khrone required all the control of his fluid facial muscles to keep the smile off his face. This was exactly what he had hoped for.
Chief Fabricator Sen also looked extremely pleased. He examined Edrik's armored tank, intrigued by its engineering. 'Perhaps Navigators should have used their prescience to see this melange shortage coming.
'That is not how our prescience works.'
Gorus pointed out, 'The New Sisterhood is now the sole provider of melange—and their Mother Commander Murbella will not yield, despite our entreaties.'
Edrik added, 'We have met with her. She is not rational.'
'It seems to me that Murbella is perfectly aware of her power and her bargaining position,' the Chief Fabricator said, speaking mildly.
'We would like to take that bargaining chip from the witches, but we can only do so with your help,' said the Guild Administrator. 'Give us another option.'
Khrone knew that adding his support would do little; however, by expressing straw-man doubts, he would forge a closer alliance between these others. 'To develop a navigation machine of such sophistication—and to use it as more than a mere symbol—would require technology dangerously close to thinking machines. There are the restrictions of the Butlerian Jihad to consider.'
Sen, Gorus, and even the Navigator responded with scorn. 'The people will forget the ancient commands of the Jihad soon enough if Guildships are unable to fly, if all space travel is crippled,' the Administrator said.
Khrone turned to the Chief Fabricator, who was ostensibly his boss. 'I would be honored if Ix accepted this challenge, sir. My best teams can begin work on adapting numerical compilers and mathematical projection devices.'
Shayama Sen chuckled at the Guildsman. 'The price will be high. A percentage, perhaps. The Spacing Guild and CHOAM are among our best customers… and our ties could grow stronger still.'
'CHOAM is sure to contribute to the cost, if they see that it is necessary to keep interstellar trade functioning,' Gorus admitted.
How these Guildsmen tried to hide their desperation! Khrone decided it was best to give them a different target. 'While the Bene Gesserits and the Honored Matres were at each other's throats, the Guild and CHOAM continued commercial activities unmolested. Now, the New Sisterhood claims that a far worse enemy is coming at them, at its, from outside.'
Gorus made a rude snort, as if he had much to say on the subject, but swallowed his opinions like thick lumps of phlegm.
The Chief Fabricator gazed down his nose. 'Is there evidence that this enemy exists at all? And is the enemy of the Sisterhood and the Honored Matres necessarily the enemy of Ix, the Guild, or CHOAM?'
'Trade is trade,' Edrik said in a bubbling voice. 'Everyone requires it. The Guild requires Navigators, and we require spice.'
'Or navigation machines,' Gorus added.
Khrone nodded placidly. 'And thus we return to the necessary price for Ixian services.'
'If you can produce what we ask, then our profits—and indeed the shift in the balance of power—will be of incalculable value. I believe we can make it a viable prospect for both of us.' As the Administrator spoke, the Navigator continued to look uncomfortable.
Khrone allowed the faintest of satisfied smiles on his false face. From the far-distant overlords who always watched him through the tachyon net, he already had access to any navigational calculators the Guild could need. Such technology was quite basic compared to what the 'Enemy' could command. For Khrone it would be a simple matter of pretending to develop such technology on Ix and then selling it at great cost to the Guild.
Around them, the fabrication plant continued to produce the sounds and smells of vigorous industry. 'I still do not like the implications of technology superceding true Navigators.' Edrik seemed trapped in his tank.
'Your loyalty is to the Spacing Guild, Edrik,' Gorus brusquely reminded him.
'And we will do what we must to survive as an organization. We have little choice in the matter.'
10
The treatment of an injury may hurt more than the wound itself. Do not allow a sore to fester because you are unwilling to tolerate the momentary pain.
