Chapter 39 Chapter Thirty-Nine

dilemma.We use this name to refer to the ubiquitous integration risk, that is, the information is correct, and the process of combining this information is wrong. The sound of fabric rubbing woke Leto's consciousness like clusters of sparks in the dark.He was amazed at how sharp his senses had become, and he could immediately pick out the texture of the fabric from the sound: the sound was made of a Freeman robe rubbing against the rough door curtain.He turned to face where the voice came from.It came from the dark passage from which Namri had left minutes before.As he turned around, he saw someone walking in.It was the one who had grabbed him: the same dark skin above the visor of the stillsuit, the same burning eyes.The man reached into the mask with one hand, pulled the water collectors out of the nostrils, and pulled the mask down, lifting the hood at the same time.Leto recognized him even before spotting the ink vine whip mark on his jaw.Recognition of this person was a completely subconscious act, after which the details of the other person's appearance entered Leto's consciousness as an afterthought.That's right, this big man, this troubadour, is Gurney Halleck.

Leto clenched his hands into fists, suppressing the shock of recognition.No retainer of House Atreides was more loyal or better at shield-field combat than Gurney.He was Paul's trusted friend and teacher. He is Lady Jessica's servant. The story behind this reunion ran through Leto's mind.Gurney was the one who captured him.Gurney and Namri were part of the conspiracy, with Jessica's hand behind them. "I know you've met our Namri," said Halleck. "Believe me, he has—and only one duty: he's the only one who can kill you if necessary." Leto answered without thinking in his father's voice: "You joined my enemies, Gurney! I never thought..."

"Don't try that trick on me, young man," said Halleck, "they won't work on me. I obey your grandmother's orders. Detailed plans are made for your education. I chose Namu Rui, but got her approval. The next thing, whether painful or not, was arranged by her." "What did she arrange?" Halleck showed a hand from the folds of his robes, holding a Freeman syringe, crude but effective.A blue liquid is contained in a transparent tube. Leto moved back on the crib, touching the rock wall with his back.Namuri came in and stood beside Halleck, and together they blocked the only exit.

"I think you've recognized it as spice essence," Halleck said. "You've got to experience the worm hallucinations, or your father tried it and you didn't, and you'll be haunted by this problem for the rest of your life." Leto shook his head wordlessly.It was the kind of stuff that Ghanima and he knew could kill them.Gurney is such an ignorant fool!But how could Mrs. Jessica... Leto felt the memory of his father, pouring into his consciousness, trying to destroy his will to resist.Leto wanted to shout, but his lips could not move.This is what he fears most, and this fear cannot be described in words.This is the spice drug, this is to foresee the future, to solidify it, to let its fear engulf itself.It was obviously impossible for Jessica to order her grandson to undergo such a test, but her existence emerged in his consciousness, oppressing him, and persuading him to accept this test with various reasons.Even the prayer against fear becomes a meaningless whisper: "I must not be afraid. Fear kills the mind, is death insidious, and destroys a man utterly. I will bear it and let it pass over my mind." Heart, through my body and mind. When all this is over, I will open the eyes deep in my heart to examine its trajectory. Fear is like the wind, and the wind passes without a trace, but I am still standing."

The prayer was ancient enough in the heyday of the Kingdom of Cardia, and Leto tried to move, lunging at the two men standing before him, but his muscles refused to obey. In a daze, Leto saw Halleck's hand moving, the syringe approaching him.The spherical light shines on the surface of the blue liquid, forming a bright spot.The syringe touched Leto's left arm.The pain spread through his body, reaching the depths of his brain. Suddenly, Leto saw a young woman sitting outside a hut in the morning light, and there, before him, roasting coffee beans, browning them and adding cardamom and spices to them.Somewhere behind him came the sound of a shamisen.The music kept repeating, repeating, until it entered his mind, and it was still repeating.The music began to fill him, making him swell, very big, not like a child anymore.His skin was no longer his own.A warm current rushed through his body.Then, just as suddenly as when the scene had appeared, he found himself standing in the darkness again.it's dark.The stars are like embers in the wind, splashing down into the magnificent universe.

He knew he was helpless, but fought against the drug's effects until finally the image of his father broke into his consciousness. "I will protect you in the drug, and other people in your body will not occupy you." The wind knocked Leto down, pushed him rolling on the ground, kicked up dust on him, ate into his arms, his face, ripped his clothes to shreds, Useful tattered clothes fluttered.But he felt no pain, and he watched his wounds heal as quickly as they had appeared.He continued to roll in the wind, his skin still not his own. Come, come soon!he thinks. But this idea is very far away, as if it is not his own idea, just like the skin does not belong to him.

Visions engulfed him.The illusion expands into a three-dimensional memory, separating the past from the present, the future from the present, and the future from the past.Then, each isolated part forms a point of view focal length, guiding his way forward. He thought: Time, like the unit of length, is a measure of space, but the act of measuring itself locks us into the space we measure. He felt the effects of the drug deepening.As his inner consciousness expands, his ego changes with it.Time was running and he couldn't stop it for a moment.Memories of the past and future flooded him, like a montage of fragments, the relationship between them is constantly changing.His memory is like a lens, a beam of light, illuminating fragments one by one, displaying them separately, but unable to stop their eternal movement and change.

His plans with Ghanima loomed large in this light, to his horror.The illusion was as real as reality, with an indisputable inevitability that made him cringe. His skin is not his own!Past and future collide inside him, past the barriers of fear.He couldn't tell whether what appeared before him was the past or the future.At times, he felt like he was participating in the Butlan Crusade, trying to destroy any machine that mimicked human consciousness.This is a thing of the past - it happened and it's over.But his consciousness is still lingering in the past experience, absorbing all information.He heard a minister who worked with him say from the podium: "We have to kill machines that think. Humans have to make policy by themselves. That's not something that machines can do. Reasoning depends on programs, not hardware. Humans are The ultimate programmer!"

He heard the voice clearly and knew his surroundings: the huge hall, the black windows.Light comes from crackling torches. His fellow minister continued: "Our jihad is 'clearing'. We want to wipe out everything that destroys humanity." In Leto's memory, the speaker had been a computer expert, a person who understood and served computers.Just as he was about to delve deeper, the whole scene disappeared and Ganima stood before him. "Gurney knew. He told me. They were Duncan's words, in his Mentat state. 'What does good deeds removes infamy. Doing bad deeds removes ego.'"

This must be the future—the future, far in the future.But he felt its reality, as real as the past of the countless lives inside him.He murmured, "Is this the future, father?" The figure of the father said in a warning tone: "Don't take the initiative to invite disaster! What you are learning now is how to choose among the fragments flooding into consciousness. If you don't master this technique, you will be overwhelmed by the surging fragments of consciousness, unable to locate in time." Bas-relief-like images are everywhere.The future rushed toward him, hitting him.Past, present, Future.There are no real boundaries.He knew he had to follow these images, but at the same time he was afraid to follow them, lest he would not be able to return to the familiar world.However, under pressure, he had to stop his resistance.It was a whole new universe that he could not understand through static, labeled slices of time.Here, no fragment stands still.There is no order of things anymore, and there is no law at all.He had to observe the changes, to find the laws of the changes themselves.Before he knew it, he found that he had walked into a huge space-time tunnel, and saw the past in the future, the present in the past, and the present moment in the past and the future.In the time of a heartbeat, the experience of countless centuries comes surging.

Leto's mind floated freely.He no longer stands by to keep awake, and there are no barriers.He knew what Namri was going to do for a while, but it was only a corner of his consciousness, shared with countless other futures.His consciousness was divided into countless fragments, and in this consciousness, all his past, all life in the body, merged into him and became himself.With the help of the greatest of the countless beings inside him, he becomes dominant.They became him. He thought: When studying something, you have to take a distance to really discover the laws in it.He has won distance for himself, and he can see his own life: his complicated and incomparably huge past is his burden, his pleasure, and his necessity.The past he had before he was born gave him an extra dimension than ordinary people.From now on, his father no longer guides him, because there is no longer a need for it.After opening the distance, Leto himself can see clearly, seeing the past and the present.Looking into the past, he saw his ultimate ancestor--humanity itself, without which the distant future could not exist.Distance brings new norms, new dimensions.Whatever life he chooses, he can live it with the help of his incomparable wealth of experience, without being controlled by anyone.These experiences are the accumulation of countless generations, and no single life can compare with them.Awakened, this experiential complex possesses immense power that pales in comparison to his formerly independent self.This complex can act on an individual, or it can impose itself on a nation, a society, or a civilization as a whole.Gurney had been told to beware of him, and that was why.This is why Namri's sharp knife should be kept aside.They were afraid to see the power in him.No one can see its full power - not even Ganima. Leto sat up, only to find Namri waiting, watching him. Leto said in the voice of the elderly: "Everyone's limit is different. Predicting the future of everyone is just an empty myth. In this time period, only the most powerful force can be predicted in advance. But , in an infinite universe, the concept of 'now' is too big for human consciousness to fully grasp." Namuri shook his head, indicating that he did not understand. "Where's Gurney?" Leto asked. "He left, he didn't want to see me kill you." "Are you going to kill me, Namri?" It sounded like he was begging the man to kill himself quickly. Namri's hand left the handle of the knife. "Since you asked me to do this, I will not kill you. Because you don't care, so..." "It doesn't matter—this disease destroys a lot of things." Leto said, nodding to himself, "Yes... civilization itself will die because of it. After reaching a more complex level of consciousness, it seems that such a price must be paid .” He looked up at Namuri, “They asked you to come and see if I have this attitude?” He realized that Namri was not just a killer, he was more cunning and deeper than a killer. "Having this attitude shows that you cannot control the power you have," Namri said, but it was a lie. "Indifferent power, yes." Leto stood up and sighed deeply, "Well, my father's life was not that great, Namri, he made a cocoon for himself in the 'now' A trap from which there is no escape."

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