After more than a month of major repairs, the Dream Voyager was finally ready to depart Earth on another update run. But Vorian Atreides had one important duty to complete before leaving, to visit Erasmus as the robot had requested.

Once again, the extravagant horse-drawn coach brought him to the towering seaside villa. The sunny weather was much more pleasant than the drizzling rain of his previous visit, with only a few thin clouds scudding over the ocean.

Immediately, as if his gaze was drawn to her, he saw Serena Butler standing at the main entrance. She wore a loose black servant’s dress, and her belly was so rounded that he couldn’t see how she continued her work. The baby must be due soon.

She waited for Vor as if merely performing another duty, arms folded, face neutral. He hadn’t known what to expect, but seeing her unreadable expression left him crestfallen. Given her tone at the end of his last visit, Vor had hoped she might actually be happy to see him.

Perhaps it had something to do with her baby and the hormonal storms swirling through her system. She might be worried about what would happen to the infant after its birth, what Erasmus would do with it.

Though Serena had been a daughter of some prominence in the League of Nobles, here she was a mere household slave, not even a trustee. Her baby might be tossed into the squalid pens with the lowest-caste humans . . . unless Vor used his influence to obtain concessions for the mother and child. And even if he succeeded, would she be grateful for his effort?

Leaving the coach horses stamping on the flagstones, Vor reached the covered entry between carved Grogyptian pillars. Before she could say anything, he blurted, “I apologize for offending you last time, Serena Butler. Whatever I did.” He had looked forward to this for a long time, had practiced what he would say.

“Your lineage offends me.” Her blunt response took him aback. As the son of Agamemnon, Vor had been given freedom to read his father’s memoirs and learn of all the glorious Titan conquests. He had been fortunate to experience many things in his travels, to see many interesting places. Being the son of a Titan had always seemed an advantage to him— until now.

Seeing his crestfallen expression, she remembered that she must keep him as an ally and decided to offer him a smile. “But that is as much my burden as yours.”

As they passed alcoved statues and tall, decorated urns, he said, as if she needed an explanation, “I leave soon on the Dream Voyager, and your master asked to speak with me first. That is why I’m here.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Then I’m sure Erasmus will be glad to see you.”

They reached a door, and Vor asked, “Do you ever accept apologies? Or do you consider all affronts permanent?”

The remark seemed to surprise her. “But you aren’t really sorry, are you? You willingly serve the thinking machines, who have enslaved and tortured humanity. Surely you acknowledge that much? You also boast about your father, as if his work is something to be proud of. Do you know about the horrors during the Time of Titans? Or the Hrethgir Rebellions?”

“I’ve read my father’s memoirs in great detail—”

“I don’t mean Agamemnon’s propaganda. Have you learned the real history?”

He frowned. “The truth is the truth, is it not? How can there be different versions of the same event?”

Serena sighed as if he were a small child and she found it hard to explain. “In some ways, you are less aware than a machine, Vorian Atreides, because you don’t realize that you have a choice— and you think you’re doing nothing wrong.” He caught the hint of a resigned smile on her lips. “Yet what is the point of maintaining anger against someone who is so deluded?” She became brusque again. “Perhaps Agamemnon is too ashamed to let you learn real history. Have you ever bothered to check the facts, or do you just accept your father’s war stories?”

Vor raised his chin, not sure how to interpret her mood. “I am a trustee. I can access any historical files I choose.” His mind spun.

“Then do some investigating on your own. You’ll have plenty of time to think about things while you’re off cruising in your ship.”

Inside the austere sitting room, translucent plaz walls cast a bright yellow lambence. The reflective surfaces shifted moment by moment, passing through gradients of color, becoming softer. She directed him to a metallic-brown divan. “Erasmus instructed us to wait here.” With some difficulty, she took a seat beside him. “Both of us.”

He felt her nearness, very aware of the curve of her belly beneath the dress. There wasn’t enough space between them— as Erasmus had no doubt intended. The room had no other furnishings. Vor’s pulse raced as he sat in awkward silence, awaiting the robot. It seemed pointless for him to be so attracted to her.

OBSERVING THE TWO humans through swirling wallscreens, Erasmus was intrigued by their body language, the way they glanced at each other and then away. Despite Serena’s obvious conflicting attitudes, she must have some attraction for this handsome young man. Without a doubt, Vorian Atreides was smitten with her.

Erasmus had watched breeding behavior among humans, but this was not the typical interplay. No, this was more complex than anything he had observed among the slaves raised in captivity.

As the tedious silence extended, Serena said, “You would think a robot could keep better track of time.”

Vor smiled at her. “I don’t mind waiting.”

Serena looked uncomfortable, but remembered to smile back.

Fascinating. In classic poems and literature, Erasmus had read about the mysteries of romantic love, but had never seen it blossom. Once, seventy-three years ago, he had found a pair of young lovers who had slipped away from their assigned duties so they could spend time alone in secret trysts. He had caught them, of course— humans were so clumsy when they tried to sneak around— and had punished them with permanent separation. It had seemed the obvious response. If he had allowed them to get away with such independence, it might have spread to the other slaves.

Afterward, however, he had regretted taking such action, and wished he’d continued to observe the human courtship.

He had a more well-developed plan for these two. Their interplay was yet another laboratory, another experiment— so different from the imaginary “rebel cells” he had begun to foster, thanks to Omnius’s challenge. It was important to observe humans in their natural states of behavior.

And sometimes it is necessary to deceive them.

As the human pair waited and fidgeted, Erasmus noted every gesture, every flicker of the eyes, every movement of the lips, every word and tone. The male and female were uneasy, discomfited by the unnatural situation, not certain how to occupy themselves.

Vorian Atreides seemed to enjoy the circumstances more than Serena. “Erasmus treats you well,” he said, as if trying to convince her. “You’re lucky he takes such an interest in you.”

Even with her ungainly belly, Serena rose quickly from the divan as if burned by his suggestion. She turned on him, and the spying robot savored the expression of indignation on her face and Vorian’s look of astonishment.

“I am a human being,” she said. “I have lost my freedom, my home, my life— and you believe I should be grateful to my captor? Perhaps you should spend some time during your travels rethinking that opinion.” He seemed stunned by her outburst, and Serena continued, “I pity you for your ignorance, Vorian Atreides.”

After a long moment, he replied, “I haven’t experienced your sort of life, Serena. I haven’t been to your world, so I don’t know what you’re missing, but I would do anything if only you could be happy.”

“I can only be truly happy if I am free to go home.” She heaved a deep sigh, then maneuvered herself back onto the sofa again. “But I would like us to be friends, Vorian.”

The robot decided he had given them enough time together. He left the viewing screen and entered the private waiting room.

LATER, VORIAN WONDERED why he had been summoned to the villa in the first place. Erasmus had taken him into his botanical garden, where they had chatted, but the robot had asked him few relevant questions.

Riding in the coach back to the spaceport and the Dream Voyager, Vor felt unnerved and confused. It frustrated him that he could do nothing to bring joy into Serena’s life. To his surprise, the idea of earning her approval or gratitude excited him as much as the prospect of pleasing his father. His mind spun with the things she had said about history, propaganda, and life on the League Worlds.

She had challenged him. He’d never been curious to read beyond Agamemnon’s memoirs, had never imagined that there could be a different perspective on the same events. He had not considered life outside of the Synchronized Worlds, always assuming that feral humans endured a squalid, pointless existence out there.

But how could such a chaotic civilization have produced a woman like Serena Butler? Perhaps he had missed something.