As the Dream Voyager approached the Gamma Waiping star system and Salusa Secundus, Serena Butler swelled with eagerness and relief to be back home, oscillating between her deep desire to see Xavier Harkonnen again and her dread of what she must tell him.

Startling her, a small maintenance drone moved out of its alcove on a preprogrammed check-path, scuttling under control panels and oblivious to the new masters of the Dream Voyager. Serena saw the little robot and suddenly focused her anger. Snatching up the small machine by a leg, she hurled it against the metal deck.

The red drone squirmed, automatically trying to avoid further damage, but Serena smashed it until its casing broke open, oozing gelcircuitry fluid like blood onto the floor. With a final twitch, its components fell still.

“If only destroying all thinking machines could be that simple,” she said grimly, imagining Erasmus lying there destroyed instead of the hapless maintenance drone.

“It will be simple enough, if we can mobilize the willpower of the human race,” said Iblis Ginjo.

Though Iblis had tried to console her during the long flight, Serena actually found herself confiding more in Vorian. She’d had several weeks now to work through her shock and grief, and her conversations with the sympathetic young man had in some measure helped. Vor was a good listener. Iblis asked many questions about the nobles, the League Worlds, the politics, while Vor paid more attention to the people Serena wanted to talk about: her son, her parents, her sister Octa, and especially Xavier.

When Serena spoke of Xavier Harkonnen, Vor realized with a start that Xavier had been the League military officer who had stood against the Dream Voyager when he and Seurat tried to exchange the Omnius update on Giedi Prime. “I . . . look forward to meeting him,” Vor said in a voice that held no enthusiasm at all.

Serena had told them about her impetuous and ill-advised plan to restore the shield-transmitting towers on Giedi Prime, when League politics had caused excuses and delays.

“At least thinking machines don’t have such bureaucracy,” Iblis said. “You risked a great deal, knowing how cumbersome and conservative your government must be.”

Serena smiled wistfully, showing a hint of her lost strength. “I knew Xavier would come. He would find a way.”

Though Vor found it painful, he listened while she talked about how much she still loved Xavier, describing the betrothal celebration at the Butler estate, the bristleback hunt, her humanitarian work in the League. She told stories about Xavier’s military prowess, his work shoring up the defenses of other human worlds, and his desperate action during the cymek attack on Zimia that had saved Salusa Secundus.

Uncomfortable, Vor remembered the completely different versions of such stories he had heard from his father. Agamemnon did not recall the defeat in the same terms . . . but now Vor knew that the cymek general was prone to lying, or at least to wild exaggeration. He could no longer believe anything his father said.

“Still,” Serena said, hanging her head, “I allowed myself to be captured and my crew to be killed by Barbarossa. I am entirely to blame for placing myself in danger at Giedi Prime, not even knowing that I carried Xavier’s child. And I shouldn’t have taunted Erasmus, pushed him.” She shuddered. “I underestimated his capacity for cruelty. How can Xavier ever forgive me? Our son is dead.”

Iblis tried to comfort her. “Vorian Atreides and I will tell the League of Nobles how the machines treat their slaves. No one will ever blame you.”

“I blame myself,” she said. “There’s no way around it.”

Vor longed to help her, but was not sure what to say or do. When he touched her arm gently, she turned away. Vor could not help it that he wasn’t the man she wanted beside her right now.

He envied this mysterious Xavier Harkonnen and wanted to earn his own place in Serena’s heart. He had abandoned his father, turned from everything he had known in the Synchronized Worlds, betrayed the Titans and Omnius. Even so, he had no right to ask for any emotional payment in return.

“If your Xavier is the man you believe he is, then surely he will welcome you back home with compassion and forgiveness?”

Seeing Vor’s expression, Serena said more calmly, “Yes, he is capable of that— but am I the person he believed I was?”

Yes, and more, Vor thought, but did not say so aloud.

“You’ll be home before long,” he said, seeing Serena’s expression glow with a new life. “I’m sure it’ll be all right, as soon as you are with him again. And if you ever need anyone else to talk to, I . . .” His voice trailed off to an awkward silence.

As the hijacked update ship approached Salusa Secundus, the fabled world that epitomized free humanity, he gazed down at the green continents, the blue seas, the wispy clouds in the atmosphere. His doubts faded, and though his heart ached, his hopes grew higher. Truly, it looked like a paradise.

Iblis Ginjo peered through a viewing window. His mind seemed to be racing with possibilities. But he sat up abruptly in alarm. “We have a reception committee! Looks like fast combat ships!”

“The picket line must have detected us when we entered the system,” Serena said. “Those are ground-launched kindjals, from bases in Zimia.”

As the fast and maneuverable Salusan Militia fighters surrounded the Dream Voyager, they bombarded the update ship with threats and instructions. “Enemy ship, surrender and prepare to be boarded.” Several warning explosions rippled across their bow.

Vor made no threatening move, remembering how similar ships had already damaged the vessel at Giedi Prime. “We are humans who escaped from Omnius, and wish to land in peace,” he transmitted. “We’ve stolen this ship from Earth.”

“Yeah, we’ve heard that one before,” said one of the kindjal pilots. Vor realized that he had used such a ruse himself. “Why shouldn’t we just turn you into a cloud of space dust?” The kindjals flew close, arming their weapons.

“It may interest you to know that we have Serena Butler aboard, the daughter of the League Viceroy.” Vor gave a grim smile. “Her father would not be pleased if you blew us into space dust. Neither would Xavier Harkonnen, since his fiancée has been through so much just to come back to him.”

Determined, Serena took the communication controls. “It’s true. This is Serena Butler. Since this is a robot ship, please deactivate the scrambler shields to allow us safe passage, then escort us to Zimia. Inform the Viceroy and Tercero Harkonnen to meet us at the spaceport.”

The long silence that hung on the channel told Vor that a furious debate must be occurring on private lines. Finally, the squadron commander said, “Segundo Harkonnen is out on patrol and will not return for two days. Viceroy Butler is already on his way with an honor guard. Follow me— and do not deviate from the path.”

Vor acknowledged, then took a deep, concerned breath. Now he had to fly with his own guidance skills and no assistance from the onboard gelcircuitry computers. The vessel’s own cooperative guidance and automated response systems had always aided him in the event of an emergency. “Serena, Iblis— both of you strap in and hold on.”

“Is there a problem?” Iblis asked, seeing Vor’s uneasiness.

“Only that I’ve never done this before.”

The Dream Voyager rocked in turbulence as it passed through high winds and a thin cloud cover, until it broke through into clear sky. The kindjals paced them closely, just off the update ship’s short wings. Sunlight slanted into the interior through overhead portholes, forming distorted shadows on the decks and bulkheads.

Vor set the Dream Voyager down gently in the designated zone, in the crowded spaceport. Despite the challenge, he had flown the vessel perfectly. Seurat would have been proud of him.

Elated, Iblis Ginjo rose to his feet as the low hum of the engines fell silent. “At last! Salusa Secundus.” He looked at Vor. “For rescuing the Viceroy’s daughter, they will welcome us with red carpets and flowers.”

When he released the hatch and breathed Salusan air for the first time, Vor Atreides tried to identify the difference, wondering if he could detect an elusive scent of freedom. “Don’t expect carpets or flowers just yet,” he said.

He saw a military squad approaching the ship with weapons drawn. The soldiers, dressed in gold-and-silver League uniforms, formed ranks at the bottom of the ramp. Behind them came two intimidating-looking women with white hair, pale skin, and long black robes.

Serena stood between the two former trustees of the thinking machines, taking their arms protectively in hers. Together, the three of them stepped out into dazzling sunlight.

While the Militia soldiers kept their weapons ready, they deferred to the tall, grim women. The chief Sorceress looked at the new arrivals with a gaze so intense and intimidating that she reminded Vorian of one of the Titans. “Are you spies of Omnius?” she said, stepping closer to them.

Serena recognized the Sorceress of Rossak, but knew that she herself must have changed considerably in her year and a half of captivity. “Zufa Cenva, we were colleagues.” Her voice hitched. “I have come home. Do you not recognize me?”

The Sorceress looked skeptically at her, then astonishment crossed her alabaster face. “It truly is you, Serena Butler! We thought you had died on Giedi Prime, along with Ort Wibsen and Pinquer Jibb. We checked the DNA on blood samples found in the wreckage of your blockade runner.” Zufa loomed before the young woman, studying her while ignoring the two men entirely.

Serena struggled valiantly to set aside her sadness. “Wibsen and Jibb did die fighting the cymeks. I was injured . . . and captured.”

At the deep expression of emotions, Vor spoke on her behalf. “She was held prisoner on Earth by a robot named Erasmus.”

The Sorceress’s electric expression swung to regard him. “And who are you?”

Vor knew he could not lie. “I am the son of the Titan Agamemnon.” The Militia soldiers stirred. The two Sorceresses reacted with alarm and then renewed intensity. “I used my influence to slip through the defenses of Earth-Omnius.”

Iblis Ginjo pushed forward, eyes bright and enthusiastic. “All of Earth is in revolt! Humans have broken free of their machine masters. Rebels slew Titans and neo-cymeks, smashed robots, destroyed entire facilities. But we need League help—”

Abruptly, Iblis’s words were cut off with a little squeak of his voice. Around his own throat, Vorian felt a tightness, like a garrote. The eyes of the Sorceresses blazed, as if probing deeply into the minds of these new arrivals. Suspicion saturated the air like thick humidity, an unwillingness to trust two turncoat humans and Serena Butler, who might have been brainwashed by Omnius.

The Sorceresses’ concentration was broken by a sudden commotion. Vor found he could breathe easily again. Viceroy Manion Butler, looking a decade older than when Serena had last seen him, pushed soldiers out of his way and charged forward like a wild Salusan bull. “Serena! Oh my sweet child! You are alive!”

Both Sorceresses stepped aside, seeing that nothing could stop the man from throwing his arms around his daughter. “My child, my child— I can’t believe it!” He held Serena, rocked her from side to side. Without wanting to, she found herself weeping against his chest. “Oh what have they done to you? What have they done?”

Serena found she could not answer him at all.