"Dune 03 - Whipping Mek (Short Story)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

Vergyl finally cleared his head enough to push himself into a stiff sitting

position. “That mek actually showed . . . compassion.” He still felt dazed from

the mysterious stun blast. “Imagine that, a machine with feelings.”

DUNE: WHIPPING MEK

16

“It wasn’t compassion at all,” Xavier said, with a contentious scowl. He

reached down to help his brother to his feet.

“It was the strangest thing,” Vergyl insisted. “Did you see his eyes?”

Zon Noret, intent on his training mek, looked into the machine’s panel box,

studied instrument readings and made adjustments. “Chirox simply assessed the

situation and went into survival mode. But there must have been something

buried in his original programming.”

“Machines don’t care about survival,” Xavier snapped. “You saw them at

Peridot Colony. They hurl themselves into battle without concern for personal

safety.” He shook his head. “There’s something wrong with your mek’s

programming, a glitch.”

Vergyl stared over at Chirox, caught the gaze of the glowing optic sensors.

In the depths of the twin lights, the young construction officer thought he

detected a flicker of something animate, which intrigued and frightened him at

the same time.

“Humans can learn compassion, too,” Chirox said, unexpectedly.

“I’ll run it through a complete overhaul,” Noret said, but his voice was

uncertain.

Xavier stood in front of Vergyl, checking his brother for serious injuries. He

spoke in a shaky voice as he led his brother out of the training chamber. “That