Chapter 289: Monopoly of spices! Mentat is unemployed after graduation? The merit of following the dragon!

Planet Lakadan, surface!

After Leto returned to the Atreides Manor by spaceship, he returned to the inner conference room. He sat in a chair in silence, with a frown on his face, showing that he was worried about something.

Upon seeing this, the Atreides leaders around them suddenly became a little restless. Could it be that this negotiation failed to lead to cooperation?

After a long while, Hawat finally stepped forward and asked Leto, "My Lord Duke, what does Universal Corporation say?"

Ever since Hawat witnessed the shield technology of the Universal Corporation, he has had a strong desire to cooperate with the Corporation.

As a Mentat with extremely high attainments in military affairs, Hawat knew very well what this shield technology meant to the Atreides family!
If the Atreides family could obtain this advanced shield technology, not to mention the small Harkonnen family, even the Corino royal family would have to kneel down to the Atreides family.

From now on, the Atreides family will become the head of the imperial family, and even the Corino royal family will have to take a back seat.

Even if they cannot obtain the shield technology, as long as they reach a cooperative relationship with the Universal Corporation, the strength of the Universal Corporation's fleet will be enough for the Atreides family to dominate the Galactic Empire.

So at this moment, Hawat was eager to know the results of the negotiations between Leto and the Universal Corporation.

Facing the eager gazes of the crowd, Duke Leto raised his head, sighed softly, and said with a hint of worry: "The CEO of a giant enterprise in the world wants to be the emperor of the empire!"

As soon as the words fell, the entire conference room suddenly fell silent. Everyone's brains suddenly buzzed and fell into a state of shutdown.

Among them, some looked stunned and terrified, some seemed to be thinking about something, and some looked happy, trying to follow the giant company to overthrow the rule of the Colino royal family.

But then again, colluding with other civilized forces to seek power and usurp the throne is an act of treason and betrayal.

Wouldn't it be too dangerous to gamble the fate of the Atreides family and start a power grab with the giant corporation?
If this situation is not handled properly, the Atreides family will be wiped out.

"Don't stare at me like that. This is just one of the requirements of the giant company."

Duke Leto shook his head with a hint of helplessness and continued to tell everyone the news that the giant company was going to take over Arrakis and control the spices.

Of course, this also includes the exchange of interests and the redistribution of imperial power proposed by Song Zhaomei.

After hearing all this, Hawat's expression changed from worry to joy. In his opinion, this was a great opportunity for the Atreides family to revive!
As a pure humanoid computer Mentate, Hawat only takes family interests into consideration when making suggestions for Duke Leto.

If they could reach a cooperation with a giant corporation in the world, the Atreides family would get quite a lot.

Even if Li Ang, an executive who supports the giant enterprise, becomes the emperor and becomes a lackey of the giant enterprise, what can he do if he destroys other families?

At worst, there will be a reallocation and a reshuffle, but this time the bosses will be giant corporations and the Atreides family.

I would rather die than let my friend die, as long as the Atreides family does not suffer any loss!
But at this moment, the person whose mood was completely opposite to Hawat's was Leto's wife, Lady Jessica.

The news that the CEO of a global giant corporation was going to become the emperor of the Galaxy was like a bolt from the blue to her.

Jessica is Paul's biological mother and a senior member of the sisterhood. She accepted the organization's orders and gave birth to a child for Duke Leto.

The purpose is for the sisterhood's breeding program!
The sisterhood's breeding program specifically selects top dignitaries as targets, has sex with them and gives birth to children, and eventually breeds the legendary "King of Prophecy".

Of course, their breeding is not random, but has certain principles.

Under the stimulation of spices, a mother who has been taking spices since childhood, combined with the genes of the father, can awaken the memories of the child's maternal and paternal ancestors.

Once this gene lock is opened, it is equivalent to the child automatically inheriting the memory and wisdom of all the awesome people in the two families, and the child will become a human being that is almost like a "god".

It has the computing power of a humanoid computer Mentate, the ability to predict the future like a navigator, and powerful sound control!

Since there has never been a real uprising of the lower classes in the Dune universe, this has led to huge differences in their class IQ and knowledge.

All the smart people are gathered in the powerful class, and the lower class is made up of pure cattle and horses, which are consumable human resources.

That is why the members of the sisterhood specifically target the elites from the powerful class and try to reproduce with them.

After all, only by doing this can we ensure that the quality of our own seeds is good enough and the defective rate is low.

For the wealthy and powerful people in the major families, an escort organization like the sisterhood is equivalent to high-end private customization, and they can customize any girl they like.

This service is so cool, so I enjoy it.

The sisterhood also relied on its well-known service quality to gradually move behind the scenes of major families and became a force that could not be ignored.

However, the ultimate goal of the sisterhood is not entirely to gain status through the son, but to create the King of Prophecy - Kwisatz Haderak.

For thousands of years, the sisterhood's breeding program has been carried out "secretly" among the major families. The powerful have been working hard to cultivate the land, and the sisterhood members have also been holding on to their quilts and working hard.

Finally, Paul, the son created by Mrs. Jessica, has a great chance of becoming the one in a million "savior" and the king of prophecy!

This time, among the delegation that will come to the Atreides family to read out Emperor Saddam's will is the Sisterhood's Mother Helen.

The position of Madonna in the sisterhood is equivalent to the highest leader of the organization, in other words, the madam. Helen is not only the Madonna of this session, but also Mrs. Jessica's teacher.

The main purpose of Helen's trip was to examine whether Paul, the seed, had the qualifications to become Kwisatz Haderak.

However, at this critical juncture, the emergence of a global giant completely disrupted the sisterhood's plans.

The CEOs of giant corporations not only have to be emperors, but also have to redistribute and reorganize the power structure of the empire.

This is equivalent to a sweep of prostitution, which wipes out all the prostitutes and clients. All previous breeding progress has been stopped, and their greatest plan to have babies has gone down the drain!

Without the support of their financial sponsor, what else can this sisterhood use to carry out its breeding program?

After all, the sisterhood, in essence, does not participate in labor or create value. They are mainly dependent on the powerful and rely on selling their beauty to obtain resources in order to carry out breeding programs.

If the CEO of a giant corporation really becomes an emperor and rules the Galactic Empire, then the Sisterhood, an compensated dating organization that has existed for thousands of years, will also come to an end!

At this moment, Mrs. Jessica felt very conflicted and embarrassed.

On the one hand, she was glad that her son Paul was no longer bound by fate and could live according to his inner wishes, but on the other hand, she was worried that the sisterhood's breeding plan would fail and that the sisterhood would even face collapse and disintegration.

As a member of the sisterhood, breeding and giving birth to the savior is their duty and their only belief in this life.

Such ideas have long been deeply rooted in their hearts, and it is impossible to change them. This is also the reason why Mrs. Jessica is so worried.

At this moment, Jessica lowered her head to hide her inner panic. The sisterhood organization itself does not possess absolute violent power.

They had neither a decent army nor powerful enough weapons, and relying on such inferior means as assassination would be of no help to the situation.

"Could it be possible that... the sisterhood arranged for its members to be assigned to the executives of the Universal Corporation and then restart the breeding program?!"

A new idea arose in Lady Jessica's mind.

But the only problem was that she didn't know whether the executives of the giant companies were willing to accept the customized services provided by the sisterhood.

Just as Lady Jessica fell into deep thought, Duke Leto and Hawat were still discussing the specific details of the cooperation.

"They actually want all of Arrakis and control the spice business. That's really greedy, but... it's not impossible."

Hawat was stunned for a moment, but after thinking for a moment, he quickly realized that something was wrong:

"Arrakis is the only place of origin of spices. If the Universal Corporation completely controls Arrakis and monopolizes the spices, our shipping system will completely collapse!"

Hearing this, Mrs. Jessica on the side was also startled suddenly, biting her lips tightly, and her inner fear deepened a little.

Spices are not only related to interstellar travel, but also needed by the sisterhood members to train truth masters who can manipulate people's behavior with sound.

Without the spice of Arrakis and the professional skill of sound control, the sisterhood's only advantage will be gone!

On the surface, the senior members of the sisterhood are privately-tailored aristocratic concubines, but they are not really mere vases or small characters who can be manipulated at will.

In most families, sorority members also have a certain say, after all, they are one of the hostesses.

But once the spices are controlled and their supply to them is prohibited, the entire sisterhood will cease to exist, and this will cut off their way to survival!

For a moment, Lady Jessica had to wonder whether the Universal Corporation was targeting the Sisterhood. On the surface, it was uniting with the Atreides Family, but in reality, every move was aimed at the Sisterhood.

"They are going to give us a device to calculate the trajectory of the flight path."

Duke Leto shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and told everyone about the amazing achievements of the world's giant company in AI artificial intelligence, as well as the information about the numerous technology point bonuses.

"This device has specific programs and protection devices as protection to prevent others from using this device to intercept data and create artificial intelligence."

Leto's words did not make Hawat relax his vigilance. He rolled his eyes thoughtfully, as if thinking about the rationality of it.

In fact, Hawat's attitude towards AI is quite open-minded, but spice, this thing, involves more aspects than just interstellar travel.

Because the Galactic Empire strictly prohibits AI, the scientific research work of various departments of the empire, as well as huge amounts of paperwork and data storage, require many Mentat to complete.

These Mentat are the information storage devices of the empire, and their brains are filled with the data and secrets of the empire.

Once the supply of spices is cut off and the Mentat professional group disappears, who will organize and collect the future work and information?

If an AI device is to be used to replace the navigator, then there is a high probability that other AI devices will also be used to replace the work of the Mentat, even if it is just "skirting the edge" and circumventing the legal procedures prohibiting the use of artificial intelligence.

Now the question is, if we encounter an AI device failure or any other problem in the future, do we have to seek help from global giants every time?

The time wasted going back and forth will waste a lot of resources and work efficiency.

This ridiculous practice of covering one's ears and stealing the bell seems to make sense on the surface, but if you think about it carefully, you will find that it simply does not work.

Most importantly, once the supply of spices is cut off, the Mentat group will come to an end.

This made Hawat a little worried about the employment direction of these Mentat.

Wow, before I chose this major, I thought I could make a lot of money and work as a staff member in aristocratic families, but after graduation I found that they have started to use AI? It’s really a good thing to catch up with the times!

You will be unemployed after graduation, right? It’s so frustrating!
Hawat was worried that these Mentat might be instigated by people with ulterior motives to cause trouble and rebel, which would be troublesome.

"The world's giant corporations gave us AI devices and also wanted to monopolize the mining rights of spices. Their intention is very clear. They want us to accept AI and computer technology."

Hawat's expression became heavier than ever before. He knew very well what the emergence of AI meant to the major families and empires.

Once the world giant corporations take control of spices, special professional groups such as Mentat, Navigators, and Truth Masters will be constrained by the giant corporations.

The political structure and ideology of the Galactic Empire will undergo a drastic change, but even so, the arrival of AI artificial intelligence cannot be stopped.

Because this is the only way for humans in the Dune universe to connect to the real future. If they miss it, they can only reshuffle and restart with the original old system.

"Your Excellency the Duke, I think we can totally accept it!"

At this time, Hawat changed the subject and said in a resounding voice: "If we do not cooperate with the Universal Corporation, the best possible outcome for our Atreides family is the decline of the family."

"From now on, you will be trapped on Caladan. Your political status will plummet and you may even be labeled a rebel!"

"But if you choose to cooperate with the Universal Corporation, then the Atreides family will be the first family in the empire, and you will lead the Atreides on the road to true revival."

This account is easy to calculate.

The giant corporations in the universe control absolutely violent weapons such as antimatter shields, hard light shields, energy shields, etc. A single expeditionary fleet can turn into a natural disaster and wipe out the entire Galactic Empire.

Even if they resisted, it wouldn't make much sense. It would only add to the casualties of hundreds of billions of the empire's citizens.

But if the Atreides family chooses to surrender at this time and participate in the distribution of interests and shaping of the political landscape of the giant company, then they will get the credit of following the dragon and will be the best beneficiaries!
Since the Atreides family now has a 100% chance of getting promoted by clinging to someone powerful, they certainly shouldn't miss it.

(End of this chapter)