Chapter 9 (A memory can be the most painful)

Gilbertus locks down his office with layered physical and technological safeguards to consult the concealed memory core of Erasmus. The two resume their fraught rapport: Erasmus admits boredom and presses to experiment on Anna Corrino, while Gilbertus refuses, citing Imperial repercussions and his duty to protect her. They begin their usual pyramid chess as they argue.

Gilbertus reveals alarming news: Horus Rakka, a former Corrin slave-pen manager who escaped like them, has been discovered and burned alive by Butlerians. The execution confirms rising hunts for “machine apologists,” intensifying the risk to Gilbertus and Erasmus. Erasmus urges immediate plans to flee and to obtain a new body, even proposing Tlulaxa-grown biology.

In a Mentat trance, Gilbertus retreats into his Memory Vault, reliving years on Lectaire under a false identity, learning to live among ordinary people, and falling in love with Jewelia—an experience Erasmus could never teach. The relationship ended in heartbreak, and Gilbertus preserved every memory, choosing a path of prominence by founding the Mentat School rather than remaining anonymous.

Returning to the present, Gilbertus acknowledges the need for an escape plan and mentions a private emergency aircraft. Erasmus insists Anna should go with them, though Gilbertus reiterates his ban on experiments. Their discussion frames the mounting peril and Gilbertus’s conflicting loyalties: to his mentor, his students, and Anna’s safety.

The moment is shattered when Alys Carroll, a brusque Butlerian trainee placed at the school, announces Manford Torondo’s summons. Gilbertus hastily hides the core, then agrees to depart at once, aware that Butlerian scrutiny is closing in and that any misstep could expose his greatest secret.