He closed his eyes and chose his difficulty level. An image of a grid formed in his mind. He became the other, the Morgan. Quickly he ran through the mind game, winning easily. He started another game. Then two more at the same time. He was a super mentat, and could play a hundred versions of this game in his mind at the same time.
Once, ages past, he had mastered the ancient game of Chess. Then he had moved on to another game involving two colors of stones. That had been a good diversion. Over and over he had played, running through parallel strands of time to see the pattern of possible victory. Slowly the pattern formed, with its disappointing conclusion: victory did not depend on which player went first, but rather on the position in which each player sat.
Now he played a game of exploration and exploitation, expansion and extermination. This was a good philosophy, and useful for his current scheme: enslaving the worm god Leto, and winning the heart of his virgin sister, Ghanima.
After that, he would turn the entire planet into a resort. The first thing to do was move the place a little closer to the sun. If you're going to have a desert planet, at least make it hot one. Then would come the games of chance, the gambling halls where he could shake every last microgram of spice out of the hands of pilgrims who were bad at math.
Then, he would take his wealth and buy a thousand planets, and play each one as a galactic game of conquest, mastering the seven aspects: the commune, the nature lover, the beaurocrat... K shivered in anticipation.
But who would play his nemesis? He could not see this person in his vision, he only saw a vague figure moving around a vertical rail. The figure writhed, it rubbed. He could see her silhouette, yes, definitely a woman. Her hands moved down her torso. Then there were others, there were more women, in different cities, each one an exquisite dancer. Who were these women of his dreams?
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