Adolphus continued. “I have said that I would rather rule on Hellhole than serve on Sonjeera—so I will not accept any Diadem’s crown, nor will I rule the Deep Zone. I will focus my energies on but one planet, Hellhole.” He laughed as he mused, “I was exiled here once, but somehow I’ve grown rather fond of the place.”
This evoked a new round of cheering from the crowd. He had already suggested that Enva Tazaar might be interested in participating in the new Constellation government, but oddly she seemed to like the challenge of Theser. He decided he was impressed with her.
The sky at the horizon carried a greenish tinge, which often signified a brewing growler storm, but he knew they could ride it out, no matter how bad it was. Hellhole had toughened him. Even with all the future work of Jonwi and the reseeding efforts of the Ro-Xayans, he doubted if this frontier world would ever be completely tamed. When the first asteroid struck five centuries ago, it had set something loose here that was wild and primeval. And that was what he had grown to like; Tiber Adolphus did not shy away from adversity.
As he went down the steps, Sophie greeted him with a hug. “You led a revolution and tamed a world, Tiber,” she said with a gentle smile. “Now, perhaps there’ll be more time for us?”
* * *
Adolphus and Sophie were together in the reconstructed Ankor headquarters when Cristoph de Carre approached, grinning. Although he looked a bit weary, he was exuberant. “Fantastic news, General! A message drone just came in from Theser. Enva Tazaar’s scouts made a remarkable discovery.”
Adolphus felt his pulse quicken, but dared not hope. It could be something else, not iperion.
“One of her prospectors found a large deposit of iperion in the wastelands of Theser, far outside the craters and on the other side of the continent—but it’s a confirmed strike.” His eyes shone. “It looks like my mining expertise may be needed out in the Deep Zone after all.”
Adolphus was delighted. “That changes the future of the Deep Zone. Now we can maintain all the stringlines.”
Cristoph delivered the geological report that had been inside the message drone. “We’ll need a full assessment of course, but from my initial reading, this looks like a major deposit, maybe as big as the one Tanja Hu found on Candela. In fact, General, given my background from Vielinger, I would like to request—”
“Done, Mr. de Carre. I want you on the next stringline hauler out to Theser. But what about your family holdings on Vielinger? With the changes in the Constellation, they are legally yours again.”
“Lanny Oberon is perfectly capable of managing the old mines in my absence. But those deposits are nearly played out, and I want to go where the action is.”
Sophie added, “If Enva Tazaar is sitting on that large a deposit, she may indeed become the wealthiest, most powerful planetary administrator in the Deep Zone.”
“That could well be,” Adolphus said.
* * *
When he and Sophie returned to Elba, they shared a candlelight dinner, succulent beefsteaks from a local ranch and a bottle of one of her better red wines. It was a fine, calm evening—for a change—only made better when another message arrived that evidence of a second iperion vein had been discovered, this time in the wilderness of Cles. And there were still more than fifty prospectors hunting across the frontier planets.
Sophie touched her wineglass to his. The deep claret looked like a precious gem. “The future looks bright.”
“Indeed it does.” He took a long sip. It was not a great wine—none of the Hellhole vintages were—but he had grown used to the taste.
She said, “You know, we may even have to change the name of this planet.”
He considered, but shook his head. “I think I prefer it just the way it is.”
BY BRIAN HERBERT AND KEVIN J. ANDERSON
Dune: House Atreides
Dune: House Harkonnen
Dune: House Corrino
Dune: The Butlerian Jihad
Dune: The Machine Crusade
Dune: The Battle of Corrin
Hunters of Dune
Sandworms of Dune
Paul of Dune
The Winds of Dune
Sisterhood of Dune
Mentats of Dune
Hellhole
Hellhole Awakening
BY BRIAN HERBERT
Dreamer of Dune
(biography of Frank Herbert)
BY FRANK HERBERT
Dune
Dune Messiah
Children of Dune
God Emperor of Dune
Heretics of Dune
Chapterhouse: Dune
BY FRANK HERBERT, BRIAN HERBERT, AND KEVIN J. ANDERSON
The Road to Dune
(includes the original short novel Spice Planet)
About the Authors
Brian Herbert (right) has been nominated for both the Hugo and the Nebula awards. In 2003, he published Dreamer of Dune, a Hugo Award–nominated biography of his father. He recently published the ecological thriller Ocean, written with his wife, Jan Herbert.
Kevin J. Anderson (left) has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFX Readers’ Choice Award. He set the Guinness-certified world record for the largest single-author book signing.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.
HELLHOLE INFERNO
Copyright © 2014 by DreamStar, Inc., and WordFire, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Stephen Youll
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
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The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-2271-5 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4299-4822-7 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781429948227
First Edition: August 2014
Hellhole Inferno Page 47