“We’ve much to do, Sire,” Halleck said.
“And I keep you from your work,” Leto said.
“I have the report on the advance bases,” Hawat said. “Shall I give it another time, Sire?”
“Will it take long?”
“Not for a briefing. It’s said among the Fremen that there were more than two hundred of these advance bases built here on Arrakis during the Desert Botanical Testing Station period. All supposedly have been abandoned, but there are reports they were sealed off before being abandoned.”
“Equipment in them?” the Duke asked.
“According to the reports I have from Duncan.”
“Where are they located?” Halleck asked.
“The answer to that question,” Hawat said, “is invariably: ‘Liet knows.’ ”
“God knows,” Leto muttered.
“Perhaps not, Sire,” Hawat said. “You heard this Stilgar use the name. Could he have been referring to a real person?”
“Serving two masters,” Halleck said. “It sounds like a religious quotation.”
“And you should know,” the Duke said.
Halleck smiled.
“This Judge of the Change,” Leto said, “the Imperial ecologist—Kynes.... Wouldn’t he know where those bases are?”
“Sire,” Hawat cautioned, “this Kynes is an Imperial servant.”
“And he’s a long way from the Emperor,” Leto said. “I want those bases. They’d be loaded with materials we could salvage and use for repair of our working equipment.”
“Sire!” Hawat said. “Those bases are still legally His Majesty’s fief.”
“The weather here’s savage enough to destroy anything,” the Duke said. “We can always blame the weather. Get this Kynes and at least find out if the bases exist.”
“‘Twere dangerous to commandeer them,” Hawat said. “Duncan was clear on one thing: those bases or the idea of them hold some deep significance for the Fremen. We might alienate the Fremen if we took those bases.”
Paul looked at the faces of the men around them, saw the intensity of the way they followed every word. They appeared deeply disturbed by his father’s attitude.
“Listen to him, Father,” Paul said in a low voice. “He speaks truth.”
“Sire,” Hawat said, “those bases could give us material to repair every piece of equipment left us, yet be beyond reach for strategic reasons. It’d be rash to move without greater knowledge. This Kynes has arbiter authority from the Imperium. We mustn’t forget that. And the Fremen defer to him.”
“Do it gently, then,” the Duke said. “I wish to know only if those bases exist.”
“As you will, Sire.” Hawat sat back, lowered his eyes.
“All right, then,” the Duke said. “We know what we have ahead of us—work. We’ve been trained for it. We’ve some experience in it. We know what the rewards are and the alternatives are clear enough. You all have your assignments.” He looked at Halleck. “Gurney, take care of that smuggler situation first.”
“‘I shall go unto the rebellious that dwell in the dry land,’ ” Halleck intoned.
“Someday I’ll catch that man without a quotation and he’ll look undressed,” the Duke said.
Chuckles echoed around the table, but Paul heard the effort in them.
The Duke turned to Hawat. “Set up another command post for intelligence and communications on this floor, Thufir. When you have them ready, I’ll want to see you.”
Hawat arose, glancing around the room as though seeking support. He turned away, led the procession out of the room. The others moved hurriedly, scraping their chairs on the floor, balling up in little knots of confusion.
It ended up in confusion, Paul thought, staring at the backs of the last men to leave. Always before, Staff had ended on an incisive air. This meeting had just seemed to trickle out, worn down by its own inadequacies, and with an argument to top it off.
For the first time, Paul allowed himself to think about the real possibility of defeat—not thinking about it out of fear or because of warnings such as that of the old Reverend Mother, but facing up to it because of his own assessment of the situation.
My father is desperate, he thought. Things aren’t going well for us at all.
And Hawat—Paul recalled how the old Mentat had acted during the conference—subtie hesitations, signs of unrest.
Hawat was deeply troubled by something.
“Best you remain here the rest of the night, Son,” the Duke said. “It’ll be dawn soon, anyway. I’ll inform your mother.” He got to his feet, slowly, stiffly. “Why don’t you pull a few of these chairs together and stretch out on them for some rest.”
“I’m not very tired, sir.”
“As you will.”
The Duke folded his hands behind him, began pacing up and down the length of the table.
Like a caged animal, Paul thought.
“Are you going to discuss the traitor possibility with Hawat?” Paul asked.
The Duke stopped across from his son, spoke to the dark windows. “We’ve discussed the possibility many times.”
“The old woman seemed so sure of herself,” Paul said. “And the message Mother—”
“Precautions have been taken,” the Duke said. He looked around the room, and Paul marked the hunted wildness in his father’s eyes. “Remain here. There are some things about the command posts I want to discuss with Thufir.” He turned, strode out of the room, nodding shortly to the door guards.
Paul stared at the place where his father had stood. The space had been empty even before the Duke left the room. And he recalled the old woman’s warning: “... for the father, nothing.”
On that first day when Muad‘Dib rode through the streets of Arrakeen with his family, some of the people along the way recalled the legends and the prophecy and they ventured to shout: “Mahdi!” But their shout was more a question than a statement, for as yet they could only hope he was the one foretold as the Lisan al-Gaib, the Voice from the Outer World. Their attention was focused, too, on the mother, because they had heard she was a Bene Gesserit and it was obvious to them that she was like the other Lisan al-Gaib.
—from “Manual of Muad’Dib” by the Princess Irulan
THE DUKE found Thufir Hawat alone in the corner room to which a guard directed him. There was the sound of men setting up communications equipment in an adjoining room, but this place was fairly quiet. The Duke glanced around as Hawat arose from a paper-cluttered table. It was a green-walled enclosure with, in addition to the table, three suspensor chairs from which the Harkonnen “H” had been hastily removed, leaving an imperfect color patch.
“The chairs are liberated but quite safe,” Hawat said. “Where is Paul, Sire?”
“I left him in the conference room. I’m hoping he’ll get some rest without me there to distract him.”
Hawat nodded, crossed to the door to the adjoining room, closed it, shutting off the noise of static and electronic sparking.
“Thufir,” Leto said, “the Imperial and Harkonnen stockpiles of spice attract my attention.”
“M’Lord?”
The Duke pursed his lips. “Storehouses are susceptible to destruction.” He raised a hand as Hawat started to speak. “Ignore the Emperor’s hoard. He’d secretly enjoy it if the Harkonnens were embarrassed. And can the Baron object if something is destroyed which he cannot openly admit that he has?”
Hawat shook his head. “We’ve few men to spare, Sire.”
“Use some of Idaho’s men. And perhaps some of the Fremen would enjoy a trip off planet. A raid on Giedi Prime—there are tactical advantages to such a diversion, Thufir.”
“As you say, my Lord.” Hawat turned away, and the Duke saw evidence of nervousness in the old man, thought: Perhaps he suspects I distrust him. He must know I’ve private reports of traitors. Well-best quiet hisfears immediately.
“Thufir,” he said, “since you’re one of the few I can trust completely, there’s another matter bears
discussion. We both know how constant a watch we must keep to prevent traitors from infiltrating our forces... but I have two new reports.”
Hawat turned, stared at him.
And Leto repeated the stories Paul had brought.
Instead of bringing on the intense Mentat concentration, the reports only increased Hawat’s agitation.
Leto studied the old man and, presently, said: “You’ve been holding something back, old friend. I should’ve suspected when you were so nervous during Staff. What is it that was too hot to dump in front of the full conference?”
Hawat’s sapho-stained lips were pulled into a prim, straight line with tiny wrinkles radiating into them. They maintained their wrinkled stiffness as he said: “My Lord, I don’t quite know how to broach this.”
“We’ve suffered many a scar for each other, Thufir,” the Duke said. “You know you can broach any subject with me.”
Hawat continued to stare at him, thinking: This is how I like him best. This is the man of honor who deserves every bit of my loyalty and service. Why must I hurt him?
“Well?” Leto demanded.
Hawat shrugged. “It’s a scrap of a note. We took it from a Harkonnen courier. The note was intended for an agent named Pardee. We’ve good reason to believe Pardee was top man in the Harkonnen underground here. The note—it’s a thing that could have great consequence or no consequence. It’s susceptible to various interpretations.”
“What’s the delicate content of this note?”
“Scrap of a note, my Lord. Incomplete. It was on minimic film with the usual destruction capsule attached. We stopped the acid action just short of full erasure, leaving only a fragment. The fragment, however, is extremely suggestive.”
“Yes?”
Hawat rubbed at his lips. “It says: ‘... eto will never suspect, and when the blow falls on him from a beloved hand, its source alone should be enough to destroy him.’ The note was under the Baron’s own seal and I’ve authenticated the seal.”
“Your suspicion is obvious,” the Duke said and his voice was suddenly cold.
“I’d sooner cut off my arms than hurt you,” Hawat said. “My Lord, what if....”
“The Lady Jessica,” Leto said, and he felt anger consuming him. “Couldn’t you wring the facts out of this Pardee?”
“Unfortunately, Pardee no longer was among the living when we intercepted the courier. The courier, I’m certain, did not know what he carried.”
“I see.”
Leto shook his head, thinking: What a slimy piece of business. There can’t be anything in it. I know my woman.
“My Lord, if—”
“No!” the Duke barked. “There’s a mistake here that—”
“We cannot ignore it, my Lord.”
“She’s been with me for sixteen years! There’ve been countless opportunities for—You yourself investigated the school and the woman!”
Hawat spoke bitterly: “Things have been known to escape me.”
“It’s impossible, I tell you! The Harkonnens want to destroy the Atreides line—meaning Paul, too. They’ve already tried once. Could a woman conspire against her own son?”
“Perhaps she doesn’t conspire against her son. And yesterday’s attempt could’ve been a clever sham.”
“It couldn’t have been a sham.”
“Sire, she isn’t supposed to know her parentage, but what if she does know? What if she were an orphan, say, orphaned by an Atreides?”
“She’d have moved long before now. Poison in my drink... a stiletto at night. Who has had better opportunity?”
“The Harkonnens mean to destroy you, my Lord. Their intent is not just to kill. There’s a range of fine distinctions in kanly. This could be a work of art among vendettas.”
The Duke’s shoulders slumped. He closed his eyes, looking old and tired. It cannot be, he thought. The woman has opened her heart to me.
“What better way to destroy me than to sow suspicion of the woman I love?” he asked.
“An interpretation I’ve considered,” Hawat said. “Still....”
The Duke opened his eyes, stared at Hawat, thinking: Let him be suspicious. Suspicion is his trade, not mine. Perhaps if I appear to believe this, that will make another man careless.
“What do you suggest?” the Duke whispered.
“For now, constant surveillance, my Lord. She should be watched at all times. I will see it’s done unobtrusively. Idaho would be the ideal choice for the job. Perhaps in a week or so we can bring him back. There’s a young man we’ve been training in Idaho’s troop who might be ideal to send to the Fremen as a replacement. He’s gifted in diplomacy.”
“Don’t jeopardize our foothold with the Fremen.”
“Of course not, Sir.”
“And what about Paul?”
“Perhaps we could alert Dr. Yueh.”
Leto turned his back on Hawat. “I leave it in your hands.”
“I shall use discretion, my Lord.”
At least I can count on that, Leto thought. And he said: “I will take a walk. If you need me, I’ll be within the perimeter. The guard can—”
“My Lord, before you go, I’ve a filmclip you should read. It’s a first-approximation analysis on the Fremen religion. You’ll recall you asked me to report on it.”
The Duke paused, spoke without turning. “Will it not wait?”
“Of course, my Lord. You asked what they were shouting, though. It was ‘Mahdi!’ They directed the term at the young master. When they—”
“At Paul?”
“Yes, my Lord. They’ve a legend here, a prophecy, that a leader will come to them, child of a Bene Gesserit, to lead them to true freedom. It follows the familiar messiah pattern.”
“They think Paul is this... this....”
“They only hope, my Lord.” Hawat extended a filmclip capsule.
The Duke accepted it, thrust it into a pocket. “I’ll look at it later.”
“Certainly, my Lord.”
“Right now, I need time to ... think.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
The Duke took a deep sighing breath, strode out the door. He turned to his right down the hall, began walking, hands behind his back, paying little attention to where he was. There were corridors and stairs and balconies and halls... people who saluted and stood aside for him.
In time he came back to the conference room, found it dark and Paul asleep on the table with a guard’s robe thrown over him and a ditty pack for a pillow. The Duke walked softly down the length of the room and onto the balcony overlooking the landing field. A guard at the corner of the balcony, recognizing the Duke by the dim reflection of lights from the field, snapped to attention.
“At ease,” the Duke murmured. He leaned against the cold metal of the balcony rail.
A predawn hush had come over the desert basin. He looked up. Straight overhead, the stars were a sequin shawl flung over blue-black. Low on the southern horizon, the night’s second moon peered through a thin dust haze—an unbelieving moon that looked at him with a cynical light.
As the Duke watched, the moon dipped beneath the Shield Wall cliffs, frosting them, and in the sudden intensity of darkness, he experienced a chill. He shivered.
Anger shot through him.
The Harkonnens have hindered and hounded and hunted me for the last time, he thought. They are dung heaps with village provost minds! Here I make my stand! And he thought with a touch of sadness: I must rule with eye and claw—asthe hawk among lesser birds. Unconsciously, his hand brushed the hawk emblem on his tunic.
To the east, the night grew a faggot of luminous gray, then seashell opalescence that dimmed the stars. There came the long, bell-tolling movement of dawn striking across a broken horizon.
It was a scene of such beauty it caught all his attention.
Some things beggar likeness, he thought.
He had never imagined anything here could be as beautiful as that shattered red horizon and the purple and ochre cl
iffs. Beyond the landing field where the night’s faint dew had touched life into the hurried seeds of Arrakis, he saw great puddles of red blooms and, running through them, an articulate tread of violet... like giant footsteps.
“It’s a beautiful morning, Sire,” the guard said.
“Yes, it is.”
The Duke nodded, thinking: Perhaps this planet could grow on one. Perhaps it could become a good home for my son.
Then he saw the human figures moving into the flower fields, sweeping them with strange scythe-like devices—dew gatherers. Water so precious here that even the dew must be collected.
And it could be a hideous place, the Duke thought.
“Thereis probably no more terrible instant of enlightenment than the one in which you discover your father is a man—with human flesh.”
—from“Collected Sayings of Muad’Dib” by the Princess Irulan
THE DUKE SAID: “Paul, I’m doing a hateful thing, but I must.” He stood beside the portable poison snooper that had been brought into the conference room for their breakfast. The thing’s sensor arms hung limply over the table, reminding Paul of some weird insect newly dead.
The Duke’s attention was directed out the windows at the landing field and its roiling of dust against the morning sky.
Paul had a viewer in front of him containing a short filmclip on Fremen religious practices. The clip had been compiled by one of Hawat’s experts and Paul found himself disturbed by the references to himself.
“Mahdi!”
“Lisan al-Gaib!”
He could close his eyes and recall the shouts of the crowds. So that is what they hope, he thought. And he remembered what the old Reverend Mother had said: Kwisatz Haderach. The memories touched his feelings of terrible purpose, shading this strange world with sensations of familiarity that he could not understand.
“A hateful thing,” the Duke said.
“What do you mean, sir?”
Leto turned, looked down at his son. “Because the Harkonnens think to trick me by making me distrust your mother. They don’t know that I’d sooner distrust myself.”
“I don’t understand, sir.”
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