Chapter 10 chapter Ten

At the end of the south wing, Jessica saw a metal spiral staircase leading to an oval door.She looked back down the hall, then walked to the door. Oval?She felt strange.It is rare for a door in a house to take this shape. Through the window below the spiral staircase, Jessica could see the sun of Arrakis outside, the white light was gradually moving westward, night was approaching, and long shadows were reflected in the hall. The slanted light shone on the stairs, which were covered with clods of mud. Jessica reached out and grabbed the railing and began to climb.The railing is cold.She stopped in front of the door and found that there was no doorknob on it, but there was a faint indentation, which should be the place where the doorknob was installed.

Certainly not a palm lock, Jessica said to herself, "A palm lock should be shaped like someone's hand, with palm prints. But it looks like a palm lock." There is a way to open any palm lock... …she learned it in school. Jessica glanced back, making sure that no one was paying attention to her, so she put her palm on the indentation and pressed lightly to deform the line of the palm... Turning the wrist, turning it again, the palm slides and rotates horizontally along the surface. She heard a click. But at this moment, there was a rush of footsteps below.Jessica took her hand off the door and turned to see Mapes walking down the ladder.

"Someone in the hall said that the Duke sent them to pick up the young master Paul," Mapes said, "They have the seal of the Duke, and the guards have verified it." She glanced at the door and then at Jessica. Jessica thought: This Mapes is a cautious person, which is a good sign. "Paul is in the fifth room from here, a small bedroom," Jessica said. "If you can't wake him up, please call Dr. Viet next door. Paul may need an alarm." Mapes cast another keen glance at the oval door, which Jessica thought was disapproval.Before Jessica had time to ask about the door and what was in it, Mapes turned and hurried away.

Jessica thought: Hawat has checked the place, there can't be anything too worrisome. She pushed the door, and it opened to reveal a small room, opposite another oval door with a wheel handle. An air lock!thought Jessica.She glanced down and saw a spiralizer on the ground with Hawat's imprint on it.This door has been opened.Someone accidentally knocked the screwer to the ground, not realizing that the door outside would be closed with a palm lock. She went into the cabin. Why is there an air lock in the house?she asked herself.It suddenly occurred to me that the alien creatures were sealed in a special climate environment.

Special climate environment! It was a matter of course in Arrakis, where even the most drought-tolerant plants had to be watered. The door behind her began to close.Jessica picked up the wooden stick left by Hawat and put it against the door. Facing the inner door with a wheel lock in the back room, she found a line of words etched on the metal door handle: "Oh, human beings! This is what God created Beauty; stand here, then, and learn to love the perfection of your divine friend." Jessica put all her weight on the wheel and turned left, the inner door opened, and a breeze brushed her cheek and lifted her hair.She felt that the air was changing, and the breath was thicker.She pushed open the door and saw patches of green inside, with yellow sunlight shining on it.

Yellow sunshine?Then, she asked herself, there was a filter glass! She stepped over the bars and the door closed automatically. Jessica took a breath: "A humid planetary greenhouse." There are vibrant plants and trees everywhere.She recognized a mimosa, a flowering quince tree, a magnolia, a hibiscus with purple flowers, a red and white peach tree, and... roses. This is really a rose! Jessica lowered her head and took a deep breath, and an extra-large pink rose gave off a refreshing fragrance.She straightened up and continued to look around. She heard a rhythmic sound. She pushed aside the branches of a leafy shrub and looked at the middle of the house.There was a low fountain with a flute-shaped water channel, and the rhythmic sound was the sound of a thin stream of water drawing an arc in the air and falling into a metal dish.

Jessica mobilized her senses and senses, and conducted a comprehensive and careful inspection of the entire environment: this place is about 10 square meters, built above the end of the hall, and has a different architectural style from other places.Judging from this, this place was added long after the completion of the main project. She stopped by the south wall of the house, facing the large filter glass, and carefully looked at everything around her.Every available space here is filled with exotic wetland plants.There was a rustling sound in the green, and Jessica looked up alertly. It turned out to be an automatic timing servo system equipped with pipes and nozzles.One arm is raised, a spray of water is sprayed from the nozzle, and the arm retracts automatically.She noticed that it was watering a prong tree.

There's water everywhere in this house...and the planet's waste of water shakes Jessica deeply. She looked up at the yellow sun through the filter, sinking beyond the jagged horizon, where the giant rocks were known as the Screening Wall. Jessica thought: the filter softens the incandescent sunlight and makes it kinder.Who built such a place?Leido?Maybe want to surprise me with such a gift, like his style.But he can't have time.And he's been busy with more important things. She remembered reading reports that many of Arakane's doors and windows were sealed with airlocks to trap moisture inside.Leido once said that the lack of such measures in this house was a display of power and wealth, and that the house was only equipped with basic dust protection.

But the cottage itself holds meaning and symbolism far beyond what the house's lack of hermetic seals can represent.Jessica reckons there's enough water for a thousand people living in Arrakis, maybe more. Jessica walked along the window, continued to observe everything in the house, and suddenly noticed a shiny metal object half a person's height near the fountain.It was a blotter and a pen, hidden by fan-shaped leaves.She walked over to a table with Hawat's imprint on it.Jessica noticed a note on the blotter: Jessica nodded, remembering that Leido had said that Earl Fenlon was the emperor's representative in Arrakis.But the message implied that Jessica should pay attention to something immediately, telling her that the person who left the message was also a Bee Geist, and that the earl had officially married her concubine, which made Jessica feel bad.At the same time she started looking for hidden messages that must be nearby.Every bee-geist has an obligation to convey information to other bee-geist when the situation calls for it.

"The Road of Hope is full of dangers" is a code word, indicating that there are other intelligences nearby. Jessica fumbled carefully across the front and back of the note, looking for the coded message, but there was none, nor the edge of the note.She put the note pad back in place, a sense of urgency welling up in her heart. Is there something near the notepad?Jessica thought. But Hawat had been in the house, so he must have touched the book.She looked up and noticed the leaves, yes, the leaves!She ran her fingers over the back, spine and veins of the leaf and found it!Her fingers felt the dotted code, and she read it quickly: "Your son and the Duke will be in danger soon. There is a bedroom specially designed to attract your son. The Kazakhs set up death traps, one in the open, one in the open." It's hard to find out." Jessica suppressed her urge to see Paul, she had to finish reading the information.Her fingers continued to trace the dotted code. "I don't know the exact nature of the threat, but it has something to do with the bed. The threat to the duke mainly stems from the betrayal of a trusted aide or general. The Kazakhs are going to give you as a gift to a favorite. As far as I know, this place It is safe. Forgive me for not being able to provide more information, as the earl is not paid by the Kazakhs, so my sources of information are limited. MF in a hurry."

Jessica threw away the leaves and hurriedly turned to look for Paul. At this moment, the air door opened suddenly, and Paul jumped in. Holding something in his right hand, he closed the door forcefully.He saw his mother, parted the leaves and rushed to her.Paul glanced at the fountain and lowered his hand and contents into the water. "Paul!" she asked, grabbing his hand, staring at what was in it, "what's that?" "Killer Dart," Paul said casually, but she heard something strange from the tone of his voice, "I found it in my room, I broke its launch tube, but I want to make sure, water should be able to differentiate." "Dip it in!" Jessica ordered. Paul complied. She said at once, "Take your hand out and let that thing rest in the water." Paul withdrew his hand and shook off the water above, staring at the metal object lying quietly in the water.Jessica snapped a twig and poked the deadly weapon. Nothing happened. She throws the branch into the water and looks at Paul, realizing that he is searching the house with the watchful eye that BG (Bee Geist) is used to. "This place can hide anything," Paul said. "I have reason to believe this place is safe," Jessica said. "My room also said it was safe, and Hawat said..." "It's a hunting dart," Jessica reminded her son, "that means the man who piloted it is in the house. The manipulator on this thing has a very small effective radius, and it may have been installed after Hawat's search. " But she thought of the message conveyed by the leaves, "... a betrayal of a trusted confidant or general", it would not be Hawat, certainly not, never would be him. "Hawat's men are searching the whole house right now," Paul said. "The hunting dart nearly hit the old woman who called me." "It's Chardout Mapes." Jessica said, remembering the encounter by the stairs, "Your father told you to go..." "That can wait," he said. "Why do you think there is no danger in this room?" She pointed to the guest book and explained it to him. Paul breathed a sigh of relief. But Jessica was still very nervous inside, she thought: It's a hunting dart, my God!It took all her strength to keep herself from trembling. Paul said solemnly, "It's the Harkonnen's work, no problem, we have to kill them." There was a knock on the door... It was a signal knock, and Hawat's people wanted to come in. "Come in," Paul replied. The door swung open and in came a tall man in an Atrez uniform with the Hawat Force insignia on his hat. "You are here, sir," he said, "the housekeeper says you are here." He looked around the room, and then he said: "We found a pile of stones in the basement, and there was a man hiding in it, holding a Controls for the Hunting Dart." "I wish to attend his trial," Jessica said. "I'm sorry, ma'am, we were too hasty in catching him, he's dead." "Nothing to prove his identity?" Jessica asked. "We haven't found it yet." "Is he an Arakan native?" Paul asked. It was an ingenious question, and Jessica nodded. "He looks like a native," he said. "It was put in the cairn a month ago and stayed there until we arrived. The basement was inspected yesterday and it's untouched, on my honour." "No one doubts the thoroughness of your search," Jessica said. "I suspected, ma'am. We should have used sonar there." "I'm guessing you're using this in your current search," Paul said. "Yes, sir." "Notify my father that we have something to do later." "Immediately, Your Excellency," he glanced at Jessica, "Hawat ordered: In view of the current situation, the little master should be protected in a safe place." He glanced at the room again, and said, "What kind of place is this ?” "I think the place is safe," Jessica said. "Hawat and I have checked the place." "Then, I'll increase security outside until we've re-inspected the whole house." He bent down, saluted Paul with his hand up, and backed out, closing the door behind him. Paul said suddenly, "Shouldn't we better inspect the whole house for ourselves? You might find something no one else noticed." "That's the only part I didn't check myself, and I didn't because..." "Because Hawat checked it himself," he said. She gave him a sharp look and asked. "You don't trust Hawat?" "No, he's old...too tired. We can help him with some of the work." "It would humiliate him and hinder his effectiveness," Jessica said. "He'd never let a fly into the place again when he knew about it. He'd be humiliated if—" "We have to have our own measures," he said. "Hawat has served three generations of the Atrez family with great loyalty," she said. "He deserves our complete confidence and deep respect." Paul said: "When Dad is in trouble, you use what he calls 'bee gist,' and talk like a sword." "What if I trouble your father?" "When you argue with him." "You're not your father, Paul," Jessica said. And Paul thought: That would worry her, but I must tell her that the Mapes woman says there are traitors among us. "Why don't you talk?" Jessica asked. "That's not your character, Paul!" He shrugged, reconsidering what Mapes had said. But Jessica was thinking about the leaves' information.She made a sudden decision, handed the leaf to Paul, and told him the meaning of it. "My father should know this message immediately," Paul said. "I sent it to him in code." "No," she said. "You'd better wait until you're alone with him. The fewer people who know, the better." "You mean none of us can be trusted?" There is another possibility," she said, 'the message was sent to us on purpose, and the person who sent it believed it to be true, but it may have been the case that the message was sent to us for the purpose.'" Paul thought quietly with. "To create discord among us, to weaken us," he said. "You have to tell your father quietly and alert him to this conspiracy," Jessica told her son. "I understand." Jessica turned to face the high filter glass, staring to the southwest, the sun of Arrakis was sinking... a yellow ball of light on the cliff. Paul also turned and said to his mother, "I don't think it's Hawat. Could it be Viet?" "He is neither a general nor a entourage," she answered, "and I can assure you that he hates the Harkonnen as much as we all do." Paul noticed the cliffs in the distance and thought: It couldn't be Gurney either... or Duncan. Could it be someone from a lower class?Impossible, they are all selected from families who have been loyal to us for generations, everyone is innocent and unique. Jessica wiped her forehead, tired.This is simply dangerous!She looked at the yellowish landscape beyond the filter glass, admiring it carefully.On the far side of the Duchy is a row of warehouses surrounded by high fences... there are many underground storage rooms, which store decaying spices, and there are towering watchtowers on the ground.She could see at least 20 warehouses, stretching all the way to the bottom of the cliff outside the shielding wall, continuously. The sun slowly faded below the horizon and the stars jumped out.She saw a particularly bright star, just on the edge of the horizon, twinkling and twinkling rhythmically... It was a quivering light: trembling. Paul, who was standing beside him, moved uneasily. Still watching the bright star, Jessica realized that it was too low and must have come from the cliff at the shield wall. Someone signal! She wanted to understand the meaning of the signal, but she had never learned the code. Other lights also appeared on the plain behind the cliff one after another, with dots of yellow light on the blue-black background.Suddenly, a little light on the left became particularly bright, retreating towards the cliff...quickly, and suddenly disappeared. The fake star on the other side of the cliff flashed out immediately. The signal... Jessica's heart was full of premonition. She secretly asked: Why use light to signal?Why not use a communication network? The answer was obvious: the Duke's men were now able to monitor the communication network for messages.The light signal only meant one thing: the enemy was contacting... Harkonnen's spies. There was a knock on the door behind him, and one of Hawat's subordinates said: "All the investigations are completed... Your Excellency, lady. Now it is time to send the young master to his father."