Chapter 23 Chapter One

"Now, the Harkonnen is going to kill the Harkonnen," Paul whispered. He woke up shortly before nightfall, and sat up in the airtight darkness of the filtration tent.As he spoke, he heard the vague movement of his mother.She had fallen asleep leaning against the opposite tent wall. Paul looked at the proximity detector on the ground and the pointer illuminated by fluorescent tubes in the dark. "It's going to be dark soon," said his mother. "Why don't you put up the tent?" It was only then that Paul noticed that her breathing had changed for a while. She lay still in the dark until she was sure he was awake.

"Raising the canopy won't help much," he said. "There's been a strong wind outside, and the tent is covered in sand. I'll dig it up later so I can get out." "No news from Duncan yet?" "No." Paul fumbled blankly at the duke's signet ring on his thumb, suddenly angry at the thing on the planet.It was this ring that caused his father to be killed.He shuddered at the thought of it. "I heard the storm starting," Jessica said. Her non-questioning tone and meaningless words brought him back to his composure.Seeing the storm blow through the transparent end of the distillation tent, his thoughts focused on the storm.The storm blows the cold sand across the basin, across the gullies, and winds its long tail into the sky.He looked up at the pinnacle of a rock and watched it change shape in the gusts of wind, into a low, cheese-colored wedge.The sand that flowed into their basin covered the sky like dull curry powder.When the tent is completely buried, all light is blocked.

The pillars supporting the tent buckled and rattled under the heavy pressure of the sand.Only the faint whistling sound of the sandblast vent's bellows drawing air in from outside the tent broke the silence. "Try the air receiver again," Jessica said. "It's no use," he said. He found the hose on the dialysis suit held in a clip around his neck and took a sip of warm water.This, he thought, was the real beginning of his life as an Arakane-surviving by retrieving water from his own breath and body.The water was bland and tasteless, but it moistened his throat.

Jessica felt her own slippery filter suit cling to her when Paul drank, but she fought back her thirst.Accepting thirst always required a full awareness of Arrakis' great need, where they had to protect sporadic and tiny amounts of water.Only a small amount of water is stored in the tent hydration bag, so the water needed to breathe in the open air must be cherished. Involuntarily she fell down and fell asleep again. However, she had been dreaming all day, and she trembled at the thought of the dream she had had.In the dream, she stretched her hand under the quicksand, where a name was written: Duke Redo Atrez.The name was illegible, and she moved to make it clear, but before the last letters began to appear, the first letters filled in with quicksand.

The sand is always flowing. Her dreams turned into cries, and the cries grew louder.That weird, ridiculous cry—some part of her brain realized that it was her own cry as a child, softer than a baby's.The woman who was not very clear in the dream gradually disappeared. Jessica thought: My unknown mother, that old Bee Geist woman, gave me up from birth to my sister.Since that was what she was asked to do, was she happy to get herself out of Harkonnen? "Assault on them in the Land of Declining Spices," said Paul. How could he think of attacking at a time like this?she asked to herself.

"The whole planet is full of decaying spices," she said, "how can you attack them there?" She heard him move, the clatter of the rucksack dragging on the ground. "There's a navy and an air force in Karadan," he said. "There's a desert army here, and the Fremen are key." His voice came from near the tent expansion door.Her Bee Geist training made her feel the resentment in his tone that she wasn't firm enough. Paul had been trained to hate the Harkonnens, Jessica thought.Now he finds himself a Harkonnen...for my sake.He knows so little about me!I am the Duke's only woman, and I accept his life and values, even though I have a mission with Bi Geist.

The lights of the tent turned on under Paul, and a green flash illuminated a circular area.Paul squatted by the expansion door, adjusted the hood of the filtration suit, and prepared to enter the open desert—forehead covered, mouth filter, nostrils stuffed, only black eyes exposed.He turned his narrow face toward her, then turned away. "Get your gear ready, we're ready to go," he said.Behind the filter, his words were slurred. Jessica put the filter on and watched Paul open the airtight tent door and adjust the mask. When he opened the extension door, there was a harsh sound from the sofa.Before he could use the compaction tool to fix the sand, the sand was pouring into the tent with a harsh hiss.When the compaction tool re-drained the sand, a hole appeared in the sand wall.He got out, and her ears followed him to the sand outside.

What will we find there?she asked herself.The Harkonnen's army and the Sadokar, those men who could be expected to be dangerous.If not, what are the dangers we don't know about? She thought of compactors and other oddities in her pack.Every tool suddenly appeared in her mind as a mysterious and dangerous symbol. She felt a searing breeze from the sand, onto her bare cheek above the filter. "Hand over the backpack." That was Paul's voice, low and cautious. Moving obediently, she pushed the backpack across the ground, hearing the gurgle of water in the water reservoir.She looked up and saw Paul framed by the stars in the night sky.

"Here," he said, reaching down and pulling the pack up to the ground. Now she saw a cloud of stars, shining like the tip of a weapon, aimed down at her.A shower of meteorites swept across the night sky she could see, meteorites like a warning, like the spotted hide of a tiger, like heavy stones that congealed her blood and made her feel the chill of decaying spices above. "Hurry up," Paul said, "I'm going to fold the tent." A shower of sand from above hit her hands.How much sand can you hold in your hand?she asked herself. "Shall I help you?" Paul asked.

"No." She swallowed in a dry throat.Sliding into the hole, she felt the pinned sand crunch under her hands.Paul reached down and grabbed her arm.She stood beside him on a patch of smooth, starlit sand.She looked around. The sand had almost filled the basin they were in, leaving only the tops of the rocks hazy all around.She probed further into the darkness with her trained senses. Noises made by small animals. birdsong. The moving sand fell, and there was a faint sound in the sand. Paul folded up the tent and re-pitched it over the hole. Starlight cannot replace the night, every darkness is full of danger.She stared at the patches of darkness.

Black is a blind dream, she thought, and you listen to the sounds, to the cries of those who used to chase your ancestors.The past is so far away that only your most primitive cells can remember, ears can see, nostrils can see. After a while Paul stood beside her and said, "Duncan told me that if he gets caught, he can persevere... After such a long time, we have to get out of here." On one side of the mountain, climb to a ledge overlooking a vast expanse of desert. Jessica follows mechanically, realizing how she must now stay on track with her son's life. For my grief is heavier than the sands in this sea of ​​sand, she thought, The world has taken everything from me except the oldest purpose - the life of tomorrow, for which I must pay for my young duke and return The unborn daughter lived. She crawled up to Paul, feeling the sand tug her feet back. He looked north, across a row of rocks, to the steep slopes beyond. The side of the rock in the distance, like a battleship at sea, was silhouetted against the starlight and disappeared with a long swishing sound on invisible waves.Segmented curved dart antenna, curved back into an arc to form a P-shape plunging upwards into the stern. Above the outline of the battleship, there was a strong orange light, which was cut downward by an extremely bright purple light. Another beam of purple light! Another beam of orange light piercing upwards! Like an ancient naval battle, that haunting cannon fire, they gazed at this strange sight. "The Pillar of Fire," Paul whispered. A red flame rose above the distant rocks, and purple light weaved the sky. "Jet flames and lasguns," Jessica said. Reddish dust obscured the first moon of Arrakis rising on the horizon to their left, where they saw signs of the beginning of the storm—sweeping in bands across the desert. "It must be the Harkonnen planes looking for us," Paul said. "They're cutting up the desert... as if they're sure they can destroy anything there... like an insect nest." "Or Atrez's Lair," Jessica said. "We'll have to find a place to hide," Paul said. "We'll head south without leaving the rocks. If they find us in the open..." He turned and picked up his pack. "They'll kill anything that moves." He took a step along the edge of the rock, and at that moment he heard the low hiss of the plane taxiing and saw the orthopter above them.