Chapter 25 third chapter

In the night, orthopters taxied above them.Paul grabbed his mother's arm and snapped, "Don't move!" He saw the aluminum plane in the moonlight, its wings cupped to slow down for landing; the pilot's hands scrambling on the wheel. "It's Idaho," he said quietly. The plane and its companions landed in the basin like a flock of birds homing in.Idaho got off the plane and ran toward them before the dust cleared.Two men in Freeman robes followed him, and Paul recognized the tall man with the sand-colored beard—Keynes. "This way," Keynes called, turning to the left.

Behind Keynes, the other Fremen draped fibernets over their orthoplanes, which became a row of low dunes. Idaho slid over, stopped in front of Paul, and saluted him: "Your Excellency, the Fremen have a temporary shelter near here, and I'm there..." "What's the matter there?" Paul pointed to the intense scene above the distant cliffs—jet flames, purple beams of laser guns piercing across the desert. A rare smile appeared on Idaho's round and calm face: "Your Excellency...Your Majesty, I will leave a little for them..." Milky light flooded the desert—bright as the sun, swallowing their shadows on the ledges.In one quick motion, Idaho grabbed Paul's arm with one hand and Jessica's shoulder with the other, throwing them both over the tor and into the basin below.Explosions thundered over them, and together they scrambled to the sand.The shock wave from the explosion knocked rubble off the tor they had just left.

Idaho sat up and brushed the sand off himself. "Not a family atomic weapon!" Jessica said. "I thought..." "You've put a block here," Paul said. "The massive shield relies on the entire military force," Idaho said, "and a laser shot at it..." He shrugged. "Subatomic fission," Jessica said, "is a dangerous weapon." "It's not a weapon, ma'am. It's a fortification. That jerk should think twice about using the lasgun again." The Fremen from the orthopters parked above them, and one whispered, "We should hide, friend."

Idaho helped Jessica to her feet, and Paul stood up by himself. "The explosion will be duly noted, Your Majesty," Idaho said. Your Majesty, thought Paul. The word had strange effect when used of him, His Majesty had always been his father's title. He felt himself affected for a short time by the power of foresight, and saw himself infected by the savage racial consciousness which was leading the world of men to great abysses, and the vision made him shudder.He let Idaho lead and stood on a tor at the edge of the basin. There, the Fremen are using compactors to break a path under the sand.

"Your Majesty, can I help you carry your backpack?" Idaho asked. "It's not heavy, Duncan," said Paul. "You're not shielded," Idaho said. "Will you wear mine?" He glanced at the cliff in the distance. "There can't be any laser guns around." "Duncan, put on your shield, your right arm is enough to protect me." Jessica sees the compliment work, and Idaho draws closer to Paul.She thought: My son has a solid relationship with his people. The Fremen removed a stone plug to reveal a passageway to the Desertman's underground complex, and a camouflaged cover covered the entrance to the passageway.

"This way," said a Fremen, leading them down the stone steps and into the darkness. Behind them, the lid blocks the moonlight.Ahead of them, a dim green light illuminated the steps and rock face, a turn to the left.People in robes surrounded them, walking down.Turning a corner, they found another passage sloping downward, leading to a rough cavern. Keynes stood in front of them, hood behind his head, his dialysis suit glowing in green light.His long hair and beard were unkempt, and his whiteless blue eyes were black under heavy eyebrows. When they met, Keynes wondered to himself: Why should I help these people?It's the most dangerous thing I've ever done, and it could lead me to share their doom.

He looked at Paul from the front. This boy already had the appearance of an adult man, hiding his sorrow and suppressing everything, except for the status he had to inherit—the duke title.It occurred to Keynes then that the duke was around only because the young man was around—not something to be taken lightly. Jessica looked around the room, pinning it down in Bee Geist fashion—a laboratory, a place of civilian habitation, full of ancient horns and squares. "This is one of the Imperial Ecological Experiment Stations, and my father wants to use them as advanced research bases," Paul said.

His father had wanted to do that, Keynes thought. Keynes surprised himself again: Am I stupid to help these refugees?Why should I do this?I catch them now, and it will be easy to trade them for the Harkonnen's trust. Paul looked around the room, following his mother's example.Workbenches lined one side of the room, a featureless rock wall, and tools lined either side of the stool—glowing dials, wired discs of decaying spice refining, from which slotted glass rods protruded.A place that smells of ozone. Some of the Freemen moved on, rounding a hidden corner of the room where new sounds emerged—the whine of machinery, the whirring of belts and the whine of multi-cylinder engines.

Paul looked across the room and saw cages with small animals hanging on the wall. "You correctly identified this place," Keynes said. "Paul Atrez, why are you using this place?" "To make this planet a habitable place for human beings," Paul said. Maybe that's why I'm helping them, Keynes thought. The sound of the machine suddenly subsided and became silent.In the silence came the faint cry of an animal, which came to an abrupt end, as if embarrassing. Paul noticed the cage again, and he saw that the animals were brown-winged bats, and an automatic feeder protruded from the wall into the cage.

A Freeman came out from the dark room of the room and said to Keynes: "Let, the field engine has stopped working. I can't make us avoid the near-Earth detector." "Can you fix it?" Keynes asked. "Takes a long time, parts..." The man shrugged. "Well," Keynes said, "well, we don't need the machine, but we get a hand pump to pump the air up to the surface." "Of order." The man left hastily. Keynes turned to Paul again: "You answered very well." Jessica noticed the man's relaxed, low voice, a loyal voice, used to following orders.She thinks he has something to do with Lett.Lett is the embodiment of the Fremen, and Tame is the other face of the planetary ecologist.

"We appreciate your help, Dr. Keynes," she said. "Well...we know." Keynes said, and he nodded to one of his men, "Charmiel, prepare spiced coffee in my room!" "Yes, Lett," said the man. Keynes pointed to an arched door in one wall of the room and said, "Please!" Jessica nodded gracefully before accepting the invitation.She saw Paul sign to Idaho to set up guards here. After two steps, through a heavy door, the passage leads to a square office, which is illuminated by golden spherical lights.When Jessica entered the office, she touched the door with her hand and was surprised to find that the door was made of plastic steel. Paul entered the room, took three steps, put his backpack on the floor, and heard the door close behind him.He surveyed the room—about eight meters long on each side, the walls were natural rock, curry-coloured, and to their right was a row of metal cabinets that made the room look disjointed. A low desk with a cream glass top covered in yellow foam sits in the center of the room, surrounded by four hanging chairs. Keynes walked around Paul and grabbed a chair for Jessica to sit on.She sat down and watched her son survey the room. Paul stood and waited for a while.The anomaly of air flowing in the room told him there was a secret exit behind a cupboard to their right. "Paul Atrez, please sit down?" Keynes asked. He was careful not to use my title, Paul thought.But he accepted.When Keynes sat down, he remained silent. "You'd think Arrakis would be heaven," Keynes said, "but, as you can see, the Empire sent here trained executioners and spice hunters." Paul held up the thumb that wore the Duke's signet ring: "Did you see this ring?" "yes." "Do you know what it means?" Jessica turned quickly and stared at her son. "Your father lies dead in the ruins of Arakane," Keynes said. "Technically, you're the Duke." "I'm a soldier of the Empire," Paul said, "and technically, an executioner." Keynes' face darkened: "Even standing on your father's corpse with the emperor's Sadoka?" "Sadoka is one thing, my source of legal power is another," Paul said. "Arakis had his own way of deciding who wore the robes of authority," Keynes said. Jessica turned to look at him and thought: This man has a will of steel and no one can make him angry...we need people with a will of steel.Paul is doing something dangerous. Paul said, "The Sadokars of Arrakis are a measure of how much our revered Emperor is afraid of my father. Now I will explain the reasons why Emperor Paddy is afraid of...." "Boy," Keynes said, "there are some things you don't..." "You should address me Your Majesty, or Your Excellency," Paul said. Mild, Jessica thought. Keynes glared at Paul.Jessica noticed that the planetary ecologist had a gleam of appreciation, with a touch of humour, on his face. "Your Majesty," Keynes said. "I am an unstable factor to the emperor," said Paul, "and an unstable factor to all those who carve up Arrakis. As long as I live, I will continue to be such an unstable factor. factor. I gag them and let them choke to death." "Son of God," Keynes said. Paul stared at him, and after a while he said, "You made up a story about Lisan al-Ghab, a voice from an alien, a man who would lead the Fremen to heaven. Those of yours... ..." "Superstition!" said Keynes. "Perhaps," agreed Paul, "but perhaps not superstition. Sometimes superstitions have strange roots, and still stranger offshoots." "You have a plan," Keynes said, "that's pretty obvious... Your Majesty." "Can your Fremen provide me with strong evidence that there are Sadoka here in Harkonnen uniforms?" "absolutely okay." "The emperor will send a Harkonnen back here to take power," said Paul, "maybe it's Rabin the Beast. Let him come! Once he gets himself involved, he's bound to get away with it, let the emperor face him." Regarding the possibility of submitting a bill to the Landsrad Supreme Joint Council. Let him answer..." "Paul!" Jessica said. "Landslad Grand Joint Commission accepted your proposal of charges as a matter of course," Keynes said, "There can only be one outcome, a war between the Empire and the Great Houses." "It's a scuffle," Jessica said. "But I'll present my bill to the emperor first," Paul said, "and give him a choice whether he faces a scuffle." Jessica said in a dry voice, "Blackmail!" "One of the tools of the politician, as you say yourself," Paul said.Jessica could hear a little resentment in his words. "Planets falling apart and chaos everywhere—he didn't want to take that risk." "Your bill is a desperate gamble," Keynes said. "What are the big families of Lanzrad most concerned about?" Paul asked. "What they are most worried about is what happened in Arrakis-Sardokar is killing them one by one, and that is Lanzlade. The reason for the existence of the Zlad Grand United Council. It is the glue. Only together can they compete with the Emperor's military power." "But they..." "That's what they were afraid of," Paul said, "that Arrakis would come back. Every single one of them would see themselves in my father — to break away from the crowd and get killed." "Will his plan work?" Keynes said to Jessica. "I'm not a Mentat," Jessica said. "But you're Bee Geist." She fixed him an inquiring look and said, "His plan has its strengths and its weaknesses... Like any plan at this stage, the success of this plan depends as much on its execution as it does on its success." idea." "'Law is extreme science,'" Paul was quoted as saying, "should be written on the emperor's door, and I will show him the law." "I'm not sure I can trust the people who conceived this plan," Keynes said. "Arrakis has its own plan, and we..." "With the throne," Paul said, "I can create Arrakis' paradise with a wave of my hand. This is the price I give you for supporting me." Keynes said fiercely: "Your Majesty, my loyalty is not for sale." Paul looked across the desk, watched him, met that cold, bluish, angry gaze, surveyed that imposing, bearded face.Paul showed a serious smile and said, "You say you don't sell your loyalty, but I believe that I have a price that you will accept. For your loyalty, I dedicate my allegiance to you...all of it." She saw that Paul's words excited Keynes. "It's nonsense," Keynes said, "you're just a kid and..." "I'm the Duke," said Paul, "I'm an Atrez, and an Atrez never violates such a contract." Keynes refrained. "I say all," Paul said, "and I mean nothing, I would give my life for you." "Your Majesty!" Keynes said.This blurted out to him, but Jessica understood that he was not addressing a fifteen-year-old boy now, but a grown man, someone of higher status.Keynes means exactly what the word expresses. At a time like this, he would sacrifice his life for Paul, she thought.How did Atrez do it so quickly and so easily? "I know what you mean," Keynes said, "but Harkonen..." The door slammed open behind Paul, and he turned to see a frightening scene of violence—shouts in the passageway, the clanging of steel, waxy faces grimacing. His mother stood beside him, and he leaped toward the door, seeing Idaho blocking the passage. His bloodshot eyes could be seen through the stains on the shield, claw-like hands crossed his body, the curved steel knife slashed on the shield, and the orange flames from the spray gun were blocked by the shield.The blade penetrated Idaho's shield, the tip trembled slightly, and bright red blood dripped from it. Keynes ran to Paul, their weight on the door. Paul took one last look at Idaho, who was standing facing a group of men in Harkonnen uniforms—he was moving rapidly, a red death flower blooming in his black goat hair.The door was closed, and there was a thud as Keynes bolted the bolt. "I seem to have made up my mind," Keynes said. "Before you turned off the machine, someone probed it," Paul said.He pulled his mother away from the door and saw the look of despair in her eyes. "I should have expected trouble when the coffee wasn't delivered," Keynes said. "There's a deadbolt hole outside here," said Paul, "shall we use that?" Keynes took a deep breath and said, "Except for using laser guns, this door can withstand at least twenty minutes." "They won't use laser guns, because they are afraid that we have shields here too." Jessica whispered. They could hear the rhythmic banging of doors. Keynes pointed to the cabinet against the right wall and said, "Come this way." He walked to the first cabinet, opened the drawer, manipulated a handle inside deftly, and the entire wall of the cabinet moved away, revealing A dark tunnel. "The door is also made of malleable steel," Keynes said. "You're ready," Jessica said. "We've lived under the Harkonnen for eighty years," Keynes said.He led them into the darkness and closed the door. In the sudden darkness, Jessica saw a glowing arrow on the ground in front of her. Keynes' voice came from behind: "We are breaking up here. This wall is very solid, and it can withstand at least an hour. Walk forward along the arrows on the ground, and they will automatically go out after you pass. After passing through the maze, you can reach Another exit, where I hid an orptopter. There's a huge storm sweeping across the desert tonight, and your only hope is to ride the storm and sneak into the top of the storm. While stealing the orptopter, my men were already Done. If you fly high in the storm, you'll live." "What do you do?" Paul asked. "I will escape by another way. If I am caught... Well, I am still an imperial planet ecologist. I can say that I am your prisoner." Run away like a coward, Paul thought, but otherwise, how am I going to live to avenge my father?He turned to face the door. Jessica heard him move, and said, "Duncan is dead, Paul. You see his wounds, and you can do nothing now for his sake." "One day, I will make them all pay in blood." Paul said. "Unless you leave now," Keynes said. Paul felt the man put a hand on his shoulder. "Keynes, where will we meet?" Paul asked. "I will send the Fremen to find you. You all know the path of the storm. Go now, and the great Mother will give you speed and good luck." They heard him go, scrambling away in the dark. Jessica touched Paul's hand, pulled him gently, and said, "We shouldn't be apart." "yes." He followed her to the first arrow, seeing it go dark as they touched it, and the other light up, beckoning them ahead. They ran. The planned plan the planned plan, Jessica thought, are we now part of someone's plan? Arrows pointed them around bends and through openings dimly visible in the dim light.The road sloped downwards, then upwards, and upwards until at last it came under the stairs, turned a corner, and was suddenly blocked by a glowing wall with a black handle visible in the middle. Paul pressed the handle, and the wall turned and parted in front of them.The light came in and revealed a cave cut out of the rock, with an orthoplane parked in the middle of it.A flat gray wall loomed beyond the plane, with the imprint of a door on it. "Where's Keynes?" Jessica asked. "He did what any good guerrilla leader should do," Paul said. "He divided us into two groups and made arrangements that if he was captured, he couldn't tell where we were, he don't really know." Paul pulled her inside, noticing the dust kicking up under his feet. "Nobody's been here for a long time," he said. "He seemed to believe the Fremen could find us," she said. Paul let go of her hand, walked to the door on the left side of the orthopter, opened it, and put the backpack on the back seat. "The vicinity of the plane is camouflaged," he said. "There are remote switches for the doors and light controls on the control panel. Eighty years at the Harkonnen's feet has taught them that there is nothing sloppy about things." Jessica leaned against the other side of the plane and breathed a sigh of relief.She said: "The Harkonnen are not stupid to deploy surveillance forces over this area." She recalled her sense of direction and pointed to the right: "The storm we saw is coming from that direction." Paul nodded in agreement with her, trying his best to restrain the sudden feeling of not wanting to move.He knew why, but also knew that it was no good.Somewhere tonight, he's turned a decided relationship into an unfathomable unknown.He knows his time zone, yet the present moment exists as a mysterious place.He seemed to see himself disappearing from a distant place into a valley, through which countless roads had been traversed, some of which might take Paul Atrez out of the valley, many of which could not. "The longer we wait, the more prepared they are," Jessica said. "Get in, get your seatbelts on." He said he and she climbed into the plane, while he was still struggling to figure out the blind reason for not being seen in any prophetic dream.He was suddenly shocked and realized that he was relying more and more on precognitive memories.This makes him vulnerable in dealing with this particular emergency. "If you rely only on your eyes, your other senses are weakened." This is a Bee Geist axiom.He used it on himself now, vowing never to fall into that trap again...if he survived this danger. Paul buckled up, saw his mother do the same, and checked the plane.The wings are fully extended, with slender metal blades stretched out.As Gurney Halleck had taught him, he pulled the retraction lever and the wings retracted for jet-assisted takeoff. He flicked the start switch, and as soon as the jet rudders supplied air, the needle on the dial on the control panel moved and the turbines began to hiss. "Ready?" he asked. "Ready." He touched the light remote switch, and his hand formed a shadow against the shimmering dial.The fence rattled in front of them, the rustle of a sandstorm broke the silence, and a dusty breeze blew against Paul's face.He closed the cabin door on his side, feeling the sudden pressure. In the slanting darkness, a large starry sky, obscured by dust and looking hazy, appeared in the place where the door wall used to be, like a framed picture.The starlight shone on the sand dunes beyond the gate wall, waves of layers of sand. Paul pressed the illuminated action sequence switch on the control panel, the wings folded back and down, and the orthopter was dragged out of the cave.The jet pods generate power when the wings lock into the climb position. Jessica pressed her hands lightly on the two-person control panel, feeling that her son was very sure of his movements.She was terrified, yet delighted.Now Paul's training is our only hope, she thought.He is young and quick. Paul put more power into the jet rudder, and the plane rose like a black wall against the starry sky ahead.The plane began to tilt, throwing him hard into the seat.He extended more wings, pumped in more power, and the lift wings vibrated, and they rose, flying over the rocks.Angled rocks of silvery frost were revealed in the starlight, and the moon, covered in reddish dust, rose slowly from the horizon to their right, showing the trail of a storm belt. Paul's hands danced on the control panel, and the wings crackled.Gravity tore at their muscles as the plane recovered from its extreme bank. "We've got jet flames behind us!" Jessica said. "I saw it." He nudged the power lever forward.The orthopter jumped up and down like a terrified animal, heading south toward the storm and arcing desert.Nearby Paul saw the shadowy perimeter where the rocks ended, the subterranean structures sinking into the sand dunes below.The moon lit the other side of the continual nail-like shadow in which the dunes disappeared one by one.The fast-advancing large storm rose above the horizon like a wall poking at the stars. Something vibrates the plane. "Armor-piercing rounds!" Jessica said in surprise. "They used launch weapons." She saw the savage grin on Paul's face. "They try to avoid laser guns," he said. "But we're not shielded!" "Do they know?" The orthopter trembled again. Paul turned his head, glanced at it, and said, "There seems to be only one plane that can keep up with us." He refocused his attention on the course, watching the raised storm wall ahead of them looming like a solid, palpable mass. "Launchers, rockets, all the ancient weapons are what we're giving to the Fremen," whispered Paul. "Watch out for the storm," Jessica said, "you better not look back." "What happened to the plane behind us?" "It's catching up." "Yo!" Paul twisted the wings, and the plane banked sharply to the right, into that horrible, slow, surging wall of the storm.Paul felt the pull of gravity on his cheek. They seemed to have slipped into a slow-moving cloud of dust.It got thicker and thicker until it completely covered the desert and the moon.The sound of the plane turned into a long, low murmur in the darkness on the horizon, lit only by the green light on the control panel. All warnings of the storm flashed through Jessica's brain - it sliced ​​through metal like butter, gnawed flesh off bones, crunched bones.She felt the wind blowing like a sand blanket, tangling them together as Paul struggled to control the joystick.She saw him turn off the power and felt the plane plummet, the metal hiss and shake around them. "What a lot of sand!" Jessica exclaimed. Through the light on the control panel, she saw him shake his head negatively and say, "There's not much sand at this height." But she could feel them sinking into the great vortex. Paul extended the wings wide and heard them creak under tension.With his eyes fixed on the instruments, he glides on instinct, trying his best to get the plane to a certain altitude. The sound of their plane died away. The orthopter began to roll to the left, and Paul focused on the glowing ball inside the azimuth curve, trying to get the plane back into level flight. Jessica had a mysterious and eerie feeling: they were standing motionless, all movement taking place outside the plane.A vague tangent flew to the window, and a rumble reminded her of the momentum around her. The wind was about seven or eight hundred kilometers an hour, she thought.The rush of adrenaline tormented her.I shouldn't be afraid, she said to herself, chanting Bee Geist's prayer: Fear is the killer of thoughts. Slowly her long training took over and restored her composure. "We've got tigers behind us," Paul whispered. "We can't descend, we can't land... I don't think I can get us out of this bad situation, we just have to go through it all." The calm slipped away from her, and Jessica felt her teeth chatter, and she clenched her teeth.Just then, she heard Paul reciting prayers.His voice was low and measured. "Fear is the killer of the mind. Fear brings a slow death of utter destruction. I will face the fear and let the fear go through me and away from me. When the fear goes through me and away from me , I will turn around and find the path that the fear has walked. When the fear is gone, there will be nothing but me that remains."