Chapter 46 Chapter nine

"Look at that thing!" Stilger whispered. Paul lay beside him, hiding in a rock crevice on the edge of the shielding wall, with his eyes on the condenser of Freeman's telescope.The telescope lens was on the depression below them, and the dawn light fell on the starship.The spaceship was very tall, and its side facing the east shone under the flat rays of the sun; on the side facing away from the sun, there were still portholes illuminated by the yellow light of the spherical lights at night.On the other side of the spaceship lay the gloomy city of Alakan, glowing faintly white under the rays of the sun from the north.

Paul knew that it was not the spaceship, but the layout of the spaceship in the center that made Stilgar feel intimidated.A makeshift metal barracks, several stories high.With the spaceship as the center, the four sides extended outwards, forming a circle with a diameter of one thousand meters—a barracks composed of connected metal blades—and at this time, five legions of Sadoka soldiers and His Majesty the Emperor, Papa, were stationed. His Majesty Dissar, Saddam IV. Gurney Halleck squatted on Paul's left and said, "I counted nine floors. There must be a lot of Sadoka soldiers."

"There are five legions," said Paul. "It's dawn," Stilgar whispered. "We don't like it. You're exposing yourself, Moaddi. Let's go back to the rocks below." "I'm very safe here," Paul said. "The launch weapon is mounted on the spacecraft," Gurney said. "They'll think we're shielded," Paul said. "Even if they see us, they won't waste shells on us three unidentified people." Paul pointed the binoculars at the rocky wall of the depression in the distance, and saw that the cliffs were cratered, where many of his father's soldiers were buried.He suddenly felt that these people were also looking down on him.The fortresses and towns of the Harkonnen, lying beyond the shielding walls, were under the control of the Fremen, or were cut off from their material supplies like the stalk of a plant cut and withered, and only this depression and its city Still in the hands of the enemy.

"If they saw us, they might send orthopters to attack us," Stilger said. "Let them come!" Paul said. "We're going to have their planes destroyed today...we know there's going to be a storm." He pointed the binoculars at the landing field on the Arakane side, where the Harkonnen planes were lined up, the Cosmic Joint Development Corporation flag flying from the flagpole in front of them.He thought: This recklessness compelled the Gilders to allow these two groups to land while the others remained in the air, ready to touch down.The Gilders are like a man who uses his toe as a tester to test the temperature of the sand before pitching his tent.

"Did you see the new situation there?" Gurney asked. "We should go into the bunker. The storm is coming." Paul again focused his attention on the huge makeshift barracks. "They even brought the women," he said, "and the servants. Ah... my dear Emperor, how confident you are!" "Someone came up from the secret passage," Stilgar said, "probably Osem. Koba is back." "Okay, Stilgar," Paul said, "let's go back!" However, he used the binoculars to scan the surroundings for the last time, looking at the flat ground where the tall spaceships were parked, the shiny metal barracks, the quiet city, and the cruise plane of the Harkonen mercenaries.Then slide down the rocky slope behind.His place at the telescope was taken by a daredevil.

Paul entered a depression above the shielding wall, which was a natural stone pit with a diameter of about thirty meters and a depth of about three meters.Fremen are hidden under a translucent camouflage cover.There is a hole in the rock wall on the right side of the depression, and communication equipment is placed near the hole.The death squads gathered in the hollow, waiting for Moaddi's order to attack. Two people got out from the hole where the communication equipment was installed around them, and talked to the death squads there. Paul glanced at Stilger, then shook his head towards the place where the two stood. "Go get their report, Stilgar."

Stilger obeyed his order and walked over. Paul bent back with his back to the rock, stretching his muscles, then straightened up and saw Stilgar let the two of them back into the dark cave again.They had to crawl for a long time in the narrow and dark tunnels to reach the depression below. Stilger came over and stopped in front of Paul. "What's the important situation? They can't send the winged messenger to deliver the information?" Paul asked. "They save the birds for use in combat emergencies," Stilger said. He glanced at the comm device, then at Paul. "Even with dense beams, it's a mistake to activate these comms, Moaddi. They can find you through the comm transmitter."

"They'll be so busy before long that they won't have time to look for me," said Paul. "What do those two have to report?" "Our enemy Sadoka has abandoned his marginal position near the old fissure and is retreating towards their main position. Rocket launchers and other launch weapons are in place. People are in ambush as you ordered, as is customary." Paul glanced across the small alcove, studying his men in the light filtered by the mask.Time seemed to him to pass slowly, like an insect crawling slowly across a bare rock. "It will take them a while to walk before the Sadoka can signal for the troop transport," Paul said. "Is anyone watching them?"

"They're being watched," Stilger said. Gurney Halleck, next to Paul, cleared his throat and said, "We'd better get somewhere safe." "There's no such place," Paul said, "is the forecast still in our favor?" "A great storm is coming," Stilgar said. "Don't you feel it, Moaddi?" "The air does feel dangerous," Paul said, "but for the accuracy of forecasting the weather, I still prefer the pole." "The storm will be here within an hour," Stilger said.He looked out and saw the Emperor's metal barracks and the Harkonnen's cruiser planes, and shook his head there, saying, "They also knew the storm was coming, and there wasn't a single plane in the sky. Everything was being pulled in Bunkers and tethered. They also got weather reports from their air friends."

"Any more raids out of town detected?" "There hasn't been any movement since they landed last night," Stilger said. "They know we're here. I think they're biding their time." "It's our timing," Paul said. Gurney glanced up and said loudly, "If they let us choose." "The flying unit can only stay in the universe." Paul said. Gurney shook his head. "They don't have a choice," Paul said. "We can destroy Spice of Decline. The Gilders dare not take that risk." "Desperate people are the most dangerous," Gurney said.

"Aren't we also desperate?" Stilger said. Gurney glared at Stilgar. "You haven't embraced the Fremen dream," Paul said carefully, "Stilgar was thinking of the water we spent on bribes, and the years we had waited before Arrakis prospered. He is not……" "Ho ho..." Gurney glared. "Why is he so sullen?" Stilgar asked. "Before every fight, he always had a sulky face," Paul said. "That was just the humor Gurney allowed himself to be." A wolf-like grin slowly flashed across Gurney's face.His teeth were very white above the thin cup-shaped metal plate of his filtration suit. "The thought of us mercilessly executing all the Harkonnen pigs makes my face look even more somber," he said. Stilger chuckled. "He talks like a Freeman death squad." "Gurney was born to be a death commando," Paul said.He thought: Yes, let them have a little time to talk to dilute the nervous thoughts before the battle before they test us in battle with those troops on the plains.He looked toward the cleft in the rock, then at Gurney, and saw that the lyricist had returned to his sullen glare. "Sorrow kills people," Paul whispered. "You told me so, Gurney." "My lord," Gurney said, "my main concern is the atomic bomb. If they blast a hole in our shielding wall with an atomic bomb..." "Those folks out there wouldn't use the atomic bomb on us," Paul said, "and they wouldn't dare... for the same reason: they're afraid we'd destroy the wellspring of decaying spice." "But the injunction states..." "Prohibition!" Paul roared. "That's fear, not prohibition. It's to keep the big families from using atomic bombs against each other. The document of the Grand United Committee is very clear: 'The use of atomic bombs against humanity will would destroy the planet.' We are going to blow up the barrier, not the human race." "That's a brilliant idea!" said Gurney. "Those who are trite will welcome any point of view," Paul said. "Let's not talk about this anymore." He turned away, actually wishing they had that confidence.After a while, he asked: "How are the people in the city? Have they been settled?" "It's all settled," Stilger murmured. Paul looked at him. "What happened to you?" "I never knew city people could be completely trusted," says Stilger. "I used to be a city person myself," Paul said. Stilgar froze, his face gray with blood. "Moaddi knows, I'm not saying..." "I understand what you mean, Stilger. But a person is not judged by what he does, but by what he actually does. These city people have Freeman blood, but they haven't yet Learn to get rid of their shackles. We will teach them." Stilgar nodded, and said sadly: "It is a habit of a person's life, Moaddi. In the funeral plain, we learned to despise the people of the community." Paul glanced at Gurney, who was sizing up Stilger.Paul said, "Tell us, Gurney, why the city-dwellers down in the lowlands were driven from their homes by the Sadokas?" "Old trick, duke. They think they can use these refugees to burden us." "It's been a long time since those who thought they were powerful had forgotten how to effectively fight their guerrillas," Paul said. They took pleasure in robbing the women of the cities, and adorned their victorious banners with the heads of those who opposed them. Therefore, they created hatred among those people in the first place...with the possibility of a change of master. The Sadoka were Recruiting for us, Stilgar." "City people do seem happy," Stilger said. "Obviously, their hatred is new," Paul said, "and that's why we recruited them and made them an astounding army." "The killing between them will be scary," Gurney said. Stilger nodded in agreement with him. "They've been told about the disparity in the balance of power," Paul said. "They know that by killing a Sadoka, we have one less enemy. You know, gentlemen, they die for a purpose. They also It has been discovered that they are human too, and they are awakening." From the telescope came a small exclamation from the observer.Paul hurried to the crack in the rock and asked, "What happened outside?" "There's a big commotion there, Moaddi," said the observer, "beside that devil metal barracks, and a ground vehicle coming over the West edge wall, it's like an eagle flying into a rock chicken's nest .” "The Sadoka captives we released have arrived," Paul said. "They've built a shield around the entire landing site now," said the observer. "I can see the vibrations in the air, and even the yard where they store decaying spices." "Now they know whom they are fighting," said Gurney. "Let the Harkonnen beasts tremble! Let them worry about a living Atreese!" Paul said to the Freeman death squad next to the telescope, "Look out for the flagpole atop the emperor's ship, if my flag goes up there..." "It won't rise," Gurney said. Seeing Stilger frowning in bewilderment, Paul said: "If the emperor grants my request, he will signal by re-hoisting the Atrez flag over Arrakis. Then we will carry out the Two sets of plans, only attack the Harkonnen. The Sadoka will stand aside and let us solve the problem between ourselves and the Harkonnen." "I have no experience with these extraterrestrial things," Stilgar said. "I've heard of them, but they don't seem possible..." "You don't need experience to know what they're going to do," Gurney said. "They hoisted a new flag high above the ship," said the observer. "It was a yellow flag...with a black and red ring in the center." "A delicate thing," Paul said, "is the flag of the Universal Development Corporation." "It's the same flag as the other ships," Freeman said. "I don't understand," Stilgar said. "It's a delicate thing really," Gurney said. "If the flag of Atrez is hoisted, the emperor's words must count, because he has many observers around him. He may use Harco Nin's flag sent a signal, calling his people—that was an unmistakable announcement. But he didn't, he raised the broken UDC flag. He was telling the people out there..." Gurney pointed to the sky: "... where the interests are. He said: he doesn't care if there are Atrez people here." "How long is it before the storm hits the shield?" Paul asked. Stilger turned and walked over to a Freeman death squad in the depression, asking him.After a while, he came back and said, "The storm will be here soon, Moaddi. Sooner than we expected. This storm is very strong...maybe bigger than you hoped." "This is my storm," Paul said.There was a look of silent awe on the faces of the Freemans who had seen and heard him speak. "Although it will shake the whole world, it will not exceed my hopes. Will it hit the entire shield wall?" "Basically nothing," Stilger said. A scout crawled through the cavern leading to the depression below and said, "The Sadokar and Harkonnen patrols are retreating, Moadhi." "They're expecting the winds to inject a lot of sand into the depression, which can impede visibility," "They thought we'd be in the same predicament," Stilger said. "Tell our gunners to get their targets on before the visibility fades," Paul said. "They've got to knock the noses off those ships when the storm blows out their shields." The hood pulls back a bit and looks up at the sky.Pulling the cover back on, he said, "Start sending our men down, Stilgar." "Aren't you going down with us?" Stilger asked. "I'll be here with the Expendables for a while," Paul said. Stilger looked at Gurney, shrugged his shoulders in understanding, got into the hole on the rock wall, and disappeared into the darkness in an instant. "I'll give you the detonator to blow up the shield wall, Gurney," Paul said. "Would you like to blow it up?" "I'm willing to do it." Paul motioned to a Death Squadron officer and said, "Osem, start getting scouts out of the area. They have to get out before the storm hits." The man bowed and walked along the path that Stilgar walked. Gurney leaned against the edge of the rock crevice and said to the man watching by the telescope: "Pay attention to the shielding wall on the south side. It is completely defenseless until it is blown down." "Send out the winged messenger as a time signal." Paul ordered. "Some land combat vehicles are moving towards the shielding wall to the south," said the person next to the telescope, "some of them also used firing weapons to detect the way. Our people used the body shield according to your order. The land combat vehicles stopped down." Everything suddenly fell silent.In the sudden silence, Paul heard wind demons flying overhead - the prelude to the storm.Sand began to flow down into the pit through the gaps in the mask.A gust of wind blew away the mask from their heads. Paul signaled his Freeman death squad to duck into the tunnel.He walked to the mouth of the tunnel and stopped at the place where the communication equipment was placed, Gurney stayed by his side.Paul crouched on the spot above the correspondent. Someone said: "This is the old grandmother of the old grandmother of the storm, Moyadi." Paul looked up at the darkened sky and said, "Gurney, tell the observers on the southern shield wall to evacuate immediately." He had to repeat his order because of the howling of the storm. The shouting grew louder and louder than the howling of the storm. Gurney turned to carry out his order. Paul fastened the face filter and the hood of the filtration suit. Gurney is back. Paul patted Gurney on the shoulder and pointed to the detonator installed at the entrance of the tunnel on the communicator's side.Gurney walked into the tunnel and stopped there, one hand on the detonator.He looks at Paul. "We can't get a signal," said the correspondent next to Paul. "There's too much static." Paul nodded, keeping his eyes fixed on the time dial in front of the correspondent.After a while Paul looked at Gurney and held up a hand.Gaze at the time dial again.The hands of the hour counter slowly made their last turn. "Detonation!" Paul yelled, slamming his arms down. Gurney pressed the detonator hard. It seemed a full second before they felt the shaking of the ground beneath their feet, the howling of the storm, and the rumble of the explosion. The Freeman death squad observing with a binoculars appeared before Paul, binoculars tucked under his arm.He called out, "The shielding walls are blown down, Moaddi. The storm hit them, and our cannons fired." Paul thought of the storm sweeping across the depression, and the electrostatic charge of the giant sand walls of storm-raised sand that destroyed all barriers in the enemy camp. "A storm is coming!" someone yelled. "We must get under cover, Moaddi!" Paul regained consciousness and felt the sand prick his bare cheeks like needles.We have committed crimes, he thought.He put an arm around the communicator's shoulder and said, "Leave this equipment! There's a lot of equipment in the tunnel." He felt himself being pulled away.Freeman's death squad swarmed him into the mouth of the tunnel, and he immediately felt the relative silence in the cave.He turned a corner and entered a small cavern with a spherical lamp hanging from the top of the cavern, and there was another tunnel opening on the opposite side of the cavern. Another correspondent sits next to the comms in the cavern."The static is too much," he said to Paul. Sand from the storm filled the space around them. "Seal this tunnel!" Paul ordered loudly.Jing Jing's sudden pressure indicated that his order had been carried out. "Is the passage to the depression below still open?" A death squad immediately ran to check and came back to say: "The explosion dropped a small piece of rock, but engineers say the road is still open. They are using laser beams to clean up the site." "Tell them to do it with their hands," Paul yelled. "There's some active shielding down there that needs to be dealt with with lasers." "They move carefully, Moaddi," the man said.But he turned back to carry out his order. At this time, the correspondents who came in from the outside passed by him, still carrying the equipment. "I told you to keep the equipment!" Paul said. "The Fremen don't like to throw away their stuff, Moaddi," said one of the daredevils. "People are more important than things right now," Paul said, "and before long we'll have more devices than we can use, or we won't need devices at all." Gurney Halleck came up to him and said, "I heard them say there's a way down. We're pretty close to the ground here, sir. Is the Harkonnen going to do something to get back at us?" "There was no way they could retaliate," Paul said, "they just found out they were unshielded and couldn't leave Arrakis." "The new command post is ready, sir," Gurney said. "They don't need me yet in the new command post," Paul said. "The plan will go on without me. We'll have to wait..." "I got the signal, Moaddi," said the communicator who was working at the comms.Then he shook his head again, pressing the earphones firmly to his ears. "Too much static interference!" He started to draw on a notebook in front of him, shook his head again, waited, wrote on the notebook again, and waited... Paul walked up to the correspondent, and the other Freemans stepped back to make room for him.He looked at what the man had written in his notebook and read: "Sneak attack, ... at Camp Taib ... captured ... Alia (blank) home (blank) dead ... they (blank) Moyadi son of..." The correspondent shook his head again. Paul saw Gurney looking at him. "It was just a few words in the telegram," Gurney said. "Because of the static you don't know . . . " "My son is dead," Paul said.When he said it, he knew it was true. "My son is dead...Alia is taken...hostage." He felt empty, an empty shell without emotion.Everything he touched brought death and sorrow like a plague that could spread across the universe. He felt the wisdom of the old man, who had accumulated a wealth of experience from the experience of countless possible lives.It was as if something was rubbing him inside him, making a giggle.