Dune: Nighttime Shadows on Open Sand
by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
1
Nature commits no errors; right and wrong are human categories.
-Pardot Kynes, Arrakis Lectures
Monotonous days. The three-man Harkonnen patrol cruised over the
golden swells of dunes along a thousand-kilometer flight path. In the
unrelenting desert landscape, even a puff of dust caused excitement.
The troopers flew their armored ornithopter in a long circle, skirting
mountains, then curving south over great pans and flatlands. Glossu
Rabban, the Baron's nephew and temporary governor of Arrakis, had
ordered them to fly regularly, to be seen-to show the squalid
settlements that Harkonnens were watching. Always.
Kiel, the sidegunner, considered the assignment a license to hunt any
Fremen found wandering near legitimate spice-harvesting operations.
What made those dirty wanderers think they could trespass on
Harkonnen lands without permission from the district office in
Carthag? But few Fremen were ever caught abroad in daylight, and the
task had grown dull.
Garan flew the 'thopter, rising up and dipping down to catch thermals,
as if operating an amusement ride. He maintained a stoic expression,
though occasionally a grin stole across his lips as the craft bucked and
jostled in rough air. As they completed their fifth day on patrol, he
continued to mark discrepancies on topographical maps, muttering in
disgust each time he found another mistake. These were the worst
charts he had ever used.
In the back passenger compartment sat Josten, recently transferred from
Giedi Prime. Accustomed to industrial facilities, gray skies, and dirty
buildings, Josten gazed out over the sandy wastelands, studying
hypnotic dune patterns. He spotted the knot of dust off to the south,
deep in the open Funeral Plain. "What's that? Spice-harvesting
operation?"
"Not a chance," the sidegunner Kiel said. "Harvesters shoot a plume
like a cone into the air, straight and thin."
"Too low for a dust devil. Too small." With a shrug, Garan jerked the
'thopter controls and soared toward the low, reddish-brown cloud.
"Let's take a look." After so many tedious days, they would have gone
out of their way to investigate a large rock sticking out of the sand...
