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.This is foolish.Only the rawest primitive and the sociopath haveno conscience.The Fremen possesses a highly evolved worldview centered on thewelfare of his people.His sense of belonging to the community is almoststronger than his sense of self.It is only to outsiders that these desertdwellers seem brutish.just as outsiders appear to them.-PARDOT KYNES, The People of ArrakisLUXURY IF FOR the noble-born, Liet," Pardot Kynes said as the groundcar trundledacross the uneven ground.Here, in privacy, he could use his son's secretsietch name, rather than Weichih, the name reserved for outsiders."On thisplanet you must instantly become aware of your own surroundings, and remainalert at all times.If you fail to learn this lesson, you won't live long."As Kynes operated the simple controls, he gestured toward the buttery morninglight that melted across the stark dunes."There are rewards here, too.I grewup on Salusa Secundus, and even that broken and wounded place had its beauty.though nothing to match the purity of Dune." Kynes exhaled a long breathbetween his hard, chapped lips.Liet continued to stare out the scratched windowplaz.Unlike his father, whoreeled off whatever random thoughts occurred to him, making pronouncements thatthe Fremen heeded as if they were weighty spiritual matters, Liet preferredsilence.He narrowed his eyes to study the landscape, searching for any smallthing out of its place.Always alert.On such a harsh planet, one had to develop stored perceptions, each of themlinked to every moment of survival.Though his father was much older, Lietwasn't certain the Planetologist understood as much as he himself did.The mindof Pardot Kynes contained powerful concepts, but the older man experienced themonly as esoteric data.He didn't understand the desert in his heart or in hissoul. For years, Kynes had lived among the Fremen.It was said that Emperor ShaddamIV had little interest in his activities, and since Kynes asked for no fundingand few supplies, they left him alone.With each passing year he slippedfarther from attention.Shaddam and his advisors had stopped expecting anygrand revelations from the Planetologist's periodic reports.This suited Pardot Kynes, and his son as well.In his wanderings, Kynes often made trips to outlying villages where the peopleof the pan and graben scratched out squalid lives.True Fremen rarely mixedwith the townspeople, and viewed them with veiled contempt for being too soft,too civilized.Liet would never have lived in those pathetic settlements forall the solaris in the Imperium.But still, Pardot visited them.Eschewing roads and commonly traveled paths, they rode in the groundcar,checking meteorological stations and collecting data, though Pardot's troops ofdevoted Fremen would gladly have done this menial work for their "Umma."Liet-Kynes's features echoed many of his father's, though with a leaner face andthe closely set eyes of his Fremen mother.He had pale hair, and his chin wasstill smooth, though later he would likely grow a beard similar to the greatPlanetologist's.Liet's eyes had the deep blue of spice addiction, since everymeal and breath of sietch air was laced with melange.Liet heard a sharp intake of breath from his father as they passed the jaggedelbow of a canyon where camouflaged catchtraps directed moisture to plantings ofrabbitbush and poverty grasses."See? It's taking on a life of its own.We'll'cycle' the planet through prairie phase into forest over several generations.The sand has a high salt content, indicating old oceans, and the spice itself isalkaline." He chuckled."People in the Imperium would be horrified that we'duse spice by-products for something as menial as fertilizer." He smiled at hisson."But we know the value of such things, eh? If we break down the spice, wecan set up protein digestion.Even now, if we flew high enough, we could spotpatches of green where matted plant growth holds the dune faces in place."The young man sighed.His father was a great man with magnificent dreams forDune -- and yet Kynes was so focused on one thing that he failed to see theuniverse around him.Liet knew that if any Harkonnen patrols found theplantings, they would destroy them and punish the Fremen.Though only twelve, Liet went out on razzia raids with his Fremen brothers andhad already killed Harkonnens.For more than a year, he and his friends -- ledby the brash Stilgar -- had struck targets that others refused to consider.Only a week before, Liet's companions had blown up a dozen patrol 'thopters at asupply post.Unfortunately, the Harkonnen troops had taken their revengeagainst poor villagers, seeing no difference between settled folk and the will-o'-the-sand Fremen.He hadn't told his father about his guerrilla activities, since the elder Kyneswouldn't understand the necessity.Premeditated violence, for whatever reason,was a foreign concept to the Planetologist.But Liet would do what needed to bedone.Now, the groundcar approached a village tucked into the rocky foothills; it wascalled Bilar Camp on their terrain maps.Pardot continued to talk about melangeand its peculiar properties."They found spice too soon on Arrakis.It deflected scientific inquiry.It was so useful right from the outset that noone bothered to probe its mysteries."Liet turned to look at him."I thought that was why you were assigned here inthe first place -- to understand the spice.""Yes.but we have more important work to do.I still report back to theImperium often enough to convince them I'm working at my job.though notvery successfully." Talking about the first time he'd been to this region, hedrove toward a cluster of dirty buildings the color of sand and dust.The groundcar jounced over a rough rock, but Liet ignored it and stared ahead atthe village, squinting in the harsh light of the desert morning.The morningair held the fragility of fine crystal."Something's wrong," he said,interrupting his father.Kynes continued talking for a few seconds and then brought the vehicle to astop."What's that?""Something is wrong." Liet pointed ahead at the village.Kynes shaded his eyes against the glare."I don't see anything.""Still.let us proceed with caution."IN THE CENTER OF THE VILLAGE, they encountered a festival of horrors.The surviving victims wandered about as if insane, shrieking and snarling likeanimals.The noise was horrific, as was the smell.They had ripped hair out oftheir heads in bloody clumps.Some used long fingernails to claw the eyes outof their faces, then held the scooped eyeballs in their palms; blind, theystaggered against the tan walls of dwellings, leaving wet crimson smears."By Shai-Hulud!" Liet whispered under his breath, while his father let out alouder curse in common Imperial Galach.One man with torn eye sockets like bloody extra mouths above his cheekbonescollided with a crawling woman; both victims flew into a rage and ripped at eachother's skin with bare hands, biting and spitting and screaming.There weremuddy spots on the street, overturned containers of water.Many bodies lay sprawled on the ground like squashed insects, arms and legsstiffened at odd angles.Some buildings were locked and shuttered, barricadedagainst the crazed wretches outside who pounded on the walls, wailing wordlesslyto get in.On an upper floor Liet saw a woman's terrified face at the dust-streaked windowplaz.Others hid, somehow unaffected by the murderous insanity."We must help these people, Father." Liet leaped out of the sealed groundcarbefore his father had brought it to a complete stop."Bring your weapons.Wemay need to defend ourselves."They carried old maula pistols as well as knives.His father, though ascientist at heart, was also a good fighter -- a skill he reserved for defendinghis vision for Arrakis [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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