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"Arrakis has its own way of determining who wears the mantle of authority," Kynes said.
And Jessica, turning back to look at him, thought: There's steel in this man that no one has taken the temper out of... and we've need of steel. Paul's doing a dangerous thing.
Paul said: "The Sardaukar on Arrakis are a measure of how much our beloved Emperor feared my father. Now, I will give the Padishah Emperor reasons to fear the--"
"Lad," Kynes said, "there are things you don't--"
"You will address me as Sire or My Lord," Paul said.
Gently, Jessica thought.
Kynes stared at Paul, and Jessica noted the glint of admiration in the planetologist's face, the touch of humor there.
"Sire," Kynes said.
"I am an embarrassment to the Emperor," Paul said. "I am an embarrassment to all who would divide Arrakis as their spoil. As I live, I shall continue to be such an embarrassment that I stick in their throats and choke them to death!"
"Words," Kynes said.
Paul stared at him. Presently, Paul said: "You have a legend of the Lisan al-Gaib here, the Voice from the Outer World, the one who will lead the Fremen to paradise. Your men have--"
"Superstition!" Kynes said.
"Perhaps," Paul agreed. "Yet perhaps not. Superstitions sometimes have strange roots and stranger branchings."
"You have a plan," Kynes said. "This much is obvious... Sire."
"Could your Fremen provide me with proof positive that the Sardaukar are here in Harkonnen uniform?"
"Quite likely."
"The Emperor will put a Harkonnen back in power here," Paul said. "Perhaps even Beast Rabban. Let him. Once he has involved himself beyond escaping his guilt, let the Emperor face the possibility of a Bill of Particulars laid before the Landsraad. Let him answer there where--"
"Paul!" Jessica said.
"Granted that the Landsraad High Council accepts your case," Kynes said, "there could be only one outcome: general warfare between the Imperium and the Great Houses."
"Chaos," Jessica said.
"But I'd present my case to the Emperor," Paul said, "and give him an alternative to chaos."
Jessica spoke in a dry tone: "Blackmail?"
"One of the tools of statecraft, as you've said yourself," Paul said, and Jessica heard the bitterness in his voice. "The Emperor has no sons, only daughters."
"You'd aim for the throne?" Jessica asked.
"The Emperor will not risk having the Imperium shattered by total war," Paul said. "Planets blasted, disorder everywhere--he'll not risk that."
"This is a desperate gamble you propose," Kynes said.
"What do the Great Houses of the Landsraad fear most?" Paul asked. "They fear most what is happening here right now on Arrakis--the Sardaukar picking them off one by one. That's why there is a Landsraad. This is the glue of the Great Convention. Only in union do they match the Imperial forces."
"But they're--"
"This is what they fear," Paul said. "Arrakis would become a rallying cry. Each of them would see himself in my father--cut out of the herd and killed."
Kynes spoke to Jessica: "Would his plan work?"
"I'm no Mentat," Jessica said.
"But you are Bene Gesserit."
She shot a probing stare at him, said: "His plan has good points and bad points... as any plan would at this stage. A plan depends as much upon execution as it does upon concept."
" 'Law is the ultimate science,' " Paul quoted. "Thus it reads above the Emperor's door. I propose to show him law."
"And I'm not sure I could trust the person who conceived this plan," Kynes said. "Arrakis has its own plan that we--"
"From the throne," Paul said, "I could make a paradise of Arrakis with the wave of a hand. This is the coin I offer for your support."
Kynes stiffened. "My loyalty's not for sale, Sire."
Paul stared across the desk at him, meeting the cold glare of those blue-within-blue eyes, studying the bearded face, the commanding appearance. A harsh smile touched Paul's lips and he said: "Well spoken. I apologize."
Kynes met Paul's stare and, presently, said: "No Harkonnen ever admitted error. Perhaps you're not like them, Atreides."
"It could be a fault in their education," Paul said. "You say you're not for sale, but I believe I've the coin you'll accept. For your loyalty I offer my loyalty to you... totally."
My son has the Atreides sincerity, Jessica thought. He has that tremendous, almost naive honor--and what a powerful force that truly is.
She saw that Paul's words had shaken Kynes.
"This is nonsense," Kynes said. "You're just a boy and--"
"I'm the Duke," Paul said. "I'm an Atreides. No Atreides has ever broken such a bond."
Kynes swallowed.
"When I say totally," Paul said, "I mean without reservation. I would give my life for you."
"Sire!" Kynes said, and the word was torn from him, but Jessica saw that he was not now speaking to a boy of fifteen, but to a man, to a superior. Now Kynes meant the word.
In this moment he'd give his life for Paul, she thought. How do the Atreides accomplish this thing so quickly, so easily?
"I know you mean this," Kynes said. "Yet the Harkon--"
The door behind Paul slammed open. He whirled to see reeling violence--shouting, the clash of steel, wax-image faces grimacing in the passage.
With his mother beside him, Paul leaped for the door, seeing Idaho blocking the passage, his blood-pitted eyes there visible through a shield blur, claw hands beyond him, arcs of steel chopping futilely at the shield. There was the orange fire-mouth of a stunner repelled by the shield. Idaho's blades were through it all, flick-flicking, red dripping from them.
Then Kynes was beside Paul and they threw their weight against the door.
Paul had one last glimpse of Idaho standing against a swarm of Harkonnen uniforms--his jerking, controlled staggers, the black goat hair with a red blossom of death in it. Then the door was closed and there came a snick as Kynes threw the bolts.
"I appear to've decided," Kynes
said.
"Someone detected your machinery before it was shut down," Paul said. He pulled his mother away from the door, met the despair in her eyes.
"I should've suspected trouble when the coffee failed to arrive," Kynes said.
"You've a bolt hole out of here," Paul said. "Shall we use it?"
Kynes took a deep breath, said: "This door should hold for at least twenty minutes against all but a lasgun."
"They'll not use a lasgun for fear we've shields on this side," Paul said.
"Those were Sardaukar in Harkonnen uniform," Jessica whispered.
They could hear pounding on the door now, rhythmic blows.
Kynes indicated the cabinets against the right-hand wall, said: "This way." He crossed to the first cabinet, opened a drawer, manipulated a handle within it. The entire wall of cabinets swung open to expose the black mouth of a tunnel. "This door also is plasteel," Kynes said.
"You were well prepared," Jessica said.
"We lived under the Harkonnens for eighty years," Kynes said. He herded them into the darkness, closed the door.
In the sudden blackness, Jessica saw a luminous arrow on the floor ahead of her.
Kynes' voice came from behind them: "We'll separate here. This wall is tougher. It'll stand for at least an hour. Follow the arrows like that one on the floor. They'll be extinguished by your passage. They lead through a maze to another exit where I've secreted a 'thopter. There's a storm across the desert tonight. Your only hope is to run for that storm, dive into the top of it, ride with it. My people have done this in stealing 'thopters. If you stay high in the storm you'll survive."
"What of you?" Paul asked.
"I'll try to escape another way. If I'm captured ... well, I'm still Imperial Planetologist. I can say I was your captive."
Running like cowards, Paul thought. But how else can I live to avenge my father? He turned to face the door.
Jessica heard him move, said "Duncan's dead, Paul. You saw the wound. You can do nothing for him."
"I'll take full payment for them all one day," Paul said.
"Not unless you hurry now," Kynes said.
Paul felt the man's hand on his shoulder.
"Where will we meet, Kynes?" Paul asked.
"I'll send Fremen searching for you. The storm's path is known. Hurry now, and the Great Mother give you speed and luck."
They heard him go, a scrambling in the blackness.
