Prelude to Dune 01 House Atreides by Brian Herbert

Author:Brian Herbert
Language: eng
Format: mobi

Two hundred thirty-eight planets searched, many of only marginal habitability. (See star charts attached in separate file.) Resource surveys list valuable raw materials. Many of these planets deserve a second look, either for mineral exploitation or possible colonization. As in previous reports, however, no spice found.

—Independent scout survey, third expedition,

delivered to EMPEROR FONDIL CORRINO III

Hasimir Fenring had bribed old Elrood’s guards and retainers, setting up what he called “a surprise secret meeting with an important, though unexpected, representative.” The weasel-faced man had used his silken tongue and his iron will to manipulate the Emperor’s schedules to leave an opening. As a fixture around the Palace for more than three decades, Fenring, by virtue of his association with Crown Prince Shaddam, was a man of influence. With various methods of persuasion, he convinced everyone he needed to convince.

Old Elrood suspected nothing.

At the appointed hour of the Tleilaxu delegate’s arrival, Fenring made certain he and Shaddam were present in the audience chamber— ostensibly as eager students of the bureaucracy, intent on becoming viable leaders of the Imperium. Elrood, who liked to think he was instructing these protégés in important matters of state, had no idea the two young men laughed at him behind his back.

Fenring leaned close to the Crown Prince and whispered in his ear, “This is going to be most entertaining, hm-m-m-m-ah?”

“Watch, and learn,” Shaddam said ponderously, then raised his chin in the air and snickered.

The huge embossed doors swung open, sparkling with soostones and rain crystals, etched with ghlavan metal. Sardaukar guards, standing stiff and formal in their gray-and-black uniforms, snapped to attention for the new arrival.

“Now the show begins,” Fenring said. He and Shaddam kept further chuckles to themselves.

Liveried house pages stepped forward to introduce the off-world visitor in a rippling overtone of processed, electronically translated pomp. “My Lord Emperor, Highness of a Million Worlds— the Master Hidar Fen Ajidica, representative of the Bene Tleilax, is here at your request for a private meeting.”

A gnomelike man with grayish skin walked proudly into the hall flanked by pasty-faced guards and his own retainers. His slippered feet scuttled like whispered gossip across the polished stones of the floor.

A ripple of surprise and distaste passed through the attendees at court. Chamberlain Aken Hesban, his mustaches drooping, stood indignantly behind the throne and glared at the Emperor’s scheduling advisors as if this were some sort of trick.

Elrood IX lurched forward in his massive throne and demanded to see his calendar.

Thus caught off guard, the old reprobate might just be surprised enough to listen, Fenring thought. With surprising astuteness, Chamberlain Hesban’s eagle gaze fell on him, but Fenring returned the look with only a bland, curious expression.

Ajidica, the Tleilaxu representative, waited patiently, letting the chatter and whispers flow around him. He had a narrow face, long nose, and a pointed black beard that protruded like a trowel from his cleft chin. Maroon robes gave Ajidica an air of some importance. His skin was weathered-looking, and pale and discolored blotches marked his hands, especially on the fingers and palms, as if frequent exposure to harsh chemicals had neutralized the melanin.

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