IV - MYSTERY IN THE DEPTHS
The Emperor asked the Baron, “On your raid on Arrakis, did you have the Duke Leto Atreides and his heir killed?
The Baron replied, “I have not killed the Duke; he has murdered himself in a fool’s attempt to poison me with a deadly toxin. He has only manage d to assassinate my favourite mentat, Piter De Vries. Such a loss.” He paused. “And for his heir, my men have seen them flying away in the deep desert. We have not heard of them since, unfortunately, this living hell has left no pity for those poor souls.”
The Truthsayer nodded in confirmation of the truth.
—Imperial report of the Harkonnen trial, M5 10192 AG
Light began to shine at the end of the long water corridor—the VJ area was finally within reach.
They arrived at a grand opening of water. Vefharti slowed his abyssike and moved toward a small rectangular shaped hole in line with a floating blue wall. The jockey proceeded to turn the middle controller down and quickly to the left—the vehicle descended a few metres below and got perfectly inside the ground shape. They heard a click and within a minute, the blue wall produced a deep noise which resonated around them.
They both jumped off the bike, then Vefharti pointed with his left arm to the centre of the blue wall. Nestor, who was floating, started to move himself to the centre of the facade, lighted by two glow globes. The noise grew deeper and deeper until it stopped—the wall froze abruptly, and sparkling bubbles started to dance around a strong light which created a door shape in the middle of the structure. Nestor hesitantly moved into it; the bubbles behind him instantly stopped their sparkling, giving pure silence to the submerged cold room.
He was now inside the deep storage chamber of the Harkonnens. Nestor was amazed by the mastery of the deep-water by the Thulu family. The whole room contained three rows of shelves filled with documents. They were all neatly organised, but above all they were all dry, free of any moisture.
So this is the secret place where the Harkonnens hide their dirty data, guessed Nestor.
He moved to the first section on the left: “Economic bribes”. Mmh, maybe they don’t want to exhibit all their activities, he deduced. Nestor began to read some electronic papers, but found it boring. He then found a little registry with all the sector of Harkonnen spending. He noticed that the electronic book featured some mention of an, “Unaltered report”. What is that?, Nestor wondered.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
As he read the reports about the House investments, he found an astronomical amount of Solaris on a redacted line, “Experimentations”.
I have never seen this on any official papers I studied in the Landsraad register. I didn’t know that the Baron was so fond of technology and research. What sort of research and experiments cost THAT much—and need to be kept secret from the Emperor? Maybe some new fancy suspensor to lift his fat even more, the spy laughed nervously. He closed the book and moved to the next panel: “Military report”.
The first four books were boring defence reports, but the last one got Nestor’s attention: “Arrakis invasion”.
“10,191 AG M7— Korad Laudo S.G. Harkonnen: The two live targets have been extracted successfully from Arrakis. The mentat has been sent to Giedi Prime by official transport. The second asset has been secretly sent to the storage planet, Opheliaz.
“Miranda Thulu has set up for us a dedicated area for storing the female asset with extra protection until our special garrison settles on the planet.”
He paused his reading, official reports have stated that only the mentat was taken out of Arrakis alive! The Baron has secretly taken someone else off the planet to hold them here. He then re-read the last sentence a second time, A female asset—how did he lie to the Emperor in front of his Truthsayer? He let his mind float through the multiple possibilities of such a fact, an unprecedented revelation for him and the House he served.
A woman from Arrakis, could it be—? his eyes began to widen as he got the last piece of this puzzle, utterly astonished.
The Lady Jessica! Bloody Harkonnen! But she’s a Bene Gesserit. He then recalled the Baron’s trial. The Emperor’s Truthsayer changed a few months before the trial—because the old Reverend Mother was suddenly sick... He must have secretly placed the Atreides Lady to freely lying in front of our Padishah Emperor!
Nestor’s head was already full of unanswered questions, but he didn’t know that this simple plan was just the tip of the crimson iceberg...
I must take this to the Emperor himself, he stated firmly in his mind. Nestor took the electronic book and put it on the desk, next to the financial report.
He was ready to leave, but one of his thoughts collided with his logic: If the Baron has put together such a complex and expensive scheme to lie to the Emperor just to cover up the murder of the old Duke and his heir—it’s highly suspect. The Baron isn’t the kind of man to waste his precious resources like that; he knew that the Emperor would have pardoned him for the slaughter of the Atreides at the end, but now he’s hiding something more, something major, dangerous, and powerful. I must inspect the last shelf; I must find the Baron’s new plan. A new drop of fear poured into his mind.