"Frank Herbert - Dune 1 - Dune (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

lever you can move a planet. We found the lever that moved the doctor."
"How?" Feyd-Rautha asked. He found this a fascinating subject. Everyone knew you couldn't
subvert Imperial Conditioning!
"Another time," the Baron said. "Continue, Piter."
"In place of Yueh," Piter said, "we'll drag a most interesting suspect across Hawat's path.
The very audacity of this suspect will recommend her to Hawat's attention."
"Her?" Feyd-Rautha asked.
"The Lady Jessica herself," the Baron said.
"Is it not sublime?" Piter asked. "Hawat's mind will be so filled with this prospect it'll
impair his function as a Mentat. He may even try to kill her." Piter frowned, then: "But I don't
think he'll be able to carry it off."
"You don't want him to, eh?" the Baron asked.
"Don't distract me," Piter said. "While Hawat's occupied with the Lady Jessica, we'll divert
him further with uprisings in a few garrison towns and the like. These will be put down. The Duke
must believe he's gaining a measure of security. Then, when the moment is ripe, we'll signal Yueh
and move in with our major force . . . ah . . . "
"Go ahead, tell him all of it," the Baron said.
"We'll move in strengthened by two legions of Sardaukar disguised in Harkonnen livery."
"Sardaukar!" Feyd-Rautha breathed. His mind focused on the dread Imperial troops, the killers
without mercy, the soldier fanatics of the Padishah Emperor.
"You see how I trust you, Feyd," the Baron said. "No hint of this must ever reach another
Great House, else the Landsraad might unite against the Imperial House and there'd be chaos."
"The main point," Piter said, "is this: since House Harkonnen is being used to do the Imperial
dirty work, we've gained a true advantage. It's a dangerous advantage, to be sure, but if used
cautiously, will bring House Harkonnen greater wealth than that of any other House in the
Imperium."
"You have no idea how much wealth is involved, Feyd," the Baron said. "Not in your wildest
imaginings. To begin, we'll have an irrevocable directorship in the CHOAM Company."
Feyd-Rautha nodded. Wealth was the thing. CHOAM was the key to wealth, each noble House
dipping from the company's coffers whatever it could under the power of the directorships. Those
CHOAM directorships -- they were the real evidence of political power in the Imperium, passing
with the shifts of voting strength within the Landsraad as it balanced itself against the Emperor
and his supporters.
"The Duke Leto," Piter said, "may attempt to flee to the new Fremen scum along the desert's
edge. Or he may try to send his family into that imagined security. But that path is blocked by
one of His Majesty's agents -- the planetary ecologist. You may remember him -- Kynes."
"Feyd remembers him," the Baron said. "Get on with it."
"You do not drool very prettily, Baron," Piter said.
"Get on with it, I command you!" the Baron roared.
Piter shrugged. "If matters go as planned," he said, "House Harkonnen will have a subfief on
Arrakis within a Standard year. Your uncle will have dispensation of that fief. His own personal
agent will rule on Arrakis."
"More profits," Feyd-Rautha said.
"Indeed," the Baron said. And he thought: It's only just. We're the ones who tamed Arrakis . .
.except for the few mongrel Fremen hiding in the skirts of the desert . . . and some tame
smugglers bound to the planet almost as tightly as the native labor pool.
"And the Great Houses will know that the Baron has destroyed the Atreides," Piter said. "They
will know."
"They will know," the Baron breathed.
"Loveliest of all," Piter said, "is that the Duke will know, too. He knows now. He can already