Road to Dune Read Online Free PDF

scowled coolly, and his response sounded rehearsed. “House Linkam will already have the advantage of our experience, the data from eighteen years of working the sands. Our sandminers had to learn by trial and error and endure many setbacks. My engineers designed the spice-harvesting equipment and techniques, and it didn’t always work well. In many ways, my opponent is already starting out with a more favorable position than we Hoskanners ever had.” When his brow furrowed, the horned-cobra tattoo looked as if it were coiling, ready to strike.
    With a bored gesture, Emperor Wuda said, “The disadvantages seem to balance the advantages.”
    “Sire, we must have some equipment to begin with!” Jesse insisted, then smiled. “Otherwise the spice operations will cease entirely until we have everything in place. It could take months. I doubt the Empire would want that.” He waited.
    “No, that would be unconscionable.” The Grand Emperor sniffed. “Very well, House Hoskanner is hereby instructed to leave twelve spice harvesters and three carryalls on Duneworld. They will be considered a loan, to be repaid at the end of the challenge, regardless of the outcome.”
    Valdemar’s features grew stormy, but he said nothing. Jesse pressed his advantage. “And may I also request an Imperial edict that neither Nobleman Hoskanner nor anyone connected to him may interfere with my operations? After all, House Linkam did nothing to hinder his in the past eighteen years.”
    The Grand Emperor’s impatience bordered on outright annoyance. “We will not be drawn into the minutiae of your petty dispute, nor will we mediate a squabble that has already taken too much of our precious time. Additional rules and restrictions would only complicate the matter. At the conclusion of two years, House Linkam will compare its tally to that of House Hoskanner. As your sovereign, I must remain neutral, so long as the flow of spice is uninterrupted.”
    Jesse knew he would do no better. He bowed formally. “I accept the challenge, Sire.” No rules .
    The Grand Emperor folded his hands across his swollen belly and smiled. Jesse thought he could hear the steely jaws of a trap clamping shut around him.
    3

I have always considered the descriptive powers of poetry and song to be invincible. But how can one begin to capture the essence of Duneworld in mere words? A man must journey there and experience it for himself.
—GURNEY HALLECK,
jongleur of House Linkam

    A s an advance guard for the new Linkam operations, Esmar Tuek and a hundred Catalan men arrived on Duneworld. The Hoskanners had packed up in a flurry and departed like tenants evicted in the night. They took most of their expensive spice-harvesting machinery and transport ships, leaving behind only twelve units, as ordered: but they were the most broken-down, poorly maintained equipment.
    Esmar Tuek shook his head at the bad news. The Emperor had sent word that his concession was generous, so he must have set aside his own substantial stockpile of spice, more than enough to tide him over while leaving House Linkam to struggle against formidable odds to get their operations up and running. More than likely, the Hoskanners had bribed the Emperor with some of their own melange hoard, to influence his decision.
    While a few ambitious independent sandminers continued spice-harvesting operations in the interim, Tuek’s men set up a base of operations in the main city. Carthage was perched in a forbidding tangle of crags that rose high from the gulf of open sand, offering shelter from furious storms and other threats. Tuek would have preferred a more organized layout, but the rugged terrain allowed no discernible grid for constructing buildings, roads, and landing zones. Structures had to be erected in any open and level spot, no matter how small.
    Most of the hired workers were forced to remain, unable to afford the exorbitant passage offworld. Support staff, cooks, water merchants, repairmen,