Chapitre 32: Mentat
Paul Atreides was distraught; he felt it, and the wind passed by him in the small room. This was Leit Kynes's lab. Paul could see samples of small plants growing in chambers and small pots. In another room, his mother was speaking to Leit. While he was alone, sitting on the small chair that was offered to him, he looked down, his hands shaking. In the other room, a radio said something he already knew: the possibility of it occurring. His father was dead.
What disturbed him the most was his emotions; he could not feel them, and his father and brother were dead. But he could not feel grief; the emotion felt so foreign at the time like it had never existed. He knew what this was, his mentat abilities. Something which his father had him trained in, but never once was he as good as this.
Paul's hands, once a familiar part of him, now seemed alien, their bony structure a stark reminder of his Harkonnen heritage. His mind, usually sharp and focused, was now a whirlwind of thoughts and images. He saw the past and future, glimpses of visions that his mentat abilities analyzed relentlessly, leaving him feeling disoriented and disconnected from his own reality.
He wanted to disengage from the visions, but he could not stop himself; one vision he saw was of the small, elfin-face girl who called him Usul. She had light skin and deep blue Fremen eyes and looked at him with Affection.
Love. He saw how he came to her, how to find her. Many roads were given to him, but this one he felt was the best; no, he calculated it was the best. Everything was a calculation, and going to sietch Tabr was for the best, he thought.
Damon had Idaho and Leit bring them here to rest for the night. They were told they would be picked up tomorrow.
However, Paul, seeing the vision of prescience, had a different plan in mind. His brother was dead, but he felt as if that was not the end of it; something else was going on. Then, Paul remembered how Damon acted when he was in the room in front of the Duke and Hawat. The slight twitch of a muscle in his cheek. He discerned that his brother was possibly similar to him, perhaps having the same abilities.
Paul reached into his pocket and found his father's signed ring. It was then the visions stopped, and he felt grief come to him. Tears ran down his cheek; alone in the room, he cried.
Half an hour later, Paul walked into the next room with a stillsuit on, provoking confused reactions from both Duncan and Leit. "We need to go," Paul said. Duncan tried to argue, but Paul took his father's signet ring. " I will not have an argument, Duncan. My father and brother are dead, and I am the last of the Atreides line. I am Duke now."
Duncan knew what this meant. Paul was not taking no for an answer. "Paul, we have to wait. Your brother made sure that we would survive, and now we have to wait for the red Fremen to come pick us up," Lady Jessica said.
"How could she be so slow?" Paul thought, "Was she always this slow?"
Paul's computing abilities were far superior to his mother's; at this moment, he could not trust anyone. Leit was a servant of the emperuim and also a man who respected Bloodworm, his brother. He was quick to change sides as long as it served his purpose, but Paul could not find it in him to trust Leit at this time.
"Damon gave you a crysknife, did he not?" Paul asked; this got a reaction from his mother; how could Paul possibly know of it? He was not present when the crysknife was given. She analyzed his face to see a reaction but got none. The only answer was prescience.
"yes, yes, he did, but I don't know why; he only said it was a gift," Jessica said. She took the crysknife from her bodice and showed it to Paul, but it got a reaction from Leit. " A great Gift indeed; the gift was not the blade but what came with the blade, your life.
I know this blade, it was Lokam's blade, Krelln's mother. she was fine warrior, and she is the person who taught him how to kill. This blade must be returned to Sietch Tabr. My sietch."
Leit was about to continue when an explosion occurred in the tunnels. Duncan came in front of Paul and Guarded him. "Leit, do you know a way out?" he said in a hurried breath. He had his blade out and was ready to pounce on any man who came through the doors.
"Yes, I do come with me." Leit passed through his lab doors—there were more than one. They then entered a room with a bookshelf showing books about plants and whatnot. He pushed the shelf to the side, and behind it was a door. He pushed it in. There was a tunnel. "Follow the lines; there is an ornithopter waiting for you. And if I do die, tell the red Fremen a deal was made. "
Paul Followed through the tunnel with Jessica right behind him. "Wait, Duncan, " He turned around only to see Duncan closing the door. "This is where we part, kid, go run, Paul," Duncan said. And it was then when multiple Sardukar ran into the room, and Duncan ran into the door, cutting one of them down, and crossed blades with the rest of them,
For the first one, he rushed the door, stabbing him in the abdomen; pulling out his blade, he stabbed again in the throat; behind him came another blade horizontally, but he ducked, turned around, and stabbed the man in the armpit, killing him one move. He kicked the corpse away and flung his blade downward, marking the sand with blood.
More Sardukar entered. Duncan killed them one by one; his suit worked wonders. It helped him react faster, and his blows were stronger.
Eventually, he became surrounded by the Sardukar, but he did not stop there; no one was getting past him. He had a duty to his duke and would fulfill it; Duncan went to war with a whole army. He killed ten men before he was killed. Several blades were stuck through him. He died on his knees.
But that was not enough for the Sardukar; one of them spit on him and then cut off his head, showing it to the rest. "We are the Sardukar; none are like us." The notion that Duncan was on the level of the Sardukar was like spitting on their faces. He needed to be exterminated, and that is what occurred.
By the time the Sardukar got past Duncan, Paul and his mother had gotten in the ornithopter and were being chased in the air; Paul, Utilizing his skills and abilities, flew the bird south. Behind him, multiple ornithopters were chasing them. These were Harkonnen ships, and they had identified the two in the ornithopter in front of them.
Paul looked to his right, and a storm was coming; as time drew near, more than one of the ornithopters flew back, but one stayed nearby, wanting Lady Jessica. These were pipers, and he had tasked them with capturing Lady Jessica; he wanted her as his own woman.
Instead of flying away from the storm, Paul flew into it and rode it. He disappeared in the storm, leading the Harkonnens to believe that Paul and Lady Jessica were dead, making the house of Atreides extinct.
A/N : Believe me, I wanted to keep Duncan alive, but he is very crucial to the story and the next book.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone