Read Online Dune by Frank Herbert - Free Book Online

and it’s certainly nothing I’ve taught him.
    This thought only added to Halleck’s sadness. I’m infected by mood, he thought. And he began to wonder about Paul, if the boy ever listened fearfully to his pillow throbbing in the night.
    â€œIf wishes were fishes we’d all cast nets,” he murmured.
    It was his mother’s expression and he always used it when he felt the blackness of tomorrow on him. Then he thought what an odd expression that was to be taking to a planet that had never known seas or fishes.

YUEH (ya’ē), Wellington (welingtun), Stdrd 10,082-10, 191; medical doctor of the Suk School (grd Stdrd 10, 112); md: Wanna Marcus, B. G. (Stdrd 10,092-10,186?); chiefly noted as betrayer of Duke Leto Atreides.(Cf: Bibliography, Appendix VII Imperial Conditioning and Betrayal, The.)
    â€”from “Dictionary of Muad’Dib” by the Princess Irulan
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    ALTHOUGH HE heard Dr. Yueh enter the training room, noting the stiff deliberation of the man’s pace, Paul remained stretched out face down on the exercise table where the masseuse had left him. He felt deliciously relaxed after the workout with Gurney Halleck.
    â€œYou do look comfortable,” said Yueh in his calm, high-pitched voice.
    Paul raised his head, saw the man’s stick figure standing several paces away, took in at a glance the wrinkled black clothing, the square block of a head with purple lips and drooping mustache, the diamond tattoo of Imperial Conditioning on his forehead, the long black hair caught in the Suk School’s silver ring at the left shoulder.
    â€œYou’ll be happy to hear we haven’t time for regular lessons today,” Yueh said. “Your father will be along presently.”
    Paul sat up.
    â€œHowever, I’ve arranged for you to have a filmbook viewer and several lessons during the crossing to Arrakis.”
    â€œOh.”
    Paul began pulling on his clothes. He felt excitement that his father would be coming. They had spent so little time together since the Emperor’s command to take over the fief of Arrakis.
    Yueh crossed to the ell table, thinking: How the boy has filled out these past few months. Such a waste! Oh, such a sad waste. And he reminded himself: I must not falter. What I do is done to be certain my Wanna no longer can be hurt by the Harkonnen beasts.
    Paul joined him at the table, buttoning his jacket. “What’ll I be studying on the way across?”
    â€œAh-h-h, the terranic life forms of Arrakis. The planet seems to have opened its arms to certain terranic life forms. It’s not clear how. I must seek out the planetary ecologist when we arrive—a Dr. Kynes—and offer my help in the investigation.”
    And Yueh thought: What am I saying? I play the hypocrite even with myself .
    â€œWill there be something on the Fremen?” Paul asked.
    â€œThe Fremen?” Yueh drummed his fingers on the table, caught Paul staring at the nervous motion, withdrew his hand.
    â€œMaybe you have something on the whole Arrakeen population,” Paul said.
    â€œYes, to be sure,” Yueh said. “There are two general separations of the people—Fremen, they are one group, and the others are the people of the graben, the sink, and the pan. There’s some intermarriage, I’m told. The women of pan and sink villages prefer Fremen husbands; their men prefer Fremen wives. They have a saying: ‘Polish comes from the cities; wisdom from the desert.’ ”
    â€œDo you have pictures of them?”
    â€œI’ll see what I can get you. The most interesting feature, of course, is their eyes—totally blue, no whites in them.”
    â€œMutation?”
    â€œNo; it’s linked to saturation of the blood with melange.”
    â€œThe Fremen must be brave to live at the edge of that desert.”
    â€œBy all accounts,” Yueh said. “They compose poems to their knives. Their women are as fierce as