Dune_ House Atreides - Brian Herbert [133]
“Maybe your parents got away,” Leto said. “I hope they’re safe.”
Rhombur thrust his hands into the finger-control field, removing the orship from tutorial mode and preparing for actual takeoff. Leto sat back, trying to relinquish command. The external simulation still filled his eyes, distracting him with visions of pristine Ixian landscapes.
Blue light flashed from outside the craft. An explosion rocked all of them. Leto heard Rhombur grunt in pain and shook his head to scatter the rest of the tutorial hologram. The Ixian Prince slumped forward in his chair; blood trickled down his face.
“What the hells?” Leto said. “Rhombur?”
“This is real, Leto!” Kailea shouted. “Fly this thing out of here.”
Leto jammed his fingers against the panel, struggling to switch from tutorial to active status, but Rhombur hadn’t finished prepping the ship. Another explosion blasted through the wall of the chamber, strewing algae-covered shards of rock. Ominous figures surged into the main room below.
Rhombur groaned. From beneath them, suboids shouted and pointed up at the ship that held the three refugees. Lasgun fire scorched the stone walls and the orship’s plated hull. Leto activated the auto-launch sequence. Despite his earlier concerns, he now fervently hoped the ship’s interactive computer mind would function efficiently.
The orship shot straight up through a channel, then a rock cap, a layer of snow, and finally into an open sky full of dazzling clouds. Steering with his fingers, Leto narrowly avoided a brilliant stream of laser bursts, automated defenses the rebels had commandeered. He squinted against the sudden sunlight.
Looping high in the stratosphere and trying to get a bead on any enemy that might strike them from space, Leto noticed a hulking Heighliner in low-planetary orbit. Two streaks of light shot out of the massive craft in separate V-patterns—a familiar signal to Leto: Atreides ships.
From the comboard Leto sent an identifier signal in the special battle language his father and teachers had hammered into him. Rescue craft fell in on each side of the orship, acting as escorts. The pilots signaled him to acknowledge his identity. Bursts of purple from the starboard craft pulverized a cloud below, where enemy ships had been concealed.
“Rhombur, are you all right?” Kailea took a moment to assess her brother’s injuries.
The young Vernius heir stirred, put a hand to his head, and groaned. A ceiling-mounted electronics box had struck him on the skull, then shattered on the floor. “Uh, vermilion hells!—didn’t get the blasted PSF activated in time.” He blinked repeatedly, then swiped dark blood from his eyes.
Using his new skills, Leto followed his escort into the safety of the waiting Heighliner, where he saw two large Atreides battle frigates. As his orship hovered inside the hold, a message came over the comsystem in Galach, but he recognized a familiar Caladanian drawl. “Good thing we got the Heighliner to wait an extra hour. Welcome aboard, Prince Leto. Are you and your companions all right? How many survivors?”
He looked over at Rhombur nursing his battered skull. “Three of us, more or less intact. Just get us away from Ix.”
After the orship was parked between Atreides escorts within assigned stalls inside the immense Heighliner hold, Leto looked to each side. Through the portholes of the larger ships he saw uniformed Atreides soldiers in green-and-black livery, familiar hawk crests. He breathed a deep, relieved sigh.
Next he looked with concern at Rhombur, whose sister was wiping blood off his brow with a cloth. Focusing on Leto, the Ixian Prince said, “Well, forget the simulations, friend. It’s always best to learn by doing.”
Then he passed out and crumpled to one side.
Even the poorest House can be rich in loyalty. Allegiance