Dune_ House Atreides - Brian Herbert [210]
It was fairly easy to figure out how to operate the unit. Its controls were rudimentary: a black touch pad and an amber screen that identified machines and technological traces. Markings were in a Tleilaxu code language, which he deciphered easily by speaking the words into a decrypter he had smuggled into the shielded room during the first frantic days after the takeover.
Understanding the innards of the Tleilaxu scanner posed a far more difficult problem. C’tair had to work with extreme caution because of the probable existence of a proprietary antitampering system that could melt down interior parts. He didn’t dare take a tool to the scanner and attempt to pry it open. He would have to use passive methods.
Again he wished the spirit of old Rogo might reappear to provide valuable advice. C’tair felt very much alone in this all-but-forgotten room, and at times had to fight off the temptation to feel sorry for himself. He found strength in the realization that he was doing something extremely important. The future of Ix might rest on what covert battles he managed to win.
He had to survive and keep his hiding place intact, since his protective cocoon housed the important transspace communicator. Before long, he might also find a way of locating the survivors of House Vernius and render valuable assistance to them. Perhaps he was the only survivor who could liberate his beloved world.
And to protect the shielded room, C’tair needed to figure out the damnable Tleilaxu scanner. . . .
Finally, after days of frustration, he used a sounding device in the hope of creating a reflected schematic of the scanner’s interior. To his surprise something clicked. He set the scanner down on the workbench and backed away. Then, approaching again to examine the device closely, C’tair found that a seam had opened on one side. He applied pressure on each side of the split and pulled.
The scanner opened without exploding or melting down. Before his delighted eyes he discovered not only the guts of the unit, but also a pin-activated holoprojector that caused a User Guide image to appear in the air—a dapper holo-man happy to explain everything about the scanner.
Helpful and cheery, the User Guide had no concerns about a competitor stealing the technology of the unit, since it depended upon the rare and precious “Richesian mirror,” which no outsider had been able to duplicate. Constructed of unknown minerals and polymers, such mirrors were thought to contain geodome prisms within prisms.
As C’tair studied the scanner, he grudgingly admired its construction, and for the first time suspected Richesian involvement in the plot against Ix. The hatreds were long-standing, and Richesians would have gladly assisted in the destruction of their chief rivals. . . .
Now C’tair had to use his own intuitive knowledge, the scraps of components, and this Richesian mirror to create a disabling device to block the scanner. After repeated queries to the annoyingly solicitous Guide, he began to unravel a solution. . . .
The evening meeting with the black marketers had been nerve-wracking again, with many frightened glances over his shoulder, but what choice did C’tair have? Only these illicit traders had been able to procure the few components he needed for his scan-blocker.
Finally, after making his purchases, he returned to the quiet building overhead, using a biometric ID scrambler card to trick the entrance station into thinking he was a Tleilaxu technician. As he rode the lift tube up through the former Grand Palais toward his hiding room, C’tair thought of the numerous drawings he had left scattered across his workbench. He was eager to return to work.
When he stepped out into the corridor, though, C’tair realized he had arrived on the wrong floor. Instead of windowless doors and storage rooms, this level held a number of offices separated by clear plaz. Dull orange night-lights burned in the offices; bold, ominous signs on the doors and windows were written in an unknown Tleilaxu language.
He paused, recognizing the place.