Dune_ House Atreides - Brian Herbert [66]
One of the eager-faced twins next to him looked down with a confident smile. “Wait and see.” The two identical young men had widely set eyes on squarish faces, intent expressions, furrowed brows; they were several years older than Leto. Their pale skin was an inevitable consequence of spending their lives underground.
Between them, Kailea cleared her throat and looked at her brother. “Rhombur?” she said, flashing a glance at the twins and at Leto. “You’re forgetting your manners.”
Rhombur suddenly remembered his obligations. “Oh, yes! This is Leto Atreides, heir to House Atreides on Caladan. And these two are C’tair and D’murr Pilru. Their father is Ix’s Ambassador to Kaitain, and their mother is a Guild banker. They live in one of the wings of the Grand Palais, so you might see them around.”
The young men bowed in unison and seemed to draw closer to Kailea. “We’re preparing for Guild examination in the next few months,” one of the twins, C’tair, said. “We hope to pilot a ship like that someday.” His dark head nodded toward the immense vessel below. Kailea watched them both with a worried glint in her green eyes, as if she wasn’t too sure about the idea of their becoming Navigators.
Leto was moved by the sparkle and eagerness he saw in the young man’s deep brown eyes. The other brother was less social and seemed to be interested only in the activity below. “Here comes the Navigator’s chamber,” D’murr said.
Below, a bulky black tank floated ahead on a cleared path, borne on industrial suspensors. Traditionally, Guild Navigators masked their appearance, keeping themselves hidden in thick clouds of spice gas. It was generally believed that the process of becoming a Navigator transformed a person into something other than human, something more evolved. The Guild said nothing to confirm or deny the speculations.
“Can’t see a thing inside,” C’tair said.
“Yes, but that’s a Navigator in there. I can sense him.” D’murr leaned forward so intently it seemed as if he wanted to fly through the metaglass observation window. When the twins both ignored her, intent on the ship below, Kailea turned instead to Leto and met his gaze with sparkling emer-ald eyes.
Rhombur gestured down at the ship and continued his rapid commentary. “My father is excited about his new enhanced-payload Heighliner models. I don’t know if you’ve studied your history, but Heighliners were originally of, uh, Richesian manufacture. Ix and Richese competed with one another for Guild contracts, but gradually we won by bringing all aspects of our society into the process: uh, subsidies, conscriptions, tax levies, whatever it took. We don’t do things halfway on Ix.”
“I’ve heard you’re also masters of industrial sabotage and patent law,” Leto said, remembering what his mother had claimed.
Rhombur shook his head. “Lies told by jealous Houses. Vermilion hells, we don’t steal ideas or patents—we waged only a technological war against Richese, and won without firing a single shot. But as sure as if we’d used atomics, we struck mortal blows against them. It was either them or us. A generation ago they lost their stewardship of Arrakis at about the same time they lost their lead in technology. Bad family leadership, I guess.”
“My mother is Richesian,” Leto said crisply.
Rhombur flushed with deep embarrassment. “Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot.” He scratched his tousled blond hair just to give his hands something to do.
“That’s okay. We don’t wear blinders,” Leto said. “I know what you’re talking about. Richese still exists, but on a vastly smaller scale. Too much bureaucracy and too little innovation. My mother’s never wanted to take me there, not even to visit her family. Too many painful memories, I suppose, though I think she hoped marrying my father might help restore Richese fortunes.”
Below, the tank bearing the mysterious Navigator entered an orifice at the front end of the Heighliner. The polished black chamber vanished into the vessel’s immensity like a gnat inhaled into the mouth of a large fish.
Though she was younger than her brother, when Kailea