Дюна
Book One: Dune
“It’stheoreticallypossible,ofcourse—ashire-sizedstaticcounterchargeissupposedtodothetrick,butnoone’severbeenabletoputittothetest.”
“We’dhaveheardaboutitbeforenow,”Hallecksaid.“ThesmugglershaveclosecontactwiththeFremenandwould’veacquiredsuchadeviceifitwereavailable.Andthey’dhavehadnoinhibitionsagainstmarketingitoffplanet.”
“Idon’tlikeanunansweredquestionofthisimportance,”Letosaid.“Thufir,Iwantyoutogivetopprioritytosolutionofthisproblem.”
“We’realreadyworkingonit,myLord.”Heclearedhisthroat.“Ah-h,Idahodidsayonething:hesaidyoucouldn’tmistaketheFremenattitudetowardshields.Hesaidtheyweremostlyamusedbythem.”
TheDukefrowned,then:“Thesubjectunderdiscussionisspicingequipment.”
Hawatgesturedtohisaideattheprojector.
Thesolido-imageoftheharvester-factorywasreplacedbyaprojectionofawingeddevicethatdwarfedtheimagesofhumanfiguresaroundit.“Thisisacarryall,”Hawatsaid.“It’sessentiallyalarge‘thopter,whosesolefunctionistodeliverafactorytospice-richsands,thentorescuethefactorywhenasandwormappears.Theyalwaysappear.Harvestingthespiceisaprocessofgettinginandgettingoutwithasmuchaspossible.”
“AdmirablysuitedtoHarkonnenmorality,”theDukesaid.
Laughterwasabruptandtooloud.
Anornithopterreplacedthecarryallintheprojectionfocus.
“These‘thoptersarefairlyconventional,”Hawatsaid.“Majormodificationsgivethemextendedrange.
