Paul leaned forward to ask, “And did you see it yourself when you were my age?”
“Alas, no. The Old Duke was not a man to explore the countryside, though he wasn’t afraid to get dirty or sweaty. I missed many opportunities to get to know him. I hope to make that up to us, Paul.”
Sitting in the back of the unmarked Atreides aircraft, Gurney lounged against the bulkhead, strumming his baliset. He seemed uninterested in the scenery, willing to stay at the Duke’s side, wherever they went.
Before flying into the deep wilderness, Leto announced they would detour for an unexpected visit to the moonfish pools. In investigating Wellan’s death, Thufir Hawat had tracked the minister’s activities, which confirmed the Duke’s suspicion that he was connected with the black-market ailar operations. The man had visited a particular fishery too often.
“One installation should not need more inspection visits than any other, and yet Wellan kept going there. I suspect there is something more to it.” Leto’s expression was stern. “What if the fishery has some connection with the drug smuggling? That’s why I want to have a look with my own eyes.”
Gurney’s fingers jangled on the baliset and stopped the flywheel. He snorted. “We will find out.”
“I want to see the fishery village and the spawning pools for their own sake,” Paul said. “Moonfish are interesting creatures.”
“You eat enough of them, lad,” Gurney teased.
“It is good to know where one’s food comes from,” Yueh said.
The flyer took them north along the sparsely populated coast and then inland into marshy territory, where tributary rivers drained into shallow inlets. Artificial rectangular ponds were connected by canals. Paul could see the demarcation of spawning pools, holding ponds, and transport troughs bridged by low metal walkways.
As the sun lowered in the late afternoon, Leto circled the flyer, then came in for a landing on a raised metal grid. The Duke did not announce their arrival until his aircraft was right on top of the fishery.
The settlement was a factory complex but with a pastoral character. The processing buildings were lines of boxy structures for cleaning, cutting, and packaging the fish. Homes built from planks of raw wood stood on stilts, balanced above the mud flats. Clusters of glowglobes drifted like fireflies only a meter above the spawning pools, shining a warm, constant light beneath the cloudy sky.
With expert maneuvering, Leto settled the flyer on the crosshatched metal platform. Fishery workers looked up as they waded in the muck below or stood in shallow canals and crosswise ditches. Wearing waterproof gear, thick gloves, and bandannas in the humid air, they bent down and reached into the water.
One worker, apparently the crew boss, hurried to the landing platform to meet the unexpected visitors. Leto shut down the engines and stepped outside in casual dress, wearing an old fishing cap. His long, dark hair hung down around the edges of the hat. Paul, Gurney, and Dr. Yueh joined him.
The crew boss clambered up rungs to the upraised platform and stomped his sturdy boots on the metal grid to get rid of the mud. His pants were wet and dirty, his sleeves rolled up. Several days’ growth of whiskers covered his cheeks.
The man regarded the flyer and the strangers. “Are you … are you our Duke? Duke Leto Atreides?” He seemed cautious, afraid to believe the idea. He touched an earpiece. “I was working, but heard the transmission just before you landed.”
Leto said, “Yes, I am the Duke. We are on an expedition to the north, and this is our stopping point. My son wants to see the moonfish operations.” He hardened his voice. “As do I.”
The boss, who introduced himself as Hylie, seemed disconcerted. “I wish we could have prepared, my Lord. Surely Minister Wellan delivers his reports to you? Everything is in order, sir.”
Leto remained unmoved. “I did not suggest otherwise. Yet.”
Looking at the crew boss, Paul could see the man was unaware of Wellan’s death.
“Aye, moonfish is a substantial part of Caladan exports,” Gurney said. “It is important for a Duke to understand where he makes his money.”
Hylie brightened at that, but Paul detected unusual mannerisms—anxiety, maybe. It might have been just discomfort at being so close to his Duke, but Paul didn’t think so. Jessica had taught him many subtleties of observation.
“I like to see my people as they go about their regular duties rather than in a prepared reception,” the Duke said. “It helps me to understand them.”
“We will gladly give you a tour of our operations, but the day’s work shift is nearly over.” Hylie fidgeted. “It is a hard life, and the crews are weary by the end of the afternoon.”
Paul said, “I understand that the moonfish thrum at night. Will we be able to hear them?”
Leto gave him an indulgent nod. “Yes.”
“Then you will need lodgings, Sire?” Hylie glanced over at the rugged shacks on stilts in the mud. “We don’t have much, but we can find guest quarters for you. Minister Wellan never stays.”
“We’ll see,” Leto said. “Maybe we will.”
Paul glanced back and forth between his father and the crew boss, and knew Leto wanted to find out more about the illicit ailar operations. Were the fisheries somehow connected to the gathering or distribution of the wild ferns? Minister Wellan had certainly been involved here at this particular fishery. Hylie would require watching.
The crew boss stomped to the edge of the landing platform and dithered there. He turned and said apologetically, “We are not at our best right now, Sire. One of our workers was found dead in her dwelling last night. A terrible tragedy! She was young, but we’ve lost several already this year.” Hylie scratched his stubble. “Perhaps you could dispatch more workers from Cala City, my Lord? Expand our labor force? We need help up here. Minister Wellan keeps promising some assistance.”
Before Leto could answer, Yueh interrupted, “How did she die?”
Hylie shrugged. “She was dead when we looked in on her this morning. It is the way of life.”
“Death is indeed a part of life,” Gurney said, “but not all deaths are the same.”
“We don’t have the facilities to perform medical analysis or autopsies,” Hylie said. “The question is beyond me.”
“I would like to see the body,” said Yueh. He glanced up at Leto, who nodded.
Now the crew boss looked alarmed. “That would … not be possible. We celebrated the return service today, the funeral. Shedai’s body was…” He shrugged again, more jerkily this time. “It is no longer available.”
“Your people believe in cremation?” Leto looked dubiously around the marshy area.
“Her body was not consigned to fire but to the water, Sire.” Hylie nodded toward the canals and troughs. “There are moonfish. She went to them. That is what we always—”
Paul understood. “You placed her body in the water so the fish could feed on her.”
Gurney lowered his voice, sounding suspicious. “A very good way to dispose of a corpse if the evidence needs to be gone.”
The crew boss was confused. “Evidence of what?”
Paul could sense the man’s anxiety growing, more than just discomfort at discussing the body of a fallen worker. The young man said quietly to Leto, “He is hiding something, Father. I can tell.”