80.
Before him is laid a lavish dinner for one: a steaming roast,
cheese and wine. He eats the roast directly from the platter
with fork and carving knife, breathing like a buffalo.
Arrakis-born servants stand ready at either side, petrified.
Guards stand with their backs to the walls.
BARON HARKONNEN
(with his mouth full)
You have a good kitchen, cousin.He directs his words to the far end of the table -- where
Duke Leto sits, naked, chained to a chair under the portrait
of his father. He is slumped over, still woozy from Yueh’s
drug: the Baron just a blur to him at the head of the table.
Outside the high windows, the night of Arrakeen is torn by
violence everywhere the eye touches. Columns of smoke rise
over the city, lit from below by lurid red flames.
Piter enters with Doctor Yueh. They stop beside the Baron.
PITER
Milord Baron. Doctor Yueh.BARON HARKONNEN
(with his mouth full)
The Traitor! What do you want?DOCTOR YUEH
I jammed their comms and lowered
the shields. I delivered the Duke
and his family.He glances uneasily at the far end of the table, where Leto
stares at him glassily from beneath his tousled hair.
The Baron squints at Doctor Yueh’s face, drawn and tragic.
BARON HARKONNEN
The bargain to the letter! And what
was I to do for you?DOCTOR YUEH
Deliver my Wanna from her agony.BARON HARKONNEN
Ah. Yes.The Baron stabs his fork into the roast and rises, his feet
briefly leaving the floor as his suspensors overcompensate.