47.
PAUL
How can this stand? Isn’t there a
Judge of the Change to oversee the
transition?GURNEY
Who did the Emperor appoint?HAWAT
Dr. Liet Kynes. Imperial Ecologist.
Been here twenty years. Eccentric,
from what I’m told.LETO
I want to see the harvesting fields
for myself.HAWAT
I wouldn’t recommend that my Lord.LETO
Have The Judge of the Change
accompany us. We will make our case
and at the same time have some
Imperial protection.GURNEY
A hostage. I love it.The THUMPING OF ORNITHOPTER WINGS turns their heads. A wing
of THREE ORNITHOPTERS swoops toward them at speed.
Gurney looks tensely at Hawat. Hawat touches his transceiver.
HAWAT
He’s here, my Lord!The lead ornithopter comes in fast and low. Flares its wings
dramatically and touches down lightly in a combat landing.
Hawat’s security personnel rush to check the aircraft.
The pilot’s door opens and Duncan Idaho climbs out. He is
transformed: scruffy, stubbled and sun-blasted. He wears a
Fremen stillsuit and robes. He wears a long sword like a
knight, with a two-handed cruciform hilt.
Three FREMEN disembark from his ornithopter.
Members of Hawat’s security force approach. The Fremen watch
them warily. Idaho reassures them in their own language: