Chapter 21: The Planetologist's Domain
The route took me northwest—territory I'd claimed before, but Turok wanted verification of a new spice deposit. I'd do the job, claim territory along the way. Double efficiency.
Twenty kilometers out, I spotted the station.
Half-buried in sand. Solar panels on the surface. Monitoring equipment visible even from distance. Ecological testing station—one of Kynes's many installations scattered across the planet.
I checked my route. My claimed territory from previous runs bordered this area. Close enough that expansion would bring me right to their doorstep.
The System pulsed warning.
[HOSTILE OBSERVATION EQUIPMENT DETECTED]
[RANGE: 2 KILOMETERS]
[RECOMMENDATION: AVOID AREA]
But the spice deposit Turok wanted verified was past the station. I couldn't avoid it without failing the assignment.
I moved forward carefully. Kept distance. Watched for researchers.
Two figures worked around the station. Stillsuited. Taking samples. One had equipment I recognized—moisture detection gear. Looking for water in the sand.
They wouldn't find much. This area was dry even by Arrakis standards.
I circled wide. Gave them half a kilometer clearance. Found the spice deposit—exactly where Turok's information said. Good concentration. Worth running.
I started to leave.
That's when the sandtrout appeared.
They erupted from the sand around me. Dozens. Small, wet bodies seeking moisture. Normally they avoided humans—too much threat, too little water. But these came straight at me.
Then stopped.
At the exact edge of my claimed territory from two runs ago. The invisible boundary where sand was mine. They clustered there. Writhing. Waiting.
I froze.
The sandtrout were responding to my presence. Sensing something. The System connection? The desert claiming? Whatever they detected, they wanted to investigate.
But they wouldn't cross into my territory. Like it was forbidden. Wrong.
Movement from the station. Both researchers were looking my direction. One raised binoculars. The other activated scanning equipment.
Shit.
I moved. Fast. Away from the sandtrout, away from my claimed territory, away from observation.
Behind me, I heard excited voices. Couldn't make out words, but the tone was clear. They'd seen something unusual.
I ran. Well, not ran—you don't run in deep desert. But I moved as fast as stillsuit discipline allowed. Put distance between me and Kynes's station.
When I was two kilometers away, I risked a look back.
Both researchers were at the sandtrout cluster. Taking readings. Collecting samples. Animated conversation.
They'd detected something. The abnormal sandtrout behavior. Maybe equipment had picked up the territory claim somehow. I didn't know what their instruments could measure.
What I knew: Kynes would hear about this. His researchers had found an anomaly. In an area where I'd been working.
Another eye turning toward me. Another investigation to avoid.
I needed to be more careful.
On the way back, I claimed territory anyway.
Three separate sites. Small ones—quarter kilometer each. But enough to push my total domain past 3 km². The expansion felt urgent now. I needed to be stronger before too many people started asking questions.
Each claim was easier than the last. The sand recognized me faster. Converted with less resistance. Like the desert was learning to know me.
At the third site, a sandtrout emerged.
Just one. It approached slowly. Hesitant.
I held still.
It touched my boot. The sensation was strange—wet, cool, alive. Not threatening. Curious.
For a moment, we connected. Desert life touching desert claimant. Recognition flowing both ways.
Then it burrowed away, leaving a damp mark on the leather.
I stared at that mark until it evaporated. The sandtrout had accepted me. Or at least investigated me without fleeing.
The System chimed.
[SANDTROUT AFFINITY: DEVELOPING]
[CURRENT LEVEL: RECOGNITION]
[WORM SOVEREIGNTY INTEGRATION: 12%]
[EFFECT: DESERT LIFE FORMS IDENTIFY HOST AS NATIVE]
[WARNING: UNUSUAL BEHAVIOR MAY ATTRACT ATTENTION]
Too late for that. Kynes's researchers had already noticed.
I finished the return journey as second sun touched the horizon. Arrakeen appeared in the distance—lights beginning to glow against dusk.
When I reported to Turok, I gave him the spice deposit information. Said nothing about the station or the sandtrout.
"Good work," he said. Paid me bonus water rations. Dismissed me.
I went to my quarters. Lay on my cot. Thought about sandtrout clustering at my territory boundary. About researchers taking excited readings. About Kynes hearing reports of anomalies.
The System had identified him as a long-term threat. Our visions were incompatible. He wanted green. I needed desert.
Eventually we'd collide.
But not yet. Not until I was stronger.
I closed my eyes. Let exhaustion pull me toward sleep.
Tomorrow I'd feed Duncan information about syndicate routes. Play both sides again. Navigate the chaos.
Tonight, I'd rest in my claimed city, dreaming of claimed desert.
The sandtrout knew what I was becoming.
Soon everyone else would too.
I just needed to make sure I was strong enough to survive that knowledge.
One grain at a time.
One careful move at a time.
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