DUNE Page #28

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THE COUNT:

We shall dominate it!

EXTERIOR:
THE DESERT IN FRONT OF SIETCH

A troop-transporter has just landed in front of a sietch. Harkonnen soldiers come out of it and hide among the dunes. They watch the way the children are collecting the dew from the planets. The desert is covered with dry stubble twenty inches high, making a little forest.

A HARKONNEN LEADER:

Don’t spare a single child nor woman! The extermination must be complete!

Still hiding, the Harkonnens move forward among the stubble towards the Sietch. Just when they are in the middle of the brushwood, the fremen emerge from the sand where they were buried, breathing through reeds of stubble.

Paul appears first, then Chani, and finally the Fremen. This surprise attack enables them to put all the Harkonnens out of action. The plane tries to fly off and activates its wings. The Fremen reveal a cannon hidden under a tarpaulin filled with sand, and shoot the plane which explodes.

EXTERIOR:
ROCKS NEAR THE LARGE FLAT LAND.

The rocks are covered with Fremen wearing the Fedaykin uniform: this is the army trained by Paul.

As if in another world, they all intone a ritual chant. Stilgar is talking with Paul, whom Chani follows like a shadow; she is holding a baby in her arms: Paul’s son. Paul has completely blue eyes and his skin is burnt by the sun.

STILGAR:

Today you are going to prove that you are a true Fremen. For the first time, you are going to call a worm and get on its back. The least mistake will be fatal.

Paul kisses the child which Chani sets in front of him, then kisses Chani and goes off alone, together with his Fremen. One of them hands him two hooks; another gives him an automatic hammer.

Paul walks off into the large flat expanse, towards a spice field. The blue matter is vibrating, whistling, and palpitating. Paul buries the hammer and turns it on.

The hammer resounds: boom ... boom ... boom...

The Fremen chant and become more and more excited.

A gigantic mountain of sand approaches. Paul gets the hooks ready.

The largest worm that has ever been seen comes out of the sand. It must be about half a mile long; it is white and as high as a building. The Fremen dance on the spot, up on the rocks.

Chani shouts.

CHANI:

The prophecy is being fulfilled once again. This is the king of the worms, Shai-Hulud the white, the everlasting old father.

THE FREMEN:

Mahdi, Mahdi, Lisan al Gaib!

Paul runs towards the monster, sinks his hooks into one of the rings. Turning over, the worm raises him up. Paul, at the top of the ring, drunk with his success, cries with joy.

PAUL:

Shai-Hulud heard my call. I was born today. I am a fremen!

From the rocks, Stilgar cries out in reply.

STILGAR:

You are the Kwisatz Haderach.

Two hundred Fremen leave the rocks and rush out towards the worm, with hooks in their hands, crying.

THE FREMEN:

Muad’Dib ... Muad’Dib ... Muad’Dib ...

INTERIOR:
CAVE-SANCTUARY.

Geometrical and mystical drawings together with tapestries decorate the cave. Old fremen men and women, kneeling and sitting, are mumbling prayers. Jessica, sitting on a stone throne, is leading the prayer.

Her eyes are completely blue, her gestures those of the Reverend Mother. She seems to be in a trance. There is nothing left of the old Jessica. A child of four years old, with an adult face, is sitting beside her. Her eyes are made up like priestesses’ eyes. Her calm and serious attitude are not normal for a little girl of this age.

A group of women is bringing in a woman who is nine months pregnant. She is writhing, almost dying in pain. A man follows the processions. The parturient is set down in front of Jessica’s throne, and her arms and legs are bound. The woman is screaming in pain.

THE FREMEN:

(to Jessica)

My son cannot be born; my wife is going to die. Give her your blessing, Reverend Mother.

Jessica gets up and examines the woman. She feels her forehead covered in sweat and takes her pulse. The fever is very high.

JESSICA:

An infection. There’s nothing we can do.

The man falls to his knees and intones a funeral chant. Everyone present comes closer and sings, led by Jessica Alia gets up, with her eyes open wide and shining as if she were drunk; she comes near the dying woman and places her hands on her voluminous stomach. The woman calms down, breathes, and relaxes.

ALIA:

(talking like an adult)

Take off her clothes. I am going to bring forth the child.

THE MAN:

(murmuring to Jessica)

She’s a witch!

JESSICA:

I trust my daughter. While still within me, she received the knowledge of the Ancient Mothers.

The woman is undressed. Alia gets undressed and lies down, naked, on the stomach of the woman, making movements with both her hands on it to impose a breathing rhythm.

Alia, pressing with her feet and her hands on the stomach, seems to be a part of it and starts weeping like a baby and pushing, gradually sliding on the stomach as far as the sex. She falls between the woman’s legs, kneels down, takes the head of the fetus between her fingers, and brings it into the world. Jessica lifts the baby in triumph and cuts the umbilical cord. The child is crying.

Alia laughs strangely.

EXTERIOR:
THE DESERT - A SPICE FIELD. DAWN.

A harvester, activated by smugglers, is extracting spice. Chani, Paul, and his Fedaykin are watching them, hidden behind a dune.

STILGAR:

They never used to come so far before!

CHANI:

Perhaps they’re spies!

PAUL:

We’ll have to kill them.

He makes a signal. The Fremen equip a rocket-launcher, put a rocket in it, and fire. The harvester explodes. The Fremen go into attack. The fight is engaged between them and the surviving smugglers.

In the middle of a group of Fremen, a smuggler is desperately defending himself. Shouts of anger can be heard. Dust flies. The last one remains; all the others are dead. Paul, followed by Chani and Stilgar, approaches the group. He moves aside the Fremen. The smuggler is none other than Gurney Halleck, covered with wounds, about to be killed but resolutely fighting to the end.

PAUL:

Stop!

The Fremen obey and stop their attack on Halleck.

PAUL:

Put away your sword, Gurney Halleck!

HALLECK:

You know my name?

Paul takes away the veil and the filters covering his face, and moves forward his hand; the ducal ring is shining on his finger. Halleck gradually understands.

HALLECK:

(in a murmur)

Paul (shouting) It is you, Paul?

Paul opens his arms. Halleck throws down his sword.

HALLECK:

They said you were dead...

He runs and takes Paul in his arms, shouting for joy. The effort exhausts him. His wounds have made him lose too much blood. He faints in Paul’s arms. He is laid on a stretcher. A fremen carries his balisette, plucks a few strings near Halleck’s ears. Halleck, without opening his eyes, utters a few groans, takes the balisette, presses it against him, and again loses consciousness. The Fremen leave, taking the wounded man with them.

INTERIOR:
A SIETCH CAVE.

The Fremen enter the sietch, and close off the entrance with a plastic door. The women run to greet their warriors. Alia appears, also running, and throws herself into Paul’s arms.

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