an underneath This harvester was circular in shape with two long, retractable, diametrically opposed out riggers with a sand wing attached to each The craft flew to a previously located spice bed, descended to a height of five meters above the sand extended the out riggers and lowered the wings, which would "fly* under the sand holding the harvester stable as it worked Such harvesters could be used on spice-packs also The fan was accelerated sufficiently to blow the spice, mock-spice, and spice fiber out and up to the vacuum elements around the outside of the craft The heavier impurities remained on the surface When full, the craft would return to a permanent stationary factory Factory The spice factory was a separa tor of spice and spice by-products from impurities and a storage transport for those products The machine was designed with independently powered sections attached to each other by flextubes The exterior was a compound of metal plastic, and blue plasteel in a shape designed to reduce wmdbome sand damage Its dimensions, were 127 by 41 meters The shape, color and long, leglike track units gave the machine the appearance of a large, blue, hard shelled beetle The ore first entered a shaker-blow room where the heavier elements were shaken on a 3 SPICE MINING conveyor and the lighter spice fiber was blown off and gathered for processing The ore was earned to the second section, an enormous powerful centrifuge The lighter spice and mock spice were isolated when the heavier sand impurities were spun off and ejected through a spout in the top of the factory, causing a cloud which could be seen for kilometers The spice and mock spice mixture was then carried to a third section and placed in a bath of any one of a number of organic solvents These dissolved the mock-spice but left the melange in virtually pure form The solvents were allowed to evaporate and the spice was hyperpacked into transport containers in the tail of the factory The solvent was distilled and reused and the residue of mock-spice gathered and stored to be used as a powerful, ecologically safe pesticide LOGISTICS AND ORGANIZATION OF SPICE MINING The mining operations were conducted under the guidance of a Sandmaster During the harvester factory period, one "dig ' would average two days in length and was usually terminated by the arrival of a worm A dig started from a Spicing Center Miners and support crew were assigned to a dig and the factory, harvester and crawlers were trans ported by a wing to the spice sands During (he Atreides rule, two digs at a time were assigned within wing distance of each other so that the reliability of evacuation was significantly increased without waste of equip ment time Thus two wings were available for evacuation at all times at each dig, unless both needed evacuation simultaneously, which had a probability of 0 025 Upon arriving at a dig site, seismic probes were placed at the corners of the mine The harvester factory was brought to operational status and when the ormthopter spotters were positioned, mining was begun The wings were held at minimum-evacuation-time lo cations Once a dig was interrupted or completed, the wing transported the equipment and car go back to the Spice Center for storage and eventual reassignment The Sandmaster had complete control over his dig and its products He was also responsible for loss of life or equipment on a dig STARVATION, THE 474 STARVATION, THE Payment for the dig personnel usually allotted three shares for each miner, one share each for support personnel, one share for the Sandmaster who received a percentage of total production, and one share for the pros pector who located the bed SPICE PROSPECTING Prospecting was conducted by sandcrawler and on foot, using only paracompass and sinkcharts For safety reasons the finds were limited to the area within a drive of the Shield Wall Spice beds were located by subtle changes in sand texture and color, depressions in sand flats, and telltale odor and color of gases over a bed When a possible bed was located, a few centimeters of sand were removed and a sample was taken Early prospectors assayed the sample by taste This teat, however, was often fatal due to high concentrations of mock-spice Other assay factors consisted of texture, color (the deeper the blue, die better the spice), and odor Later prospectors used organic solvents to remove the mock-spice before tasting When the deep desert sites were developed, prospectors began to use hover crafts for quick transport Also popular were clappets, the small, four-legged furry animals of Sammel, adept at sniffing out spice beds RCS THE STARVATION AMD THE SCATTERING.