diction with an unlimited supply of melange In working for the Baron, of course Piter knew he walked a tightrope For a man as ruthless as the Baron, ordering an execution when he was displeased was a simple matter Piter, however, had some advantage as a mental he would know when the Baron sent the executioner Also he knew the Baron would not destroy him as long as he was useful if he had learned anything in his years on Giedi Prime, it was that the Baron was not wasteful of talent When the Baron finally decided that the moment had arrived to eliminate the hated House Atreides, it was Piter's strategy that the Baron took to the emperor The plan was simplicity itself isolate and destroy Gauging the emperor s temper correctly, Piter urged the Baron to negotiate with the emperor the emperor would order the Duke Leto-an order the Duke would never disobey-to leave Caladan (a planet the House Atreides had held in fief for generations) for Arrakis, a desert planet but the only source in the universe of the essential spice Soon after the Atreides arrived on Arrakis and before they could consolidate their position, the Baron would spring the ambush with the help of the dreaded Sardaukar, disguised in Harkonnen h\cry It was imperative that the royal hand be clean If the Lctndbraad should ever learn that the emperor had moved against a Great House, they would undoubtedly unite for retaliation The emperor had his own reasons for DE VRIES 186 DE VRIES wanting the Atreides destroyed He had long observed the presently small but exemplary fighting force Leto had assembled under the direction of Gurney Halleck and Duncan Idaho and foresaw the day when it could be more than a match for his Sardaukar Thus, when the Baron came to him with his treach erous scheme, he saw a way to nd himself of this potential threat, reluctant though he was to move against a man he respected and admired To insure the success of the venture, Piter added borne refinements The best insurance obviously was to have an agent planted at the hub of the Atreides house But who'' Piter decided to do the impossible, corrupt the incorruptible One member of the Duke's household was Wellington Yueh, a medical doctor of the Suk School, whose training included a supposedly unbreakable conditioning against disloyalty-a conditioning considered so absolute that emperors could employ Suk doctors without fear However, Piter's philosophy did not accept the possibility of incor rupfcbility to him every man had his price It was just a question of finding the appropriate com The way was found to bend Yueh's Imperial Conditioning" he was told that his beloved wile Wanna (who had been dead for some years), was alive and in the Baron's custody subject to Piter's torture Thus, the bargain was struck (incidentally deflating the bubble of Suik Conditioning) the Baron promised to "deliver Wanna from her agonies' and permit Yueh "to join her" if Yueh would deliver the Atreides, especially the Duke Leto, to him To prevent Yueh's detection, knowing that the Atreides' Mental Thufir Hawat would suspect mat the Harkonnens had planted a traitor in their midst, Piter decided to give them one a decoy He had the Baron com pose a note to one Parties, the head of the HaitoDiren underground on Arrakis, informing him that they had successfully placed an agent in the Atreides1 house and hinting in unmistakable terms mat the trailer was Jessica When tile note was intercepted as planned, they would have awakened suspicion into the he-art of the Atreides' defenses Piter also devised some minor diversions such as uprisings in selected garrison towns and suggested that the Baron offer a reward of a million solans for a cryskmfe Piter felt that with his blue-within blue eyes and a cryskmfe he would have no trouble should the occasion call for it and the opportunity arise, penetrating any sietch on Arrakis However, this idea was one of his few hopes that came to naught After the Atrades were taken, the Baron escorted Piter to the cell where Jessica lay bound and gagged to collect the "spoils of Arrakis" die Baron had promised him the Lady Jessica herself Once there the Baron brought out his surprise, Piter had a choice Jessica or the Duchy of Arrakis to rule in the Baron's name In the only reference to Piter in her journal The Years on Arrakis Jessica speaks of her fear as she lay on the floor looking up at Piter looming over her and of her bewilder ment that he could not hear the he m the Baron's voice She also realized that there could be no doubt of Piter s choice when she heard the truth in the Baron's words ' I know what Piter really wants Piter wants power ' His decision to take the duchy was immediate Selections from The History of House Harkonnen reveal the Baron s actual scheme He intended Piter to rule only unUl he had fulfilled his purpose, he would then be eliminated Knowing Piter would make Arrakis suffer, the Baron planned to leave him in power only until Arrakis hated him so much that they would welcome his nephew Feyd Rautha as a savior The Baron, however never got d chance to test his plot In a few short hours Piter de Vnes was dead, puffed out of existence by a whiff of poison gas from a pill shaped into a false tooth and placed m Duke Leto s mouth by Dr Yueh The interview m the Baron s command post had begun with Yueh When the Suk doctor was brought to the Baron to receive the reward for his treachery, the Baron fulfilled his promise to allow Yueh "to join' his beloved Wanna m death At the Baron s signal, Piter killed the doctor (Details of the slaying as told to lakin Zefud, the Baron s guard captain by a witness, Umman Kudu, are recorded m Zefud s Log Included in the records is Kudu's observa DEW PRECIPITATORS 187 tion that, although he had seen many killings in his time, he had seldom seen one performed with such obvious relish as Piter's slaying of Dr.