ns Kynes was earning a widening reputation among his colleagues Professionally he was seen as one of their leading lights astonishingly competent for one so young, socially, however, even those who liked and admired him considered him cold and distant In reality it was not aloofness which prompted Kynes to so often remove himself from the company of others it was, rather, a sense of time passing m which he had too much to accomplish to permit himself any distractions His friends accepted this attitude, his enemies did not and Kynes himself refused to let it concern him The outbreak of Catha fungus suffered by Ecaz in 10148 provided Kynes with an opportunity to boost his standing even further The fogwood crop representing one of Ecaz s most important exports stood in danger of being completely destroyed by the fast spreading growth Kynes already familiar with the checks and balances of that world, recommended importing spores of Kuenn s Fungus (named for its discoverer, Chnstofer KYNES PARDOT 361 KYNES PARDOT Kuenn), the nearest known equivalent to an organic catalyst to halt the plague The tactic worked with the imported fungus crowding out the malignant growth while not harming the valuable fogwood, and Kynes was formally commended by House Xitan the Ecazian administrator This commendation earned him the atten tion of Fmperor Flrood IX The position of Imperial Planetologist for Arrakis was avail able and Elrood offered it to Kynes as reward The ecologist, who had long considered the desert planet one of the most intriguing and understudied places in the Irapenum, accepted at once Kynes supporters considered his appointment long overdue, while his detractors thought him too young and inexperienced to handle such an important position Again, Kynes refused to allow himself to be drawn into their arguments, preferring instead to concentrate on learning the finer points of Arrakeen ecology The near-religious fervor which overcame the new 1mpenal Planetologist-and, eventually, the Arrakeen Fremen-as a result of his studies has been chronicled elsewhere in this volume So, too has the ecological transformation which Kynes engineered and, with his Fremen, began (see ARRAKIS, ECOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION) The greening of Arrakis is perceived as the ecojogist's gift to the desert folk but is far from the only gift Kynes left behind Hi* various writings, many of which were preserved and have been rediscovered m the Rakis Hoard, also serve to preserve his memory Ecology of&une, published in 10150 and considered the seminal work pertaining to Arrakeen ecology, is his best-known piece, but there are a number of other works equal ly worthy of study Notes of a Planetary Ecoiopist, for example, offers a detailed comparison ot die ecological systems of a dozen worlds stressing the similarities underlying the differences necessitated by the changes m locale *)torrn SVvicws and Their Fffectv pro vides its readers with an astute analysis of the major weather patterns throughout the Imperial planets, with special emphasis on the role of storms m accelerating erosion and soil damage Kynes books and articles have provided generations of scholars with in sights and information unavailable from any other source The Fremen who accepted the ecolgist s leadership provided Kynes with a memorial of their own In 10175 Kynes and a party of Fremen were trapped m a landslide when the Plaster Basin cave warren-containing one of the secret water catches established under Kynes' direction-collapsed killing all those within The bodies were reco\ered and rendered for their water, according to the Fremen custom but a radical departure was made in dealing with the disaster area itself Ordinarily, the Fremen would have tunneled into the holding system where the hoarded water was so carefully sealed that not even the tons of rock and sand which collapsed around it could have affected it instead a ceremony was held in which the concealed water was dedicated to the spirit of Pardot Kynes It was believed according to one account of this unusual act that the water would not return to the ground system until the ecological transformation was nearly complete In this way Kynes would be a participant in the process he had begun long after his actions in the real world had been abruptly halted C W Farther references AKRA.