pockets them selves were constructed of plastic whose smoothness came from adjustments at the molecular level, to which water could not adhere The final, outermost layer permitted me passage of heat (one way) and most gases but was completely impermeable to water It should be noted that this fabric, as exquisitely designed as it was, could not function as effectively when made into a tent as when it was made into a stillsuit The stilltent protected its users from losing mois ture which left their bodies dunng respiration, as well as that which escaped from their palms, faces, and other uncovered bodily surfaces It was not constructed to process wastes or to reclaim all of a body's perspiration, and those inside were thus forced to remain in their stillsuits In spite of this 483 STOLFN JOURNALS slight disadvantage, a Fremen stilltent was still the safest shelter for those forced to remain in the desert, the copies produced by village factories were greatly inferior This made authentic stilltents valuable trade items, and their sale to outsiders provided a handsome income for a number of sietches There was one group, however, to whom Jhe fiercely independent tabes refused to offer stilltents the oppressive Harkonnens The Harkonnens recognized the excellence of the Fremen products, even as they scorned and persecuted their makers In 10185 a simultaneous raid on three northern sietches (Tuonot Remmel, and Ammit) was ordered by Count Glossu Rabban The inhabitants appeared to have fled wife unusual haste leaving behind most of their factories' products The troops earned off all they found, including a large number of stilltents In what must have seemed a pleasing bit of irony to the planetary governor, the captured stilltents were issued to the next group of soldiers sent out to round up the people Rabban referred to as "desert scum " It was not until the troops failed to return that they were sought out and the stilltents exposed for the Meganan variation they were Once they were sealed off, with the soldiers inside, they began to build up heat the filaments which would normally conduct heat outward instead drew it into the tent as the outside temperature rose The nse triggered a change in the sphincter-seal, constructed in these tents from a plastic which first flowed, then hardened m heat, by the time the interior became, uncomfortably warm, the door was sealed and impossible to open The fabric layer which was supposed to cany reclaimed water had been changed as well, as the panicked troops learned when they attempted to cut their way out Tightly woven shigawire, impervious to any blade the Harkonnens carried, had replaced the ultrasmooth plastic Those who tried blasting an exit with their lasguns were rewarded only by a faster death when the energy-reflecting plastic lining of the interior converted over eighty percent of the guns' power to heat, the rest were left to bake slowly or to suicide When the tents were opened by the search party-they cut easily enough with a lasgun beam directed from outside-and a report of what was found inside relayed to Count Rabban, the results were predictable A pogrom (largely futile, as the tribes were expecting it and had gone into hiding) was launched against the Fremen and Harkormen troops were ordered to destroy rather than use, any sietch products they discovered in its course The Bremen's reaction to the successful trap was equally predictable An expression dating back to this period illustrates it well "Three things we know to be useless-sand to a thirsty man, water to Shai-Hulud, and stilltents to Mudir Nahya ' (Mudir Nahya, the name given Rdbban by the Fremen, trans lates roughly as 'Demon Ruler ) Until the arrival of the Atreides, there is no record of anyone connected with the ruling house on Arrakis making any further attempt to use a Fremen stilltent C W Farther references ARRAKIS FREMEN RABBAN COUNT GLOSSU STCLLSUIT Anon Kitab al Ibar Manual of the Friendly Desert Rabs Ref Cal 1 Z288 STOLEN JOURNALS.