work be virtually mdescwtable Since no known material-and certainly not the plas tiveflum on which Omer s device printed- was sufficieatiy durable for die God Emperor s needs, the dictatel could not be delivered until one had been discovered Omer and Fenrhy, fimous that this informa tion had not been given to them earlier retired from the project Not until 10940 when Jams Rondel s discovery of riduhan crystal paper provided the machine with a suitable printing medium did either of them have anything to do with the dictatel That association was limited they merely taught the device s functions to the men who were conveying it to Arrakis Neither of the dictatel s inventors (undoubtedly as punishment for what the Inquisitors v ewed as childish behavior) was present at the demonstration given the God Emperor of its use That the dictatel worked as well as or better than they had originally hoped could not have been much consolation Further references JOURNALS OF LETO 11 RIDULIAN CRYSTALS Alan Bartke Survey of fxian Technology 10900 13500 (Finally Mosaic) DISTRATiS From rfupersoid transponder the name applied to a communication device developed by the Fremen relying on embed ding a coded message in the neural system of almost an; creature Before the Butlenan Jihad research on mammalian nervout, systems combined with techniques of miniaturization and circuitry led in two directions toward thinking ma chines and toward understanding neural physiology Knowledge in the second of these directions was uncovered by the Zensunm while they were on Pontnn and by the tune they had reached Dune the distrans system had been perfected The distrans had two parts a wave transla tor (a tiny crystal weighing less than 5 mg implanted in the brain of the creature carry mg the message) and an encoder decoder tube (about 9 cm long and 7 mm in outside diameter) The inside of the e d tube was lined and crossed by polarized shigawire which drew its minuscule energy require ment from the electromagnetic field shadowing the user s hands First a series of clicks serving as a password were spoken into the tube while holding it to the earner s ear Then the message was spoken the e d tube digitized the signal and fed it to the wave translator which changed the signal to nor mal electrochemical stimuli and locked them into the host s nervous system The wave translator remained active one part causing the message to be broadcast at set intervals DISTRANS 189 DUNE TAROT the other stimulating the host's vocal center The message was thus covered by and Filtered through the earner's natural sounds, making it impossible to distinguish a message from normal cries Once the messenger had reached its des tmation, the wave translator was deactivated b> a repetition of the password, which also triggered a final broadcast of the message The e d tube received the information, trans lated it into wave motion, and "spoke" with the voice of the sender Any nervous system of some complexity could accommodate the distrans but beasts suited to rapid passage across the terrain- usually birds or Symg mammals-were favored Bads and the native bats, me ctelago, had several advantages other than flight placing the wave translator in the earner's brain was the most difficult step in constructing the device, and the region of these animals* brains controlling their vocalizations was both easy to locate and relatively difficult to damage Moreover, the Fremen bred animals with superior homing abilities Distrans communication showed technical sophistication and simplicity of execution Production had its drawbacks both encoder decoder and wave translator were extremely small and sophisticated, and beast breeding and training facilities required precious resources But the ease of use of die distrans outweighed these disadvantages No special knowledge (other man the password) or training was required of the user And the system was secure the odds were so great -against an enemy even capturing a cielago or bird, let alone recognizing its purpose, that die password seldom had to be changed Since the wave translator could be cleared and reused, the same carriers could be flown over and over again But despite these conveniences, some circumstances limited the distrans insurmountably A bird could not gain entry to a building without its passage being noted, a bat had only a limited range, and neither could be instructed to search out a recipient of unknown location These shortcomings prompted the use of humans as earners, and the first successful implantation of a distrans into a human brain was performed by Dr Gank L Nouh, a physician under ihe patronage of the Landsraad High Council, m 10179 A much modified wave translator was needed, with one particularly important change it played back its message only when stimulated by the earner's speech center, rather than the reverse Otherwise the earner would be constantly babbling and the reason would not be hard to guess Those who could afford to do so quickly switched over to human hosts, ignoring the few protests-chiefly religious-that were raised concerning the employment of human beings as machines Widespread distrans use continued until early in the 11000s, when the invention of crystal scramblers rendered the device impractical Further references Dr Gank L Nouh Wave Transla tors and Their Effects (Finally Mosaic) E K Sentenag Surgical Technique of the Last Millennium (Airfares People s College of Medicine) Ch 14 DUNE TAROT.