Contents
Chapter 4
Overview
On Salusa Secundus, Sardaukar handlers prove their Laza tigers can kill Atreides-like children without prompting, completing a critical conditioning test. The Levenbrech’s expectation of promotion under Prince Farad’n exposes a concrete assassination plan against the Atreides twins, escalating the external threat to House Atreides.
Summary
At dawn on Salusa Secundus, two Laza tigers—genetically altered and fitted with brain servo-stimulators—survey a barren training ground where smuggled sandtrout struggle to survive. Below them, two red-haired children in Atreides-marked bourkas climb a dry wash, unaware of danger.
A Sardaukar Levenbrech arrives, carrying the transmitter that controls the cats. Linked to hidden observers through implanted communications, he receives authorization to test whether four conditioning sessions are enough for the tigers to attack without a chase command.
The Levenbrech releases restraints with a red key, holding a black key in reserve. The Laza tigers close in and, without further prompting, kill each child with swift neck breaks, then feed. The unseen superior orders the cats left to finish and dispatches transport.
Confident of reward, the Levenbrech anticipates promotion under Prince Farad’n, grandson of Shaddam IV, and envisions greater power once the Atreides twins are removed—revealing a calculated plot to assassinate them using these perfected killers.
Who Appears
- Levenbrech (Sardaukar aide)Controls the Laza tigers’ servo-stimulators, conducts the successful kill test, anticipates promotion under Prince Farad’n.
- Laza tigersGenetically altered, servo-controlled predators conditioned to kill Atreides-like children without a chase command.
- Unseen superior (voice over comms)Monitors the test remotely, authorizes the procedure, confirms transport, indicating higher-level oversight.
- Two red-haired childrenAtreides-marked decoys who stumble into the ambush and are swiftly killed, proving the tigers’ conditioning.