A desert pilot carries Vorian Atreides and Griffin Harkonnen away from the Freemen sietch and leaves them at an isolated automated weather-monitoring station with a literjon of water. Both men are wounded, and Vorian immediately focuses on survival, breaking into the shelter and searching for supplies. They find ration cakes and reconfigure the station equipment to broadcast a rescue signal, though Vorian doubts anyone will hear it through Arrakis dust, static, and storms.

As the men wait, Griffin repeatedly sends signals and presses Vorian for memories of the Harkonnen past. Vorian is exhausted and pessimistic, but Griffin’s eagerness draws out old stories. Vorian refuses to lie or sentimentalize, yet he tells Griffin about Abulurd fighting beside him against Omnius’s piranha mites, Abulurd’s choice to keep the Harkonnen name, and Vorian’s promise to help clear Xavier Harkonnen’s unjust disgrace.

The next afternoon, Vorian studies the station’s weather data and finds a spring-loaded Maula pistol, which he keeps secret. Griffin sees an approaching craft and believes their rescue has come. The two men have reached a tentative thaw: Griffin is concerned about Vorian’s wound, Vorian has begun thinking more kindly of Griffin and even considers future ties to Lankiveil, and Griffin is worried about how to tell Valya that his pursuit of revenge has ended.

The arriving ship is not a rescue. Hyla and Andros emerge, and Hyla seizes Griffin before he can understand the danger. In front of Vorian, Hyla casually snaps Griffin’s neck and throws his body aside. The twins tell Vorian he must either join them in recreating the Titans’ works or die in revenge for their father’s murder. Rejecting both choices, Vorian runs.