If such was indeed the plan, part of the reason for its failure was that Frelo Mason had Leona Shard put to death when he took command of the Society of Mystic Mariners.
The problem at the heart of this second theory is the question of where the Bene Gesserit originally found melange. Despite the Sisterhood's seeding of the planets with the Missionaria Protectiva, the B.G. could not have learned about melange from the Fremen, who did not reach Arrakis until 7193.
Wherever from, the Guild clearly had melange in their early days on Tupile. It is also clear that in the more than sixty years between Frelo Mason's ascendancy and the Guild's joining the Imperium, the Guild discovered Arrakis and the source of the spice. The Guild would not have been able to reveal the geriatric properties of melange and offer it as a lure to the emperor and the Landsraad during their negotiations at the Financial Synod (10 B.G.-5 B.G.) if they did not have a controllable, steady source.
NAVIGATION. Imagine a circus performe on the high wire. Suppose that the wire rocks back and forth, but in each hand he twirls a bar, making himself a gyroscope and keeping his balance. But now the wire begins to heave, to flutter, to bounce and spin and buck. But our balancer can see the future, can predict each movement to come and can therefore place himself in the right attitude and angle, spinning his batons at the speed and vector essential to remain upright. Picture such a performance (for we will certainly never see one), and you have a metaphor of the task of the Spacing Guild Steersman at work.
Our outline of the navigation of a heighliner through hyperspace is the system in use in the tenth millennium, when the Guild was at the apex of its power and skill.
The globular shape of the heighliner was not accidental: as freight carriers, the huge ships might take on cargos endlessly varied in mass and volume. The cargo was distributed through the craft and secured; the control room, located at the center of the globe, was a double-walled sphere. Between the two walls of the sphere were the controls for realspace movement and the Navigator's station. Inside the inner sphere, its enclosing shell pierced by airlocks, was the Steersman's station, filled completely with water containing an extremely high concentration of dissolved oxygen. At its very center was a Laser Pen containing a point-source Holtzman Effect node.
The sequence for hyperspace transit was this: first, the Navigator, calling on his melange-prescience, determined the optimum moment for the transit to begin. He commanded crew and passengers to strap down (not, as believed, for their immediate safety, but to prevent shifts of mass within the liner during the drop). When the moment arrived, he switched the microlasers within the pen to a specified wavelength for a single pulse, and then disconnected them, all by remote control. When the lasers disengaged, power was fed to the now-incarnated Holtzman Effect field, and the familiar suspensor-nullification effect came into being. Realspace was fractured in a locality about a kilometer in radius, and the mass inside the locality (the heighliner and its contents) dropped into The Void.
Next, the Navigator gave the "clear" light to passengers and crew, signalling them that they might resume their activities. The Navigator continued to monitor the progress of the voyage at intervals — "Where would we be if we returned to realspace now?" — but control of the heighliner was passed to the Steersmen, floating in their spice-laced, oxygen-flooded bath.
So well protected were the details of Spacing Guild techniques that for thousands of years, not a single person outside the Guild realized that Steersmen had their peculiar form because they had been bred to be, in essence, marine mammals. Certainly there were plenty of clues, and many unwittingly came close to the secret. Steersmen had webbed hands and feet; in the tanks in which they visited the surfaces of planets, their motion was described as "swimming"; Princess Irulan described Steersman Edric as having a "fish mouth"; even Muad'Dib called Edric a "man-fish." But fish they were not: Steersmen had no gills. It was simpler to increase the oxygen-concentration of their tank, thus allowing them to drain their lungs of the enriched fluid and breathe air, if need arose. Their genetic adaptations equipped them to move quickly and precisely — even delicately — within the tank.
The Steersmen had only one responsibility, but one which necessitated their modifications: the Navigators dropped the ship into The Void and set it moving through hyperspace at trans-light speed (or more accurately, though harder to imagine, realspace was moving through the ship's hyperspace bubble at translight speed). The job of the Steersmen was to keep it on that course, finding the line of the ship's future that avoided catastrophe. But that line could not be determined once and for all, because of movement within the heighliner: the crew went about their duties; passengers, though confined within their lighters or frigates, moved to and fro; the cargo might contain live animals pacing in their cages. Because of this continuous shifting of mass, each heighliner carried eight Steersmen, four of whom were on duty at a time. The duty Steersmen quartered an imaginary sphere centered on the original location of the point-source node; floating about that nondimensional transcendent "seed" in a prescient trance, they compensated for shifts of mass within the heighliner, keeping it "on course" relative to the flowing realspace by a sinuous dance never witnessed by one outside their brotherhood.
Whatever faults the Spacing Guild may have had, when the day of the Steersman ended, a real beauty passed from the universe. The experience of the Steersmen, breathing and drinking melange, rocking to the beat of space and time, swaying with the music of the spheres, led in their dance by the pulse of life around them, alive to every note in the pavane both composed and played by their quartet, is beyond the power of words to describe or the imagination to conceive.
ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE. (see chart). The Spacing Guild was divided into five main departments: Accounting, Legal, Security, Operations, and Tupile. While Accounting and Legal were standard, the latter three departments were unique, as an examination of their parts and functions discloses.
Security. Under the umbrella heading of Security, the Guild set up one of the most efficient secret police organizations ever founded. Covert Operations was divided into two branches: Planetary and Interior. Planetary mainly used subverted locals, with "controls" who held offices in the Guild's local offices. A separate command was devoted to operations on Ix. The Interior branch was staffed completely by full-time Guild employees. Interior was responsible for finding out the exact cargo loaded onto every Guild Liner. Even when the cargos were personal ships of the passengers, Covert Operations-Interior would find out who and what was aboard. The Interior branch was also responsible for the very few cases of "lost" shipments.
The Psych section of Security was the largest single section because the Guild strongly preferred prevention over cure. The Public Relations Office was responsible for keeping the rest of the empire in the dark about the location of Tupile ("Maps"), for propaganda ("Misinformation"), and for the acquisition of goods and the investment of assets, either openly or through middlemen ("Purchasing").
In keeping with the theory of preventive psychology, the Psych section also had a number of roving "Ombudsmen" who functioned as visible "ears," always willing to listen to any complaints from employees, and to see what could be done to correct the situations giving rise to the complaints. Likewise, "Testing" was responsible for assuring, as much as possible, that all employees were satisfied. Testing also handled polling, both internally and externally. Finally, "Employee Relations" was charged with keeping the peace with the rank and file: Employee Relations was the court of first resort for any employee grievances.
There were four branches of armed Guards and Police: they were "Orbital," who served mainly as crime fighters and investigators; "Spice and Sanctuary," who served to guard the location and knowledge of the Guild's spice hoards and the Sanctuary planet(s); "Internal," the Guild's secret police, charged with the maintenance of security within the Guild, and with counter-espionage; and the specially conditioned "Anti-Hijack" guards, conditioned to release their hold on a dead-man
switch which would fire a lasgun at the Liner's Shield should the Liner ever be hijacked. This post was secret, but the secret was an open one and, as a result, it was tested only very rarely.
Operations. Operations was in charge of the day-to-day, activity of the Guild. The Shipping section performed the activities that the naive thought were the main function of the Guild — that of getting cargo from one place to another for a price. The Public section handled professional recruitment, and advertisement for tourism.
The very secretive Exploration section had two branches, one of which, "Alien Search," received most of the funds and none of the publicity. The other branch, "Planet Evaluation," was responsible for inspecting and determining the commercial value of planets discovered by Alien Search.
All activities of the Research and Development section were highly classified. The "Tleilaxu Branch" was concerned solely with evaluating any data discovered by Security about the Tleilaxu progress with the Navigational Computer. "Training Methods" studied better ways to insure loyalty, through drugs, indoctrination, or anything else that might work. "Arrakeen Fauna" was the innocuous name given to the branch which tried to find some way to keep the occasional sandworm snatched from Arrakis by Security alive. Finally, if transplantation proved impossible, maybe "Spice Synthesis" would manage to find an answer.
Tupile was the home base of the Guild whose location was kept totally secret. The daily operations of Tupile were handled by a "Local Government" branch, which took care of traffic control, street cleaning, broadcasting, etc. Tupile was also the retirement home for Guildsmen, as well as a recreational park, advanced training center, and hospital for those who needed special treatment (all subsections of "Personnel"). Finally, the Guild's shipyards were on Tupile: "Maintenance & Repair" overhauled every ship in the Guild's fleet at least once every three years, and "Production" was in charge of resource allocation, and was responsible for producing enough consumer goods to keep the fugitives on Tupile in relative luxury, while at the same time keeping up the production of new ships of all kinds.
W.D.I.
NOTE
1Doris Bhrazen, Pursuit of the Kwisatz Haderach (Yorba: Rose), p. 44.
Further references: SPACING GUILD, FOUNDATION; INTERSTELLAR FLIGHT, PRE-GUILD; VENPORT, AURELIUS; CEVNA, NORMA.
SPACING GUILD, TOURISM
The Spacing Guild had a very profitable sideline as a travel agency, a fact often lost in the sweep of Imperial history. The revenue from tourism was never negligible, and during the Atreidean Empire, when pilgrimages were promoted and urged on the faithful, the income was astounding. The accompanying illustration is of an advertising leaflet distributed by the Spacing Guild's Department of Tourism during the latter part of the reign of Leto II. It is representative of the Guild's publicity, especially that aimed at the lesser Houses and commoners. Similar brochures were readily available at all levels of Guild service, and included local timetables, prices, etc., along with a healthy though subtle dose of Guild propaganda.
GOLD LINE Heighliners, the acme of modern travel, make regular passages on the indicated routes. See your local DOT office for schedules and rates.
Follow the footprints of the Zensunni (); enjoy nature at its finest (, ); see the best corrida () or arena () in the Empire; or just relax () and enjoy the entertainment (, )!
The Spacing Guild Department of Tourism presents THE GOLD LINE
Special round-trip rates: buy outward passage to two or more stops at normal rates, and pay half-price for the return trip.
See the most magnificent architecture ever erected (); visit the greatest stores of knowledge () ever assembled!
SPICE EFFECT ON POLYMATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT
To understand the remarkable changes which occurred in the pursuit of human knowledge at the times of the Butlerian Jihad and the introduction of spice, it is necessary to consider the origins of poly-mathematics and the nature of polymathematics before spice. According to documents from Terra found at Dar-es-Balat, the ancient method of education (before the , , and leveling) involved a chaotic separation of knowledges. Individuals studied artificially segregated areas called "disciplines." Scholars would become "specialists" and evidently guard against too close a contact with specialists from other areas.
Apparently the reason the edutrainers of the time, called "teachers" or "educators," failed to achieve the holistic polymathematical truth was due to the method of "educating" the young.
First let us recall the exact nature of our edutraining. Level- is the genetic classification of the embryo to identify the optimal speed and form of learning suited to the future child. Level- is the cortex-engramming of the six- to eight-month-old fetus. The information capacity is increased so that learning is more easily achieved. A similar training took the preleveling child eight or nine postnatal years. Finally, our level- training provides spacial awareness and general information for the eight- and nine-month-old fetus continuing through the end of the third postnatal year. The child is then equipped with the amount of knowledge that once took the child approximately eighteen postnatal years to achieve. This enormous waste of time precluded any attempt at a holistic polymathematical theory or approach to understanding.
It was thousands of years before the Butlerian Jihad and the introduction of spice that leveling was achieved. Polymathematical theory grew on a predictable course. Several outstanding individuals made great contributions. One of the most gifted pre-spice polymathematicians was Karlmn Cautz who founded the famous Clexian School.
The growth of the theory stagnated, however, as the dependency on computing became stronger. In fact, in the five hundred years immediately preceding the Butlerian Jihad no significant purely theoretical mathematical contributions were made. The only interesting results were in the areas of navigational modeling, and even those were computer-based.
Consequently the effect of the Great Convention's ruling on computers was devastating to the polymathematicians. Nothing was accomplished for years. The living polymathematicians were useless without computers, and no polymathematics was done. (This is the era Lord Leto delighted in referring to as the Butlerian Jihad's "AfterMath.")
The introduction of spice with the return to more basic edutraining caused an immediate increase in new, exciting theories. The prescience experienced under the influence of spice revolutionized the approach to research as well as its philosophy.
With spice, one had a map to follow. Spice did not provide a complete answer to a problem but suggested several signposts leading the way. The researcher could see the lines to follow and could often flex those lines to see some consequences of particular research paths.
Many of the most influential minds mankind has ever known lived during the spice era and produced the theory of The Polymathematical Sociological Model which we learn and live under today. Two of the greatest and most productive were the famous Bei Alenga (10712-10821) and the greatest of the intellects, Kurill S. Suag (14071-14204).
Suag is of special importance. His intellect was so powerful that even though his lips were never ruby red from sapho and though he lived at the time the spice was running out, he was able to produce more research than any individual before him. He discovered the secret of the time-light dependency as hypervariables which permitted the Ixians to develop prescience machines. Without his discoveries man's continued intellectual progress would have slowed to pre-spice dimensions as spice became nonexistent. However, with the ability to interface the human mind and a prescience computer, new frontiers of knowledge never dreamed of are now opening before us.
The Suagasian-Alenga theorems for trans-light portation give some indication of recent progress in polymathematical theory:
Trans-light Portation Formulas
Theorem 1: Let G be a left consistent Fullic space with invariant mass measures {Wa : a in Lambda}. If T is a flow smooth egoditology contractively on G then G Twa(t) converges to the unique mass location.
Theorem 2: The minimum mass locat
ion interface is given by
Impact probabilities are then given by
R.C.S.
Further references: HOLTZMAN, I.V.; NAVIGATIONAL MACHINE, DEVELOPMENT OF; Th. B.L. Alenga, Introduction to Suagasian Hypervariables with Holtzman Applications (Richese: New Caledonian State UP).
SPICE MINING
Mining of melange was technically a strip or surface mining operation, disturbing the ecostructure of the planet's surface to a depth of no less than one meter and no more than twelve. The spice itself was found in beds usually within centimeters of the surface that had a mean depth of five meters with a standard deviation of 1.623 meters. Occasional beds of unusually rich, powerful spice were found with mean depths of ten meters. The origin of such unusual veins is not known.
Spice mining was one of the most hazardous and consequently well-paid occupations in the universe. Mining operations were subject to constant dangers from sandstorms, tidal dust basins, spice-blows and, always, the worms. The necessity of rapid transport of huge pieces of equipment added to the hazards. Because of such hazards, members of the Union of Spice Miners (USM) developed a tight society with a strong work ethic philosophy.
EQUIPMENT. The spice era saw little change in mining equipment. The standard single-bed operation consisted of one or two carryalls, a harvester and a factory, which were often attached, four sandcrawlers, and four ornithopters.
Carryall. The carryall or wing was a standard airfoil single-wing craft with remarkable lift. It possessed almost no cargo capacity inside the fuselage, its main purpose being to transport the harvester-factory to the spice beds and once there to stay close in order to effect a rapid evacuation should a worm appear. A complex system of winches under the wing made quick lifting possible. Records show that 96.7 percent of the operations were interrupted by the appearance of a worm.
The Dune Encyclopedia Page 100
