Am I there yet?
I didn't really expect an answer, but—
Ping.
The HUD gently chimed and updated.
[SHELTER – 6.0 km]
I blinked, a half-snort escaping me. "Okay. That's new."
Still six kilometers. Slowly ticking down. Guess it was listening.
I glanced up at the faint, softly glowing interface in my helmet. It was comforting in a weird way, like... someone was watching over me. But I had to admit—this?
"This is definitely not a Thinking Machine from Dune," I murmured under my breath. "No way."
I asked again, with a little grin this time, "Am I there yet?"
Ping.
Same chime. Distance updated—barely. Still a looong walk to go.
I couldn't help it—I let out a low laugh through my nose. "Alright, wiseass."
Not with how casual and responsive it was. No way something that dangerous would be allowed anywhere near a Sardaukar—unless this wasn't canon. Unless this wasn't their universe exactly.
Yet, despite everything, despite the surreal horror that had gutted me not long ago, I was grateful for one thing.
The air wasn't hot.
It was cool—dry, but cool enough that I didn't feel like I was walking through an oven and made me overly thirsty. The kind of crisp air that clung to your skin without suffocating it. I wasn't sweating like crazy, which was a miracle, considering I was still wearing most of the suit.
It wasn't even a Stillsuit...
And even stranger…
I could still walk.
No heaving breaths. No painful lungs. No stabbing side cramps.
I wasn't exactly unfit, but I sure as hell didn't have the build of a varsity athlete either. I was more "perpetually dead-tired college student," than a "survivor of an alien desert."
My legs should've felt stiff and aching, like iron rods by now. My chest should be burning. But here I was, walking a kilometer, and soon another kilometer like I was taking a brisk weekend hike.
"…Damn," I muttered, "I watched too many Dexter memes."
The joke was weak, but it kept me sane. One step at a time. Compass pointing the way. No sandstorm yet. Just me, the Sardaukar suit and its weapons on my body, and this weirdly sentient HUD keeping me company.
Which most definitely a Thinking Machine...
And then—my brain wandered, like it always does when I try not to freak out.
I remembered that scene in the Dune movie—the Sardaukar dropping from the sky fighting the Atreides guards, and that scene before they got ambushed by the Fremen. They weren't just falling. They were descending slowly, like they were flying. Controlled. Defying Gravity!
And of course, that freaky Harkonnen—the bald floating Baron, gliding around with that spinal tech like some fat, evil black balloon.
Can I do that too?
I frowned, looking down at the suit.
My suit.
…That I knew absolutely nothing about.
Yet somehow—it knew me.
"Hey," I said out loud, firm but not angry, just… curious. "How did you know my name?"
No response.
I blinked. "Seriously. You're integrated—a part of a Sardaukar battlesuit now, right? You're from a universe where Thinking Machines are outlawed and hated. So how are you here? How do you exist in my suit?"
Still no answer.
"…Hello?" I tapped the side of my helmet gently. "You there?"
Nothing.
A sigh escaped me. "Fine. If you don't wanna talk, then at least… can you tell me anything about this suit?"
No response, but I continued anyway.
"I know it has a Holtzman shield. I read—watched both recent Dune movies to know that much. Gurney said to Paul that fast attacks get blocked, but slow attacks go through. That's about all I got. Can I… float? Fly? Do I have boosters or something?"
Still silence.
"Does it need a battery? If so… how do I charge it? I mean—my knowledge of Dune is almost zero to none. I only watched the recent movies, and just skimmed the books. Barely read anything on the wiki. I—I don't know how to survive here!"
My voice cracked at the end. I didn't mean for it to. I gritted my teeth and muttered, "A little help would be nice, you know."
Nothing but the desert wind and that little blinking waypoint still patiently waiting for me to follow.
That is—until the suit pinged me again.
Ping.
I flinched and slowed my pace to a halt as the HUD flickered, then shifted—projecting something new.
A holographic model of me.
It started from the front. There I was, fully suited in this intimidating Sardaukar armor. And with my bigger chest—I will have to ask about that later!
The HUD highlighted key components one by one.
[Helmet: Secured]
[Chest Reinforcement: Armor-Plated]
[Gauntlets: Kinetic Launchers – Holtzman Penetrative Compatible]
Whoa. My gauntlets can shoot stuff that can pierce Holtzman shields?
The model slowly rotated. A small label blinked near my thigh.
[Combat Knife Sheath: Rear-Locked Position – Right Side]
The model rotated again, now showing my legs—textured plating lined with ridges.
[Lower Limbs: Picatinny Surface – Modular Compatibility Enabled]
Picatinny? On my legs?
"Okay, tacticool," I muttered, actually a little impressed.
The hologram rotated again, this time to my back. There—mounted symmetrically around my upper and lower spine—were two box-like devices. As the image zoomed in, a label appeared:
[Suspensors: Inactive]
The HUD drew a clean white line to a block of text:
{Suspensor System – Integrated}
Utilizing a secondary phase Holtzman field generator, this subsystem nullifies gravity within a controlled field, allowing reduced mass displacement for limited locomotion.
Note:
Suspensors may not be activated while personal Holtzman shield is active.
Shield-field interactions with suspensor fields create destabilizing feedback oscillations. Historical precedent: Ixian Hybrid Frame Collapse, 10,122 AG.
Classified Hazard.
"Oh."
So that's why. Holtzman fields don't play nice with each other. I mean, yeah, I guess I should've known that—Holtzman interactions are unstable, blah blah—whatever the Spacing Guild and the Bene Gesserit ladies kept filing under 'classified.'
"Still..."
I muttered to myself, processing it all. The suit knew me. It had tech from a banned era, systems that shouldn't exist, in a universe that hates this kind of advancement.
I could fly—float, at least. But I'd have to lower my shield first.
"Okay," I whispered, "This is starting to get cool…"
But also—dangerous. Because deactivating the shield meant I was vulnerable. Still, if it meant I could glide down cliffs or evade—hell, even float like the Baron and the Sardaukars did—I'd take the risk.
I eyed the path ahead.
"But, let's just reach that damn shelter first…"
I kept walking. The terrain sloped gradually upward, and before I knew it, I found myself at the edge of a long drop—a sand-cracked ridge overlooking a wide, shallow basin of dunes. And what I think might be the remains of a river.
If there's a river—a remnant of it, there should be a civilization near—
The HUD pinged again.
[Distance to Shelter: 3.1 km]
"Great," I muttered. "Just great. Of course it's on the other side of a goddamn valley."
I stared down. The descent wasn't vertical, but steep enough to twist my ankle—or snap something vital—if I wasn't careful. My mouth was dry, my throat is also sore. The HUD said I was 3.1 kilometers from hope, and here I was... stuck.
I sighed.
"Well," I said to no one in particular, "no better time than now."
I raised my head toward the horizon and took a long breath. Then the helmet opened the HUD menu by itself, and flicked through options. I couldn't voice out my suprise in time as it showed me what I wanted:
[Activate Suspensor Mode?]
Warning: Holtzman Shield Must Be Deactivated
A dull sense of hesitation settled in my chest. Deactivating the shield meant giving up the one thing keeping me safe—if there was anything out there to be safe from. But if I didn't try this now, I'd be stuck wasting more time climbing down like a caveman.
"Okay, okay..." I muttered. "Suspensors on. Shield... off."
The suit responded immediately. A brief hum vibrated through my back as the field collapsed around me.
I braced.
The suspensors ignited with a soft whirrr. My body felt... lighter. Not weightless—just felt unburdened. My feet still touched the ground, but the pressure on my joints lessened, as if gravity itself had eased its grip on me.
I took one hesitant step forward, and then another.
"Alright," I whispered, voice hoarse from lack of moisture in my throat. "Time to fall, Sardaukar style."
I stepped off the ridge.
I yelped—but I didn't fall.
I descended... slowly. Like a leaf carried on an invisible updraft. My boots barely disturbed the sand as I hovered down, drifting like a ghost. The wind whispered past me, cool and... moist—?
A laugh escaped my throat.
"I'm doing it," I breathed. "I'm actually doing it—!"
And then I landed softly at the bottom. No pain. No broken bones. Just sand and silence and a stupid grin on my face.
I looked back up the ridge I'd just floated down and whispered, "Heh hehehahahaha! Suck it, Baron!"
Beginner's Luck! Haha!
The HUD pinged again.
[Distance to Shelter: 2.8 km]
"I'll take it," I muttered, activating the shield again with a hum of static. "Step by step. Float by float."
Once the shield reactivated, the weight settled back onto my limbs like a blanket I didn't know I had shed. I blinked.
"…Okay. So that's what gravity feels like again. And also what the Astronauts felt in Space."
But now, I was curious. Floating down a cliffside was one thing. But what if—just what if—I could move with these suspensors? Not just drop slowly.
But actually glide.
I crouched a little, hands on my knees, eyes narrowing toward the horizon. The HUD kept the shelter marker glowing faintly.
[2.8 km remaining]
I turned the shield off again—knowing full well the dangers. My brain recited the reasoning from what my not—Thinking Machine said in the HUD like a Dune wiki article:
The Holtzman Shield and Suspensor systems operate on incompatible field harmonics.
A body shield refracts fast-moving objects using a localized Holtzman field, while suspensors nullify gravity using a low-intensity Holtzman ripple.
Using both simultaneously risks destructive field resonance... or implosion.
Yeah. Implosion. Definitely something to avoid.
I felt the weight vanish again as the suspensors hummed to life. I looked down at my boots... and pushed off with one foot.
For a moment—just a split second—I was still.
Then I slid forward. Not fast, but smooth. The suit adjusted, stabilizers compensating, and I found myself gliding across the sand like I was skating on air.
My eyes widened. "No way…"
I pushed again, harder this time. A stronger glide. Still smooth. Still balanced.
"I'm a floating... Sardaukar… sand elf?"
Another push, now experimenting with leaning slightly forward. The suit followed. My speed picked up, and the sand beneath blurred a little. I was actually hovering a few inches off the ground.
I couldn't help myself.
"Wheeeeeee—!"
The suit wobbled at that and I nearly faceplanted into a dune, but recovered mid-hover with an awkward flail.
"Okay! Okay! Fun time over!" I laughed, catching my breath. "Jesus, that could've been bad."
The HUD pinged again.
[2.2 km remaining]
Not bad. Not bad at all.
"I swear, if I don't get isekaied with cheats, I'll make my own, then!" I smirked. "Take that, no-skill MCs."
As I glided forward on the suspensors, the HUD pinged again—a light, almost cheerful chime.
I grinned. "You agreed too?!"
Ping!
"Oh hell yeah!" I laughed, pushing myself forward with another careful lean. It felt like skiing over sand. Honestly? Pretty amazing.
But then, something shifted.
The breeze that had been brushing against my suit changed. It felt heavy, almost suffocating. The sky began to ripple—not with clouds, but with movement, like heat haze bending too low. The horizon warped.
I slowed down and tilted my head up.
"…Hm? Is it going to rain?"
The HUD's pleasant hum was suddenly cut off by a sharp klaxon. A warning icon blared into my vision, red and pulsing like a heartbeat.
ALERT: CATASTROPHIC ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCE DETECTED
ESTIMATED TIME TO IMPACT: 00:12:34
RECOMMENDED ACTION: SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER IN A NEARBY MOBILE CITY
My breath caught. "Wh-What?! What sort of hellhole am I in?! A catastrophe???"
Also, Mobile City??? What the—
The sky ahead twisted into a spiraling column of dark pressure. Not a sandstorm. Not a tornado. Something else. The air moaned, low and unnatural.
"Am I in Hell's backyard?!"
I whipped my head toward the shelter marker.
[1.8 km remaining]
Still so far?!
"Damn it!"
I deactivated the suspensors and slammed my boots into the sand. My breath caught as gravity returned, heavy and biting, but I bolted anyway.
"I better run then!" I shouted to myself, already sprinting through the sand.
The wind howled behind me like it was laughing in my misfortune.
But... at least I learned something new about my suit.