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In a scene in David Lynch's Dune, Duke Leto and Paul take an aircraft to observe a spice harvester in action. When a sandworm is en-route to attack the harvester, Duke Leto takes his aircraft down to evacuate the harvester, as the carryall which dropped it off in the first place is nowhere around- what happened to keep the carryall away when the sandworm showed up?

Jontia
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Nu'Daq
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    Not enough info in the books. The Carry-all was simply 'missing'. Likely 'taken' by the Fremen. – Möoz Jul 07 '21 at 04:26
  • @Mooz - Nope. There were Fremen helping the spice harvesters. Why would they try to kill their own men? – Valorum Jul 07 '21 at 06:01
  • @Valorum except that they wouldn't be killing them - the Fremen were able to leave the harvester and escape across the sand without worrying about the worm. – Daniel Roseman Jul 07 '21 at 07:49
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    @DanielRoseman - Well, they had enough time because Leto told them to land and decamp. – Valorum Jul 07 '21 at 13:43

1 Answers1

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In the source novel, the mystery of the missing carryall was solved later.

“You’ll all be delighted to know,” she said, “that our Duke sends his reassurances. The matter which called him away has been settled. The missing carryall has been found. A Harkonnen agent in the crew overpowered the others and flew the machine to a smugglers’ base, hoping to sell it there. Both man and machine were turned over to our forces.” She nodded to Tuek.

Valorum
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    I think Harkonnen treachery was implied in the movie and is what I thought when watching it. From the script: "Someone is going to pay for this... I promise." - Duke Leto – Jason Goemaat Jul 07 '21 at 16:33
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    @JasonGoemaat - That being said, they did also make a point of mentioning that the carryalls were in a sorry state – Valorum Jul 07 '21 at 17:16
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    You could add that this discovery further enforces Leto's belief that the Harkonnen trap was merely to sabotage spice production rather than what it ended up being. As mentioned toward the end of this answer to a different question. – V. Sim Jul 08 '21 at 22:17
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    @V.Sim - He does, admittedly, also talk about the possibility of Sardaukar in Harkonnen livery, so he's not clueless about the possibility of an invasion, merely surprised by its scope. – Valorum Jul 08 '21 at 22:32