Spice Harvesting Procedure

Spice harvesting is a dangerous and often random business seeking out ‘spice blows’ where raw spice explodes from under the desert and collects on the surface. Spice blows produce the largest quantities of melange and occur when gases produced in what is called the ‘pre-spice mass’ build up to critical pressure and throw the mass up to the surface of the desert, sucking whatever was on the surface down, deep below the sand. A brief exposure to sun and air transforms this mass into melange. Being in the same place as a spice blow is usually fatal. Houses licensed to harvest spice uses spotters, flying at a safe height above the desert to watch for signs of a spice blow. Once detected, the spotter pilot communicates the co- ordinates back to base and, ideally, a carryall arrives with one or more harvesting teams on board at the exact point the melange is ready to harvest. Even if they miss the blow itself the spice may remain on the surface for some time where it can be harvested. But such fields are not as rich as a recent blow.

It then becomes a race against time. Harvesting teams must gather as much melange as they can before their activities are cut short by the arrival of a sandworm, a hostile harvesting team, or a sandstorm which will bury or blow away the spice. While they are working, the harvesting team may be watched over by further spotters, ready to warn of wormsign, storm, or hostile action. Some Houses like to economise on these essential safety measures, and those Houses lose melange and harvesters when sandworms consume their harvesting teams or when a violent storm destroys the harvester. Even with an effective and conscientious spotter team, sandworms and storms can move so fast it proves impossible to get the harvesters to safety before they strike.

Spice lost in this way is rarely recovered by the licensed Houses. More often it is taken by informal teams of smugglers or Fremen harvesters who understand more about how to operate on the sand without attracting unwanted attention. Though not even they can always find shelter from a fast-approaching storm.

Spotter pilots are adept at finding spice blows. Some claim to have what amounts to an ‘instinct’ for it, while others rely on a combination of system and luck. It is important to fly low enough to be able to detect small changes on the ground while remaining high enough to get out of the way should a blow occur close by. There’s not a spotter pilot on Arrakis who hasn’t a tale to tell of the time they narrowly escaped death when they got too close to a blow. Some, of course, do not live to tell their stories. Pilots who report false positives—causing their bosses to waste resources sending a carryall to somewhere there is little or no spice to be harvested— don’t keep their jobs very long.

Once the position and size of the spice blow is established, an operator sends out a carryall, complete with the required complement of harvesters and workers. The carryall drops the harvesters off close to the spice blow then retreats to a safe position; far enough not to be conspicuous or interfere with the harvesting operation but close enough to come in and pick up the harvesters should a rival operation, worm, or storm threaten the valuable spice.

Carryalls are mobile factories where the first stages of spice processing take place, where the spice is cleaned of gross pollutants, compacted, and vacuum-packed, ready for further processing in Carthag or Arrakeen. As the carryalls are often many weeks away from the cities, they may carry domestic staff—cooks and cleaners—to maintain the crew and keep the workspaces up to standards. Harvester crews are also on board the carryall when they are not working on the sand and, at such times, they are expected to lend a hand with day-to-day operations. At times, an Imperial inspector may be on board, to ensure that the Emperor is not being shorted a single solari worth of spice he is owed.