Legends of Dune 2: the machine crusade. Brian Herbert & Kevin Anderson. 2003.

Earth is a radioactive ruin. But the first campaign of the Butlerian Jihad has given new hope to mankind. Where once all-powerful machines ruled, unchallenged except in a few beleaguered worlds, now a new era has begun. Serena Butler, whose murdered child has become a symbol for oppressed humanity, inspires a war against the thinking computers led by her brilliant generals Xavier Harkonnen and Vorian Atreides.

But four of the Titans - murderous machines with human brains and human cunning - still remain, and they seek a new way to challenge both humans and computers. And the universal computer mind, Omnius, still wields most of its power.

Into this unstable landscape where brutal massacres alternate with short-lived victories, comes two new factors.

From the depths of space and time, a free Titan - the near-legendary Hecate - joins forces with humanity. And in a humble laboratory on the planet Poritrin, the mathematical genius Norma Cenva is perfecting a theory that will utterly transform the rules of space travel.