Daniel and Marty - Sequels

Sequels

In 2006's Hunters of Dune, Daniel and Marty are in constant pursuit of the escaped no-ship Ithaca, which has managed to leave the Known Universe and thus elude them. Daniel and Marty believe that the long-foretold "typhoon struggle at the end of the universe" Kralizec will soon be upon them, and their victory requires the Kwisatz Haderach. According to their calculations/predictions, the escaped no-ship is the key; they believe the Kwisatz Haderach is (or will be) aboard the Ithaca. Their Face Dancer minion Khrone is executing a parallel plan to create their own Kwisatz Haderach, using a Paul Atreides ghola that will be conditioned by a ghola of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. Daniel and Marty themselves have the ability to create illusions, and to inflict pain on any human. At the end of Hunters of Dune, it is revealed that Daniel and Marty are not, in fact, Face Dancers: they are actually incarnations of the thinking machines Omnius (Daniel) and Erasmus (Marty), introduced in the Legends of Dune prequel trilogy (2002–2004) by Brian Herbert and Anderson. In the third Legends novel Dune: The Battle of Corrin (2004), Omnius had sent out a last blast of information before being destroyed in the Battle of Corrin. It is explained in Hunters that this signal had eventually connected with one of the probes disseminated from Giedi Prime several years earlier, uploading versions of Erasmus and Omnius.

In Sandworms of Dune (2007), Omnius and Erasmus continue their pursuit of the Ithaca; from the thinking machine capital, Synchrony, they begin striking planet after planet with a deadly virus. Finally capturing the no-ship, they pit the Paul ghola from the Ithaca against their own version, Paolo, in a duel to the death that will leave them with the strongest of the two. Paul survives, but realizes that Duncan is actually the "ultimate Kwisatz Haderach" that Omnius has been seeking. When their defeat at the hands of the thinking machine armada is imminent, the human forces are saved by the Oracle of Time, the immortal founder of the Spacing Guild, who arrives with a thousand ships piloted by the remaining Guild Navigators. The machine fleet decimated, the Oracle appears in Synchrony and transports every aspect of the Omnius network into another dimension forever. Face Dancer leader Khrone, previously acting as a minion of Omnius, reveals his own plot for Face Dancer domination of the universe. With both humans and machines crippled, and tens of millions of Khrone's Face Dancers having infiltrated human society, he seeks to assume control. Amused by Khrone's attempt to seize power, Erasmus explains that a fail-safe system had been built into the Face Dancers; the independent robot kills Khrone and his party — and then all Face Dancers across the universe — with the simple flip of a mental switch. Erasmus offers Duncan the choice between continuing their war or ending it; Duncan chooses peace over victory, and he and Erasmus merge minds. Erasmus imparts Duncan with all the codes required to run the Synchronized Worlds, as well as all of Erasmus' knowledge, setting Duncan as the bridge between humans and machines to permanently end the divide and ensure that the two may co-exist. With little left for him, Erasmus again expresses his desire to learn everything possible about what it is to be human — and asks Duncan to deactivate him so that he may experience "death."