On the planet of Corrin, the robot Erasmus is walking around his villa. Erasmus is the intelligent companion robot of Omnius, and he provides Omnius with a doorway into human thinking, while trying to understand and emulate it himself. He detect Omnius watching him with a small spy robot, and Omnius asks what he is doing. Erasmus replies that he is trying to understand why humans do activities like eating and drinking, and what they derive from it. Human slaves bring him various dishes, which Erasmus “tastes” with a probe. One of the humans drops a knife, and Erasmus kills him for it. They talk about resuming the attacks on the League’s worlds. Ominus wants to get rid of humans completely, while Omnius is a little bit more reluctant.

Meanwhile, back on Salusa, the cymeks are getting closer to the shield generator. Xavier tells the militia that the HQ has been wiped out, and that they are responsible for guarding the shield towers. Although the soldiers are reluctant to abandon the rest of the city, Xavier is convinced it is the right thing to do. They hold off the cymeks for a while, then Xavier decides its time to counterattack. They decide to target each cymek in turn, hoping a sustained, concentrated attack will manage to kill them one by one. Xavier climbs into a fighter, called a kindjal, and leads the strike himself. They manage to turn the tide by destroying several of the cymeks, although the canister holding the brain of each one manages to rocket to safety. Only when the last cymek had been destroyed does Xavier allow himself to fall into unconsciousness.

Meanwhile, on the planet known as Arrakis, the members of a Zensunni tribe have cast out one of their own, Selim. They drive him away from the home for the crime of stealing water, which is very rare out in the deep desert. He starts off across the desert, knowing that no one had ever returned from exile. He walks towards the rocky outcroppings, but then senses a vibration in the ground. He knows that it is a sandworm. He throws rocks to divert the creature, but knows that he cannot distract it far enough away. The worm moves towards him, but he manages to sink his walking stick in between two of the worm’s segments. He holds on to his walking stick and is lofted upward when the creature tries to clear the irritated feeling of the stick away from the sand. Selim suddenly realizes he is riding the sandworm.

After being defeated at Salusa, the robot fleet heads back to Corrin. Six of the cymeks carrying the Titans divert to a small planet. The six discuss what plans they are going to carry out next, but Agammemnon wants to strike out at Omnius. Several of the cymeks are suspicious though, and don’t think that now is the time to strike. Ominus thinks his son Vorian, who flies in the ships that update Ominus’ brain on the worlds of the Empire, might be of some use. The titans agree they must attack the rebel humans first before taking on Ominus.

Vorian Atredies is the human son of Agammemnon. He travels around the galaxy updating the distributed brains of Omnius on the inhabited worlds in the company of Seurat, a robot pilot who has developed both a sense of humor and personality while spending time with Vorian. They take turns piloting the ship, and playing games of skill and chance against each other.