Navigators, mutated by spice into beings far superior to normal humans, have made space travel possible: their prescient awareness allows them to foresee safe paths through the universe as starships "fold" space. Only one man knows the secret of creating Navigators, and he intends to use them to build a commercial empire that spans the galaxy. However, Josef Venport is embattled by antitechnology fanatics led by charismatic and dangerous Manford Torondo....

Chronicles the origins of the rivalry between Duke Leto and Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, the actions that transformed Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck into heroes, the birth of Paul Atreides, and the creation of the tyrannical Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino. "Shaddam Corrino IV, Emperor of the Known Universe, has risked everything to create a substitute for the spice melange . . . The substance that makes space travel possible . . . That prolongs...