Hi, OK, so I've had access to the draft of Dune 7, well the first book at least, which is to be released next year. There might still be some modifications to the story, but here are a few things I'd like to tell you about: - As you may have guessed, the enemy from the scattering is Omnius. The evermind has been paciently awaiting for the Old Empire to show signs of weakness. The death of Leto II has triggered his plans. - Among Omnius new toys are robotic sandwords. Having captured one, he used his self-fabrication technology to make them capable of growing and even producing more of its own kind (see The Battle of Corrin) - Now, the thing with these robotic sandwords is that they produce Amal, the synthetic melange developed by the Tleilaxu. Omnius sends some of such worms to Wallach IX and all hell breaks loose when a group of HM starts taking Amal. One thing that this draft didn't explain was how Omnius got access to the Amal. Maybe it will be explained in a revision of the draft, maybe not. I'm not sure yet. - Super Face Dancers: They are actually robots slipped in the middle of the 'regular' face dancers by (you've guessed it) Erasmus. Marty and Daniel were Erasmus' latest creation and the garden where they are found was Erasmus' (we all knew he had a thing for gardens). - Two surprising returns: Vorian Atreides, yes he's alive and has been trying to track down the Evermind in the Scattering, and Paul. The latter has been cloned by Scytale and had received the mission of finding help. He, of course, finds Vorian. - We also learn that the HM was founded by St Alia of the Knife, who has been cloned by a group of Bene Gesserit who wished to flee from the control of the Sistergroup and establish their own group and dominate the empire. However, the book says that the ghola died prematurely, leaving this renegade BG group disoriented (after an early successful expansion) - Now, the two Atreides guys become the center of all attentions, hunted down by everyone (hence the name of the book being 'Hunters of Dune', I suppose). Omnius wants to track them down, because he sees them as a major threat to his new Empire. The Bene Gesserit Sisterhood wants to kill Paul, and capture Vorian. Since Vorian has the original Atreides genes, perhaps then they can start with the pure Atreides genes and this time, well, do everything right, from start again. The HM that have taken Amal, gone insane, almost destroyed Wallach IX and being forced to escape, are also tracking them down. They believe that by mating with an original Atreides, they can produce a second leader, in the fashion of St. Alia of the Knife, to lead them back to their original plan of conquering the known Universe. - Now, the scariest plan comes from Erasmus. Having learned much of Human History, Erasmus is convinced that only another god-emperor is able to rule the Universe. Now, the way he sees it, the god-emperor Leto II had failed because he was not a machine. Erasmus sees the three pillars: human-worm-machine as the key to full power. He intends to track down Paul to obtain some cell samples, with which he would create a new god-emperor with a worm. But this time, he would transplant his own gelcircuitry core to the creature's brain, making himself a new god-emperor. - There's a chapter in which we're taken on a tour around Erasmus' new villa, and I can tell you that there are far scarier things than only Futars running around. - Now, the ones to find Vorian and Paul are Duncan and Sheana. Sheana and Duncan have a teenage daughter named Helena. Now, Helena falls in love with Vorian, and Sheana in a vision sees that their children could bring balance to the universe. As for Paul, the BG send him a Chani ghola, to try to destroy him. But their love saves them, since Chani is able to remember him and overcome BG programming (this part I must confess I didn't understand very well, maybe it'll be revised later) - In the mean time, Omnius ends up making an alliance with the HM/BG dissidents and they create an "Arrakis II" with the robotic sandworms. Omnius finally learns that just like the original melange, he can use Amal to control mankind, and it is implied by the end of the book that he has taken care of the side effects. There's even a humorous sentence by Omnius at the end of the book. He says: "He who controls Amal will control the universe" - Now this is where comes the real 'twist'. Chani says that she remembers that her father, Lyet-Kynes had told her that he had discovered the original birth-planet of the sandwords, but had died before having the chance to tell her anything else. They all seem to agree that their only chance to save the universe lies in finding this original planet. - The book ends with the good-guys group arriving at "Arrakis Zero" (I'm calling it that because it was not given a name in this draft), but not before Murbella and the BG/HM are able to kidnap Helena and force the girl, through a melange trance, to reveal the group's destination. I assume that the birth-planet of the sandworms is where "Sandworms of Dune" will take place. That's it. There might be a few changes if the draft is revised. Unfortunately, I can't tell you more and can't reveal my true identity for legal reasons. But if anything new and worthy of being mentioned comes up, I'll keep you posted. Mentat
