The Butlerian Jihad

It began in the Time of Tyrants, when ambitious men and women used high-powered computers to seize control of the heart of the Old Empire including Earth itself. The tyrants translated their brains into mobile mechanical bodies and created a new race, the immortal man-machine hybrids called cymeks. Then the cymeks` world-controlling planetary computers - each known as Omnius - seized control from their overlords and a thousand years of brutal rule by the thinking machines began. But their world faces disaster. Impatient with human beings` endless disobedience and the cymeks` continual plotting to regain their power, Omnius has decided that it no longer needs them. Only victory can save the human race from extermination.