No-ship/XD

A no-ship was a starship, and type of no-chamber, that was invisible to prescience. This meant that its movements or occupants could not be seen by many of those who possessed prescient powers, such as Guild Navigators, and some Atreides descendants.

Usage
No-ships came into heavy use during and after the time of The Scattering. They were used by people fleeing the Old Imperium into the vast unknown of uncharted space. Since no-ships possessed advanced calculation systems, they did not require a Guild Navigator's prescient abilities to avoid collision with interstellar bodies. Because of this, they could escape charted territories without difficulty. However, this also meant that they came dangerously close, if not outwardly defied, the prohibition of the use of thinking computers.

During the time of the Honored Matres, when the Lost Ones were returning to the Old Imperium, no-ships had become commonplace. Not only were they used to hide individuals and their movements, but they were also employed as planetary defenses by being placed in orbit. In this way, those who attempted to search for individuals with prescience would find it difficult, if not impossible to detect them.

At times, no-ships were often armed and took part in space battles.

Prescience-Blocking Abilities
Like a no-chamber, anything inside a no-ship was hidden from prescient vision and other methods of detection, although when in standby mode, it was visible with the naked eye. A no-ship had much greater technological capability than a no-chamber; for example, it was able to perform the functions of a Guild Navigator. Specifically, a no-ship's computer was capable of enough limited prescience that it could successfully navigate its way through a fold in the fabric of the space-time continuum.

Evidence suggested that certain individuals with Atreides ancestry were capable of using their prescient powers to "see" no-ships. Miles Teg, a Bashar during the arrival of the Honored Matres, and a descendant of Ghanima Atreides and Farad'n Corrino, was cloned by the Bene Gesserit, and his clone imprinted with the ability to nullify no-field invisibility after being exposed to a device called a T-Probe, an offshoot of an Ixian device.

Vessel Size
No-ships were gigantic. Individuals were capable of living within one for years without suffering many of the undue effects one would associate with such confinement, implying a very large and luxurious living space. A no-ship was also capable of transporting an adult sandworm, with enough sand for it to survive for the duration of the prolonged trip. Smallest no-ship field was 140 meters.

Technological Ramifications
No-ships represented the fading of both the restrictions on thinking machines and the power of the Spacing Guild, whose navigators were previously the only beings capable of interstellar navigation in their heighliner spacecraft.

Original prototype
The original prototype of a no-ship was built by a Richesean scientist, Tenu Chobyn for Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, who had the man murdered by Glossu Rabban immediately after. It was a small, fighter-sized craft. The no-field completely hid the ship from any conventional detection but was not effective against prescient detection by the Bene Gesserit. It was originally used by Rabban to destroy a Tleilaxu shuttle on board a Guild Heighliner to make it look as if the shots came from the frigate of Duke Leto. Later, when the Baron came to Wallach IX to demand a cure for his disease, Rabban took it upon himself to fly the no-ship to destroy the Mother School. However, the sisters detected him and caused the ship to crash. Mother Superior Harishka decided to keep the wreckage for study but revealed the existence of the technology to Duke Leto. The wreckage was subsequently burned.

The technology was re-discovered by Chobyn's former colleagues when they found a secret no-chamber in Chobyn's old lab on Korona. Their attempts to replicate the no-field generator ended abruptly when the orbital facility was destroyed by the Sardaukar during the Great Spice War, leaving no records.

It is not made clear if the secondary development of the no-ships during the Scattering is the result of the Sisterhood studying Chobyn's original craft or a completely independent invention. There was also a no-chamber built by Chobyn for the Baron on Giedi Prime prior to the ship, which could have been studied after the fall of House Harkonnen.

Appearances

 * Dune: House Atreides
 * Heretics of Dune
 * Chapterhouse: Dune
 * Hunters of Dune
 * Sandworms of Dune