2045-2059. After the cataclysmic upheavals of Step Day and the Yellowstone eruption humanity is spreading further into the Long Earth. Now an elderly AI Lobsang lives in disguise with Agnes in a far-distant world. He’s convinced they’re leading a normal life in New Springfield - but it seems they have been guided there for a reason. Millions of steps away Joshua is learning about the father he never knew. But then he receives a summons from New Springfield. Lobsang now understands the enormity of what’s taking place beneath the surface of his earth - a threat to all the worlds of the Long Earth. To counter this threat will require the combined efforts of humankind machine and the super-intelligent Next.