2070-71. Nearly six decades after Step Day, a new society continues to evolve in the Long Earth. Now, a message has been received: “Join us.” The Next --- the hyper-intelligent post-humans --- realize that the missive contains instructions for kick-starting the development of an immense artificial intelligence known as The Machine. But to build this computer the size of an Earth continent, they must obtain help from the more populous and still industrious worlds of mankind. This concluding volume of the Long Earth series explores the greatest question of all: What is the meaning of life?