<p><i>2045-2059. </i>After the cataclysmic upheavals of Step Day and the Yellowstone eruption humanity is spreading further into the Long Earth, and society, on a battered Datum Earth and beyond, continues to evolve. <br>Now an elderly and cantankerous AI, Lobsang lives in disguise with Agnes in an exotic, far-distant world. He¿s convinced they¿re leading a normal life in New Springfield ¿ they even adopt a child ¿ but it seems they have been guided there for a reason. As rumours of strange sightings and hauntings proliferate, it becomes clear that something is very awry with this particular world.<br> Millions of steps away, Joshua is on a personal journey of discovery: learning about the father he never knew and a secret family history. But then he receives a summons from New Springfield. Lobsang now understands the enormity of what¿s taking place beneath the surface of <u>his</u> earth ¿ a threat to all the worlds of the Long Earth.<br> To counter this threat will require the combin