In the distant future| James is the last human on Earth. He is raised and protected by a humanoid robot| the Machine| who brings him up on a strange compositereligion described in a handheld device called The Manual. The Manual's teachings fuse aspects of old-world religion and incorporate robots as spiritual beings inthe afterlife| alongside and equal to humans. The man wrestles with loneliness and depression while the search for other humans becomes more and more futile. As hisfaith in The Manual is shaken| he sets out to test one of The Manual's core beliefs: reincarnation to the next life in the city of the Creator. What he finds couldbe described terribly as exactly that.