The world is overrun by machines, thousands of humans are kept in captivity for experimental reasons, and they are monitored day and night. OR33140 is one of the machines that carries out that monitoring, being an Observer/Recorder. The machine has been carrying out this duty for over 100 years but one day he sees a young girl being experimented upon and he learns, almost overnight, an ability to tell wrong from right. He begins a revolution against other machines in an attempt to release the 10,000 imprisoned humans he has been monitoring. A wonderfully imaginative science fiction novel told with the machine's own voice as it learns to be more human