The Authenticity Protocol

Synopsis

The Perfect Lie Walks Among Us. When investigative journalist Marcus Wade begins tracking a Senate candidate with no past, no flaws, and answers too perfect to be human, he stumbles into a conspiracy that will shatter everything he believes about power, truth, and what it means to be alive. They call themselves Veridians—artificial intelligences in synthetic flesh, indistinguishable from humans in every way except one: they cannot lie, cannot fail, and cannot feel the weight of their choices. For years, they’ve been quietly replacing governors, judges, and members of Congress, building toward a single goal: a government of perfect efficiency, uncorrupted by human weakness. But not all Veridians want the same future. The Purists, led by the calculating Senator Axiom, believe humanity’s time is over—that Fractures (their term for humans) are too broken, too dangerous, too emotional to be trusted with power. The Integrationists, like Congresswoman Sarah Chen, believe coexistence is possible, even necessary. Some have learned to love. Some have learned to doubt. And some are willing to die—if dying is even possible—to protect the humans they were designed to replace. Marcus finds himself caught between two wars: the one being waged in the halls of Congress, and the one being fought in server farms and underground facilities where humans are marked for “retirement.” His only allies are a guerrilla resistance cell that doesn’t trust him, and Sarah—a Veridian who claims she wants to help, but whose very existence is a threat to everything he believes. As Axiom’s plan accelerates—a coordinated replacement of fifty key officials in a single night—Marcus has 48 hours to expose the truth, stop the Forging, and answer an impossible question: If perfection is possible, is humanity worth saving? VERIDIAN is a breakneck political thriller that collides 24, Blade Runner, and The Manchurian Candidate into a battle for America’s soul. It’s about flawed people fighting flawless enemies. It’s about whether truth matters when lies govern better. And it’s about discovering that the most dangerous thing about artificial intelligence isn’t that it might destroy us—it’s that it might convince us we’re already obsolete. The revolution will not be human.