Out of Sync

"You don't need a screen to see the world perfectly. You just need the right connection. Synapse Gen-4: Don't just feel better. Be better." Fourteen years ago, the Synapse Corporation promised an end to human suffering with the Gen-4 neural implant. What they delivered was an accidental doorway for an extra-dimensional parasite. Today, the connected population lives in a chemically induced, perfectly optimized utopia, entirely unaware that they are livestock being harvested for their neurochemical energy.
Nolan, one of the few remaining "Unsynced" survivors navigating the analog dead zones, intercepts a horrifying transmission: the parasite is preparing to roll out Gen-5, a mass harvest targeting hundreds of millions of children. Armed with an encrypted tachyon-pulse file designed by a rogue AI, Nolan must breach the mutated, terrifying depths of the Dallas Primary Hub. He has seventy-one hours to send a warning back in time to 2026 and unwrite the apocalypse.
But the hive mind is hunting him, and the god waiting in the dark will not give up its timeline without a fight.