State of Silence

In tomorrow’s America, words are dangerous.

President Adrian Thompson has built his empire on loyalty and fear. Under the Loyalty Act, every word—spoken, written, or whispered—is monitored by Sentinel, a vast AI network that flags anything “unpatriotic.” Protests have vanished, satire is outlawed, and even private conversations can end in arrest. The people have learned to survive by swallowing their truths and locking their stories away.

Mara Vance refuses to accept it. At least, that’s what she tells herself. At twenty-three, the rookie journalist once dreamed of exposing injustice, but now she edits government press releases, erasing her voice for a paycheck. Until one night, an anonymous message appears in her feed, a phrase that should have been impossible to slip past Sentinel: Truth is still alive.

Chasing the words leads Mara into the shadows, where she discovers the Whisperers—an underground network of storytellers who risk death to keep free speech alive. In their hidden circles, art becomes rebellion, laughter a weapon, and words the last unbroken frontier. Drawn to their fire, Mara must decide if she has the courage to join them.

But Sentinel is evolving. The Compliance Bureau closes in. And betrayal waits where she least expects it. With time running out, Mara faces an impossible choice: stay silent and survive—or speak, and spark a revolution that could shatter a nation built on fear.

In a world where silence is enforced, one voice can ignite everything.