The Memory Act

After a wave of mass shootings shatters the nation, the U.S. government promises salvation through control. The Memory Act—hailed as the dawn of a safer future—forces every citizen to undergo memory scans and neural implants designed to suppress violent impulses. Crime plummets. Politicians boast of peace. Corporations thrive on the new technology.

But safety comes at a price. The scans do more than monitor—they predict. Anyone flagged as “pre-violent” is detained, reprogrammed, or erased. Thought itself has become a crime.

For Clara Hensley, a quiet small-town librarian, the nightmare begins during a routine scan. Labeled Category Red, she is accused of harboring violent potential based on fleeting memories she can barely recall. Overnight, Clara’s ordinary life collapses. Federal agents give her a choice: disappear into rehabilitation—or surrender her mind to permanent rewiring.

Instead, Clara runs. In a nation where every corner is surveilled and every secret thought can be exposed, she becomes a fugitive. But as she slips into the shadows, she discovers she is not alone. An underground network of dissidents—writers, whistleblowers, and falsely accused rebels—believes the Memory Act is not protection but tyranny. Together, they fight to reclaim what has been stolen: the right to think freely.

Hunted by agents, betrayed by neighbors, and haunted by the question of whether her darkest impulses are real, Clara must decide: stay hidden and survive, or risk everything to ignite resistance.

Because in a world where every memory is monitored, freedom itself is the most dangerous crime.