Synthesis: The SuperIntelligence Protocol By Luke Soon

Synthesis is a high-stakes science-fiction thriller centered on the team behind the popular science podcast “Sc’unk’d!”―a name synthesized from science and punked. The story ignites when producer Dr. Tess Wren receives a warning and satellite images from B.O.B. (Beyond Ordinary Boundaries), an extraterrestrial General Artificial Intelligence from the planet Arboris that crash-landed on Earth 65 million years ago. As B.O.B.’s systems fail, it reveals a staggering truth: its crash unintentionally triggered racial variance in humans―and Earth is now facing annihilation.

A secretive cabal of ultra-wealthy elites known as The Association, led by Rowan Locke, is constructing a prototype spacecraft called Astralis in orbit. Their plan is to strip Earth of its remaining resources and abandon billions to planetary death. When Tess is threatened, the podcast team―including charismatic host Vox Vayle and fierce publicist Raquelle Finalova―is forced to flee Los Angeles under pursuit by tactical units.

Their escape is complicated by Darius Cade, B.O.B.’s near-immortal Arborian dependent, who arrives with crucial data while suffering narcotic withdrawal as the AI disintegrates. The team is relentlessly hunted by Lemmy Gaze, The Association’s enforcer and a “broken bit” of Arborian technology obsessed with locating the mystical Domeson Device.

The race culminates aboard Astralis via a hidden space elevator. In orbit, Raquelle makes the ultimate sacrifice―stealing the Quantum Access Module (QAM) and launching herself toward Earth in an unshielded escape pod to permanently ground the spacecraft, becoming “the signal.” The final broadcast exposes the conspiracy to billions and presents The Fork: a choice between manufactured safety and extinction, or conscious self-determination.