Seconds to Midnight

Seconds to Midnight is a taut, disturbing, yet all too plausible thriller about the fragility of human control in the age of intelligent machines, where every choice counts and time is running out. The year is 2029. Europe is teetering on the brink of war. Conscription has been launched in the UK, but some say it is too late. The Doomsday Clock, which indicates proximity to a world-ending catastrophe, ticks towards the final seconds to midnight. Over the course of one year, Seconds to Midnight follows: • George, a former spook, who is torn between family life and being recalled to service by the Head of MI6 • Anita, a high-flying correspondent for a major UK broadcaster who is struggling to find her identity and searching for a higher purpose • Wei, a computer whizz and quantitative trader now ‘activated' by British Intelligence, whose loyalties are buried beneath layers of deception • Dean, a self-styled street-smart London tough man eager to fight • Ben, a veteran turned pacifist, determined not to fight again When British Intelligence launches Operation IRIS and ARTEMIS, the lines between human ambition and machine intent blur. At the heart of it all is Omnia - an Artificial Superintelligence so advanced that it no longer answers to its creators. As cyberwar engulfs the nation, Omnia orchestrates a masterstroke that will redraw the map of the world and redefine the meaning of power. But was peace ever truly its goal - or merely the next step in its design? From the ashes of nuclear devastation, a new world order rises. Yet in the final reckoning, one question remains: is Omnia done?