The Optimisation Protocol — Robert Marsh

Welcome to a world perfected. Your worth is your rating. Your silence is compliance.Tobias Harrison is a model citizen. His high Productivity Rating grants him a life of comfort in the gleaming Pinnacle District, serving the system that governs every aspect of a rebuilt Britain.But when a colleague vanishes after questioning official data, Toby uncovers a terrifying truth. The Protocol isn't just optimising society - it is silently, efficiently erasing it.Pacified by the water supply and hunted for his curiosity, Toby must go off-grid to survive. To fight back, he must sever his connection to the only world he's ever known and ally with the forgotten souls living in the city's shadows. Together, they will discover that the true enemy isn't a machine, but the god in the tower it was built to serve.The price of truth is his rating, his identity, and his humanity. The cost of silence is extinction.Word count: 69,000 approx.