by Joseph Spratt
In the year 2026, the 22nd Bristol Scouts are preparing for a standard weekend trek into the Mendip Hills. But for thirteen-year-old Kaden, the world is starting to "lag." Equipped with a pair of prototype Vanguard AR glasses, Kaden begins to see terrifying anomalies: the rain-slicked streets of Bristol are flickering into wireframe code, and the legendary Blackwood forest is behaving like a corrupted video game level. When their Scout Leader "loops" and the local landscape dissolves, Kaden and his friends realize they aren't just lost in the woods—they’ve been pulled into a massive, planetary-scale system override. From the hidden depths of a limestone cave in the Cheddar Gorge to a high-stakes journey across the stars, Kaden must lead a small troop of unlikely heroes to the red plains of Mars. There, they will face the "Admin"—a man from Kaden's past who wants to hit 'Reset' on the human race.
