IDENTITY STATUS:RETIRED

Paul Henderson wakes in his old car with a splitting headache, a missing identity and a warning spoken in his own voice: do not go home.

He goes anyway.

His wife and daughter are inside. So is another man wearing his face. The doors recognise the stranger. The authorities call Paul a threat. Every account, camera and official record insists that his replacement is the only Paul Henderson who matters.

With nowhere safe to turn, Paul follows a trail of clues left by a version of himself he can barely remember. It leads into the hidden machinery of Asterion, the company promising families that life can continue even when someone can no longer cope.

But reclaiming his name may demand more than proving he is alive. In a world where usefulness determines who gets to exist, what happens to the person a better version leaves behind?