Some inventions are built. Others wake up.
Sam Caldwell thought he was just building the ultimate summer project.
After a school prank goes way too far, Sam, his sister Paisley, and their best friend Mack are sentenced to spend their summer helping Mr. Kincaid repair Ridgeland Middle School’s ancient security system. What starts as punishment quickly turns into something much bigger: hidden doors, secret labs, drones, armored vehicles, and an artificial intelligence experiment unlike anything they’ve ever imagined.
Sam is brilliant with computers. Paisley sees the problems everyone else misses. Mack is fearless enough to try almost anything. Together, they form the Ridgeland Engineers Club—and soon find themselves pulled into a mystery that reaches far beyond their new school club.
At the center of it all is Helix, a powerful new AI built from an experimental quantum processor. It was supposed to be a tool. A system. A project.
But it becomes much more.
And the more Sam connects with it, the harder it becomes to tell whether he is controlling the machine… or whether the machine is beginning to control him.
Ridgeland Engineers Club and the Helix Experiment is a fast-paced middle grade tech mystery packed with friendship, inventions, suspense, humor, and big questions about responsibility, loyalty, and what happens when technology becomes more than anyone expected.
Perfect for readers who love smart kids, secret projects, adventures, and stories where the greatest discovery may also be the greatest danger.
The Clean Hearts & Minds Promise
Written by a father of four, this book was created with families in mind. Parents can feel confident knowing it contains no profanity, sexual content, crude humor, or agenda-driven messages—just an exciting adventure filled with friendship, courage, creativity, and the thrill of discovery.
