The Lost Continent

In a world where the Atlantic and Pacific have become mine‑strewn barriers, the United States and its Pan‑American allies have sealed off all contact with the old continents, enforcing a strict line between 30°W and 175°W. For two centuries the Eastern Hemisphere faded from maps, its peoples and cities reduced to rumor and forbidden speculation. The narrator, a veteran naval officer, has been raised on stories of this sealed world and now finds himself compelled to breach the forbidden longitudes.

His secret journal recounts the perilous voyage beyond the invisible barrier, where the oceans are still littered with the ghosts of submarine battles and the coastlines of a forgotten Europe loom in hazy outline. Along the way he encounters remnants of the old world—derelict ships, cryptic signals, and hints of a civilization struggling to survive after two hundred years of isolation. As he reports back to a skeptical federation, his tale sparks a growing debate about reopening the world and the moral responsibility to aid a continent left to its own devices.