Spots

Enforced peace creates a wall of total ignorance

For two centuries, the Pan-American Federation has forbidden all travel east of thirty degrees west longitude, erasing the Old World from maps and history. Lieutenant Jefferson Turck commands the aero-submarine Coldwater along this rigid border until a severe tempest strikes. When both gravitation-screen generators fail, the craft settles helplessly into the ocean and drifts into forbidden waters. Turck faces immediate court-martial for crossing the line, regardless of the mechanical failures beyond his control.

CHAPTER I.

Abandoned officers encounter the skeletal remains of forgotten cities

Stranded in an open power boat after their ship departs, Turck and three crewmen steer east toward the English Channel. Refusing to succumb to despair, Turck uses ancestral maps to navigate toward land despite low rations. They anchor near Plymouth Bay and find Plymouth and Devonport entirely erased by dense undergrowth. Digging into the soil reveals ancient clay bricks, human skulls pierced by bullets, and corroded German helmets buried beneath centuries of undisturbed silt.

CHAPTER II.

Apex predators overrun untamed wilderness where empires once stood

While hunting for meat along the Tamar River, the sailors are ambushed by a giant tiger, a species previously confined to Asia. Delcarte kills the charging feline, but eight more stalk from the thickets, proving the English coast is thoroughly infested with wild carnivores. Rechristening the land Tigerland, the men sail toward the Isle of Wight to replenish fresh water. There they encounter a band of filthy, skin-clad savages wielding spears who have lost all memory of modern history.

CHAPTER III.

Nature reclaims metropolitan centers through beasts and feral humans

Navigating up the silent, empty Thames, Turck witnesses free-roaming African elephants and lions where global commerce once thrived. A solitary lion charges him, forcing Turck to place soft-nosed bullets directly into the beast's spine at point-blank range. Immediately after the kill, a primitive tribe ambushes him, dragging a bound female captive named Victory. Turck intervenes with rifle fire, striking down her brutal captors and securing the young woman's freedom.

CHAPTER IV.

Royal thrones become lairs for predators while records preserve forgotten deaths

Entering ruined London, Turck and Victory discover the crumbling shell of a royal palace overgrown with heavy ivy. Inside the dark throne room, a pride of lions slumbers across the royal seats of former monarchs. Fleeing upstairs from attacking beasts, they lock themselves in a sealed office containing a skeleton seated at a desk. A decaying diary reveals that the military governor died in 1937 after a fatal plague and war depopulated England.

CHAPTER V.

Crossing sea barriers reveals global shifts in civilization and power

Escaping the palace by climbing down thick ivy into the Thames, Victory saves Turck from a submerged lioness before they rejoin Delcarte and Taylor. The party repairs their launch using local materials for fuel and decides to cross the English Channel to explore continental Europe. A native captive named Thirty-six joins them, while Victory explains her fight against a tyrannical leader named Buckingham back in her homeland. Meanwhile, crewman Snider harbors growing resentment and eyes Victory with sinister intent.

CHAPTER VI.

Treachery meets swift justice in an unmapped continental frontier

Snider steals the launch overnight, abandoning his comrades on the Rhine riverbank without food or transport. Days later, Turck and his companions spot the launch floating aimlessly downriver and swim out to secure it. Inside lies Snider's corpse, slain by a knife wound while clutching a strand of Victory's brown hair, proving she defended herself before escaping. Shortly after burying the traitor, Turck is surprised and seized by heavily armed, uniformed black cavalrymen.

CHAPTER VII.

Reversed empires reshape global power dynamics through conquest and servitude

Taken to a log fortress, Turck learns his captors are soldiers of the Abyssinian Empire under Colonel Abu Belik. For fifty years, Abyssinia has expanded across Africa and Europe, subjugating white barbarians into systemized labor and servitude. Impressed by Turck's naval background, Belik makes him a personal servant rather than sending him to the labor chains. When military orders summon the regiment northeast to fight invading yellow forces, Turck travels into the heart of continental war zones.

CHAPTER VIII.

Turmoil and collapse spark personal freedom amid crumbling capitals

In the besieged city of New Gondar, Turck discovers Victory held as a royal captive before Emperor Menelek XIV. Turck breaks into the imperial quarters and attacks Menelek directly to protect Victory from forced servitude. An exploding artillery shell shatters the palace wall and destroys the royal guard, enabling Turck to free Victory and clarify Snider's lies. Confessing their mutual love, the pair mounts a single horse and escapes into the chaotic night as the city falls.

CHAPTER IX.

Book

The Lost Continent

An isolationist future crumbles when an exiled naval officer discovers a reverted, wild Europe beyond the forbidden boundary.

0:00
@spot #dystopia #adventure #survival #isolation
Read The Lost Continent in full
See more like this