Continental Visitors: The Wonder Tales Of Northern America

Chapter 3: Down South

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- Misfit_9

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Situation Room

June 2nd, 2024

9:30 A.M.

With a stoic and weary expression, Bleakley watched from the other end of the table as the LED screens, once windows that had opened his and the very administration he runs' eyes to the onset of a new, and unprecedented reality or perhaps even, against all basis of science, a new world, display live news feeds from all over the country, the bolded headlines relatively unchanged, and the scenes playing, though framed differently for each one, were filled with the same sense of the looming chaos and uncertainty the incident has brought down.

"You should've seen the Stock Exchange this morning," Prsa added, as footage of small-scale riots flashed across the screens. "The youngsters online are calling it an 'Isekai,'" he said, oblivious to the term's actual meaning, as he continued scrolling through his tablet. "It's blowing up on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram - you name it. And what's impressive is they're getting updates faster than we are." He placed the tablet in front of Bleakley.

"Thought there was an internet outage going on?" Bleakley questioned.

"You know them, they'll do anything to get back into the virtual world. But if you think about it, this is more grounded information - no delays or anything, just pure evidence of the phenomenon actually taking place. It's even more relevant on TikTok, with younger military personnel documenting everything in real time."

"Tik- what?" Bleakley looks back at Prsa, frowning.

"Nevermind." He awkwardly took back his tablet from Bleakley. "Anyways, NASA just released some new information. It's more on the scientific department; oxygen levels, greenhouse gas, the ozone layer, etcetera. They are rough estimates however. But still gives us a good idea of the elements out there." He handed Bleakley a binder, containing the information.

"How about that for slow response time eh?" He flipped through the laminated pages.

"They're working on it," Prsa replied. "Also," he continued, as the screens in front of them changed with a transition, as they were greeted to the sight of various bird's-eye view photographs of a cluster of islands, south of the country's newly, and naturally, formed coastlines, running from the southern tip of California all the way east to the state of Texas.

"Unmanned drones have confirmed signs of human civilization, mainly concentrated within the larger portions of the archipelago," Prsa stated, reading from the Air Force's report. "These large population centers are situated in fully developed cities, with layouts and architecture similar to those of the 20th and 21st centuries. However, a city on the northernmost island, the third largest," he continued, the screens transitioning to various close-up shots of the city, "appears to have suffered substantial structural damage." He paused briefly, allowing the crowd - many of whom had remained relatively silent throughout the summons - to absorb the information. Some attendees, with physical copies in hand, worked in isolation. "Damages," he continued, "were later confirmed by DoD analysis to be of natural causes, not by deliberate bombing or shelling."

"This points to an earthquake," said Bleakley. "Coincidentally, I was informed that tremors were observed along the San Andreas Fault line two hours prior. Can we connect the dots back to us?"

"The USGS (United States Geological Survey) deemed it unlikely to correlate. The fault line itself only spans the entire state, let alone going beyond it. They've already done their tests."