Monday: The Control Room
The group approached what seemed like an enormous structure emerging from the ground, the Eiffel Tower still towering over them, surrounded by the other famous landmarks. Roman and Ivy Mae looked up in awe, their minds racing with the sheer impossibility of it all. Jas, however, felt an unsettling tug in their gut. This was more than just some amusement park or ancient mall being pushed up by strange forces. There was something more to it.
"We need to get inside," Jas said, breaking the silence, their voice firm. "We need answers."
With cautious steps, they moved toward an opening in the base of the Eiffel Tower structure. The door was surprisingly intact, as though it had been waiting for them. Inside was a control room, the kind you’d expect to see in a high-tech facility or an underground bunker. Flickering lights buzzed overhead, and dusty monitors lined the walls, their screens cracked and darkened.
“Looks like this place hasn’t been used in years,” Roman muttered, running his fingers over the console. But something caught his eye. A small blinking light on one of the monitors.
Ivy Mae stepped forward and pressed a button. The screen flickered to life, showing a grainy black-and-white video of a massive storm—the likes of which they had never seen. The winds were tearing apart buildings, while floods swallowed entire cities.
“Is that… real?” Ivy Mae whispered, her voice shaky.
Jas peered at the screen, their heart racing. “This must be some kind of disaster footage, but... it’s hard to say if it's from now or before.”
Roman turned to the console, pressing more buttons in a frenzy. The screens around them flashed as the footage shifted. Clips of wildfires, tornadoes, and earthquakes played across the screens. Some seemed recent, others older. But then, something shifted—a video appeared that was like nothing they had ever seen before.
It was an aerial view of the Arctic, with an immense ice shelf cracking and breaking apart. The camera zoomed out to reveal that the entire shelf was crumbling, the water levels rising rapidly. A voice narrated over the footage:
"The ice shelf is gone. The global temperature spike has caused catastrophic flooding across the world. Hawaii, once a thriving paradise, has disappeared beneath the waves."
Ivy Mae gasped. “That... that can’t be real.”
Jas felt their stomach churn. The footage was so vivid, so real, but the implications were terrifying. “It could be... it must be real,” they said, though doubt crept into their voice. “But why hasn’t anyone said anything about it?”
Roman frowned. “What if... what if this is all fake news? What if these are just manipulated videos? There’s been a lot of that lately. It’s hard to know what to believe.”
Jas looked at the screen again, the reality of what they had just seen settling in their chest. “That’s exactly what we need to figure out. If we can’t trust what we’re seeing here, how can we trust anything anymore?”
They moved to another screen, hoping to find something that could explain the disaster footage more clearly. As they clicked through more videos, the realization began to set in: there was no clear timeline, no verification for any of the footage they were watching. Some clips showed politicians, world leaders, and environmental experts discussing these disasters, but the inconsistencies between the videos were startling.
“What is this?” Roman muttered. “This isn’t news—it’s like they’re trying to make sense of it all, or maybe to rewrite history.”
The more they watched, the more confused they became. The line between truth and manipulation blurred with every passing moment. Jas stared at one of the videos showing world leaders in an emergency summit, speaking in hushed tones, their faces grim.
“Wait,” Ivy Mae said, suddenly leaning in closer. “Look at this. This looks like... Justin Trudeau? And is that Trump? And... is that Putin?”
Jas squinted at the screen. “And... the Mexican President? Elizabeth May? It’s an emergency summit. This footage... I’ve never seen this before.”
Roman crossed his arms. “Why is this footage hidden? Why didn’t we hear about this meeting?”
Jas felt their stomach twist again. The pieces were starting to fall into place, but they didn’t like the picture it was forming. This wasn’t just about weird, disappearing islands or flooded cities. It was about something deeper, more controlled. There was a narrative being fed to the public, but they were seeing something else entirely here.
Another video popped up on the screen. This time, it was a woman speaking, one Jas recognized from the environmental documentaries. Her voice was calm, yet filled with urgency.
"The world’s water supply is contaminated. We’ve reached the point where it is no longer safe for humans to drink untreated water. Freshwater reserves are dwindling rapidly, and there is no time left. We must act now."
Jas turned to Roman and Ivy Mae. “This is what the world’s facing... and this, whatever this is, is showing us a different version of it. A version we weren’t told about.”
Roman exhaled sharply. “So, what now? What are we supposed to do with this?”
Ivy Mae looked over the footage one last time before speaking quietly, almost to herself. “I think we need to get to the bottom of this. Someone’s hiding something, and if we don’t figure it out, we’ll never be able to trust anything again.”