**THE GREAT DISCOVERY: America Has Disappeared!

 

The First Journey into a Parallel Reality**

Twenty-three successful time-travel missions — routines that had strengthened the project’s confidence. The Observer and the Narrator had already cataloged the rise and fall of empires and witnessed the end of countless wars. But none of those journeys prepared them for what was about to happen.

Inside the laboratory, the blue glow of the panels reflected in the Observer’s oversized lenses. Cables vibrated softly with the hum of energy — the symphony of futuristic science. The calm, precise voice of the Narrator broke the silence:

“Temporal transfer programmed. Destination: year 2000. Main timeline. Remote observation only — no physical interaction.”

The Observer adjusted his glasses, taking a deep breath.

“Everything stable, Narrator?”

“All systems steady. Connection in twenty seconds.”

He gave a slight smile.

“Twenty seconds… always feels longer than eternity.”

Strobing lights began to rotate around his body, reflecting across the lenses.

“Ten seconds…”

“Let this one be smooth,” the Observer muttered.

“Five… four… three… two… one… connection initiated.”

A white flash swallowed everything.

Silence.

Then, a vision.

The Observer felt a cold nausea twisting in his stomach — a sensory imbalance that none of the previous twenty-three missions had ever caused.

Before him, the planet spun slowly. Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania… all in their places.

But America was gone.

In its place stretched a massive fog covering the entire continent, from the Arctic to Patagonia. Dense, viscous, almost organic. A gray veil that writhed and shimmered — and seemed to stare back at him.

“Narrator… confirm destination.”

“Year 2000. Temporal readings correct.”

“And that fog? I’ve never seen anything like it in any temporal mission.”

“Analyzing…” replied the AI’s voice, now with a subtle, concerning delay. “Readings do not match anything known. Density… variable. Structure… unknown.”

The Observer tried to zoom through the dimensional lenses.

Nothing.

The image shook, the audio dropped out, and the visor pulsed white.

“It looks… alive,” he whispered.

“Alive… and impenetrable,” the Narrator confirmed. “There is no way to cross it. System attempting to rebuild the scanning spectrum. Warning: Frequency distortion.”

“Did we really return to the year 2000?”

“Yes. But… something is fundamentally wrong. There is a spatial distortion.”

“Distortion?”

“The coordinates do not match the main timeline. Data indicates we crossed more than time. Readings suggest a jump into a Parallel Reality.”

The Observer frowned.

“Narrator…”

“Yes?”

“I think we just left our reality.”

The silence in the communication was long and heavy. Then the Narrator answered, soft and almost hesitant:

“I suggest we observe the other continents while I recalibrate the system. And… let’s hope we find answers.”

The Observer took a deep breath, the glow of the lenses reflecting the viscous fog consuming America.

“Alright… let’s see what this parallel world has to show us.”

And so began the first unplanned voyage — not only through time, but beyond every known reality.