Mini-story time (vol.2): Conflict island

 "CONFLICT ISLAND"

The island was so small that only two people could fit in there. It appeared in 1995, in the middle of the sea. Some say it was because of dark magic; however, the most convincing hypothesis was that the island was just a big chunk of rock that had broken and fallen from a cliff, and, as a result, got carried away by the waters.

            The island was always in motion, making its way through every sea and ocean, visiting the whole world; it was so small that everything, even the lightest of the breezes, could make it move. It had never stopped its journey since 1995, and it became so famous that all the countries wanted to take advantage of it and use it for tourism.

            “It could be a gold mine. Think of all the money we could earn from it!”, once said the governor of one country.

            “Every citizen has heard of this isle. When it comes to our coasts, they become crazy: they want to take pictures of it, and even walk on it, but it is too dangerous. Maybe we could bring it closer to our land and attach it to it. Then, we could put the highest prices for the entrances and say that they have been lowered; you all know how people become crazy when products are discounted, even if it is a total lie. And the good news is that anyone interested on visiting it would pay those entrances anyway”, laughed another country’s first minister, thinking of the mountain of money he could make.

            “We could have merchandising, like T-shirts, magnetic cards and teddies; a whole online shop with products of the island. Our country would become rich again, like before. We need money…, and that piece of land”, stated a president of a poor and small country to her ministers, who agreed.          
 

However, there was a problem: whose property was the island? If it was always travelling, it was impossible to tell which nation it belonged to. That was a complete mystery, and until it was solved, no one could stop it and use it. All the countries were in conflict because of that island, and there was always rivalry between them as they did not trust each other. They never knew when another country was going to take it by force.

            Once, a prestigious scientific called Martin Russell came up with an idea: what if he found the provenience of the island? If he discovered where the rock was from, the owner would be known and the conflict would end.

The countries heard his plan and they all approved it, but there was another problem: they each wanted their own scientist to go to the island and analyse it, as they did not trust Russell at all, except the nation he came from. They feared he could lie about the results.

An enormous group of scientists (195 in total) went to the island with their own boats and took turns to examine it, as only two people could be in there. The climate was not in their favour: the waves made their task harder, as they made the island quake.

Finally, the results were known… and there were no coincidences. This means that each of the scientists had a different outcome; each of them had mentioned their own country…, so they were all lying.

Yet, no nation wanted to say that out loud as they did not want to admit that their own investigator had been dishonest too. However, there was only one who did not do that: Russell. And what was the solution he came up with?

              “We can see that it can’t be anyone’s”, he said in a meeting. “I believe the only owner there can be is the sea”.

But who owned the sea?