July 2008. Mankind was faced with the threat of extinction. An ultra-magnetic weapon, far more devastating than any nuclear weapon known, destroyed half the world in an instant. The earth's crust was rocked by massive movements, the earth was thrown off its axis, and the five continents were torn completely apart and sank deep below the sea... The attempt by a number of people to flee to outer space failed. Their spaceships were forced back to the earth and vanished with their hopes shattered. But one of the spaceships narrowly escaped destruction and crash-landed on a small island which had m