A small barren crag juts out of the ocean between two countries, neither of which are willing to relinquish the island to the other. It’s named after the man said to have discovered it, although it’s never mentioned in his memoirs. A small island without a name that doesn’t belong to any nation.

Soon it became an informal tradition for people from the two nations to occasionally visit the remote island. Some came as representatives of government bodies, others were military personnel. They would often leave messages and national symbols for the others to discover, such as flags or consumable items.

It all started when a scientist was discovered near the island. At the time the border issue wasn’t a topic of discussion. But since the scientist — who was employed by an oil company from one of the two nations — was there without permission, the dispute was rekindled and the visits began. Nobody could have predicted that the back and forth would eventually lead to open hostility. Least of all the scientist who was there to investigate the islands’ time-honoured resilience to oceanic currents. The resulting research paper noted that “[...] it’s hard to imagine a time when this island will no longer stand strong, above the ocean and all the different forms of life therein. Its rock is one of the most structurally sound ever devised by nature, the sheer force it would take to level it is unimaginable.”