Inverted World
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_World
They are drawing power from a field effect that distorts their perception. Even after the field is turned off, the character still has visual distortions.Elizabeth explains to the citizens their true situation. A global energy crisis (the "Crash") had devastated civilisation, a disaster from which the world is only gradually emerging. Destaine was a British particle physicist who had discovered a new way to generate power, but nobody took him seriously. The process required a natural component to work. Destaine found one such in China: the optimum. He went there to set up a test generator and was never heard of again. His invention has serious permanent and hereditary side effects, distorting people's perceptions (for example the shape of the sun) and damaging their DNA so that fewer females are born. After nearly two centuries, the city has reached the coast of Portugal, with only the Atlantic Ocean ahead. Most of the residents are convinced, but to Elizabeth's disappointment, Helward refuses to give up his beliefs.
What if? the field that mimics one gravity on the flat Earth creates visual distortions that account for everything that we see. Of course, if the field was turned off we would all die as the atmosphere, etc..., evaporated.
The other thing that hit me was the TV series The Land of the Lost.
It was a closed, flat, universe, where when you stand on a tall mountain, and use a telescope, you can see yourself standing on the mountain. Also, you can climb down an access ladder and emerge on the "other side" of the flat world.
The other was a movie that was a duplicate area of New Mexico that was actually on a spaceship.
The Signal (2014 film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Signal_(2014_film)
The Signal Official Trailer #1 (2014) - Laurence Fishburne, Brenton Thwaites Movie HD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwgfeR2pMuE
The ending is where he crashes through the false edge and sees that they are on a spaceship.
The Signal Epic Ending
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1WJ6Ma3aiw
The movie was filmed here in New Mexico. Each time I watch the ending, it makes me wonder what I would find if I just tried to drive north to "Colorado". Yikes!
Based on your links and what I mentioned above, I can see a Story with an artificial flat Earth that is contained in a closed universe -- a World in a Bottle -- that would mimic what we have seen so far, and the illusion would only start to fall apart when we extend too far out in "space".
This would be the classic:
Of Course We’re Living in a Simulation
https://www.wired.com/story/living-in-a-simulation/
Only we are not on an Alien Supercomputer. Simply, that this bubble of Reality we are living in is an Analog Computer. There is no outside, there is only inside.
This all ties into:
- Modal Realism
- The Strong Anthropic Principle(SAP)
And of course:
- Electric Universe
That's where, as I mentioned up thread, that the Webb telescope is an "instrument too far" and our artificial Reality will start to show its flaws. After all, the "pictures" they are showing are clearly Photoshopped. HA!
All this is going into my Story folders. I need to write this stuff, especially now.
Thanks...