The dawn of September 11, 2036, crashed on America’s shores like a western Pacific tsunami as two million troops of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army stormed ashore. U.S. Navy ports, airfields, and ground troop bases were assaulted simultaneously as 400 Y-20 Xian Heavy Military Transport aircraft landed and unloaded thousands of combatants and vehicles.
China’s newly-launched Zedong-400 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers parked just outside nine major U.S. naval stations and launched their hundreds of fighter and bomber planes. The U.S. surveillance satellites had been knocked out earlier, so the enemy’s approach was undetected. Federal officials were arrested, media outlets were commandeered, and all financial transactions were cancelled. Chaos reigned among the citizenry. China had been the primary holder of America’s burgeoning debt, and she had come to collect. Remnants of America’s underfunded military made its way to Australian bases to regroup and fight again another day. The country’s 400 million firearms in the hands of private vigilante militias presented a major challenge. China’s dream of global control, fulfilling their Manifest Destiny, was now achieved. The Exceptional American Experiment had officially ended.
“Why did you let it happen, granddaddy?”
Six years later, an aging defense researcher who had traveled throughout China long before The Takeover reunites with his scattered grandchildren, and tries to answer their piercing question. He tries to explain that the country’s internal fragmentation—caused by political polarization, governmental dysfunction, deficit spending, changing demographics, and abandonment of religious principles—led to the downfall.
He tutors them on subjects that they had not been allowed to hear, like American History, socialism, capitalism, democracy, totalitarianism, and America’s shining example. His now harsh existence stands in stark contrast to his once comfortable lifestyle of a university research faculty member. He exits this life with the hopes that his grandchildren can appreciate America’s former grandeur and can do something to help restore it.