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economy dwarfed ours long before the tsunami hit. They had tamed inflation, overpopulation . . . even their massive appetite for natural resources wasn’t able to hold them back. China had become the world’s premier superpower, and they acted the part. Aiding other countries in need was their imperialistic duty, just as it had been ours for so many years.”
    I dropped the chopsticks onto my plate with a loud ping. I’d wiped the plate clean while listening to Alex and wasn’t sure what to do with it. The plate and chopsticks were made of ceramic that didn’t seem disposable. Alex walked the plate and chopsticks over to the vending machine and slid them into a slot. The machine whined as they were cleaned somewhere deep within its hull. Alex continued speaking.
    â€œA bustling economy provided ample means to grow their military, and they went about it aggressively. They built a massive naval fleet complete with aircraft carriers, a modern air force, and ten million troops. They even landed men on Mars, for Pete’s sake. It was a clear case of the apprentice becoming the master. It is quite interesting to look back nowbecause, initially, the growth of their military created so much anxiety in this country. We worried about their intentions. But things calmed down when it seemed they just wanted to get their chips in the game that we had created. Just like us, they began liberating countries from oppressive regimes in order to get their hands on oil and other natural resources. It got to the point that things were downright harmonious, at least for the game being played. There were far more countries in need of liberating than a single superpower could handle. So, rather than fighting over them, they were divvied up somehow. This was never spoken of publicly, but you had to wonder when you had China intervening here and we were there and there was very little acrimony involved. The two bullies were never on the same block.”
    â€œThey must have been considered a threat.”
    â€œA threat? Yes. Threatening? No. Thus, their offer of assistance was taken at face value. Relations between our countries were strong enough that Chinese aid was logical and appreciated. Besides, we were in desperate shape. Beggars do not have the luxury of choice.”
    â€œInstead they just came in with guns blazing?”
    â€œNo, not at all. That would have been easier to defend against. The first wave of the Chinese fleet anchored off the East Coast just days after the tsunami. From there they set up land operations up and down the coast. Most of their efforts were dedicated to search and rescue, which was what we needed most. Food was easy enough to bring in from the West for the refugees. The whole country rallied to help. It was a beautiful thing to see. But the search and rescue operation was too massive to do alone. And the debris made land access to coastal areas difficult. The vast majority ofvessels in the North and Central Atlantic, including major components of our Atlantic fleet, were sunk or marooned by the waves. That meant the Chinese ships were among the first to arrive. They were right behind the activated elements of our Pacific fleet. And there were a lot of them.”
    â€œWhy did we lose so many ships? You’d think they’d just send them out to deeper water to weather the waves.”
    â€œIn some cases that worked, but for the most part the waves defied logic. We lost a carrier group on the open ocean that was cruising near the Canaries when Cumbre Vieja fell. They don’t build ships to withstand waves three thousand feet high. Back here with the nor’easter hindering land evacuations the government decided to load people onto ships and evacuate them that way. This took a while to orchestrate and once the ships were loaded there was little time for them to head out into deeper water. They thought they were going to be deep enough, but, like I said, the size of the