Maintaining the secrecy of his theft was essential, as the consequences of such a transgression were lethal. After an hour commute home on the bus, Jian Ming ripped off his factory nametag and put on an old gray sweatshirt and pair of blue running shorts. The inside tag of the worn and tattered sweatshirt read “Property of John McGill” and his old phone number. Ming paused and remembered for a moment what it was like to be John McGill. Once Americans in the Incorporated States accepted their fate and laid down arms at the end of the war, the Chinese began an effort to assimilate former Americans into Chinese society and did so by assigning everyone a new name and address.

All of this is not to say that Ming never had his doubts about Project Cyberdem and his community of believers. In theory, the Incorporated Sates were perfect. There was hardly any street crime because there was a strict curfew at seven in the evening, everyone was employed and made a living salary, citizens were allowed a television in their homes, the streets were clean, the smog that overtakes China was nowhere to be found in the Incorporated States yet, and no one ever complained about the regime.

Tonight’s meeting would take place via computer. Ming logged on and began to go over the daily supplies inventory. The team’s supercomputer, which is being built by Ming in his home, was nearly complete. Years of tireless effort from Ming and the team had finally resulted in a machine capable of hacking into the central government and military’s computing system and forcing the system to self-destruct. Carefully laid plans were crafted to ensure that each member of the team knew their part in the mission. Ming, of course, played the most critical role, with his hand on the red button (or keyboard, in this case) to set the plan in motion any day now. The final components had been installed in the supercomputer and all that remained was final approval from the Cyberdem Board.

“After Ming enters the code, it will take about five minutes for the command to reach the central government and military computers in Washington D.C. and Beijing,” typed Chen Dao, a member of the Cyberdem Board in New Jersey who was leading the effort with the Underground resistance. He continued, “At that point, the computers will self-destruct, and all underground resistance operations will commence. The exact numbers of the Underground range in each city, but it will be enough to storm the government operations holdings in the major cities when their defenses are down.”

The team’s conversation continued until the final plans were set in place that night. Ming would enter the code at exactly midnight, and once it reached the central computers, the systems would implode, sending the system into chaos. The Underground knew exactly when and where to strike to fulfill the coupe d’état to follow.

Ming logged off and spent the rest of the evening preparing for the shutdown.