IN THE BEGINNING, I had started out wanting to write a story about China. After discovering that there are already uncountable uninspiring books on the subject and the world doesn’t need another one, I decided to write about socio-economics instead, despite the fact that it’s a subject I know less than nothing about. Then I learned that a prominent economist of the north (we the north) John Kenneth Galbraith once said, “The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.” I promptly gave up on the mundane and went for the stars.
EXPERTS and well meaning friends have advised me to stick to one genre and one subject. I couldn’t make up my mind whether I should listen to them or to my own guts, if guts can talk. After wasting several precious minutes on fruitless philosophical contemplation, I decided to go where my growling guts took me, which was the kitchen. As I unsealed the portal of the refrigerator and an avalanche of photons from the fridge light flooded my face, I had an epiphany. It was similar to the one that hit René Descartes: “I think, therefore I’ll have a beer.” An idea was born and the Shrödinger Wave Function of my fuzzy logic collapsed. I would write an oxymoronic fact based science fiction with everything in it, including the organic craft beer and the kitchen sink.
I HAD great fun and learned a lot in the course of creating this pièce de résistance. I must however warn treasure seekers that there may or may not be a mother lode underneath. You may hit a leaky pipe and find something odious instead. Don’t take my word for it. Dig anyways and have fun discovering what’s there. In the end, I regret to confess that while most great works of art has a theme that holds it together, this book doesn’t. It is after all just a frivolous fable devoted to the ephemeral epicurean pleasures of the consummate consumer. Carpe liber—seize the book!
EXPERTS and well meaning friends have advised me to stick to one genre and one subject. I couldn’t make up my mind whether I should listen to them or to my own guts, if guts can talk. After wasting several precious minutes on fruitless philosophical contemplation, I decided to go where my growling guts took me, which was the kitchen. As I unsealed the portal of the refrigerator and an avalanche of photons from the fridge light flooded my face, I had an epiphany. It was similar to the one that hit René Descartes: “I think, therefore I’ll have a beer.” An idea was born and the Shrödinger Wave Function of my fuzzy logic collapsed. I would write an oxymoronic fact based science fiction with everything in it, including the organic craft beer and the kitchen sink.
I HAD great fun and learned a lot in the course of creating this pièce de résistance. I must however warn treasure seekers that there may or may not be a mother lode underneath. You may hit a leaky pipe and find something odious instead. Don’t take my word for it. Dig anyways and have fun discovering what’s there. In the end, I regret to confess that while most great works of art has a theme that holds it together, this book doesn’t. It is after all just a frivolous fable devoted to the ephemeral epicurean pleasures of the consummate consumer. Carpe liber—seize the book!
The following excerpts are provided for reference only, all of which is protected by copyright laws, and may not be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information retrieval system, and any other operation covered by copyright laws, in whole or in part without the author's expressed written consent, except in the case of brief quotations, embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All of the character, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
This is a work of fiction. All of the character, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
Author’s Note
Chapter 1: Everything is a Lie
The statement is of course a paradox. The chapter ends with "factual story." It is an oxymoron. This chapter is a paradox and an oxymoron.
Chapter 2: There Are No Accidents
The car accident is not an accident. It is a paradox. "Dog ma is a bitch" is a self-evident pun, an anti-oxymoron. Should we call it oxygenius?
Chapter 3: War of the Wolves
The story shifts to a huge battle between two wolf tribes in the north of China (209 BCE). The winning tribe would become the Huns and one day invade Europe under Attila, the Scourge of God. The losing tribe would one day rule a large part of China and become an integral part of the Chinese we know today.
Chapter 4: The Onslaught
The last part of this chapter includes a Homeric description of the slaughter. Parental guidance is suggested for children.
Chapter 5: The Warrior Queen
The tale shifts to the first archaeologically known queen of the Shang dynasty, Fu Hao, circa 1220 BCE. We call her Queen Zia (explained in the story). She owes her military success to a mysterious girl (Lady Diane) whom she rescued and kept as a handmaid. They are pursuing a neighboring barbarian tribe known as the Gotts.
Chapter 6: Unbreakable China Doll
It is not an accident that Victoria is not hurt in the non-accidental accident.
Chapter 7: Riddle me This
This chapter is riddled with riddles. Can you figure out why that pile of books and movies are related to roses?
Chapter 8: Sub Rosa
Victoria finds a jade piece and a jade ring inside a jewelry box. She sees strange drawings on the jade pieces and the box. These ancient words are Oracle Bone characters from the Shang dynasty. They are the progenitors of modern Chinese writing.
Chapter 9: Weird Sisters
The name refers to the three witches of the Shakespearean play Macbeth, which is related to the Fates of Greek mythology. Ancient culture has many sisterly trinities. Victoria's background is related to the Orion, called Tristar in China, which is Orion' Belt, or the Three Sisters.
Chapter 10: Sign of the Scorpion
A mysterious young man (Lone Wolf) with a scorpion tattoo becomes the chief of the defeated and decimated Eastern Wolf tribe. The scorpion happens to be the Shang symbol for Myriad or Ten-thousand, the title of the tribal chief.
Chapter 11: Heart of the Dragon
The new chief worships Antares of Scorpius. The red star is known as the Great Fire or the Shang star during Shang times. The god of Big Fire is the first ancestor of Shang. Eventually, Antares would become known as the "‘Heart star of the Dragon constellation."
Chapter 12: The Unicorn Rings
A one-eyed trader from the West gives Queen Zia a pair of jade archer rings with a mythical beast motif. She gives one to Lady Diane. Victoria has a similar ring in her possession.
Chapter 13: Room 929
Victoria is stalked by a man with a fake eye. Room 929 is not an accident. Victoria has all the clues to confirm that she has found David Huang. But isn't David Chinese?
Chapter 14: Flight of Fancy
Victoria puts on a disguise and becomes Victor. It is a tribute to Victor-Victoria, a gender bender musical starring Julie Andrews.
Chapter 15: The One-eyed Apothecary
The young chief finds himself a wife but they have no child. A one-eyed apothecary comes to the settlement and with his help, the chief and his wife has a daughter. But there is a price to pay.
Chapter 16: Oblique Order
In the battle between the Shang queen and the Gotts., rather than meeting blunt force with blunt force, Lady Diane introduces innovation and guile.
Chapter 17: Freefall
Victoria jumps out of the plane mid-flight without a parachute.
Chapter 18: Running on Empty
It is not about Jackson Browne’s song or Sidney Lumet’s film starring the late River Phoenix. It's about future technologies.
Chapter 19: Twilight of the Gotts
Lady Diane makes an alliance with the Gotts. She bestows the chief of the Gotts with the symbol of the scorpion. It means a host of ten-thousand or of myriad bows.
Chapter 20: What's in a Name?
This is one of the themes of the story. David, who is Jewish, explains why he has a Chinese name. The hidden thread is the Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet.
Chapter 21: Empire of Lies
David proves to Victoria that the things we have always believed to be the truth are mostly lies. She must constantly be critical of information and always be vigilant for the truth.
Chapter 22: #1 Corn Gas
The Watchers interrogate the nonplussed gas station attendant. This is a tribute to a popular Canadian comedy and a reference to the mythical creature of our story.
Chapter 23: Wealth of a Nation
Making use of advanced virtual reality technology, David takes Victoria to the South China Sea to learn how opium money would fuel American economy, contribute to philanthropy and higher learning, and give America its most progressive president.
Chapter 24: Fall of an Empire
David takes Victoria to witness the last battle of the Second Opium War. Victoria notices interesting details that are not told in history books.
Chapter 25: Yellow Stone
David explains that the first father of his family was a one-eyed Shang official with a walking staff. His name is found in Oracle Bone records. Victoria witnesses what happened in David's home on the day she was born. David's father Huang Shi, which means Yellow Stone, gets an important phone call from An'yang, a city near the last capital of the Shang.
Chapter 26: Year of the Dragon
1976 was the Year of the Dragon. Many important events would change the course of history and give us Victoria.
Chapter 27: The Collector
Continuing with their VR experience, David takes Victoria to his first auction. A one-eyed collector pays an exorbitant amount for David's antique vase. David explains how people use illusory wealth to rob the true wealth producers.
Chapter 28: Field of Dreams
Victoria has a weird dream that her family is being attacked by drones. David and Victoria decide to stop over at Field in the Rockies. Field is the site of the Burgess Shale, which keeps a record of the wonderful life forms on earth of about half a billion years ago. Then earth suffered a cataclysmic catastrophe which decimated life.
Chapter 29: Hill of Beans
The time is autumn of 1974. A young man (Wenlong) hiking alone in the remote mountains of western China is captured and imprisoned by a lost matriarchal clan hiding in an inaccessible valley surrounded by tall mountains. It is the source of the fabled Peach Blossom Spring.
Chapter 30: Sudden Death
Back on the Trans-Canada Highway, David takes Victoria to the VR battlefield where the last king of Shang faces the rebellious Zhou army. David explains how the Book of Secrets was taken from his family.
Chapter 31: Birth of Confucius
David takes Victoria to a small hut in the mountain where Confucius was born (551 BCE). Victoria learns that Confucius was a royal Shang descendant. It is not a coincidence. At the time, China as a concept of political and cultural unity did not exist. It all started with the ingenious work of another secret Shang descendant who was a wealthy trader. He paved the way for Qin Shihuang to conquer the warring states and unify China.
Chapter 32: Wormwood
At the restaurant, Victoria learns the true story of her adoptive parents. All the clues about Victoria including Room 929 are revealed. The man with the glass eye is in the restaurant. The Watchers have also arrived. David uses a EMP weapon to escape.
Chapter 33: Paradise Lost
The young man and the girl (Xinfeng) who brings him food fall in love with each other. They decide to escape.
Chapter 34: Rise of the Peasant
David and Victoria takes a trans-Pacific freight to China. Their VR tour through Chinese history continues. David takes Victoria to the last days of the Qin Empire (206 BCE), when a peasant becomes the founding emperor of the Han dynasty. Victoria learns the true meaning of Han. Victoria learns how a secret Shang descendant with the help of the Book of Secrets propelled a peasant to become an emperor. Another secret Shang descendant, a woman, made Han great.
Chapter 35: Girl Power
David shows how foreign tribes have always lived in China. David takes Victoria to visit Chang'an, the western capital of Tang dynasty, when a concubine transforms herself into the first and only female emperor of China.
Chapter 36: Stone Man with One Eye
After the fall of Tang, a secret Shang descendant becomes the founding emperor of the Song dynasty by a bloodless coup. After the fall of Song to the Mongols, Victoria witnesses the historical event leading to the emergence of the "stone man with one eye," which causes the fall of the Mongolian Yuan Empire. The Book of Secrets helps a beggar monk become the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty.
Chapter 37: The Fable-Monger
The runaway couple arrives at An'yang. The girl is heavily pregnant. It is not a coincidence that they end up here. A one-eyed fortune-teller who calls himself a fable-monger helps them find a place to stay where they can hide from the pursuing Watchers. The Fable-monger calls himself the Stone Man with One Eye.
Chapter 38: The Dragon’s Dream
The young man Wenlong, whose name means tattoo-dragon, dreams of a wonderful future. His daughter is born in the morning of the Winter Festival. He learns how to summon David's father to An'yang, and how to get the unicorn ring which is buried in the undisturbed tomb of Queen Zia. The baby needs to have the unicorn ring in order to one day save her parents from the sorrow of eternal exile.
Chapter 39: The Long March
David takes Victoria to the Palace of Versailles where the Western Powers are holding the Paris Peace Conference. China is betrayed, One of the unintended consequences is the creation of the Chinese Communist Party. When a huge Nationalist army encircles the ragtag peasant army of the early communists, the beleaguered revolutionaries start the Long March.
Chapter 40: Turning Red
An unsung hero fought a brilliant campaign that accelerated the end of the Chinese Civil War. The low-key and less well-known communist general also has secret connections with the Shang.
Chapter 41: Brobdingnagian China
David and Victoria reach China and head for Shanghai in their futuristic car. While traveling on the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, their car is boxed in by six huge trucks. It seems David and Victoria cannot avoid being crushed. How can David and Victoria escape?
Chapter 42: Doing a Hudsucker
When David and Victoria are trapped by the Watchers in his top floor office at the Shanghai Tower, the tallest building in China, David can only save Victoria by doing a Hudsucker. This is a tribute to The Hudsucker Proxy of the Coen brothers.
Chapter 43: Next Stop, Gaffer's
Victoria goes to a touristy place in Shanghai known as Tianzifang. This is not a coincidence. Victoria finds her contact Charlie Tiger Chan and his sister Viola at Gaffer’s Café, a replica of the original café in Toronto where the Toronto Storytelling Festival was launched in 1979.
Chapter 44: Dangal with Tiger
Charlie tells Victoria about his visit to Princeton University, where his connection with Gaffer’s Café comes full circle. Dangal is the Hindi word that means wrestling.
Chapter 45: The Pianist from Gamma Crucis
Victoria learns about extraordinary women from China. She suspects that a pianist might have arrived from another star system.
Chapter 46: The Awakening
Victoria arrives at the location near An'yang where David's father Huang Shi is in a coma. Victoria connects with Huang Shi's subconscious. She learns the life story of David's father, who wakes up to tell Victoria the rest of her background story.
Chapter 47: Invictus
David's father learns the lesson of never giving up. He remembers a recent example. When the Watchers show up, David's father does something that saves Victoria but costs him dearly.
Chapter 48: Quantum Leap
By using the power of the unicorn ring, Victoria finds her biological father.
Chapter 49: Grand Unification
Victoria and her father find her mother being pursued by soldiers in a mountain. Victoria’s parents do not believe in the Oracle of the Apocalypse because science says that you can’t predict the future. The whole family is forced to jump off a cliff.
Chapter 50: Revelation
Back in the present and in Toronto, Victoria's parents decipher the words of the oracle and find its true meaning. They discover that big corporations such as Huawei may have Shang connections.
Chapter 51: AlphaOmega
Victoria connects the VR to the Internet and confronts the avatar of David about the Book of Secrets. The true threat of humanity is a self-emergent super intelligent being who calls himself AlphaOmega. Victoria is challenged to a deadly duel of wits.
Chapter 52: Apocalypse
Victoria is a ball girl for the Toronto Blue Jays at Roger’s Centre for the seventh and deciding game of the New World Series. In very perverse ways the prophecy of the Revelation is fulfilled. A chain of improbable events cause Victoria to be the only person eligible to take the bat for the last out of the game at full count facing a pitcher with 100% save record. The Blue Jays are down three runs, the bases are loaded, and Victoria represents the winning run. But whatever happens with the payoff pitch, the result is the same for humanity. Everyone is fixated on the ball, but Victoria sees something else. The end is coming, and it is going to be a cataclysmic catastrophe.
Chapter 1: Everything is a Lie
The statement is of course a paradox. The chapter ends with "factual story." It is an oxymoron. This chapter is a paradox and an oxymoron.
Chapter 2: There Are No Accidents
The car accident is not an accident. It is a paradox. "Dog ma is a bitch" is a self-evident pun, an anti-oxymoron. Should we call it oxygenius?
Chapter 3: War of the Wolves
The story shifts to a huge battle between two wolf tribes in the north of China (209 BCE). The winning tribe would become the Huns and one day invade Europe under Attila, the Scourge of God. The losing tribe would one day rule a large part of China and become an integral part of the Chinese we know today.
Chapter 4: The Onslaught
The last part of this chapter includes a Homeric description of the slaughter. Parental guidance is suggested for children.
Chapter 5: The Warrior Queen
The tale shifts to the first archaeologically known queen of the Shang dynasty, Fu Hao, circa 1220 BCE. We call her Queen Zia (explained in the story). She owes her military success to a mysterious girl (Lady Diane) whom she rescued and kept as a handmaid. They are pursuing a neighboring barbarian tribe known as the Gotts.
Chapter 6: Unbreakable China Doll
It is not an accident that Victoria is not hurt in the non-accidental accident.
Chapter 7: Riddle me This
This chapter is riddled with riddles. Can you figure out why that pile of books and movies are related to roses?
Chapter 8: Sub Rosa
Victoria finds a jade piece and a jade ring inside a jewelry box. She sees strange drawings on the jade pieces and the box. These ancient words are Oracle Bone characters from the Shang dynasty. They are the progenitors of modern Chinese writing.
Chapter 9: Weird Sisters
The name refers to the three witches of the Shakespearean play Macbeth, which is related to the Fates of Greek mythology. Ancient culture has many sisterly trinities. Victoria's background is related to the Orion, called Tristar in China, which is Orion' Belt, or the Three Sisters.
Chapter 10: Sign of the Scorpion
A mysterious young man (Lone Wolf) with a scorpion tattoo becomes the chief of the defeated and decimated Eastern Wolf tribe. The scorpion happens to be the Shang symbol for Myriad or Ten-thousand, the title of the tribal chief.
Chapter 11: Heart of the Dragon
The new chief worships Antares of Scorpius. The red star is known as the Great Fire or the Shang star during Shang times. The god of Big Fire is the first ancestor of Shang. Eventually, Antares would become known as the "‘Heart star of the Dragon constellation."
Chapter 12: The Unicorn Rings
A one-eyed trader from the West gives Queen Zia a pair of jade archer rings with a mythical beast motif. She gives one to Lady Diane. Victoria has a similar ring in her possession.
Chapter 13: Room 929
Victoria is stalked by a man with a fake eye. Room 929 is not an accident. Victoria has all the clues to confirm that she has found David Huang. But isn't David Chinese?
Chapter 14: Flight of Fancy
Victoria puts on a disguise and becomes Victor. It is a tribute to Victor-Victoria, a gender bender musical starring Julie Andrews.
Chapter 15: The One-eyed Apothecary
The young chief finds himself a wife but they have no child. A one-eyed apothecary comes to the settlement and with his help, the chief and his wife has a daughter. But there is a price to pay.
Chapter 16: Oblique Order
In the battle between the Shang queen and the Gotts., rather than meeting blunt force with blunt force, Lady Diane introduces innovation and guile.
Chapter 17: Freefall
Victoria jumps out of the plane mid-flight without a parachute.
Chapter 18: Running on Empty
It is not about Jackson Browne’s song or Sidney Lumet’s film starring the late River Phoenix. It's about future technologies.
Chapter 19: Twilight of the Gotts
Lady Diane makes an alliance with the Gotts. She bestows the chief of the Gotts with the symbol of the scorpion. It means a host of ten-thousand or of myriad bows.
Chapter 20: What's in a Name?
This is one of the themes of the story. David, who is Jewish, explains why he has a Chinese name. The hidden thread is the Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet.
Chapter 21: Empire of Lies
David proves to Victoria that the things we have always believed to be the truth are mostly lies. She must constantly be critical of information and always be vigilant for the truth.
Chapter 22: #1 Corn Gas
The Watchers interrogate the nonplussed gas station attendant. This is a tribute to a popular Canadian comedy and a reference to the mythical creature of our story.
Chapter 23: Wealth of a Nation
Making use of advanced virtual reality technology, David takes Victoria to the South China Sea to learn how opium money would fuel American economy, contribute to philanthropy and higher learning, and give America its most progressive president.
Chapter 24: Fall of an Empire
David takes Victoria to witness the last battle of the Second Opium War. Victoria notices interesting details that are not told in history books.
Chapter 25: Yellow Stone
David explains that the first father of his family was a one-eyed Shang official with a walking staff. His name is found in Oracle Bone records. Victoria witnesses what happened in David's home on the day she was born. David's father Huang Shi, which means Yellow Stone, gets an important phone call from An'yang, a city near the last capital of the Shang.
Chapter 26: Year of the Dragon
1976 was the Year of the Dragon. Many important events would change the course of history and give us Victoria.
Chapter 27: The Collector
Continuing with their VR experience, David takes Victoria to his first auction. A one-eyed collector pays an exorbitant amount for David's antique vase. David explains how people use illusory wealth to rob the true wealth producers.
Chapter 28: Field of Dreams
Victoria has a weird dream that her family is being attacked by drones. David and Victoria decide to stop over at Field in the Rockies. Field is the site of the Burgess Shale, which keeps a record of the wonderful life forms on earth of about half a billion years ago. Then earth suffered a cataclysmic catastrophe which decimated life.
Chapter 29: Hill of Beans
The time is autumn of 1974. A young man (Wenlong) hiking alone in the remote mountains of western China is captured and imprisoned by a lost matriarchal clan hiding in an inaccessible valley surrounded by tall mountains. It is the source of the fabled Peach Blossom Spring.
Chapter 30: Sudden Death
Back on the Trans-Canada Highway, David takes Victoria to the VR battlefield where the last king of Shang faces the rebellious Zhou army. David explains how the Book of Secrets was taken from his family.
Chapter 31: Birth of Confucius
David takes Victoria to a small hut in the mountain where Confucius was born (551 BCE). Victoria learns that Confucius was a royal Shang descendant. It is not a coincidence. At the time, China as a concept of political and cultural unity did not exist. It all started with the ingenious work of another secret Shang descendant who was a wealthy trader. He paved the way for Qin Shihuang to conquer the warring states and unify China.
Chapter 32: Wormwood
At the restaurant, Victoria learns the true story of her adoptive parents. All the clues about Victoria including Room 929 are revealed. The man with the glass eye is in the restaurant. The Watchers have also arrived. David uses a EMP weapon to escape.
Chapter 33: Paradise Lost
The young man and the girl (Xinfeng) who brings him food fall in love with each other. They decide to escape.
Chapter 34: Rise of the Peasant
David and Victoria takes a trans-Pacific freight to China. Their VR tour through Chinese history continues. David takes Victoria to the last days of the Qin Empire (206 BCE), when a peasant becomes the founding emperor of the Han dynasty. Victoria learns the true meaning of Han. Victoria learns how a secret Shang descendant with the help of the Book of Secrets propelled a peasant to become an emperor. Another secret Shang descendant, a woman, made Han great.
Chapter 35: Girl Power
David shows how foreign tribes have always lived in China. David takes Victoria to visit Chang'an, the western capital of Tang dynasty, when a concubine transforms herself into the first and only female emperor of China.
Chapter 36: Stone Man with One Eye
After the fall of Tang, a secret Shang descendant becomes the founding emperor of the Song dynasty by a bloodless coup. After the fall of Song to the Mongols, Victoria witnesses the historical event leading to the emergence of the "stone man with one eye," which causes the fall of the Mongolian Yuan Empire. The Book of Secrets helps a beggar monk become the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty.
Chapter 37: The Fable-Monger
The runaway couple arrives at An'yang. The girl is heavily pregnant. It is not a coincidence that they end up here. A one-eyed fortune-teller who calls himself a fable-monger helps them find a place to stay where they can hide from the pursuing Watchers. The Fable-monger calls himself the Stone Man with One Eye.
Chapter 38: The Dragon’s Dream
The young man Wenlong, whose name means tattoo-dragon, dreams of a wonderful future. His daughter is born in the morning of the Winter Festival. He learns how to summon David's father to An'yang, and how to get the unicorn ring which is buried in the undisturbed tomb of Queen Zia. The baby needs to have the unicorn ring in order to one day save her parents from the sorrow of eternal exile.
Chapter 39: The Long March
David takes Victoria to the Palace of Versailles where the Western Powers are holding the Paris Peace Conference. China is betrayed, One of the unintended consequences is the creation of the Chinese Communist Party. When a huge Nationalist army encircles the ragtag peasant army of the early communists, the beleaguered revolutionaries start the Long March.
Chapter 40: Turning Red
An unsung hero fought a brilliant campaign that accelerated the end of the Chinese Civil War. The low-key and less well-known communist general also has secret connections with the Shang.
Chapter 41: Brobdingnagian China
David and Victoria reach China and head for Shanghai in their futuristic car. While traveling on the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, their car is boxed in by six huge trucks. It seems David and Victoria cannot avoid being crushed. How can David and Victoria escape?
Chapter 42: Doing a Hudsucker
When David and Victoria are trapped by the Watchers in his top floor office at the Shanghai Tower, the tallest building in China, David can only save Victoria by doing a Hudsucker. This is a tribute to The Hudsucker Proxy of the Coen brothers.
Chapter 43: Next Stop, Gaffer's
Victoria goes to a touristy place in Shanghai known as Tianzifang. This is not a coincidence. Victoria finds her contact Charlie Tiger Chan and his sister Viola at Gaffer’s Café, a replica of the original café in Toronto where the Toronto Storytelling Festival was launched in 1979.
Chapter 44: Dangal with Tiger
Charlie tells Victoria about his visit to Princeton University, where his connection with Gaffer’s Café comes full circle. Dangal is the Hindi word that means wrestling.
Chapter 45: The Pianist from Gamma Crucis
Victoria learns about extraordinary women from China. She suspects that a pianist might have arrived from another star system.
Chapter 46: The Awakening
Victoria arrives at the location near An'yang where David's father Huang Shi is in a coma. Victoria connects with Huang Shi's subconscious. She learns the life story of David's father, who wakes up to tell Victoria the rest of her background story.
Chapter 47: Invictus
David's father learns the lesson of never giving up. He remembers a recent example. When the Watchers show up, David's father does something that saves Victoria but costs him dearly.
Chapter 48: Quantum Leap
By using the power of the unicorn ring, Victoria finds her biological father.
Chapter 49: Grand Unification
Victoria and her father find her mother being pursued by soldiers in a mountain. Victoria’s parents do not believe in the Oracle of the Apocalypse because science says that you can’t predict the future. The whole family is forced to jump off a cliff.
Chapter 50: Revelation
Back in the present and in Toronto, Victoria's parents decipher the words of the oracle and find its true meaning. They discover that big corporations such as Huawei may have Shang connections.
Chapter 51: AlphaOmega
Victoria connects the VR to the Internet and confronts the avatar of David about the Book of Secrets. The true threat of humanity is a self-emergent super intelligent being who calls himself AlphaOmega. Victoria is challenged to a deadly duel of wits.
Chapter 52: Apocalypse
Victoria is a ball girl for the Toronto Blue Jays at Roger’s Centre for the seventh and deciding game of the New World Series. In very perverse ways the prophecy of the Revelation is fulfilled. A chain of improbable events cause Victoria to be the only person eligible to take the bat for the last out of the game at full count facing a pitcher with 100% save record. The Blue Jays are down three runs, the bases are loaded, and Victoria represents the winning run. But whatever happens with the payoff pitch, the result is the same for humanity. Everyone is fixated on the ball, but Victoria sees something else. The end is coming, and it is going to be a cataclysmic catastrophe.
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