Aye I Longwhite: An American-Chinese teenager’s adventure in the Middle Kingdom and beyond (17 page)

“And it’s nice that I didn’t have to die before I turned one,” quipped Willstin.

I played the referee between Mom and Dad, blowing the whistle when either stepped too far out of line.  I reminded them that we were one team.  Mom eventually forgave Dad when she listened to the whole story.  Her tough exterior cracked, and she started sobbing.  Dad reached out and pulled her, and me, into a big hug.  Damn it, I have to start controlling this crying stuff.

The Chinese delegation returned to Earth with some of the fleet.  The rest of the fleet was left over the skies of Mars to carry out the threat if the robots did anything beyond their tightly defined boundaries.  Mr. Li offered to take Chang Lin back.  He actually ordered her, but she rebuffed him.  “No thank you.  I’m quite happy here.”  She scandalized him by saying, “Not quite as good as the US, but I like Mars a lot.  It’s my new home.”

She didn’t add, “And this is where my new boyfriend is
.”  But she showed it by waving him goodbye, turning to me and saying, “To infinite and beyond.”  Then she kissed me.

About the Author

Alan Tien grew up in a predominantly white town as an Asian American, with Chinese as his first language. He managed to overcome this "handicap" with his Tiger mom's urging ("The beatings will continue until morale improves").  Against all odds, he got into Stanford where he majored in the perfect degree for writing novels, Electrical Engineering.  He had found his tribe of nerds and geeks in the sunny Bay Area (aka Silicon Valley), where he gathered material for his forthcoming best seller by doing firsthand research posing as a programmer and eventually a manager in the corporate and internet startup world. Eventually, his ruse was uncovered and he, with his young family, was exiled to China, where they spent 8 years suffering from culture shock, bad air, and excessive alcohol. Finally, he was given a reprieve and sent to the halfway house of Singapore. He occasionally is allowed home visits to see his mother in Hawaii, where he plans to be mayor one day.

Suggestions that this book seems like a thinly veiled autobiography are ridiculous;
obviously, I have not invented AI yet!  At least, I'm not aware of it.

Some have commented that is book is too slow. To you, I recommend reading Lao Tzu and Confucius. Even if you don't understand the lessons of the Masters, at least this book will seem like a Robert Ludlum thriller in comparison.

But for those of you who think this could be the next
Ready Player One
, I congratulate you on your impeccable taste. Welcome home, my long lost brothers and sisters!