“I thought that Anorak and Og both made their avatars all-powerful,” Aech said. “And indestructible.”
“I’ve read that too,” Lo replied. “But the writing on Og’s map says that the Dorkslayer is ‘the only weapon that can slay he who cannot be slain.’ It also says that Morrow’s character, the Great and Powerful Og, is the only avatar who can wield it, due to his ‘noble birth.’？”
“Jeez Louise,” Shoto said, rolling his eyes. He turned to me. “We’re gonna be looking for Horcruxes next.”
“Excellent work, Lo,” Art3mis said, then turned to me. “We need that sword!”
“I don’t think we have time for a side quest right now, Arty,” Aech said. “We need to find the last three shards, now, while we still can!”
L0hengrin suddenly dropped to one knee in front of us. Then she motioned to the rest of her clan members, and they all did the same.
“Members of the High Five,” she said, bowing her head slightly. “The L0w Five is at your command. Please, allow us to retrieve the Dorkslayer for you while you complete your quest. I promise you, we will not fail.”
She raised her eyes to meet mine, and I could see the steely resolve in them. I glanced over at Aech, Shoto, and Art3mis, and they all nodded their approval.
“Thank you, L0hengrin,” I said. “The High Five gratefully accepts your offer.”
I reached out and offered her my hand. Lo rose to her feet and shook it. Her companions stood up too.
“Thank you for your help,” I said. “If you find the sword—”
“You mean when we find the sword,” she said.
“Forgive me,” I replied. “When you find the Dorkslayer, teleport to wherever I am immediately. I’ll share my location with you so you can track me.”
Lo nodded. Then she grinned and abruptly transformed into a young James Spader.
She gave me an exaggerated salute and said, “Aye-aye, Captain.”
Then Lo snapped her fingers and teleported away, taking the other members of the L0w Five with her.
“Wow,” Aech said, turning to me. “That chick is amazing.”
“Yeah,” Art3mis said, shaking her head at me. “I don’t know how you do it, Z. You have a gift for making friends who are much cooler than you are.”
“Humility, madam,” I said. “That’s my secret. That and my clean, close shave.”
Art3mis laughed and rolled her eyes. Then she turned to Faisal.
“Do you think that sword will really work?” she asked him.
“Who knows?” he replied. “According to our OASIS engineers, Anorak still appears to function like any other NPC, at least as far as the system is concerned. So theoretically, he should still be bound by the same rules and operating parameters they are. Which means he can be killed if his avatar sustains enough physical damage.”
“What if we can’t kill him?” Shoto asked. “Are we just gonna give him the shards and hope that he’ll keep his word?”
The mental image of my avatar handing the Seven Shards over to Anorak actually made me feel nauseous for a few seconds. But then it gave me an idea…
I looked back down at the last page of Kira’s notebook and reread the section describing how the players in her module were supposed to go about combining the Seven Shards. By the time I had finished, the rough framework of a plan had formed in my head. When I shared it with the others, they seemed to think there was a chance it might work too. We spent a few more minutes working out the broad details of it with Faisal, so that he could relay it to our OASIS admins, and to the GSS security team gearing up to try to rescue Og.
The second we’d finished, Art3mis jumped to her feet and prepared to leave. “Tell Miles and his team I’m logging out right now, and that they better not leave without me.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Faisal replied. “But we’ve already got three security teams on deck, along with three squads of aerial enforcer drones. So there’s really no need for you to put your own life at risk, Ms. Cook.”
“Ogden Morrow saved our lives once,” she said. “I’m gonna do everything I can to return that favor.” She turned to me. “Stay in touch,” she said. “And good luck!”
She gave me another smile, then she turned to go. As she did, it occurred to me that if the worst happened, this might be the last time I ever saw her. So I reached out to touch her avatar’s shoulder, and when she felt it through her haptics, she turned back around to face me. And as always, she looked beautiful.