“It felt like an ONI recording,” I said. “But it only lasted for a few seconds. I was Kira Underwood—or at least, it felt like I was her—and I was reliving the moment when she created that unicorn on a computer at her school when she was ten.”
“The Crescent Moon Unicorn?” Lo said, eyes wide with awe. “But it had to be a simulation, right? ONI headsets didn’t exist back in the ’80s. And Kira died years before they were even invented.”
I nodded. I’d just been thinking the same thing.
“No, it obviously couldn’t have been a real ONI recording,” I said. “But it felt like one. Halliday must have simulated it. Though I don’t have the first clue how he could’ve done it so convincingly…”
“Or why,” Lo said, shaking her head. “Why would he create a Sim of one of Kira’s childhood memories? From her perspective? That would be a pretty messed-up night of programming, man. Even for Halliday…”
I was considering this question when an urgent notification flashed on my HUD. It was an icon I hadn’t seen in years—a Scoreboard alert. When I selected it, a web-browser window appeared in front of my avatar, displaying Halliday’s old website, where the Scoreboard for his contest had once resided. A few seconds after I had found the egg and won the contest, the Scoreboard had been replaced with an image of my avatar dressed in Anorak’s Robes, along with the message: PARZIVAL WINS!
That image had disappeared. Now a new Scoreboard had appeared in its place. But instead of a list of the top-ten players, this Scoreboard only displayed one avatar’s name—my own. And instead of a numerical score, there was a single blue shard icon beside my name, followed by six empty slots.
“Whoa,” L0hengrin whispered, running her hands through her short blond hair. She motioned to the blue shard icon glittering on the Scoreboard. “Now the whole world knows you have the First Shard. The newsfeeds must be blowing up.”
I turned the shard over in my hands, then held it up and examined it more closely. There was an inscription engraved into its crystalline surface:
Her paint and her canvas, the one and the zero
The very first heroine, demoted to hero
“？‘The very first heroine, demoted to hero,’？” L0hengrin repeated, suddenly standing right next to me. “Oh shit! I think I know—”
“Please, don’t!” I said, muting her avatar until she’d finished speaking. “I appreciate your help, but I can take it from here.”
“Oh,” she said quietly. “OK. I understand.”
“I appreciate it,” I said, placing the shard in my inventory to conceal it from view.
“If you get stuck, call me,” Lo said. “I’ve already conducted a complete search of this 1989 version of Middletown, and I found a ton of stuff you won’t believe! Clues I bet will be helpful! This is stuff no one else knows about—”
“I appreciate the offer,” I said again. “But I think you’re going to be pretty busy for the next few months…spending your reward. Time for you to get paid, Billie Jean.”
Her face lit up.
“Wait, you mean right now?”
I reached up to open up my avatar’s HUD and I saw her hold her breath. I opened the Financial Transactions menu, selected her avatar on my display, and tapped a series of icons. And that was it. One billion dollars were transferred from my OASIS account to hers.
L0hengrin looked like she might pass out when she saw the transfer go through.
“Congratulations, Lo,” I said. “You’re a self-made billionaire. Don’t spend it all in one place.”
I offered her my hand and she shook it. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but no words came out. Then she lunged forward and wrapped her arms around me. I stood there frozen for a few seconds, then I hugged her back.
“I can’t tell you what this means to me, sir,” she said, once she finally let go of me. “This is going to change everything for me. And for all of my friends. I’m gonna be able to buy a house in Columbus for us to live in together.”
“That sounds like a pretty great plan,” I said, hearing my voice catch. “Once you’re all moved in, I hope you guys will invite me over to hang out sometime. Or you can come to my place. I could use some more real-world friends.”
“Well, we’ll have to see…” She laughed nervously. “You’ve still got six more shards to find…And I’ve got…a lot of things to figure out…”