She frowned as she appeared to contemplate the logistics involved in using her newfound wealth to make her dreams come true. I knew from experience how overwhelming that could be.
I opened a window in front of her avatar, displaying the contract again. “Remember. You’ve agreed not to tell anyone else how to find this shard, or share any of the details of our interaction, until after I’ve found all seven shards. If you do, our deal will be nullified.”
She gave me an anxious look.
“It’s all right,” I said. “I know you probably already told some of your friends that you found the shard, and that you were planning to contact me about it. That’s not a big deal…”
“Hey,” she said, leveling a finger at me. “Were you eavesdropping on us in our chatroom? You were, weren’t you? Like Og did to you and your friends during the contest!”
I ignored the accusation.
“Just make sure no one else knows where or how to find the shard, OK?” I said. “Not until after I’ve found all seven of them. Then you can each write a memoir for all I care.”
She nodded slowly, biting her lower lip.
“Understood,” she said finally. “But please, do all of your die-hard fans—like me—a favor and don’t do anything else to embarrass us, OK?”
Before I could respond, she held up both hands, gave me a sheepish grin, and kept right on talking at a rapid-fire pace.
“I say that with all due respect, of course. Because I do respect you, and everything you’ve accomplished. You just lost your way a little bit. Which makes perfect sense—you suddenly became rich and famous! You know what Bill Murray said about that? ‘When you become famous, you’ve got, like, a year or two where you act like a real asshole. You can’t help yourself. It happens to everybody. You’ve got, like, two years to pull it together—or it’s permanent.’？”
I frowned at her. “I’ve been famous for well over three years now.”
“I know!” she replied cheerfully. “But it’s never too late to turn things around.”
I nodded, trying not to show how much her words had wounded my pride.
She dropped her hands and exhaled. “Sorry. Had to be said. Has been said. Time to shut up now, Lo.”
She mimed zipping her lips. Way too late, in my opinion. I wasn’t sure if I was touched, hurt, or angered by everything she’d just said. Maybe all three at once.
“You want to know my favorite Bill Murray quote?” I asked.
She nodded.
“I always want to say to people who want to be rich and famous: ‘Try being rich first. See if that doesn’t cover most of it.’？”
She laughed and shook her head. “I have no idea how to be a millionaire, much less a billionaire. It’s pretty nuts…”
She gave me an anxious smile. I recognized the overwhelmed look on her face. I’d seen it in the mirror the morning after I won Halliday’s contest.
“Listen, Lo,” I said as I typed a brief text message on my HUD. “I’m gonna have one of my assistants at GSS get in touch with you. A guy named Marvin. He’s a good dude. He’ll be your assistant over the next few weeks, OK? He can help you relocate to Columbus. Hire a good lawyer and an accountant. Find a realtor and movers for you and your friends. Whatever you need. And I’d also like to arrange for you to have a GSS security escort until you’ve safely relocated. I promise they won’t bother you. Does that all sound all right with you?”
She nodded, and the tears that had accumulated around her eyes streamed down her cheeks.
“Thank you, Mr. Watts,” she said. “Wade.”
“Thank you, Lo,” I replied.
I handed her one of my contact cards, which were still designed to look like an old Adventure cartridge for the Atari 2600.
“Give me a call if there’s ever anything you need,” I said. “Anything at all.”
She stared down at the card. Then she snapped it out of my hands and rushed to give me one of her own contact cards. It was designed to look like a VHS copy of The Legend of Billie Jean. I immediately added it to my inventory.
“Thanks again for your help,” I said, giving her a tiny salute. “Take care of yourself, OK?”
Before she could respond, I teleported away, back to my stronghold on Falco.
* * *
I suddenly felt exhausted. And my daily twelve-hour ONI usage limit had nearly elapsed. I only had about forty-five minutes remaining. Some users could do a full twelve hours every day with no ill effects, but I wasn’t one of them. I always tried to log out before I hit the half-hour-remaining mark, to avoid the risk of giving myself the shakes or a migraine. I decided to wait until tomorrow to start looking for the Second Shard.