Ready Player Two

Cutscene

After I won Halliday s contest, I remained offline for nine straight days ­a new personal record.

When I finally logged back in to my OASIS account, I was sitting in my new corner office on the top floor of the GSS skyscraper in downtown Columbus, Ohio, preparing to start my gig as one of the company s new owners. The other three were still scattered across the globe: Shoto had flown back home to Japan to take over operations at GSS s Hokkaido division. Aech was enjoying an extended vacation in Senegal, a country she d dreamed of visiting her whole life, because her ancestors had come from there. And Samantha had flown back to Vancouver to pack up her belongings and say goodbye to her grandmother, Evelyn. She wasn t due to arrive here in Columbus for another four days, which seemed like an eternity. I needed to distract myself until our reunion, so I decided to log back in to the OASIS and try out a few more of the superuser abilities my avatar now possessed.

I climbed into my brand-­new top-­of-­the-­line OASIS immersion rig, a Habashaw OIR-­9400, then put on my visor and haptic gloves and initiated the login sequence. My avatar reappeared where I d last logged out, on the planet Chthonia, standing outside the gates of Castle Anorak. As I d anticipated, there were thousands of other avatars already gathered there, all waiting patiently for me to make an appearance. According to the newsfeed headlines, some of them had been camped out there all week ­ever since I d resurrected them in the aftermath of our epic battle against the Sixers.

In my first official act as one of GSS s new owners, just a few hours after the fight ended, I d authorized our admins to restore all the items, credits, and power levels those heroic users had lost, along with their avatars. I thought it was the least we could do to repay them for their help, and Samantha, Aech, and Shoto had agreed. It was the first decision we d voted on as the company s new

Ernest Cline is a #1 New York Times bestselling novelist, screenwriter, father, and full-time geek. He is the author of the novels Ready Player One and Armada and co-screenwriter of the film adaptation of Ready Player One, directed by Steven Spielberg. His books have been published in over fifty countries and have spent more than 100 weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his family, a time-traveling DeLorean, and a large collection of classic video games.

Praise for Ready Player Two
 
Many people think Ernest Cline writes about the future, but what he s really doing is writing about the complexities of the world we live in today. Whether you re black, white, woman, or man, this story is about you and what gaming has meant in your life. We already live in the OASIS, and the journey of life is trying to find as many of those Easter eggs along the way! Trevor Noah

Praise for Ready Player One

Enchanting . . . Willy Wonka meets The Matrix. USA Today
 
An addictive read . . . part intergalactic scavenger hunt, part romance, and all heart. CNN
 
Ridiculously fun and large-hearted. NPR
 
A geek fantasia, 80s culture memoir and commentary on the future of online behavior all at once. Austin American Statesman
 
Delightful . . . the grown-up s Harry Potter. HuffPost
 
As one adventure leads expertly to the next, time simply evaporates. Entertainment Weekly 
 
A geek touchstone. Rolling Stone 
 
Gorgeously geeky, superbly entertaining, [and] spectacularly successful. Daily Mail (UK) 

NAMED ONE OF AMERICA S 100 MOST-LOVED BOOKS BY PBS s THE GREAT AMERICAN READ 
 
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE   THE VILLAGE VOICE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES io9 THE A.V. CLUB