Ready Player One Page #3

Mr. Halliday,

Anorak...

- It's such an honor.

- The honor is all mine.

Get yourself a clue.

BOARD 1-PARZIVAL 100,000 POINTS

Who is this Parzival and how

the hell is he winning?

Oh here is a better question, who cares?

Halliday's contest is

vitally important...

I mean it's nothing

less than a war...

for control of the future.

This Parzival is not even clanned up.

He is alone.

- We have an army.

- And yet, he's got the 1st key.

Yeah, he has a key.

But you have to get 3 of them to

win the contest.

Our stock dove 6% yesterday.

The loyalty division is reporting

profits of 28%, FiNale?

We are opening 5 new loyalty

centers this month.

That service is dwarves hardware...

And you really wanna talk

to me about stock prices?

The shareholders won't be happy.

Not our job to make them happy...

it's our job to make them money.

But once we launch this little

baby they're gonna flip.

We call this...

"Pure O2". This is the first

of our planned...

upgrades once we can roll back

some of Halliday's ad

restrictions. We estimate

we can sell up to 80%...

of a individual's visual field

before inducing seizures.

So picture this.

All of this implies we win the contest.

Indeed it does.

Dude, you won the key

and a 100,000 coins?

As soon as I took the key all the

coins just appeared in my account.

I'll tell you what, I'm soiling

my haptics right now.

What the hell is

a " Cataclist "?

A bomb. Kills every

avatars on the planet...

even the owner.

- Who want that?

- IOI. They buy everything.

20 thou for the

Holy hand grenade?

That's a steal!

A Zemeckis cube!

- I need one of these.

- Don't spend all your money.

X1 Haptic boot suit?

REAL WORLD PICKUP

Oh yeah!

Password:

Bo55man69

I-ROk, old friend, how are you?

To be honest, I have a kind of a neck

thing, it's like a carpal tunnel.

Deal able with your neck, that's

even a thing, so if you could just

stand to your right.

My right, your left.

Yeah. Since it's a repetitive stress.

Here he is.

The steam-punk pirate king.

I knew him well, Sorrento.

There is only 3 things

in this world that I hate:

Steam-punk, pirates and Tabule.

I mean, why do they even have it?

Is there a reason we're meeting here?

Yes, Nolan.

The "Orb of Osuvox".

You wanted it, he had it.

So here it is.

It creates an impenetrable

magical shield...

that can only be taken down..

By a magic spell.

- The "Orb of Osuvox".

- Don't say that again.

Okay.

I am gonna need you

to keep this for now.

I'm gonna let you know

when I'm gonna use it. OK?

Right now...

I have another job for you.

Parzival.

Let me guess, you want

him off the score board.

Can you do that?

Well, he is a superstar, he

made it through the first gate.

Avatars are gonna be on

him like hoes on Santa.

I-ROk, how much more do you want?

That's what I like about you, Nolan.

You never lick...

You bite straight to the chocolaty

center of the Tutsi Pop.

Remember that old

commercial with the owl?

I-R0k.

- Three times my normal fee.

- Done.

Really? I should have asked for five.

Four still on the table?

There is five of this on

the big board now.

Art3mis was next,

no surprise there.

She was on the track when I won,

she saw me going backwards.

I gave Hache a tip...

made him promise

not to say anything...

and then he won next.

I'm pretty sure he bragged

to our pal Daito...

because he won night after.

And of course, Daito told

his best friend Sho.

He totally toddled his car

but then Sho got it to it.

"A creator who hates

his own creation."

A hidden key, a leap not taken.

"Retrace your steps,

escape your past..."

"A creator who hates

his own creation."

A hidden key, a leap not taken.

"Retrace your steps,

escape your past..."

"and the key of Jade

will be yours at last."

Is James Halliday playing games...

or playing GOD?

OASIS COIN THE NEXT DOLLAR?

WILL OASIS CHANGE THE WAY WE LIVE?

BIGGER:

THAN JOBS?

SPLIT! HALLIDAY GOES IT ALONE

OBITUARIES KAREN UNDERWOOD MORROW

1975-2034

"Escape your past "...

What part of your past are you

trying to escape, Halliday?

HALLIDAY, GAME DESIGNER, TRILLONAIRE.

HALLIDAY JOURNALS.

Hey, it's Parzival!

Parzival!

My hero!

You are famous now!

You can't just go

wherever you want!

No no no!

I...

That is...

That's not funny.

Oh God!

Oh God!

Don't you get it?

You are " the " Parzival now.

You have to have a disguise.

Look at here...

Clark Kent lenses.

They hide your identity

without changing your look.

I am not wearing that.

This is great.

Were your inventory burst out when you die?

I didn't want anymore blood.

This is right before

the OASIS went live.

6 days prior.

December 2nd, 2025.

Check this out.

You know who that is?

Is that Sorrento?!

Sorrento started as an intern.

He claims he learnt at

the feet of the master.

That's how he convinced the IOI

to create the Sixers for him.

His Halliday knowledge.

But ask Ogden Morrow...

He says the only thing Sorrento

actually knew about Halliday...

was how he liked his coffee.

You could have like different tiers of

Gold member, it could be silver...

platinum, bronze...

depending on what they paid.

The highest one maybe being water,

Cause OASIS right?

Hell of a latte.

Can you fast forward to the

stuff about Halliday's date?

What? Halliday actually went on a date?

- So what happened?

- Nothing. I invited her over.

Did you at least get her name?

Yeah, Kira.

I told you.

Like the character in " The

DARK Crystal ".

That's her gamer tag.

Karen. OK?

Karen Underwood.

No. Oh!

Karen Underwood?

As in Odgen Morrow's wife?

Just watch.

So this you and Karen Underwood...

What did you do?

She wanted to go dancing.

So we watched a movie.

And?

Where is the juice?

Give me some juice.!

- There is no juice!

- Oh my GOD!

Hold the phone.

Halliday went on a date

with Odgen Morrow's wife?

Just once.

Years before they

were even married.

But yeah.

And despite that, and the

fact that she died...

The name Kira is only mentioned once...

in all of Halliday's journals.

- That's not possible.

- It is, look it up.

What we just saw is the only

time she's ever mentioned.

It makes no sense...

She was important part of

both their lives.

I'll bet you anything.

All my coins.

Search "Karen Underwood Morrow".

1 RESUL Kira I told you, like the character in

"The DARK Crystal".

That's her gamer tag.

Halliday purposely removed every

mention of her except for this one.

That's weird.

Why?

It's like it was just so painful for him...

to have to see her face or hear her name.

Oh he loved her.

- He could not tell that to Morrow.

- He should have told how he felt.

Yeah, well, he missed his chance.

Look.

I found the clue to the race in

the other scene but...

I have always felt that the biggest

clue of the contest...

was hidden here.

You are right.

I lose.

Don't worry, curator.

You see, Kira is rosebud of the

center of his story.

She is the big mystery!

Rate this script:4.8 / 10 votes