Chapters 13–16 Summary and Analysis
Chapter 13
After Aech clears the First Gate, I-r0k tries to blackmail Wade and Aech into revealing the Copper Key's location. When the heroes refuse, I-r0k leverages his tenuous connection to them to fuel speculation about the key's location on Ludus. Before long, two other gunters clear the First Gate. On the Scoreboard, the names "Daito" and "Shoto" appear in fourth and fifth place, respectively, after Parzival, Art3mis, and Aech. Meanwhile, with enough credits to graduate high school in two months, Wade turns his attention to the Jade Key riddle, which he dubs the Quatrain.
As he puzzles over it, Wade is inundated with fan mail and propositioned by the largest gunter clans. He also receives book and movie offers, which he turns down. Not surprisingly, Wade is approached by companies who want him to promote everything from OASIS immersion hardware to Parzival action figures. Sensing an opportunity to leave the "stacks," Wade signs lucrative non-disclosure contracts with the companies. These agreements protect his identity and his right to receive a reliable income for his endorsement work. With frugal living, Wade calculates that he should soon be able to afford his own apartment. The chapter ends with Wade accepting a chat-link invitation from Nolan Sorrento, the head of IOI operations. In its eagerness to recruit the teenager, IOI inundated Wade with 5,000 copies of Sorrento's proposal email in the space of a week.
Chapter 14
During the chat-link session, Sorrento takes Wade on an orbital tour of planet IOI-1, IOI's main base of operations. The virtual tour showcases planet IOI's robust, state-of-the-art defense system. As they touch down, Wade notices that the IOI Operations Complex consists of a middle, circular skyscraper flanked by two rectangular skyscrapers. Sorrento's shuttle lands on the O-shaped tower's roof, and he takes Wade to the Oology Division on the 106th floor. There, he offers Wade a job as chief oologist for a sign-up bonus of $1,000,000, pay of $2,000,000 a year, and a bonus of $25,000,000 upon discovery of the egg. Wade agrees, on three conditions: he wants Sorrento's position, $50,000,000 upon finding the egg, and IOI employees to address him as El Numero Uno.
Sorrento grimly accepts, but Wade then retracts his original assent. Unperturbed, Sorrento offers Wade $5,000,000 in exchange for a walk-through up to the First Gate, but Wade refuses. Sorrento then reveals that he knows Wade's real identity and threatens to detonate the explosives that are wired to Aunt Alice's trailer unless Wade complies. Thinking that Sorrento isn't serious, Wade logs out of the chat-link. Not long after, he hears a massive explosion: IOI has just murdered his Aunt Alice, Rick, Mrs. Gilmore, and the other residents of his stack. Unknown to IOI, Wade escapes death because he is in his hideout van.
Chapter 15
Although devastated, Wade logs back into the OASIS. His avatar materializes on Ludus, and he is immediately contacted by Aech. Wade tells his friend about the explosion and warns him that IOI has set its sights on the top five gunters on the Scoreboard. Meanwhile, IOI dispatches a fleet of Sixer spacecraft to Ludus. Aech proposes a meeting of the top five (christened the "High Five" by gunter forums) in his chat room. During the meeting, Art3mis reveals that she hid an up-link camera in some trees near the entrance to the Tomb of Horrors. She pulls up the video feed, revealing that the Sixers have projected two powerful force fields over the hill that houses the tomb.
With hacked immersion rigs and support teams of Halliday scholars, game experts, and cryptologists, Sixers have an unfair advantage...
(This entire section contains 1092 words.)
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over average gunters. Aech proposes that the five team up, but the idea is unpopular. Shoto and Daito will entertain no alliance beyond the one they share, and the others are stubborn soloists. Consequently, Daito, Shoto, and Art3mis exit Aech's chatroom, leaving Wade and Aech together. As they converse, a stack of books falls from a table to the floor. Wade worries that an invisible avatar is spying on them, but Aech teases him for being paranoid. He assures Wade that his chat room is encrypted, and the two eventually part ways.
Chapter 16
Within a few hours of the High Five conference, the Scoreboard fills up with IOI employee numbers. Wade unhappily notes that the first IOI number, 655321, belongs to Sorrento. Meanwhile, Ludus is swarmed by hordes of gunters and Sixers intent upon clearing the First Gate. In response, the OASIS public school board creates Ludus II so that classes can continue without unnecessary distractions. For a time, only Sixers have access to the tomb, since IOI's force fields are impervious to teleportation technology and gunter wizardry. In desperation, the largest gunter clans deploy two expensive antimatter bombs, which neutralize the energy shields.
Meanwhile, IOI plants chemical and drug-manufacturing equipment at the Portland Avenue Stacks to make it look like a meth lab set off the explosion. Determined to evade his enemies, Wade purchases a first-class bus ticket to Columbus, Ohio. On the bus, Wade buys illegal access to the United States Citizen Registry; this allows him to transfer his school fingerprint and retinal patterns to his new identity profile. Wade is now Bryce Lynch, a Computer Science graduate with a stellar credit rating. With this new identity, Wade pays six months' rent on an efficiency apartment in a former high-rise hotel. Since his apartment is near the main OASIS server vault, Wade enjoys exceptional internet access. He makes a vow to not leave his apartment until he finds Halliday's egg.
Analysis
In these chapters, Cline highlights the theme of courage. Although the attempt on Wade's life fails, the grim message remains: IOI has no compunction about sacrificing innocent civilians on the altar of its greed. Chapters 14, 15, and 16 illustrate the depth of Wade's dilemma: he must stay alive and figure out a way to defeat a corporate entity intent upon world domination. It is a tall order for a teenager. So far, Wade has had to endure unrelenting social stigma (due to his poverty), harassment from fellow gunters like I-r0k (due to his lowly avatar level), and menacing threats from Sorrento, IOI's Head of Operations (due to his defiance of corporate directives).
The untimely deaths of Aunt Alice and Mrs. Gilmore have also added to his burdens. Wade is alone, homeless, and defenseless. His only consolation is that members of the High Five are on his side. Despite his trials, Wade courageously presses on: he remakes his identity and begins afresh. His determination to find Halliday's egg remains intact.
