How It All Goes Down
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- The world hasn't changed much since Wade has last been outside: still lots of filth and poverty.
- Wade is put into a gray jumpsuit with gray plastic shoes, and frisked for hidden devices. Everything is gray and monochrome and depressing and awful and, well you get the picture.
- IOI administers a skills test to see what job would be perfect for Wade to work off his massive debt. The answer: OASIS Technical Support Representative II.
- Snooze.
- He's tagged like an animal, and led to his habitation unit, a capsule with a padded foam floor straight out of William Gibson's Neuromancer.
- It's equipped with a TV, but it only plays IOI propaganda shows.
- Wade struggles to get to sleep, wondering if Art3mis is missing him while he's away.