Quote 40
You know you've totally screwed up your life when […] the only person you have to talk to is your system agent software. (24.25)
We guess even someone as lonely as Wade draws the line at making friends with an Artificial Intelligence. Fair enough, Wade. Fair enough.
Quote 41
The young woman sitting in front of me was my best friend, Aech. (33.51)
Wade's friendship with Aech transcends race, even when he finds out that she's an African-American lesbian named Helen. That wins some major points for Wade in our book. Or maybe at this point he's too worried about other stuff to give a hoot about the fact that his bestie is very much not who he thought he was.
Quote 42
Art3mis counted to three, and we turned our keys in unison. (35.71)
By requiring three people to be present in order to open the Third Gate, the Hunt becomes Halliday's way of demonstrating the necessity of friendship. Perhaps he hoped he, Og, and Kira would have held those keys.