Sorrento removed the key, recited the three words again, then reinserted the key and turned it. Still nothing.
I studied Aech, Art3mis, and Shoto as they watched the video. Their excitement and curiosity had already shifted into concentration as they attempted to solve the puzzle before them. I paused the video. “Whenever Sorrento is logged in, he has a team of consultants and researchers watching his every move,” I said. “You can hear their voices on some of the vidcaps, feeding him suggestions and advice through his comlink. So far, they haven’t been much help. Watch—”
On the video, Sorrento was making another attempt to open the gate. He did everything exactly as before, except this time, when he inserted the Crystal Key, he turned it counterclockwise instead of clockwise.
“They try every asinine thing you can imagine,” I said. “Sorrento recites the words on the gate in Latin. And Elvish. And Klingon. Then they get hung up on reciting First Corinthians 13:13, a Bible verse that contains the words ‘charity, hope, and faith.’ Apparently, ‘charity, hope, and faith’ are also the names of three martyred Catholic saints. The Sixers have been trying to attach some significance to that for the past few days.”
“Morons,” Aech said. “Halliday was an atheist.”
“They’re getting desperate now,” I said. “Sorrento has tried everything but genuflecting, doing a little dance, and sticking his pinky finger in the keyhole.”
“That’s probably next up on his agenda,” Shoto said, grinning.
“Charity, hope, faith,” Art3mis said, reciting the words slowly. She turned to me. “Where do I know that from?”
“Yeah,” Aech said. “Those words do sound familiar.”
“It took me a while to place them too,” I said.
They all looked at me expectantly.
“Say them in reverse order,” I suggested. “Better yet, sing them in reverse order.”
Art3mis’s eyes narrowed. “Faith, hope, charity,” she said. She repeated them a few times, recognition growing in her face. Then she sang: “Faith and hope and charity …”
Aech picked up the next line: “The heart and the brain and the body …”
“Give you three … as a magic number!” Shoto finished triumphantly.
“Schoolhouse Rock!” they all shouted in unison.
“See?” I said. “I knew you guys would get it. You’re a smart bunch.”
“ ‘Three Is a Magic Number,’ music and lyrics by Bob Dorough,” Art3mis recited, as if pulling the information from a mental encyclopedia. “Written in 1973.”
I smiled at her. “I have a theory. I think this might be Halliday’s way of telling us how many keys are required to open the Third Gate.”
Art3mis grinned, then sang, “It takes three.”
“No more, no less,” continued Shoto.
“You don’t have to guess,” added Aech.
“Three,” I finished, “is the magic number.” I took out my own copy of the Crystal Key and held it up. The others did the same. “We have four copies of the key. If at least three of us can reach the gate, we can get it open.”
“What then?” Aech asked. “Do we all enter the gate at the same time?”
“What if only one of us can enter the gate once it’s open?” Art3mis said.
“I doubt Halliday would have set it up like that,” I said.
“Who knows what that crazy bastard was thinking?” Art3mis said. “He’s toyed with us every step of the way, and now he’s doing it again. Why else would he require three copies of the Crystal Key to open the final gate?”
“Maybe because he wanted to force us to work together?” I suggested.
“Or he just wanted the contest to end with a big, dramatic finale,” Aech offered. “Think about it. If three avatars enter the Third Gate at the exact same moment, then it becomes a race to see who can clear the gate and reach the egg first.”
“Halliday was one crazy, sadistic bastard,” Art3mis muttered.
“Yeah,” Aech said, nodding. “You got that right.”
“Look at it this way,” Shoto said. “If Halliday hadn’t set up the Third Gate to require three keys … the Sixers might have already found the egg by now.”
“But the Sixers have a dozen avatars with copies of the Crystal Key,” Aech said. “They could open the gate right now, if they were smart enough to figure out how.”
“Dilettantes,” Art3mis said. “It’s their own fault for not knowing all the Schoolhouse Rock! lyrics by heart. How did those fools even get this far?”
“By cheating,” I said. “Remember?”
“Oh, that’s right. I keep forgetting.” She grinned at me, and I felt my knees go all rubbery.
“Just because the Sixers haven’t opened the gate yet doesn’t mean they won’t figure it out eventually,” Shoto said.
I nodded. “Shoto’s right. Sooner or later they’ll make the Schoolhouse Rock! connection. So we can’t waste any more time.”