I: Sick Kids — Chapter 1

Summary

• Samson Masur, also known as Mazer, comes across an idle crowd in a subway station just as he is running late for a meeting with his academic advisor.
• Feeling trapped by the large crowd, Sam is forced to push his way through to make it to an escalator leading aboveground.
• Sam's attention shifts to an old companion named Sadie Green. Despite losing contact with her over the years, they had been in many academic and creative competitions together in High School. They share a brief interaction before Sadie leaves for her class.
• Sam remembers Sadie as one of the most brilliant people he knew and once again felt a pang of lost time and a sudden realization of passing years. He realizes that he might not see Sadie again as they did not exchange contact information.
• Sadie returns and hands Sam a disk containing a game she developed called Solution and asked him to play it to see what he thinks.
• Back at his apartment, Sam's roommate Marx discovers the disk and insists on playing it. After finishing their first playthrough of Solution, Marx finds the game startling and implies that Sadie might be a genius, profoundly changing Sam's perception of her.