His name is Altair.
Named after the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila and the twelfth brightest star in the night sky. He was living with his aunt Grace who was working at Zine Publication House and doing part time real estate agent at Homelancer. He was on his senior high working part time in Gravelcross bike shop and cafe during the weekend and sometimes do freelance courier service jobs for Deliberis when he has time after online schooling at Let’s Learn Online.
He has just finished his shift at the bike cafe and sat on the table where his friend was concentrating on the mobile phone.
“Hey Derek”, he said pulling out a chair. Derek was about Altair’s age and is also working part time as office messenger at DARMIS a local Department of Agrarian Reform’s MIS office. Altair and Derek became close friends when they share the same interests and hobby at Make/Do It Yourself club.
“Hey Altair. Man, I love this internet speed of the new wi-fi. It’s pretty awesome.” said Derek. “What hunter level are you on the Bug?” he added.
It was a sort of scavenger’s hunt and hacking kind of augmented reality or AR mobile game developed by Gameroom Studio where you physically go to a certain location and scan a designated sign with a QR code with an icon of a bug – called The Bug – in the center.
It was a welcome game for the parents because it encourages the kids and even adults to go out and meet their peers. Players would receive quests, do certain activities with other players, and solve mystery assignments to solve at home by connecting to the server. The players would earn points and level up as they completed quests and assignments which are mostly solving puzzles.
Some commercial establishments in collaboration with the game provider would reward players free food, drinks or items when they host an activity hot-spot in their establishment. The quest in the establishments are usually longer to complete and the store owners encourage the players to buy their product where a Coaster Bug is usually on the coaster. Each Coaster Bug has a different QR code so once scanned, it becomes invalid for the day. Unlike the general Bug signs which are playable anytime.
“I’m almost on level 16”, said Altair he has sat on his favorite spot near the window. He liked watching the trees outside and feel the breeze of the wind.
“Wow”, Derek said admiringly. “You must be locked up in your house the whole vacation. I was doing some voluntary work at the church”. Derek was referring to their local Baptist church at MFBC.
“Nope. I usually go out early in the morning with my bicycle and hunt out the bugs before heading home for quest assignments.” Altair stared at the window and continued “then I would bike out to the some bug locations to do some challenges”.
“You’re doing that?”, Derek said smirking “You know you can use GPS spoofing to go to a location and scan the Bug from social media sites so you can play the game from your room”.
“I know. But the points you get is only a quarter of the actual points from actually being on location. And there’s a Fatigue System when playing off-site” Altair pointed out.
“Yeah. You could probably reach that level doing all that” Derek shrugged. “But there’s that very hard quest you can do from home that gives you half points even when failing”.
“Ah you mean the ‘BCD 6100 Quest'”, Altair recalled. “It was supposed to boost up your level when completed”.
“Yeah that one” Derek said. “But it’s only available between level 16 and 18. It has 5 levels and boy are they hard. Some highly advanced brain splitting stuff. And you are only allowed 3 tries to complete it. After that it goes away from your Quest Board.”
“Well, it’s still a long way to go.” Altair said.
“Some guys who completed the quest had their level boosted up to level 20 and lots of rare items too.” Derek said. Then whispered, “And were rumored to have been offered to buy their accounts by some rich kids.”
Altair looked at Derek who was waiting for some reaction. “What? I wont sell my account if I do get to that level.”
“Well anyway you’ll get your change when you reach level 16. So far no one has yet completed the quest. Some guys did the quest and failed but they only get an achievement badge doing it. No points added.” Derek said.
The impression of reaching level 20 and the rare items imprinted on Altair’s mind. He looked out the window to see a crew of technical people setting security camera on the other side of the street. The word “C.E.N.T.E.R. Labs” painted on their utility van.
“Well, at least the CENTER’s free wi-fi could help by not constantly having to buy some network data services.” Altair said. “And ever since TLDNS upgraded their services everyone’s enjoying the crazy internet speed.”
“Well, not everyone is happy with it”, pointed out Derek directing their attention to the overhead TV broadcasting the news.
Apparently Cyberia Ecommerce Network Technology and Electronics Research (CENTER) Labs have formed a memorandum of agreement between the private security companies that provide security services to the city’s commercial establishments, and the local government who will be providing the access and exchange of data with the police force and that of the CENTER’s data center to coordinate detection and stop criminal activities of the organized crime and prevent corruption around the city. The system is interconnected by an API-X system provided by the Supervisory Infrastructure Control and Data Acquisition (SICADA).
The CENTER will be providing the data centers and equipment upgrade to the police force and government center while the security agencies will be providing their surveillance system, and the government will be handling the arrest and peace keeping all for the citizen’s sake and safety. And even offered free wi-fi and high speed internet all through out Cyberia City. The public free wi-fi and internet will be provided by Techno Link Data and Network Services or TLDNS which will be subsidized by the MOA.
But not all were happy to the changes as some concerns about privacy issues were pointed out as being violated. But the concerns were quickly dissolved by the fact that majority of the people were enjoying free premium apps and wi-fi in a high speed internet access. Besides, as most people pointed out, why should they be concerned if they don’t have anything illegal to hide. But still some people are very much concerned and rally to discuss the issue on social media sites like the open-community site Netizens.info
“Hey Altair, I got some errands for you”, Mr. Vandal called. “Some package to deliver along your way home”.
Altair went to Mr. Vandal and looked up the address on the package from his mobile phone. The address was Swap-Barter-Trade a local barter and trade market was a couple of kilometers near his home but on the uphill area along the way. Aside from a bike shop and cafe, Mr. Vandal also has a package and food delivery business.
“Great. I’ll take care of it.” said Altair. Then put the package on his backpack.Then tapping his friend’s shoulder, “See ya later online.” he said.
Altair guided his road bike out of the bike stands and noticed the chill of the wind and looked up.”Looks like it’s going to rain”, he thought. Altair love riding his road bike and is a member of his town’s local chapter of Cyclista. Although he sometimes wished for a scooter when doing some deliveries especially on uphill areas.
After checking his bike brakes and tires, he sets off to deliver the package.