I've been holding off on saying all of this before now because I still wasn't sure what was going on and whether it was safe to speak.
Now I'm STILL not sure what was going on, but I'm pretty sure it isn't safe to speak, but if no one stood up and spoke, the world would be a much worse place, so here I am, and I am standing up and speaking.
So, who are Niantic exactly?
What is really going on?
Are the Shapers going to help us as I hope?
Are Niantic actively trying to prevent the Ingress? If so, why does everything seem to spawn from them and their research?
And why me?
I've been wrestling with this question for weeks now, wanting to ask Jarvis and not entirely sure how to get hold of him, and also not really brave enough to ask.
And now I can't ask him, if all of the information that I've found is true. He's dead.
Dead!
And why?
And How?
So why did Jarvis reach out to me of all people?
I don't know, and I'll never know now. I can only hope that I can live up to his expectations.
So, here's the history.
I installed what I thought was a new game on my phone, just a game, a lot of fun and all that, but then I was contacted by someone within it; Jarvis. They explained a couple of things, I wasn't given much detail really, but it seems that something was discovered at Cern. Another kind of matter. What that means, I don't know. Another kind of matter... not a good way to put it, perhaps I remembered incorrectly. I suspect what they mean is new matter that isn't covered in our current theoretical view of the universe. So probably new particles.
As it is they've named it Exotic Matter which seems somewhat melodramatic. Why can't they just work out what kind of particle it is and name it [insert name of discoverer here]-Boson?
Well anyway, I just thought it was a game at first, though the fact that this exotic matter is all around my, and I've found portals in my local town, and the town nearby... it started to worry me.
Then I found the site where people are collating all of the information they found.
It seems that this thing is real, and people have died.
I haven't really kept up to date with all of the information, I've been ill, so I need to go back and read everything that's been found.
What I DO know is that people are dead, and it's starting to worry me.
Why did Jarvis reach out to me?
What is it that he thought I could contribute?
There are portals all over the place, and I've met other people both in the Enlightened, and those poor souls who call themselves the Resistance; those people who can't accept the wonder that this opportunity affords us.
The thing is; the people that I've met so far are able to travel, they're able to attack portals, hack portals, and link portals all over the place. There are some amazing people out there who travel far and wide looking after the portals and ensuring they are protected.
But me?
I'm a wheelchair user, I can't travel very far. I haven't been able to get very far to attack the portals that those calling themselves the Resistance have taken control of.
At first there was just the one portal here that I could get to, and I went to it regularly. It changed hands quite a lot, and is currently under the control of the Resistance. Another portal not too far from me popped up, but I can't get to it as it's far enought that it would take me an hour or so by wheelchair, since I can't drive, and friends within the Enlightened group have advised that the road leading to it is not very good for a wheelchair, so I haven't been there.
I did submit photos of places where I thought there might be portals hidden in the local area; the suggestion is that artwork has been influenced throughout history, so I thought I'd get instances of local art that felt odd to me checked out.
It turns out that a fair few of those places are actually portals!
They came through properly this week, and were grabbed up by that pesky resistance immediately.
Because I can't travel, my access level is low, so I don't have access to higher level weaponry, so I can't do much damage to the higher level portals presently. I'm hoping, though, that with good work and regular hacking of these enemy portals, my access level will increase, and I will be able to do more damage.
Well, that's all for now I guess; it's a lot to say in one go. There is a lot that I need to think about. The loss of Jarvis is a huge hit, I'd never met the man, I'd not even been able to talk to him properly. We hadn't become online friends or anything like that, and yet I feel his loss deeply.
He chose me for this mission.
For whatever reason it was, I don't want to let him down.
I just hope that I will find out why he wanted me for this mission, perhaps that information will come out over time. At the very least, I'd like to uncover the circumstances surrounding his death so that I can feel like I've done right by him.
Oh, one afterthought; it seems that there are things hidden in some of the information being leaked from Niantic.
Once solved, these codes can provide access level increases, and give weaponry.
I guess Niantic are trying to make sure their higher level agents are able to solve these problems and get information as and when they need it. Are we being trained up to be cryptographers?
What ARE Niantic?
I guess it's time for me to learn some cryptography so that I can increase my access level. I'm so intrigued by all of these mysteries, I would really like to get to the root of it all, so I'll work hard and see what I can find.
