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On what should have been his day off, Matthew had volunteered for guard duty at one of the watch towers. It was not a job envied by the Hybrids, not aided as much by their technological advancement here on planet side, so many were very glad to trade with him. When's asked why, Matthew said that he didn't have anything else he needed to do, and that he could use the extra pay. All of this was true enough, though not the real reason for his watches.
The truth is that Matthew didn’t know what else to do. It was only a couple of weeks after Kendra had left that he had lost contact with her. Within such an awesome technological society, the colony ship and all of the accompanying ships, and the settlement on the planet, this planet seemed to thwart them at every turn. Large swaths of the planet seemed to render all of the advanced technology useless, the cameras, the probes, even some of the transports for the Hybrids would cease to function as the colonists went further and further away from their main colony. It almost seemed like the spot chosen was the only spot where their technology truly worked.
"It is nothing," Matthew's commanding officer had told him, always displeased that he had to use manual, verbal communication with this subHybrid, "This world can and will be tamed. It is only a matter of time before the tech is spread throughout the world, and we are able to properly harvest its resources."
The colony was filled with such optimism, at least outwardly, but Matthew sensed that there was something more, a fear that was developing among the crew, and the colonists. It seemed that outside of this valley, they were blind. And out there, among the mountains, the importance of the SubHybrids and NonHybrids rose. While not even the hand-held technology of the SubHybrids functioned properly, the Subs were able to handle it much better, as they had never had access to the Song. When the Hybrids lost the Song, it they seemed to be at a loss for what to do. This was the very reason that Kendra had been sent out on her exploration in the first place.
At the top of the eastern guard tower, Matthew used his infrared field glasses to scan the farms and fields about them. There were all the usual movements, automated scouts and probes wandering about, androids that were not dependent on the light of the sun tilling soil, and any number of other tasks that could be done by automation. What Matthew was really interested in were living lifeforms, and specifically human ones. He was convinced that, sooner or later, he would again see his friend, somewhere through those glances, out in the fields, or, most likely, beyond the mountains themselves.
Kendra. Where was she? Several times a week, Matthew went out of the colony on scouting or harvesting missions. He was always helping to clear fields, and to set up cameras and relays, helping to create the roads and paths and stations for all of their rovers and transports. And in this valley, all of that worked great. Up on the mountain ridges, and in the lands beyond, things quickly broke down. It was something in the rocks or the trees, something that disrupted the electrical flows of their equipment. And then, Matthew and others would have to travel on foot, backs laden with heavy packs. But the Hybrids had trouble then, their artificial muscular enhancements failing, and their sense of direction quickly becoming disoriented.
Matthew, with his natural and growing strength, and having never depended on the tech for figuring his way around, quickly gained the respect of his coworkers on the rangings. Though never as fast as his lost friend, Matthew was strong, healthy, and could now walk for all day. And he often did. Every time he went out he had a mission to complete. But his personal task, the reason he was always working, never with a day off, is that he was looking for Kendra. He knew he shouldn't, but Matthew could not help but feel responsible for her disappearance. And he missed her. He missed her terribly.
In the rangings, Matthew had only come across a few signs of Kendra. He had found the place on the cliff overlooking the colony that she had called him from. He thought he had found the trail she had used to descend the other side of the mountains. And, on one of the longest rangings, Matthew and the scouting party with him had found the place where she had first encountered the Gtar, the battle that Slintrasti had waged with it. He had known about this battle of course from the first recordings that Kendra had managed to send back. Matthew had wanted to go on, but the others at that point had had enough. Even the SubHybrids, unnerved by the obvious size of the Gtar in the fight, had elected to go back. While Matthew had been very tempted to go on alone, with some excuse of exploring further afield, in the end he decided to return with the group. With the SubHybrids almost useless, Matthew thought he had better help get them home.