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Something was wrong. Matthew came out of his memories, out of his contemplations, and looked closely through the field glasses. Something had changed on the walls at the eastern end of the valley. He trained the glasses that way, looking for movement, or for any hints to what he had just seen. And then, another set of lights went out, a little lower on the valley wall. At the same time, he saw some sort of creature moving about the lights. From the little he saw before they moved behind some brush, they were large, maybe twice the height of a normal man, and reptilian in appearance. There were several of them, and they appeared to be armed with something. Spears, perhaps? And his glimpse of one showed him that it was armed perhaps with a crude bow. They were fast, moving from tree to tree, and through some of the high ferns that had not yet been cleared. He also thought, They are coming this way.
Within a few moments, there was another person at his side, a woman of perhaps twenty-six or twenty-seven years. Melissa. There was always a second person on guard at each tower, though the second person was usually in the office at a computer station. Melissa stood five-foot eight, had shoulder-length blond hair, and was also considered a SubHybrid. Though her interfaces allowed her limited access to the Grid, able to access devices and some primitive computer systems, she was not able to communicate with others on the network. Melissa, or Mel for short, had noticed the loss of equipment on the mountain slope, and as she had focused her limited tech resources to exploring it, she had seen the reptilian species.
Matthew had been on several missions with her, setting up equipment, gathering samples and supplies, and even on the long-range mission across the mountain range. She had seemed fidgety, unsure of herself, but someone who wanted to prove herself in the eyes of her peers. Matthew liked her.
"What are they?!" she asked, an undertone of panic in her voice. There was a distant look in her eyes, and Matthew knew she was jumping from one sensor to another in the field, trying to get a good look at whatever was coming. A sheen of sweat was breaking out on her forehead, even in the cold weather, weather that would be below freezing in another hour.
Matthew continued to stare through his field glasses for another minute. He had seen more of the humanoid creatures, perhaps as many as a dozen, and now his blood ran cold as he saw two much larger creatures, also lizard-like, perhaps twenty feet long, running on all fours. While the shape was quite different, these new creatures looked similar to the humanoids. Same species?
"This is an attack, Mel," Matthew said, trying to keep fear out of his own voice. "You better raise the alarm. And we need weapons!"
Melissa closed her eyes, concentrating, trying to activate the correct computer systems. Several times she let out an exasperated sigh, and then finally she said aloud, "Got it!"
The colony came alive. Lights in the artificial town began to come on, and spotlights lit up the valley in the direction of the Gtar. First one, and then several sirens began to blare out. In moments defense androids, both human like and small mechs standing twenty feet high, began moving in direction of the attackers. Residents began to emerge from outlying buildings, rushing toward the main colony and the shelters built within it, and soldiers, quickly armored and armed, were rushing out of barracks to take up defensive positions on the walls.
Melissa glanced up at Matthew, a scared smile gracing her face. "Well, that should do it!" she said, her voice wavering.
"Yes," Matthew agreed. He was amazed what just a few thoughts had done, and he once again, like many times before, felt a twinge of jealousy at the Hybrids, even one not completely in tune with the Grid. "Well," he continued, "Let's get the assault rifles from the office. We are going to be in for a fight.