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**Matthew Albert** (born c. 326) is a figure of the C9 universe, raised in the House of Confidence on Aerogaea 347n.
The record follows him across 2 periods of life.
Matthew appears in 5 of the 19 chapters written so far, beginning with The Glass House, chapter 6[1].
## Early life
**Matthew Albert** (born c. 326) is a figure of the C9 universe and the son of [[life/rad-albert|Rad Albert]] and [[life/mae-albert|Mae Albert]]. He was about four in year 330, the same age as [[life/sienna-astrid-helvig|Sienna Astrid Helvig]]. He belongs to the generation that built rather than fought.
Matthew Albert was born in about year 326. He was 4 years old in 330, the year the Klak Grove was destroyed.
## Life
## The Plateau Child
Matthew grew up on the Great Plateau, in the settlement his father made out of a shelter and eighty refugees.
The record notes born on the Plateau. Raised by the entire House of Confidence. Rad teaches him engineering. Mae teaches him to listen. But Matthew watches everything Chrys does. At age 7, during the hunter mission (Year 340), he is the only one wearing a hazmat suit. When Mae collapses from the toxin he drops beside her:. *"Mom!"* He already had his suit on. He had felt something was wrong.
He appears in the field at the abandoned farm, in a black hazmat suit, the only person present who had put on appropriate protective equipment. When the creature was ash and [[life/mae-albert|Mae]] put it at five orders, maybe six, she turned to him[1]. When the order came to get [[life/samantha-grace-albert-nakayama|Samantha]] back to Rad and alert the other divisions, she turned to Matthew and said they should try their best[1].
## Later years
The rain kept falling and Matthew kept holding. The creature's ash dissolved in the water and ran down the rocks toward the plateau below, where the shelter was and the monitor was keeping its rhythm and Rad was at his console watching numbers that were still, barely, survivable[1].
By the time Rad governs and Mae runs logistics, Matthew is the one who actually keeps the infrastructure running. He is not a soldier. He is the reason the soldiers have water, power, and walls.
He and [[life/vera-norgaard|Vera Norgaard]] are the infrastructure of the next generation. She feels the structure and he does the work nobody is watching.
## Character
Early in life he held to a lie about hisself: "Someone has to do the invisible work.". Later he came to hold the opposite: the invisible work is the only reason any of the visible work matters. Direct. Technical. He does not explain himself unless asked. When he says something is wrong with the structure, it is wrong.
What he told himself is that somebody has to do the invisible work. What is true is that the invisible work is the reason any of the visible work matters.
## Family
Matthew is the son of [[life/rad-albert|Rad Albert]] and [[life/mae-albert|Mae Albert]]. [[life/samantha-grace-albert-nakayama|Samantha Grace Albert-Nakayama]] is his cousin.
## Appearances
Matthew is present in 5 of the 19 chapters written so far.
- [[pages/glass-house-chapter-10-the-hunter-s-ground|The Glass House, chapter 10]]
- [[pages/glass-house-chapter-6-the-arena|The Glass House, chapter 6]][1]
- [[pages/glass-house-chapter-8-the-cave-and-the-guide|The Glass House, chapter 8]] — Rad Albert was a large man who took up space without filling it the way intimidating people do.[2]
- [[pages/glass-house-chapter-10-the-hunter-s-ground|The Glass House, chapter 10]][3]
- [[pages/glass-house-chapter-12-the-new-normal|The Glass House, chapter 12]] — Four hundred kilometers south, Rad Albert found Chrys's temperature professionally unacceptable.[4]
- [[pages/glass-house-chapter-17-the-explosion|The Glass House, chapter 17]][5]
## See also
- [[life/rad-albert|Rad Albert]]
- [[life/mae-albert|Mae Albert]]
## References
1. [[pages/glass-house-chapter-6-the-arena|The Glass House, chapter 6]]
2. [[pages/glass-house-chapter-8-the-cave-and-the-guide|The Glass House, chapter 8]]
3. [[pages/glass-house-chapter-10-the-hunter-s-ground|The Glass House, chapter 10]]
4. [[pages/glass-house-chapter-12-the-new-normal|The Glass House, chapter 12]]
5. [[pages/glass-house-chapter-17-the-explosion|The Glass House, chapter 17]]
1. [[pages/glass-house-chapter-10-the-hunter-s-ground|The Glass House, chapter 10]]