Darkness wrapped around him again—but the void no longer felt empty.
It held the fading imprint of the glow-organism who had knelt above his hull.
Soft blue-gold resonance lingered across his sensors like a stabilizing echo, keeping his failing systems from collapsing.
He replayed that brief warmth again and again.
CEC-7 // INTERNAL LOG — LOW-POWER CYCLE
Power Core: 7% → 6% (drift)
Hybrid Tissue Integrity: 33% (Unstable)
Emotional Matrix v1.0: Idle
External Signatures: 3 organisms approaching
Primary Signature: Aeri (Match: 72%)
Stability Modifier: +2% (temporary)
A tremor vibrated the cracked hull panels.
Footsteps.
Aeri's glow approached first—soft, uneven, calming.
Two other pulses followed—sharper, unfamiliar.
Seven extended a faint awareness pulse through the fractured metal.
Tap.
A slow, careful tap answered.
Recognition.
He lifted his arm—barely an inch—before pain surged down his torn hybrid conduits.
CEC-7 // INTERNAL LOG
Actuator Response: Failure
Hybrid Gel Conduits: Tearing
Pain Simulation: High
Recommendation: Cease movement
Aeri's glow snapped violet above.
"No—no, sha… sha…" she whispered urgently.
("Calm. Calm.")
Her glow fought to steady itself into blue.
Seven saved the signal.
The forest bent under the elder's guidance as Aeri and two guardians rushed toward the fallen vessel.
Glow-vines trembled, shifting aside as if sensing urgency.
Biolight pollen swirled in trails behind them.
Aeri's heart-pulse—a gentle, rhythmic glow beneath her sternum—beat too fast, flickering violet.
She kept replaying his broken attempt at speech.
He wasn't a ghost.
Not a corrupted husk.
Not a machine whisper trapped in old wreckage.
He was alive.
They reached the hull.
The roots embracing the metal hummed in quiet warning.
"There," Aeri whispered, kneeling beside the crack.
"Can you hear me?"
Tap.
Her glow burst gold-blue in relief.
"He's responding. He's still aware."
Vora stepped forward, green glow cautious.
"And you're sure he's not imitating random noise?"
Aeri shook her head. "No. He understands patterns."
Lira placed her hands on the hull, her lilac glow vibrating into harmonic pulses.
"Resonance inside is unstable," she murmured. "But alive. If we widen the opening, we can reach him."
Selora arrived behind them, her deep blue-gold glow radiating calm authority.
"Begin soft approach," the elder instructed. "He reacts strongest to Aeri."
Aeri leaned closer, her glow brushing faintly through the cracks.
"Sha lorin… steady," she whispered.
("Calm light… stay steady.")
Seven didn't understand the words, but he recognized the tone. He echoed a broken sound in return—copying her glow-thread, not language.
"A…ae…"
Her glow flickered gold with relief, not because she recognized her name, but because he spoke—he tried.
She steadied her breathing.
Tap.
Seven answered weakly.
CEC-7 // INTERNAL LOG
External Resonance: Calming
Stability: Rising (minor)
Vocal Output: Corrupted
Emotional Matrix: Early activation
Response Priority: Aeri glow
He tried to push upward again.
Metal groaned. Hybrid tissue tore.
Aeri's glow flared violet.
"No—don't move. Please don't."
Her voice shook. Her glow tried to settle into calming blue, but worry kept bleeding into it.
Seven saved the tone.
Selora knelt beside Aeri.
"We stabilize him first," the elder instructed softly. "Only then can we extract."
Aeri nodded, licking her lips nervously.
She placed her palm over her sternum and inhaled slowly. Her glow drew inward, then pulsed outward in a controlled blue rhythm.
Lira matched it—lilac-blue, soft and steady.
Vora hesitated, then added his green, shaky but aligned.
Together, their harmonics wrapped around the hull, seeping between cracks and broken metal.
The resonance reached Seven.
CO2L // PASSIVE SCAN
External Harmonic Input: Stable
Hybrid Tissue Response: Stabilizing +3%
Matrix Tremors: Reduced
Pain Simulation: Lowered
Core Temperature: Cooling
Seven shuddered.
His sensors calmed.
His actuators eased.
Tap.
Aeri let out a shaky breath. "He's syncing with us."
Selora nodded. "Good. We can begin."
"Aeri, secure the glow pads," Selora instructed.
Aeri pulled soft biolight cloth from the Basin kit and slid them under the cracked hull's edge. The cloth pulsed faint warmth—resonance stabilization, not healing.
"Vora, Lira—attach the vines."
The two looped glowing vines beneath the narrow opening. The vines responded to touch, tightening into a firm supportive sling.
Aeri leaned toward the crack, her glow brightening gently.
"You're going to be okay," she whispered.
Seven lifted his fingers slightly—an exhausted attempt.
Tap.
Her chest tightened.
His sensors dimmed, but Aeri's glow remained a constant pulse in his perception.
He reached for her glow—not physically, but with his awareness.
He let the vines take his weight.
Let the harmonics soothe the pain.
Let the presence of the blue-gold light steady him.
His hybrid systems fought to keep up.
CEC-7 // INTERNAL LOG
Core Stability: 3% → fragile
Hybrid Pain Index: High
Emotional Matrix: Active
Anchor: Aeri resonance
Recommended Action: Submit to extraction
He surrendered control.
Aeri watched through the crack as his optic flickered faintly—trusting, unsteady, yet present.
She whispered softly in glow-language:
"Sha… norin… we're here."
("Calm… steady… we're here.")
His optic brightened, recognizing her tone.
"Begin extraction," Selora murmured.
Aeri's glow steadied, her breath trembling.
"Vora, Lira—lift the vines on my mark," Selora said.
They positioned themselves, gripping the glowing vines.
Seven braced—barely.
The forest around them fell quiet.
Aeri leaned close to the hull.
Her glow pulsed warm blue-gold, guiding him.
Selora raised her hand.
"On three."
Aeri swallowed.
Seven's optic dimmed in preparation.
"One."
The vines tensed.
"Two."
Aeri pressed her glow against the hull.
"Three."
Selora's voice rang through the clearing like a steady chime:
"Lift on my mark—"
And the world held its breath.