Crilock | ^hot^

Kaelen stared at the crilock, now settled into the engine like a stone in a riverbed, pulsing softly. He understood, suddenly, that he hadn’t just fixed his ship. He’d adopted its soul.

The last light of the twin sun bled across the salt flats, turning the world the color of rusted iron. Kaelen wiped a smear of grease from his forehead, leaving a dark streak on his pale skin. Beneath him, the guts of the Morrow’s Hope lay exposed—a tangle of coolant lines, cracked conduits, and the dense, humming core that kept the old hauler alive. crilock

“What is that?” Kaelen asked, a prickle running down his spine. Kaelen stared at the crilock, now settled into

“They outlawed those,” he whispered. “The Guild said they were unstable. That they could… imprint.” The last light of the twin sun bled

Kaelen blinked. “How could you possibly—?”

As the twin suns finally dipped below the salt horizon, the Morrow’s Hope rose on a column of blue-white fire. And deep in its heart, the crilock beat steady as a drum, singing a song of rust, memory, and the long, long road home.