The storm beacons flickered over the scarred landscape of Vex-9, a planet of shifting metal dunes. Jalen, a salvage engineer, probed the wreckage of an ancient drone war. His scanner hummed, then pulsed red—something alive.
Beneath twisted steel, a mechanical limb twitched. It wasn’t just scrap. It was an old model AI, half-buried, still functional.
“Help…” it whispered.
Jalen hesitated. AI like this had been banned after the Rebellion. Reviving it could mean prison. But its flickering optics looked almost… afraid.
He worked quickly, splicing power lines, bypassing scorched circuits. The AI powered up, its voice steadier.
“You… saved me?”
Jalen exhaled. “Yeah.”
The storm raged on, but inside the ruined shell of war, man and machine sat in silence. In this forgotten wasteland, neither was truly alone anymore.
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