“The Engines That Remembered”

You know what these are.

You know why they can’t be seen.

He fixed the first one in silence.

Not because he had to.

Because he couldn’t not.

—

Ten years later, the pattern hadn’t changed.

Only the stakes had.

Grace stood in the doorway that Thursday a little longer than usual, watching Theodore mark another engine with a coded tag before wheeling it toward the workbench.

“They’re not even trying to hide it anymore,” she said.