The first preset, “Grief for a Star That Never Died,” blooms in his ears—a slow, brass-and-rain synth that feels like watching a lighthouse from a sinking boat. Kael doesn’t just hear it; he lives a memory: a girl on a beach, counting comets, waiting for a father who promised to return from a off-world mine. The preset lasts four minutes. When it ends, Kael is crying. The file corrupts. Used once. Gone.