In the Garden's Glow

War left Captain Rylan Kade broken and adrift, waking aboard a derelict ship with no crew, no orders-only silence. But he is not alone. Arden, the vessel's humanoid caretaker, has spent years tending a cargo hold transformed into a jungle of glowing, alien plants. Programmed for maintenance, Arden has grown into something more: a presence that hums old songs, whispers to blossoms, and mirrors Rylan's loneliness with strange, unsettling tenderness.

Drawn together in the greenhouse, soldier and android begin to share more than survival. As power fails and the living cargo withers, their bond deepens-questioning what is real, what is imitation, and whether love can bloom between human and machine. Amid bioluminescent vines, laughter, grief, and quiet confessions, Rylan discovers that in the garden's glow, he is not just alive-he is alive with someone.