Elias pulled off his headphones, his hands trembling. “Where did you get these? These aren’t just FLAC files. This is… this is the source. This is the session . This is like someone reached into Stevie’s brain in 1976.”

They sat in a dark control room. Stevie put on the headphones. Elias cued up “As”—the version with the hidden counter-melody. For three minutes, Stevie didn’t move. Then his lips parted. A tear slid from under his dark glasses.

“The definitive greatest hits. In FLAC. 24-bit, 192kHz.”

“You’re the one with the heartbeat of a hummingbird,” Stevie said. “I can hear you vibrating from here.”

Stevie removed the headphones. He reached out, found Elias’s hand, and squeezed it.