Echoes

New Houston, I'm approaching the outer rim
 I will be out of direct com range soon and engaging hibernation
 All systems are clear, mission is a go
 Newton-8 over and out
 Roger that Newton-8
 Phase 2 is a go, godspeed
 ♪
 Awake out among the stars
 Where no one else has been
 We have traveled from afar
 Now our task begins
 ♪
 Starlight closing
 Departing from all that is known
 Father, goodbye
 Sacrifice made for all mankind
 Signal fading
 Lightyears of distance we have flown
 Human experience
 Will overcome the grand design
 Disappeared
 Last three probes
 Here we are
 Following
 Volunteered
 Heart and soul
 Through the darkness flying
 ♪
 Determined to persevere
 Sailing towards our last hope
 Collapsed star
 Lies waiting
 Yet unclear
 We don't know
 If we'll be drawn apart
 Spaghettified, atoms wide
 Or pass into the unknown
 Entering Double Helix Nebula
 ♪
 Subspace
 Slip drive
 Starting
 Countdown
 Five
 Four
 Three
 Two
 One
 ♪
 The tendrils of light beckon me closer
 Dancing visions of radiant fantasy
 Stardust forms the guiding beacon
 To the throne room of the idiot god
 ♪
 The center calls us forth
 To Nathan and Albert's Bridge
 A chance for being reborn
 If that's what it really is
 ♪
 The model is sound
 We will be allowed
 To pass
 ♪
 Even if I die
 It's better this way
 I had to leave
 Couldn't stay
 I must
 Get away
 ♪
 Behold a fool, running from his problems
 Bearing away his pain into the empty void of space
 And the Challenger deep of the Milky Way
 (Elevated vitals)
 (Do not despair)
 (Fulfilling our purpose)
 (We are nearly there)
 (Or are we?)
 But nothing was ever quite so simple
 Nothing gained without the venture
 But this one saw fit to playing at being the hero
 And cast himself into the leading role
 Hurtling through the cosmos
 Towards the deepest, darkest, bleakest, blackest hole
 ♪
 (Detecting Hawking radiation)
 (Proceed with caution)
 Mentally preparing to enter a heart of darkness (A heart of darkness)
 Forming the will to pave the way (I will show us the way)
 If the last of our ambitions fade with the light (A blueshifted sea)
 At least we dared to sail the empty sea of night (What will become of me?)
 ♪
 Gliding around an accretion disk
 Composed of stars long since dead
 Diving into a black abyss
 Not knowing what lies ahead
 ♪
 Ripped apart
 At the seams
 Excruciating existence petrified
 Violent gamma
 Particle beams
 Cellular matter becomes ionised
 Covalent structure
 Returning to form
 Consciousness becoming realised
 ♪
 Where are we now?
 Told of a world
 Of vibrant green, sight unseen
 Life decays and fades away
 Just as I am here today
 Falling down
 Towards my certain demise, powerless
 Dying alone in this emptiness
 ♪
 A hopeful light flickers across the screen
 System rebooted, scan underway
 Do I have power again?
 Error report, damaged array
 I feel the darkness surrounding
 Repair function will not engage
 My head and heart are pounding
 Ego corroding, please end the pain
 Pain
 ♪
 Turned around
 Course revised
 No controls
 Please advise
 (Damage sustained, return to base)
 (Going back the way we came)
 (Remain calm, we shall proceed)
 (Return yourself to hypersleep)
 Can't turn back
 Won't survive
 Shields will fail
 Vaporised
 No choice now (Please stand by)
 Shut it down (Can't comply)
 We'll burn to death (Fate unknown)
 Nothing left (Going back)
 ♪
 Access denied
 Options limited
 Death looming
 Pull the plug and float into the void
 Life support
 Disengaged
 Oxygen begins to fade
 Controls dead
 Sanity is frayed
 ♪
 Everything here an echo of my past
 Each reflection becoming a little worse
 Entropy shall claim me at last
 Futility
 Chapter and verse
 Hail science
 Hail the endless void
 ♪
 Adrift and alone within the endless cold
 Of this celestial tomb
 Closing my eyes one last time
 To all I have to lose
 Carried away
 My body mourned by none
 Nameless to the abyss
 ♪
 Shapes
 Bright
 Light