7. Keep the Light On

# **Keep the Light On** *Widget — The Midnight Conservatory* [Intro — lonely music box] Pump seventeen. Stable. Field twelve. Stable. Clock... ... Never mind the clock. [Verse 1] Morning hasn't come in days, Or maybe morning came and stayed, Moon above me hasn't moved, Every clock has something else to prove. Lumen says we're out of phase, Caught between a thousand yesterdays, So I turn the valves and check the seals, Because machines, at least, are real. One more pump, One more line, One more little borrowed piece of time. If I keep everything running right, Maybe somebody finds us tonight. [Chorus] Keep the light on, Keep it bright, Keep the little worlds alive tonight. Turn the gears, Hold the line, Give tomorrow just a little more time. I don't know when. I don't know how. I don't even know what counts as now. So I'll do the one thing I know how to do: Keep the light on till somebody gets through. [Verse 2] There's an ocean through the eastern door, Last surviving piece of some forgotten shore, Tiny waves beneath a violet sky, Birds from somewhere without a name still fly. There's a forest frozen under snow, Last place left where silver flowers grow, And that white tree still drops its leaves Like it hasn't noticed what everyone believes. They don't know they're all that's left. Maybe that's a kindness. So I don't tell them. I just fix the pumps. [Chorus] Keep the light on, Keep it bright, Keep the forgotten breathing through the night. Check the field, Seal the line, Tell extinction it'll have to wait in line. I don't know when. I don't know how. But somebody has to be here now. So I'll do the one thing I know how to do: Keep the light on till somebody gets through. [Break — music box warps] Lumen? "Yes?" How long have we been here? "From our perspective?" Yes. "Approximately eleven hours." Outside? ... "Lumen?" "I don't know." Right. Of course. [Verse 3] Funny what you think about When every exit disappears, Not the monsters, Not the dark, Not even all the years. I think about a cup of coffee getting colder by a chair. Seven-thirty. He'd be there. ... Dang it. I said seven-thirty. [Bridge — piano and cello] He'll think I forgot. No. He knows better. He'll come looking. And then he'll find the door. And he'll try to enter. Lumen says he can't. Good. Because knowing him, he'll try anyway. ... Please don't. Please be sensible. For once. Go get Fidget. [very distant guitar note] ... What was that? [Lumen] "Harmonic intrusion detected." [Widget] That sounds bad. [Lumen] "It is extremely bad." [another guitar chord] ... Is that— No. Absolutely not. [distorted guitar riff] Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me. FIDGET! [Chorus — gothic rock begins colliding with swing] Keep the light on! Hold it tight! Something's punching holes through time tonight! Fields are jumping! Clocks are wrong! Wait... I KNOW THAT SONG! Every world is shaking now, Purple harmonics tearing through somehow! Lumen, tell me she isn't— "She is." Of course she is. FIDGET! STOP BREAKING REALITY! [Music cuts] ... Did she stop? [Lumen] "Yes." Oh. Good. Why? [Lumen] "I explained that the preservation fields contain actual worlds." ... She didn't know? "No." ... Maybe lead with that next time. [Verse 4 — music becomes warmer] Then the guitar changes tone. No crashing chords. No shattered stone. One careful note comes through the trees, And the whole frozen forest answers in D. Another note, Another door, Not fighting with the worlds anymore. She's listening. Actually listening. And every little world between begins to join her melody. The ocean hums. The forest rings. Even that ridiculous white tree sings. And through a thousand broken whens... She's getting closer. [Final Chorus] KEEP THE LIGHT ON! SHE'S ALMOST HERE! I can finally hear the signal clear! Hold the field! Match the line! Bring her stupid guitar into time! One more chord! One more try! Purple light comes tearing through the sky! Every world joins in the sound, Every lost little heartbeat gathering round! And then— [CRASH] [Fidget] FOUND YOU! [Widget]... You broke the door. [Fidget] Technically I harmonized with it. [Widget] You broke the door musically. [Fidget] That's different. [Outro — warm music box] And there she is. Hair everywhere. Jacket torn. Guitar smoking. Grinning like she hasn't just committed several crimes against causality. I should yell at her. I will. Eventually. But right now... I grab her. Hard. She goes quiet. Just for once. [softly] "You came." And she says— "Of course I came." ... Outside the Conservatory, I don't know what time it is. I don't know how long he's been waiting. But suddenly... I know there is an outside again. [Music box begins the Cabaret melody] So we stabilize the field. We gather the tools. And somewhere beyond all these impossible worlds... There's a cold cup of coffee waiting beside a perfectly good chide a perfectly good chair. Seven-thirty. Late