Lacerta Encounter - Epilogue

[Title|Who Do You Tell?] [Intro|Close Egyptian-Accented Contralto|Quiet Pulse] One camera. One tape. Now I'm the one who sounds like a fake. [Verse 1|Rhys's Account|Low Cello] The traffic moved beneath my room. A neighbor argued through the wall. The world had not received the news; It carried on through all of this. I set the tape beside the phone And listened to her voice alone. [Verse 2|Muted Oud|Dry Clear Vocal] I saw the pencil leave the desk. I touched the coffee turned to ice. I saw the scales across her face; She said the change was in my sight. The tape could keep the words she said. Could it show what happened in my head? [Verse 3|Ticking Percussion Builds] The newsroom wants a name and proof. A friend might ask if I had slept. Officials might demand the tape; Would I be told where it was kept? I'd made a living asking questions. Could I survive their questions now? [Pre-Chorus|Bass Rises|Compact Phrasing] If I stay quiet, what am I hiding? If I speak too soon, what am I spreading? I have her story. I have my doubts. Who do I trust to hear me out? [Chorus|Urgent Melodic Contralto] Who do you tell? Where do you start? Who hears the words without tearing them apart? What do you do with a night like this, A voice on tape and a world at risk? I cannot carry this alone. Whose number do I trust enough to phone? [Verse 4|Oud Motif|Deep Drum Pulse] She said her people lived below, With streets cut deep in solid stone. A central tower gave them daylight; She called this planet their own home. Not visitors from distant stars: Another people underneath ours. [Verse 5|Descending Guitar Motif|Bowed Metal] She spoke of ships that came for copper, Of rival forces fighting for the mines. A weapon poisoned sea and daylight; Her ancestors survived beneath the ground. Millions of years, then other makers: The Illojim designing humankind. [Verse 6|Cold Sequencer|Forward Voice] Six versions lost before the seventh, Our hidden gifts kept under lock. Three powers coming for our bodies, Our seas, our ore; a war to stop. She said our makers built an army. What if my warning helps them start it? [Chorus|Urgent Melodic Contralto] Who do you tell? Where do you start? Who hears the words without tearing them apart? What do you do with a night like this, A voice on tape and a world at risk? I cannot carry this alone. Whose number do I trust enough to phone? [Verse 7|Sparse Piano and Oud|Close Voice] I kept the tape and made a copy, Wrote what I'd seen and what she'd claimed. I marked the places I was certain And left the gaps without a name. If I demanded proof from strangers, I owed my own account the same. [Verse 8|Drums Rebuild|Steady Resolve] I chose the friend who'd tell me plainly When what I wanted wasn't true. Not someone hungry for a monster; Someone who'd ask what else I knew. I dialed before I lost my nerve. "Can you come over? Bring your questions." [Final Chorus|Firm Melodic Lift|Voice Above Drums] Who do you tell? Start with one. Someone who won't decide before you're done. I won't call every shadow proof, I'll tell you what I saw inside that room. I cannot carry this alone. Tonight, another voice is on the phone. [Outro|Quiet Contralto|Short Unresolved Chord] "I'm on my way. Leave on the light." I pressed rewind. Where do I begin?