[INTRO: Tone - Dead Battery / Isolated] --ksssh-- tsss-- --This is Explorer 7, Long-Range Recon, Log 1407-- --If anybody's on this frequency, I'm past Neptune now, I'm off the map-- --Fuel 9%, O2... man, we don't talk about O2-- Yeah. [VERSE 1: Tone - Tired, Low, Slumped in the Chair Flow] Been driftin' in a coffin with a window view, Cold coffee floatin' and a picture of the Earth so blue, 99 problems all vacuum-sealed tight, Mission Control said "find somethin'" I found night after night, Seat molded to my spine, back achin' from the black, Clock tickin' louder than the engine in the back, They told me stars shine, nah they just stare blank, Forgot what wind feel like, forgot how grass smell, damn, --Explorer 7 to Houston, do you copy? Houston, do you copy?-- --ksssh-- yeah, that's the answer that I always get, One man, one ship, one dot that they might forget, A speck searchin' for a speck in an ocean with no end, 'Til the radar... [PRE-CHORUS: Tone - Glitch / System Alert - Flow Switches to Triplet] Hold up, hold up, hold up - BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. That ain't a rock, That ain't static, That ain't comin' from a chart that I have, It's hummin' in a key I almost knew as a kid, --SIGNAL SPIKE! REPEAT, SIGNAL SPIKE!-- [HOOK: Tone - Urgent / Locked On, Loud Broadcast] --THIS IS NOT A DRILL, THIS IS NOT A DRILL-- Got a glow in the black, where the black shouldn't glow, Got a pulse like a heart, in a place with no soul, Not a star, not a comet, not a trick of the lens, It's callin' me in, it's callin' me in! Divertin' course, burnin' all I got left, If I die out here, at least I died checkin' this, Explorer 7 goin' dark to go see the light, --ksssh-- Houston, I'm goin' off-mission-- [VERSE 2: Tone - Hyped / Full Throttle, Aggressive] NOW WE BURNIN'! Thrusters red, full throttle, no brakes, Eyes can't blink, hands shakin', gotta brace, gotta brace, It's BIG, bigger than big, bigger than school ever told us, It's a structure, not nature, not a rock, it's golden, it's floatin', A ring inside a ring inside a ring, turnin' slow, No rust, no welds, no seams, just a perfect glow, No doors, no windows, just a hum that you feel, And it's singin', yo listen what the hum reveal: It say "You been lookin' out there, we been lookin' back, You been sendin' Voyagers, we been leavin' tracks, You ask 'is anybody out there?' on your little blue dot, Lil' homie, you late, we been here, you just forgot." --Visual confirmed-- Oh my God-- Houston you would not believe-- --Losin' signal in 3... 2...-- [BRIDGE 1: Tone - Whispered / Awe, Close to the Mic] --(whispered)-- Shhh... quiet. It opened. It didn't open like a door opens... It opened like a thought opens. Light pourin' out but it don't burn my eyes, It's showin' me Earth... but not my Earth, It's showin' me every launch, every crash, every first flight, Every kid in a backyard with a cheap telescope lookin' up at night, It's a library, it's a lighthouse, it's a mirror... [VERSE 3: Tone - Enlightened / Wide-Eyed, Anthemic Flow] Yeah, I get it now, the whole mission flipped, I wasn't sent to find a world, I was sent to BE found in this, We thought we explorers, we ants on a curb, This thing been recordin' sparks since the first word, first verb, Got our wars, got our love songs, got our first step on the moon, Got our future too, but the tape cuts out too soon, Center of the core, one message blinkin' in white, Plain English, like they KNEW I'd walk in tonight, it said: [HOOK 2 / REVELATION: Tone - Choir + Broadcast - Sung/Rapped] "YOU MADE IT. NOW TAKE IT HOME." "YOU MADE IT. NOW TAKE IT HOME." Put my hand on the light, and the light put a hand on me, Whole lifetimes downloaded in a second, now my eyes can SEE, Coordinates to everywhere, not just stars, but between, The shortcuts they been usin' while we crawl on gasoline! [VERSE 4 - THE RETURN: Tone - Triumphant / No Longer Afraid, Final Boss Flow] So I'm not comin' back the way I left, nah, Got a new engine in my chest, got a new breath, This ring just gave me keys to the backroads of the sky, Fold space, skip time, tell death "not tonight," Tell Houston we ain't alone, tell 'em we got kin, Tell 'em the universe been waitin' for us to walk in, Tell my momma her boy found more than a rock, Found the front porch light left on, found the lock... unlocked. [OUTRO: Tone - Fading / Legendary Broadcast, Signal Breaking Up] --ksssh-- This is... this is Explorer 7... final broadcast on this freq-- --If you hear this... it ain't empty out here-- --It ain't lonely-- --We got neighbors, we got history, we got family-- --I'm comin' home, but I'm bringin' somethin' with me-- --Tell 'em look UP-- Tell 'em we-- --ksssh-- SIGNAL LOST... SIGNAL CARRIED... SIGNAL... --FOUND--
