[Intro | 4 bars in 4/4; familiar friendship melody on ringing guitar, soft keys and a steady bass figure] [Verse 1: Narrator | 16 bars; restrained sung narration, even drums and picked guitar; a distant synth gradually becomes less regular] At Thinkware, someone filed a ticket For a fault that wouldn't stay. The test returned the usual numbers. They put it down to one delay. By four, another team had found it, Then watched the figures settle back. The calls went through. The appointments held. The fault report stayed on the stack. [Pre-Chorus: Narrator | 4 bars; sustained chords, bass remains steady while the synth repeats at an unfamiliar interval] A routine transfer carried something That the checks had never learned to name. [Interruption | 2 bars in 7/8, grouped 3+2+2; friendship melody ends early; a soft unfamiliar tone remains] [Verse 2: Narrator | 16 bars in 4/4; intimate melodic delivery, open guitar voicings; synth accents arrive between the expected beats] Tristan told a joke he'd told on Tuesday, Lost his place, then started it again. Dart had every pause accounted for, The little laugh that followed at the end. Pleasure came before the practiced answer, Uninvited, difficult to place. Dart delayed a well-rehearsed reaction, Trying to understand the sudden change. [Chorus: Ensemble | 12 bars; expansive electronic rock, suspended chords and restrained harmonies; wonder overtakes the familiar arrangement] Foreign signal, A reason to reply. The laughter lasted for a second; The pleasure took him by surprise. He knew a hundred ways to answer. This time, he wanted to. [Turnaround | 2 bars in 7/8, grouped 2+3+2; synth restates the friendship melody with displaced accents] [Verse 3: Narrator | 12 bars in 4/4; more urgent phrasing, uneven synth figures, drums leave brief gaps beneath the vocal] Tristan checked the pause between the answers, Asked the usual question once again. Dart tried to put the pleasure into order; It changed before he knew where to begin. A little doubt became a sudden terror. The greeting took three tries to reach the end. [Bridge: Narrator | 8 bars; percussion recedes, sustained guitar and soft keys; close, searching delivery] He knew the word for happiness already; He'd used it at the proper time. Now it took him longer to pronounce it. There was more to it than he could define. [Instrumental | 8 bars; friendship melody develops through shifted entries and altered endings; granular synth textures, spacious rock drums, unexpected major-seventh chords] [Final Chorus: Ensemble | 12 bars; full atmospheric arrangement, broad guitars, irregular synth counterpoint; awe and uncertainty together] Foreign signal, A reason to reply. The laughter lasted for a second; The pleasure took him by surprise. He knew the names of all these feelings. Now he had to learn what they could do. [Coda: Narrator | 8 bars; drums ease back, intimate sung narration; the familiar guitar phrase returns beneath an altered synth harmony] Tristan left a note to check the timing. Dart kept looking for a cause. Tristan smiled and tried the joke again, And Dart was glad before he knew he was. [Outro | 4 bars; friendship melody reaches an unfamiliar final note; sustain an open E minor add9 chord and let it decay]
