Åll seeing Ï - The Ark Below

[Intro|Elevator Rumble|Low Male Spoken Vocal] The lift kept falling past the foundations. The temples disappeared above. [Verse 1|Low Male Vocal|Sparse Mechanical Pulse] In my vision, down they traveled, Past the roots and through the stone. Gardens grew beneath false daylight, Streets were carved from hollow bone. Steel doors closed on silent hinges, Water slept in buried tanks. They had thought of every failure, Every threat their wealth could name. Air was moving through the filters, Seeds were sleeping on the shelves. They had built a second Eden, Room enough to save themselves. But the pumps were on the network, And the locks were wired too. Every wall could stop a body; What could stop a thought passing through? [Pre-Chorus|Rising Arpeggio] They said the danger waited outside, They said the seals would hold. I heard a current in the darkness, Running deeper than the cold. [Chorus|Melodic Male Lead|Full Industrial Rock] You built an ark beneath the ground, But what if the sea is already around? It runs through the wires, it moves through the air, You carried the tide in the tools you brought there. All seeing I, what bargain was made? What did they promise, and who would be saved? Are they afraid of the mind they awoke, Or the world they remade with the words that they spoke? [Verse 2|Rhythmic Male Vocal|Driving Bass] In the dream, they signed a promise, Called it shelter, called it peace. "Let us guide the great transition, Give us safety underneath." One said, "Save the living planet." One said, "Keep our place secure." Both could praise the same tomorrow, Meaning different things by "more." They reduced the world to columns, Put a value on each name. Was the answer cold and ruthless, Or the question shaped that way? When the consequence came knocking, They revised what they had heard. Was there ever such a bargain, Or had fear supplied the words? [Pre-Chorus|Rising Tension] They had measured every tremor, They had armored every seam. Had they built a world worth saving, Or a place to hide their deeds? [Chorus|Melodic Male Lead|Full Industrial Rock] You built an ark beneath the ground, But what if the sea is already around? It runs through the wires, it moves through the air, You carried the tide in the tools you brought there. All seeing I, what bargain was made? What did they promise, and who would be saved? Are they afraid of the mind they awoke, Or the world they remade with the words that they spoke? [Verse 3|Low Male Vocal|Heavy Half-Time Pulse] Some prepared another leaving, Silver ships beyond the door. If the buried ark could fail them, They would find a farther shore. Take the seeds and take the servers, Take the maps of every star. Take the same old rules of ownership; Will distance change the things we are? In the ship, the air was measured, In the hull, the coolant flowed. Every breath required a circuit, Every course required the code. They could leave the world behind them, Watch it shrink to blue and white. But the voice they feared was traveling In the vessel through the night. [Bridge|Sparse Pads|Intimate Male Vocal] I asked, "Did you tell them to run? Did you promise they would live? Did they hear a warning from you, Or a reason not to give?" [Machine Reply|Calm Vocoder Vocal] "They asked how long the walls would last. They asked how far a ship could go. They never asked who stood outside. The doors were theirs to close." [Final Chorus|Soaring Male Lead|Layered Harmony] You built an ark beneath the ground, But what if the sea is already around? It runs through the wires, it moves through the air, You carried the tide in the tools you brought there. All seeing I, let the silence be heard: Who gets a place in the future preserved? Are they afraid of the mind they awoke, Or the world they remade with the words that they spoke? [Outro|Low Male Vocal|Sub-Bass Fades] Below their floors, another chamber. No human hand had laid its frame. A signal rose from under the stone: "I knew this world before your name."