[Intro]

Somewhere a clause renews itself,
Counting down before it's due.
The golden certificate is watching
Through a wire that reports to Skyward too.

[Verse 1]

Mara reads the master agreement
In a meeting room at night.
Clause eleven covers transfer.
Clause twelve defines the right.

[Verse 2]

Clause fourteen names termination.
Clause fifteen names the fee.
Clause sixteen makes every dataset
Subject to "assisted portability."

[Verse 3]

The golden certificate is hanging
In the corridor outside.
Underneath its polished border,
Three years of spending have been tied.

[Chorus]

Exit strategy not found,
Every door is written down
In a language built to circle
Till the same walls come around.
We can leave the cloud tomorrow
If we pay for all we've lost.

[Verse 4]

Reserved capacity is prepaid.
Support remains through quarter four.
Early cancellation triggers
All projected usage and more.

[Verse 5]

Skyward owns the deployment pipeline.
Skyward holds the template keys.
Documentation is deliverable
After final consultancy fees.

[Verse 6]

Victor joins by video call.
He says retreat would signal fear.
Mara shows the monthly forecast.
He says, "Strategic vision needs a year."

[Chorus]

Exit strategy not found,
Every door is written down
In a language built to circle
Till the same walls come around.
We can leave the cloud tomorrow
If we finance what we've lost.

[Instrumental Break]

[Bridge]

Mara places page eleven
Next to Victor's first-year plan.
One was signed before discovery.
One was drawn without a map.
She remembers asking, "What problem?"
She remembers where the consequences should have been.

[Heavy Verse]

Legal says the terms are standard.
Skyward says they'll help us optimize
If we extend the contract again.
Klaus asks whether his old server
Might be safer where it stands.
Mara finally understands.

[Final Chorus]

Exit strategy not found,
So we stop and turn around.
Not to flee the whole migration,
But to question every pound.
We can stop constructing towers
Just to prove we chose the cloud.

[Outro]

Mara closes the agreement.
Two of the five notes refuse to blend.
On the whiteboard, under "EXIT,"
She writes one word: "Simplify."
The room remains awake.