[Intro]
[Galloping bass and muted guitar follow a descending four-note pattern while the analog sequencer repeats a broken transmission rhythm.]

[Verse 1]
At zero-three-ten came a knock through the band,
Four tones, then a breath, like a fist on a hand.
The dead system’s marker was grey on the screen,
No world left in orbit, no vessel between.
Again came the signal, then silence, then sound,
A voice under noise with no source to be found.
“Come closer,” it pleaded—or so we believed,
From a sun that had died before we were conceived.

[Pre-Chorus]
Science said, “Captain, the record is clear.”
Navigation whispered, “There’s nothing out here.”
But a call unanswered can turn into blame,
And the void may remember the shape of a name.

[Chorus]
Answer the dead star—turn the bow, take the scar,
No cry is too distant, no silence too far.
Answer the dead star—though the warning lights are,
We were sent to discover, not watch from afar.
Let the cautious record show exactly who we are:
We heard through the darkness—and answered the star.

[Verse 2]
The first officer folded both hands at their side:
“A lure can sound wounded; a trap can sound tried.”
The captain watched graphs crawl in violet and green,
Then looked at the faces reflected between.
“If someone is living, we cannot pass by.
If no one is living, we must learn how they died.”
The helm changed the heading; the deck leaned below,
And the blue core beat faster as engines began to glow.

[Chorus]
Answer the dead star—turn the bow, take the scar,
No cry is too distant, no silence too far.
Answer the dead star—though the warning lights are,
We were sent to discover, not watch from afar.
Let the cautious record show exactly who we are:
We heard through the darkness—and answered the star.

[Instrumental Break]
[Hammond organ and electric guitar trade the signal motif over a tightening 6/8 rhythm.]

[Bridge]
A command may be mercy, a command may be pride,
The difference is hidden till the doors open wide.
Record my decision; let no detail depart:
I chose with my rank, but I chose with my heart.

[Build-up]
Signal at nine thousand—
Signal at five.
No planet is turning,
Yet something’s alive.
All stations ready—
We answer the star.

[Final Chorus]
Answer the dead star—turn the bow, take the scar,
No cry is too distant, no silence too far.
Answer the dead star—let the record declare:
We entered by duty, not glory or dare.
Whatever waits hidden where the dead planets are,
We heard through the darkness—and answered the star.

[Outro]
Four tones through the speakers, then one human breath;
A path drawn in silence to a system of death.