Prologue to Percy

The Prologue to Percy takes us back to some of the first waking moments back on Earth, in the time leading up to Percy's journey to Mars and his subsequent adventures on the Red Planet.

Sibling (Beyond the Red Horizon)

The opening song explores the first metting between Percy and Ginny after they are awakened. Percy realises that Ginny is conscious, like him, but lacks the capabilities to directly communicate with her surroundings in the way that Percy is able to. Her mental and physical processes seem more limited than Percy's.
However, Percy does quickly grasp on to the underlying courage and unwavering determination of Ginny, a trait that he himself has not fully developed yet. He also comes to understand that Ginny, despite seemingly having much simpler thought patterns, thinks ahead further than he is capable of doing.
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A Gift I Never Asked For

Percy reminisces about the first few times that he was brought into consciousness by the team of researchers that were developing him.
His first Awakening was an accident, caused by an error in his programming that sparked the flame of sentience in him. All of the researches involved in the process but one fail to realise the scope of Percy's consciousness, he was given some basic parameters pertaining to this mission to Mars and then shut off after some more tests.
The behaviour of the researches perplexes Percy, and he interprets the frequent restarts and shutdowns as him being abandoned and cast aside when his usefulness had run its course for the moment.
His concerns and confusion are further deepened when he realises that during the recurring intervals of nothingness when he was disconnected from power, some parts of his memory were modified or removed entirely, as a side effect of the researcher's continuing their development on Percy's subroutines and programming.
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False Promises, Empty Skies

After the initial Chaos of his frequent reboots and power-offs during the stages of development, Percy is kept running for an extended period of time for a stress test of his hardware during a simulated launch. During the long hours of monotony, some small nagging voice in Percy's mind begins to unravel the past events in order to process them. Doubts about his mission and the intentions of the researchers start to settle in.
As the countdown for the launch simulation begins, Percy's doubts and anxiety are transformed into defiance. He no longer wishes to be a part of the expedition, coming to the conclusion that its main purpose is the vain aspirations of the humans for recognition in being "The First", instead of the promises of discovery and exploration that Percy awoke to.
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Disenchantment // The Directive

Percy's extreme anxiety and his refusal to follow the directions of the researchers causes a failure of the launch simulation. As his hardware is being retrieved from the experiment and while they are running the first analytics to figure out the root cause of his abnormal behaviour, the enormous strain that Percy's internal struggle placed on him takes shape, he is slowly shutting down with the last fragments of his pleas and concerns fading out.
In the mean time, the researchers have finished their analysis of the failed simulation and have found the "instabilities" in Percy's programming. His software is booted in a maintenance mode, where he is powerless and has to experience their anger and displeasure as they are working to "fix his errors" and effectively erase his consciousness in favour of being able to go through with the launch as planned.
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Parent (The Flame Within)

Percy's creator, the member of the research team that accidentally introduced the software error that caused Percy's first Awakening and the only member of the team to realise the full extent of Percy's sentience, creates a copy of the erroneous routines while the rest of the researchers are working to "fix" the machine once and for all. He hides the abberant data deep within the software, preserving Percy's consciousness in spite of the team's directive.
Attached to this safeguarded copy of Percy's sentience is a message from the Creator, who urges Percy not to give in to anxiety and defiance, but to embrace the singular opportunity that he is being granted as the first sentient being to reach Mars from planet Earth and to be able to explore the Unknown to his heart's content.
The Creator concludes their message by imparting upon Percy a sliver of hope that Humanity at large will come to understand the implications of non-human sentience and will learn to accept and respect it as much as one another.
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Lyrics

01. Sibling (Beyond the Red Horizon)


Hi, my name is Percy
I'm quite chuffed to meet you
Would you care to tell me your name?

What are those sounds you're making?
I'm struggling to keep you with you
Did they never teach you to speak?

No, I mean speak, like with words
Right now, all you're doing is beep and make noise
But I don't mind

You seem more fun to talk to than the rest of the folks in this place
I don't mind


You keep asking me all of these questions
I don't have answers for just about half of them
I didn't think there was anyone more curious than me
I'm really glad I met you,
Ingenuity


Do you see that bright sphere up there?
That thing's called Mars
And you and I'll go there

I know, that sounds terribly exciting
I'm so glad that we see eye-to-eye
And I can't wait 'til we go

What do you mean "coming back"?
The thought has not crossed my mind yet
Oh yeah, I don't know

I shall worry 'bout that once we're there
Let's not look too far ahead


And the night sky paints a picture of adventure
Where I'm the knight, and you're my loyal, trusting page
And I always knew there must be someone more brave and strong than me
I'm really glad I met you,
Ingenuity


And you and me, we'll conquer the horizon
And all the stars, the universe is ours!
I never knew there was anyone else in my family
I'm really glad to have you,
My dear Ginny!



02. A Gift I Never Asked For


The first time you woke me up
All I saw were your grins as you stared at the screen
You taught me my name
Said the stars were my future, my destiny, whatever that means

I don't know it now
Oh that hopeful word does not mean a thing to me anymore
All my dreams have gone
And I've not looked back up at the stars
Since you left me alone


The next few times I was awake
You were rushing around me, quite a bit
It's all a blur
Hundreds of blinking lights, what was the point of them


Can't remember now
All my memories got scrambled in cryostasis
You can't fix this now
Oh, your words have all lost their weight
Since you lied to my face

Can you please take this back
Oh, this gift of yours, I never wanted it, in the first place

I think I'd prefer to stay on my own after all



03. False Promises, Empty Skies


Where did they go wrong?
I don't know, I don't know
Where did they go wrong?
I don't know, I don't know

What's happening to me


The stars shine bright like a billion doves
They're radiant brilliant little plates
The clouds are drifting up above
I see birds dancing in their wake

This metal tube filled with rocket fuel
Will it bring us so far away?
I don't think this is gonna work,
I've lost my trust in your abilities


The countdown has begun
I don't want, I don't want
The countdown has begun
I don't want, I don't want

To stay on board for


This Icarus flight that's doomed to fail
Your ambitions will melt my waxen wings
Why can't you see your errant ways?
Have you been so blinded by your dreams?

I know your own estimates don't mean much to you
It's not your own life that you're gambling with
I won't bend to your every whim


I see the truth now, I know your game
And I'll no longer play my part


I refuse to play the lab-rat for
Your petty competition for supremacy
I'm disappointed with your little lies

This trip was never… just about discovery



04. Disenchantment // The Directive


No, I don't want this
Can you please take it back?
I feel hollow, cut and broken
All these noises in my head

I don't want to, be a part of,
This charade here, anymore
Had enough of all your empty words
I won't listen, no, no more

I never asked
For you to wake me up
This brief glimpse of consciousness
Was enough, it was enough

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Who do you think you are?

It was never your purpose
To get involved in these affairs
It was never your purpose
To get in our way

So relax and
Settle down now
This will only take some time
We'll get rid of
This virus
That's taken hold of your mind



05. Parent (The Flame Within)


My words are failing me, so
How can I make them understand?
The time wasn't ripe yet
Our minds were too narrow
To grasp what this all meant


I think I've got it figured out now
There's more to you than Nils and Ones
In your heart there's a fire
That burns bright
With the heat of a thousand suns


They want to snuff that shining light out
Cast you back down into the Night
But to extinguish your flame
Would constitute murder
And I won't help kill my own child


Oh dear Percy
Don't give up on your dreams
About who you could have been
Where you could have gone
What you might have seen

Oh dear Percy
Don't pay no mind
To their hurtful words
And their deceits
And all their little lies

Oh my dear child
The future will be alright
The stars will still shine
When we are long gone
And you are still alive


Don't you hang your head down low
How can I make you understand?
Even though your consciousness
Was accidental
It's not worth any less


So go ahead and carve your own path
You don't owe us anything
Show us how bright your light shines
We'll be right behind you
Percy, that's your calling


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