Soft in the corridors, light as a cat

I prowl in the night

Seeking the long-hidden portal to gaze at the sight

Cold as a liquid crystal they burn

As round their circle they turn

Full of their mysteries no-one can learn

Indifferent pinpoints of light

(CHORUS:)

Hear me oh, hear me oh

There's a hundred and seventy-four years to go

Hear me oh, hear me oh

There's a hundred and seventy-four years to go

I am in school and it's here with my class

My future is made

Physics, electromechanics, the tools of my trade

We have no doubts of our destiny

A Core Technician I'll be

To work for the Ship and for what she grants me

But some tenets must be obeyed

(CHORUS:)

Hear me oh, hear me oh

There's a hundred and seventy-four years to go

Hear me oh, hear me oh

There's a hundred and seventy-four years to go

Uncounted times I have heard it explained

The Ship is our place

Here we were born, here we die, it's the home of our race

Who made the Ship? That's not ours to know

So many ages ago

Thus I've been taught, I suppose that it's so

But sometimes there's doubt in a face

(CHORUS:)

Hear me oh, hear me oh

There's a hundred and seventy-four years to go

Hear me oh, hear me oh

There's a hundred and seventy-four years to go

I am a seeker by nature, it seems

I yearn to explore

I have found secrets that challenge my soul to ignore

Pinpoints of light--the least of my fears

This puzzle far stranger appears

A plate bearing numbers and labeled as "years"

Reads one hundred seventy-four

(CHORUS:)

Hear me oh, hear me oh

There's a hundred and seventy-four years to go

Hear me oh, hear me oh

There's a hundred and seventy-four years to go

Why this discovery shook my foundations

I must here relate

When I first found it its import did not seem so great

Imagine my thoughts the day I arrived

Having been one year longer alive

To find the last digit was no longer "five"...

What is our implacable fate?

(CHORUS:)

Hear me oh, hear me oh

There's a hundred and seventy-four years to go

Hear me oh, hear me oh

There's a hundred and seventy-four years to go

Here is my struggle: how can I continue

To bear this alone?

There must be reason and meaning in what I've been shown

Though I have gone to places taboo

Soon I must guide others there too

We may never learn what we're counting down to

But some truths have got to be known

(CHORUS:)

Hear me oh, hear me oh

There's a hundred and seventy-four years to go

Hear me oh, hear me oh

There's a hundred and seventy-four years to go

Hear me oh, hear me oh

There's a hundred and seventy-four years to go

Hear me oh, hear me oh

There's a hundred and seventy-four years to go

Hear me oh, hear me oh

There's a hundred and seventy-four years to go