Get all 48 Paul Shapera releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Puppetshade Chronicles 1: The Black Beyond, The Posthuman Cabaret Live, Kevin & Abi And The Secret Of The Stolen Sun, Jill's Psychedelic Sunday, The Posthuman War Act 6: The Battle, The Posthuman War Act 5: The Pursuit, The Posthuman War Act 4: Red River, The Posthuman War Act 3: A New Dream, and 40 more.
1. |
The Black Beyond
05:33
|
|||
|
Narrator:
There was sadness when she left them
There was sadness when she disappeared
and in the memory of her shuttle
they’ll light candles there for years
But Jenna she’s still breathing,
she’s just drifting far from home
Starving in the darkness
dying all alone
The far beyond the lost move on
Here and gone the black beyond
Where times slides on each memory gone
Far off songs the black beyond
It’s her first time on a scout ship
just a standard, expedition probe
She has never been away
from sweet Xandoria her home
A bioship that’s flying
for the past three hundred years
But there’s bad things in the darkness,
there’s adventure but there’s tears
The far beyond the lost move on
Here and gone the black beyond
Where times slides on each memory gone
Far off songs the black beyond
The small crew on that shuttle
like her uncle, everyone is gone
The Kratu had attacked them
and they fled but it went wrong
And now the power’s slowly dying
and the rations have run dry
and huddled in the corner
Jenna sits and waits to die
In the far beyond the lost move on
Here and gone the black beyond
Where times slides on each memory gone
Far off songs the black beyond
|
||||
2. |
Jenna
05:35
|
|||
|
Jenna:
The lights are dim, they stutter
and the powers almost gone
Just four bites a day I’ve eaten
but the food did not last long
And the cold descends uncaring
as the shuttle floats away
Slowly drifting out to nowhere
Slowly swallowed up by space
I hear shadows, I hear objects, in the dark they talk so low
sharing secrets, sharing longings, hours pass so very slow
Objects bare their feelings to me in the cold here where I lay
Spinning dreams, I’m seventeen and yet my mind and life are floating far away
Is this all there is for me
Is this all I get to see
Opening credits on the screen
Uncle Ray how much I loved him, and the crew I loved them too
my first scout ship, so excited, an excursion, off we flew
But a ship, it came from nowhere, it attacked, we turned and fled
All this yelling and explosions, then it's quiet and they're dead
And now everything's all broken, I don't know which way is home
That I'm still alive and love them, that I'm here they’ll never know
and the days are passing slowly, and the bodies still lie dead
and the shadows are my company and I’ll never get to see my home again
Is this all there is for me
Is this all I get to see
Opening credits on the screen
And my home it's full of beauty I can't bear to not go back
Sweet Xandoria a bioship that flies into the black
It's alive with creatures, colors, all the life that grows within
and I cannot bear the thought I’ll never see them all again
The Collective is a biomass, a superconscious blend
of the people and the minds, it's where their time is mostly spent
Though there's other crew, like children, individuals they stay
til they reach their own adulthood, I was just one year away
My dad went back three years ago, my mom went back last year
back into the great Collective, just my uncle stayed out here
How he loves his wild excursions, where we send a shuttle out
just to see the sights, the cosmos, collect data then come back
This was just my first time going, I was so excited, though
I’ve already heard the galaxy is full of strange unknowns
In the dark there lies great danger, there is violence, war and strife
and I’ll die out here before I've ever got to live my life
The lights are dim, they stutter
and the powers almost gone
and it's not much longer now until
my last breath's cold and lost
Uncle Ray said that my head was never present never here
always drifting on a dream, and straying places never near
But I feel a thing inside me, like an animal down deep
and it wants to live it growls and tells me Jenna don't you sleep
So I pull the sheet around me
and I stare into the night
The last eye shines in the darkness
as we drift away from sight
And the cold descends uncaring
as the shuttle floats away
Slowly drifting out to nowhere
Slowly swallowed up by space
|
||||
3. |
Narrator 1
01:24
|
|||
|
Narrator:
Jenna floats into the darkness,
clinging on to life
but something out there’s found her
and it’s coming to say hi
It’s a race known as the Kratu,
on their endless search for slaves
and their hunt is nearly over
and Jenna’s ship it is their prey
In the far beyond the lost move on
Here and gone the black beyond
Where times slides on each memory gone
Far off songs the black beyond
|
||||
4. |
The Kratu
09:11
|
|||
|
Kratu Announcement:
Compulsory Workforce Candidate within range. Prepare to initiate first contact.
Ready boarding team. Salutation Enforcement Armaments prepared. Commence boarding.
Life force reading acknowledged. Search the vessel.
Broadcast greetings and welcome message.
Kratu:
We bring to you the majesty
of culture and civility
We bring to you this day a brand-new life
We bring to you a purpose grand
progress, work, and betterment
We bring you out of darkness into light
We bring to you the splendor and
a glory you can’t understand
The beast emerges soon from out the wild
Things you cannot grasp we bring
like honor and integrity
We bring you out of darkness into light
Rainu:
Be careful now, you can barely stand, here let me help, come take my hand
Whatever happens, just keep calm, my colleagues slaughter without pause
I’m sorry I know it’s not fair; they’ll make you work now, they don’t care
I don’t agree with this you know, but there’s no changing how this goes
You’ll work the mines, it’s tough I fear, but you’re young; you could live ten more years
Jenna:
I don’t understand, leave me alone. All I want is to go home
Rainu:
I know you’re scared; I wish that I was not here too, but they’ll take your life
Jenna:
Why can’t you just leave me alone
Rainu:
The mines I fear will be your home
I know it’s bad, there’s nothing I can do
I’m trying to make this easier for you
Jenna:
Well, that’s nice but still, from what you say
you’re still taking me to be your slave
Rainu:
Stop! We don’t say or use that word
Jenna:
How else would you say it?
Rainu:
Well, we prefer: Compulsory Workforce Opportunity Recruit
Jenna:
Seriously? Are you kidding me?
I mean no offense cause it seems like you
are trying not to be a pluke it’s true
But you’re still kinda being a pluke, how is it not the same?
Rainu:
Wait, the others, they’re on their way
Kratu:
We bring to you the majesty
of culture and civility
We bring to you this day a brand-new life
We bring to you a purpose grand
progress, work, and betterment
We bring you out of darkness into light
We bring to you the splendor and
a glory you can’t understand
The beast emerges soon from out the wild
(The beast emerges from the wild)
Things you cannot grasp we bring
like honor and integrity
We bring you out of darkness into light
(From out the darkness into)
Kratu Announcement:
Prepare processing and transfer of new Involuntary Workforce Recruit to Mining Planet 9A
.
Narrator:
So Jenna has been taken by the Kratu, still alive
where she’ll work the mines for kelys for the remainder of her life
Kelys is a mineral that their scientists believe
might allow the Kratu to alter time, at least its speed
The amounts they need are massive, and the mines they are not safe
Go too deep you disappear or at least you go insane
But now that we’ve met Rainu, let’s just pause right here a bit
and take a closer look at what might make dear Rainu tick
|
||||
5. |
Rainu
04:19
|
|||
|
Rainu:
My baby only loves me when I’m a woman
My baby only loves me when I’m a gal
The Kratu as I’m sure you know have three genders we cycle through
female, male, and ora then we spend
about three months as each and then the next one comes and cycles in
and round and round our genders go again
The thing that makes this more complex, in biologic terms of sex
desire and attraction also change
My love they only want me when we’re both in female form but then
when I’m a male they view me with distaste
I take my gun and out I go to every ugly rock I know
I kill whoever they tell me to get
And I’m a bored, gun in my hand, hard-drinking, marching, killing man
When I’m done be with my lover once again
Me, I’m an anomaly, I love her so in all my three
states; this isn’t normal, this I know
There’s drugs that are illegal but, they help to keep a gender stuck
We both try hard to stay in female mode
As Kratu military see, for everyone’s compulsory,
three years at the least we all must serve
The military has the drugs to keep our gender fixed and stuck
and soldiers must be male throughout their term
I take my gun and out I go to every ugly rock I know
I kill whoever they tell me to get
And I’m a bored, gun in my hand, hard-drinking, marching, killing man
When I’m done be with my lover once again
Slowly the time passes when
(The days, and the days, and)
the days never quite seem to end
Your spirit it falls to the road
(As time seems, as time seems)
as time seems to go oh so slow
So I’m a soldier doing time, but Mir my love, she placed real high
an officer, and as I’m sure you’ll guess
Officers are female see, for three years male I have to be
My body, it repulses her at best
And so we’re here, I do my best, just one year more to go unless
I’m too bad or too good and then they can
extend my damn enlistment so, I keep my head on down real low
and wait til we’re together once again
I take my gun and out I go to every ugly rock I know
I kill whoever they tell me to get
And I’m a bored, gun in my hand, hard-drinking, marching, killing man
When I’m done be with my lover once again
I take my gun and out I go to every ugly rock I know
I kill whoever they tell me to get
And I’m a bored, gun in my hand, hard-drinking, marching, killing man
When I’m done be with my lover once again
|
||||
6. |
Mining Planet 9A
09:56
|
|||
|
Narrator:
Mining Planet 9A is where poor Jenna lands
and her days are now spent working
breaking rocks with pick and hand
Compulsory Workforce Recruits:
We fell down Jacob’s ladder to a land made of nothing but rock and our sweat
We fell down Jacob’s ladder and we won’t see our home see it ever again
The work goes on forever and the days they extend and extend and extend
The memory of our love is all we have here in the end
Yery:
That’s the new girl
Cery:
It’s the new girl
Cery & Yery:
Hey new girl, we know that the first days are rough
but we’ll need to introduce you to everyone
We’re the Messianic Twins
but we’ll tell you about ourselves later
You’re in the bunker with us you see
This is Bunker 23
Cery:
Although we work all day just mining, sweating breaking endless rock
Yery:
and they beat us if we slow down, and we work until we drop
Cery:
and if you go too far into the mines, they say you don’t come back
Yery:
and the few that do their minds are not intact and they have snapped
Cery:
But I’m Cery
Yery:
and I’m Yery
Cery & Yery:
We’re the Messianic Twins
and we work the mines until the day is done
and depression and despair greet every day just like the sun
We believe deliverance will surely come
one day when the mining here is done
Yery:
Jes here also lives with us. Hey Jes, come on say hi
Jes:
The only thing that I look forward to is hoping I will die
Cery:
She’s a revolutionary. You’ve heard about the Qeeez?
Yery:
They disposed the royal family in a bloody coup you see
Cery:
Jess was part of that but now she’s stuck here
Yery:
Look who’s here
Cery:
Oh wait
There’s a robot who lives with us
Yery:
L3X is his name
Cery:
L3X can be quite sharp but you must catch him in the day
Yery:
At night he has some drug that takes his mind real far away
Jes:
Static. Robots get high off static.
Cery & Yery:
L3X is in his corner there, hey L3X why don’t you come
L3X:
…ooh yeah…..
Cery:
Well, it seems he’s tanked
Yery:
He’s totaled
Cery:
Boomed out
Yery:
Plastered on his drugs
Cery & Yery:
We believe deliverance will surely come
one day when the mining here is done
Yery:
The last one in our bunker here, the creature Crimson Rose
Crimson Rose:
I am pleased to meet you, your stay will not be too long I hope
How I miss my sisters badly, but the one thing I do find
is that the beatings take the loneliness away from out your mind
Cery & Yery:
So don’t stray too far into the mines and keep your chin on up
Depression will not help us overcome
We’re so glad to see a new face in this hell where we’ve succumbed
We believe deliverance will surely come
one day when the mining here is done
Compulsory Workforce Recruits:
We fell down Jacob’s ladder to a land made of nothing but rock and our sweat
We fell down Jacob’s ladder and we won’t see our home see it ever again
Work goes on forever and the days they extend and extend and extend
The memory of our love is all we have here in the end
.
Rainu:
Recruit you must rise; you can’t lie there or I
must abide, I must beat you, or be penalized
Please just comply do not make me chastise you
or strike, traumatize, we are not the bad guys
Jes:
Kill me, do, I want you to. I cannot go on; I just want to give up
Jenna:
Jes no, please don’t, sir let her go, she just needs a break, I will get her back up
Jenna:
Jes, please stay don’t go away
Jes:
My heart has been broken; my will has been drained
Jenna:
Try talking to me of better days
Your time as a rebel, before this dark place
Jes:
I had me a lover, she worked as a maid in the palace,
I thought she was true to her friends
But then the rebellion, they tortured her, and I can’t blame her but still
sold me out in the end
They broke her spark, she broke my heart
and now I’m in this land without hope for my life
But still, you’re kind. I’ll try to rise
to make it another long day in the mines
Compulsory Workforce Recruits:
We fell down Jacob’s la ----ladder ----ladder ----ladder
Jes:
They broke her spark, she broke my heart
and now I’m in this land without hope for my life
But still, you’re kind. I’ll try to rise
to make it another long day in the mines
Jenna:
What was that just happened?
L3X:
Wait you noticed it?
Jenna:
I did
L3X:
I didn’t think carbon-based life forms could perceive the time blips
Jenna:
What?
L3X:
Time anomalies, little hiccups that occur
It’s the kelys that we’re mining, oddities irregular
How can you perceive it or know the language that we speak?
Jenna:
My people all have fairy blood, it does these magic things
L3X:
There’s no such thing as magic
Jenna:
Well, yes there is
L3X:
Uh, no there’s not, but I saw you helping Jes so you’re all right where I’m concerned
Rainu:
Recruits to your tasks, I think my bosses alas
may have noticed the fact that the work is delayed
Your time it has passed, it will be beatings en masse
unless the work hastens fast, so let’s pick up the pace
.
Cery:
That day was surely brutal
Yery:
But at least now it is done
Cery:
Hey new girl, I have seen you talk to objects, what is up?
Jenna:
Well, I worry they have feelings. What if they just want to be
next to something else then where you put them down you see
Jes:
You ask for their opinions?
L3X:
Do they answer?
Jenna:
No, they don’t, so I have to guess my best and hope I’m doing what they want
Crimson Rose:
When you break the rocks do you feel bad for them, feel guilty?
Jenna:
Well, maybe all the pebbles trapped within want to be free
L3X:
You’re a weird one and I like it
Yery:
You will fit in here just fine
Cery, Yery, Jes, L3X, & Crimson Rose:
We’re all we have inside this horrid slum
Cery:
We’re so glad to see a new face in this hell where we’ve succumbed
Cery, Yery, Jes, L3X, & Crimson Rose:
We believe deliverance will surely come
one day when the mining here is done
|
||||
7. |
Rainu & Mir 1
03:19
|
|||
|
Narrator:
Rainu’s love, her name is Mir. She is also on 9A
While Rainu is a soldier, Mir’s an officer so they
know things and information that the soldiers never see
and thus, she’s asked for Rainu now to meet her secretly
Rainu:
My love I have received your note to meet here covertly
Mir:
Rainu please do be discreet; this is unauthorized I fear
The trouble would be great if they knew I had broken rank
but I must warn you I’m afraid, danger is headed right towards here
Rainu:
The Rhazzis have attacked or something worse?
Mir:
No, it’s not that, it’s something odd and more abstract.
Commands heard something weird,
a Wanderer they say is headed here, this planet’s way
Command is freaking out today, just a few days until he’s here
Rainu:
The Wanderers, I see, last time I heard there’s only three
but it’s taboo to touch or speak or get too close to them
Mir:
I know
Because this planet sits out so remote, command thinks it
might be convenient perhaps if a little tragedy occurs
An explosion maybe near where the mad Wanderer appears,
it cannot kill him this is clear, but it might bury him so then
it might be centuries until he claws his way out see
and by that time, we’ll probably be long gone and thus we wash our hands
Rainu:
I never really knew why Wanderers are so taboo
Mir:
That doesn’t matter now, it’s you
I am concerned about today
The area they see that will explode will probably be
around Bunker 23, the sector where you have been placed
Rainu you cannot be anywhere near this
Rainu:
Mir, but,
all those recruits, I’m all they’ve got, they’re my responsibility
Mir:
I know you tend to feel, very protective but be real
they are expendable, soon we’ll be through with service finally
and when that day comes then, you can be female form again
and we can be together when all this is just a memory
|
||||
8. |
Jenna's Birthday
01:14
|
|||
|
Cery, Yery:
Happy birthday
Jes, Crimson Rose:
Happy eighteenth birthday, Jenna
Cery, Yery:
It was all that we could do
Jes, Crimson Rose:
It’s just some crusts of bread
Cery, Yery:
Happy birthday,
Cery, Yery, Jes, Crimson:
From us to you
Yery:
Join us L3X...
L3X:
Oh yeah..
Yery:
Oh, he’s out of it again
Jenna:
You guys are so sweet
Cery:
We celebrate things when we can
Jenna:
I don’t understand though, earth is really far away, why are you guys and Jes so human looking
Yery:
I can explain
Our people and the Qeeez both came from earth quite long ago
The Dorum, they’re these aliens, grabbed a sample passing through
Cery:
I think about six thousand years
Yery:
Five or six, something around
Jenna:
So like Sumeria?
Cery:
I don’t know what that means
Jenna:
Where are they now?
Cery:
The Dorum?
Jes:
Don’t you worry, they long since went extinct
Yery:
They were mixed up in that whole Tear business
Jes:
The Tear's a myth
Cery:
No. I don’t think
Hey L3X you know the Tear… oh never mind
Yery:
The ones they say
You need to watch out for are the Rhazzis
Jenna:
The Rhazzis, who are they?
Jes:
Don’t talk about the Rhazzis, tell your story
Jenna:
Come on then
Cery:
All right, here’s the backstory of the Messianic Twins
|
||||
9. |
The Messianic Twins
05:37
|
|||
|
Cery & Yery:
We cowered in their abbeys in dim isolation,
their caged child prophets, their poisoned salvation
We cowered together two stars in rotation
the warm light, the hapless lamb’s last consolation
Cery:
When kingdoms fall, empires one and all, the lands we had built were lost
Our species left on the brink of death, and our long golden age now gone
Yery:
The thing that saved, rescued our race, a new faith, religion arose
Cery:
By missionary and conquest were we then united and into the future we go
Cery & Yery:
A monk one day, taking mushrooms, proclaimed a date when two twins would be born
It would be their fate to one day save our race,
Cery:
The world we all adore
Yery:
Years went by til right on that time, twins as the monk had spoke
Cery:
Were born and thus, those twins they were us, and that’s when the trouble arose
Yery:
Always kept cloistered and fenced in abbeys and cells locked shut
Cery:
Taught by priests as the church disagreed on what they should do with us
Cery & Yery:
Factions fought, and coups were wrought, cults rose and splintered, and wars
Waged and raged while we sat away in our cage,
Cery:
Huddled together for warmth
Cery & Yery:
We cowered in their abbeys in dim isolation
Their caged child prophets, their poisoned salvation
We cowered together two stars in rotation
The warm light, the hapless lamb’s last consolation
Cery:
A workshop once in the summer months and Yery made this for me
A music box when you open up, plays a tune that I wrote once to sing him to sleep
.
Yery:
As teens we wrote a manifesto, and tried to get it smuggled out
Cery:
But the church suppressed our text, and they kept moving us late in the night all about
Yery:
Some had said that only our deaths would bring this salvation to light
Cery:
And others said, that losing our heads would end all this turmoil and fights
Cery & Yery:
One cult though had read what we wrote, and came in a blaze of guns
Many died but we, were taken and freed and put in a ship and sent up
To sit in space where we would be safe, but one day the Kratu they came
Took us away to this place to be slaves
Cery:
And that is why we are with you today
|
||||
10. |
The Wanderer Comes
04:36
|
|||
|
Jes:
Jenna, do you want to share a bed, perhaps with me?
Some comfort in a life that’s often brutal, often mean
If ever you are in the mood, if ever you would need
relief then you can come to me
Jenna:
I’m sorry if I’m slow to understand, do you mean sex?
That’s not… that not a thing I think I.. I guess
That’s not a thing I think I’m into but you’re welcome Jes
To crawl in here beside with me
We can hold each other while we sleep
Jes:
Ugh not another day
Compulsory Workforce Recruits:
We fell down Jacob’s ladder to a land of rock and sweat
We fell down Jacob’s ladder and we won’t see our home see it ever again
The work goes on forever and the days they extend and extend and extend
The memory of our love is all we have here in the end
Jes:
Jenna I cannot keep up, the pace is just too hard
Jenna:
Keep yourself behind me, try to rest right where you are
Jes:
Jenna look, behind you, an old man headed our way
He looks like, is that a Wanderer?
Jenna:
No wait
The guard, the one named Rainu, he is waving both his arms
He’s shouting something now, are we in trouble?
Jes:
Something’s wrong
He won’t come any closer if that old man’s who I think
The Wanderers are… something bad is happening
Rainu:
Recruits you must run, extreme danger has come
Drop your tools you are done, you must hurry and go
Cery:
Jes, what’s going on
Yery:
Yes, I think something’s wrong
Crimson:
Everything’s shaking
L3X:
Hold on, we’re about to explode
.
Cery:
We’re still alive
Yery:
We’re buried
Jes:
How is it we’re not crushed
Jenna:
I always say I’m sorry to the rocks while we all work
I asked them not to hurt us now
L3X:
That’s really not a thing
Jenna:
Well, we’re still alive
Crimson:
My people, we are burrowers, and I think
That this space is not quite natural
Cery:
We had some news to share
Yery:
Our followers might send supplies
A merchant’s coming here
Jes:
We’re buried under rock,
This might not be the time
L3X:
Excuse me
When I turn on a light, I need you all to please not scream
Cery:
Why would we scream
Crimson:
I think he might be speaking of the man
Who’s here with us
Jes:
Right now?
L3X:
He’s sitting next to your left hand
*Click*
Cery, Yery & Jes:
A Wanderer
Jenna:
Why is he so deformed?
Jes:
I think he’s going to speak
|
||||
11. |
The Wanderer
02:14
|
|||
|
Yeah, sorry (not sorry). Oh wait, here, you can have this:
Back put I you.
|
||||
12. |
The Wanderer Goes
01:45
|
|||
|
Jenna:
What the pluke was that?
Jes:
We’re in our bunker
Crimson:
Now we’re back
Yery:
The Wanderer transported us
L3X:
How did he manage that
Jenna:
Magic
L3X:
There’s no magic
Cery:
Listen to me carefully
You cannot say a word about the Wanderer, please
Jes:
They’ll kill us if they think we had some contact
L3X:
They sure will
Cery:
But listen there’s a tiny merchant pod headed here still
Our followers have sent it
Yery:
There’s a merchant who will trade
Weapons for some kelys
It’s our chance to make a break
Jenna:
How do you know
Cery:
They sometimes send us messages in dreams
Crimson:
How will we meet the merchant
We cannot escape unseen
Jes:
L3X can go
L3X:
Yep
Yery:
Because L3X is a bot they let him go
Deeper in the mines than any of us dare to so
Cery:
L3X can get away for just an hour
And he can
trade some chunks of kelys for some weapons and get back
Crimson:
We’ll work it out tomorrow, can we sleep?
Jes:
Let’s go to bed
Jenna:
That blast, I hear ringing in my head
Jes:
Come lay next to me and close your eyes
Everything will be alright
Ughh, not another day
Compulsory Workforce Recruits:
We fell down Jacob’s ladder
|
||||
13. |
The Puppetshades
03:40
|
|||
|
Narrator:
History’s the tale of a drunk, one-eyed spacer
Gamblin and fighting cross stars on their way
And their ends never nice, vomit, blood, and some spice
Til their offspring sets out just to do it again
No one knows just where the Puppetshades came from
Twas after the Doran was blown up to hell
There’s Oki and Skyler, Dottie, Cindilou, Piper
And slowly they’re now coming into our tale
Round now we go as the stars come a waltzin’
And histories lurch tween refined and profane
Drink to the spacer, the last starlight chaser
Attend now the tale of the Puppetshades
Necromancy is the Rhazzis religion
Some say they might come from a whole different strand
They came one day fleeing forgot how to leave and
Now they are stuck in this strange, cosmic land
The Rhazzis they channel the lower dimensions
One day they were summoning something but then
Oki loves games and appeared and pretended
That he was the demon that they’d summoned
Round now we go as the stars come a waltzin’
And histories lurch tween refined and profane
Drink to the spacer, the last starlight chaser
Attend now the tale of the Puppetshades
Now Oki’s revered but he’s also distrusted
He lives with the Rhazzis, plays politics and
Magic Skyler, he wanders, this day travels yonder
To visit there Oki in his dark temple grand
Their names Stringless Oki, their names Magic Skyler
Their names Paisley Piper and Ragged Cindilou
And Decadent Dottie but their lucks been quite spotty
They say one is dead, one is lost, gone askew
But times is a thumping, too much lore a dumpin’
So rude of us to make our story here wait
Magic Skyler is sneaking to have him a meeting
With Oki to speak of their plans and their games
Round now we go as the stars come a waltzin’
And histories lurch tween refined and profane
Drink to the spacer, the last starlight chaser
Attend now the tale of the Puppetshades
|
||||
14. |
Oki & Skyler 1
01:22
|
|||
|
Skyler:
Hello Oki
Oki:
Hello Skyler
Skyler:
Nice temple you got. The Rhazzis must like you a lot
Oki:
They’re dark and they’re weird which you’d think I would like
But they’re necro obsessed and they’re not very nice
Skyler:
We haven’t talked much since Dottie and all, I heard you weren’t doing too well at all
Oki:
I sit a lot here in the darkness. Sometimes explode things
They give me lots of blood though
Skyler:
Yes, but I don’t quite think you actually like blood
Oki:
I’m a vampire, I do!
Skyler:
You just like to chase people and bite them
Oki:
That’s true
But it has to be done with flair don’t you think?
I’m a space vampire
Skyler:
You’re a drama queen
Our game’s gone quite stale, but I’ve come round to see
If you’re still up for playing a bit more with me
Oki:
I wish that I knew where poor Paisley was,
I worry for her, I worry for us
|
||||
15. |
Stringless Oki
06:49
|
|||
|
Oki:
There’s stern onyx temples and robes black and red
Entrail divination and necrotic tech
And lower dimensional sibyls and yet
This sandbox you think where I’d play
My heart is just not in the game
They think I’m a demon, it’s crazy I know
And I try to act grand and nefarious though
I mostly come here and sit still in the gloom
And think about Dottie and sigh
Remember and miss her and cry
Adrift in seas with a violet dawn
Where meaning dies in mazes long
And waves ascend with bones and teeth
You twist and turn beg for relief
Adrift in seas with dying stars
Where wishes beg at cheap bazaars
And reason pants and gasps and drowns
And no one finds the doorway out
And I grasped it all
When her future hit the wall
And I grasped it all
When her future hit the wall
There’s dim, midnight masses with chanting and flame
Their politics full of betrayal and shame
A playground you’d think I would revel to play
Yet I’m devoid of a spark
That faded when I broke my heart
Our sister, she showed up and begged me to help
I promised, for years we went journeying til
She tried in her folly to climb back and fell
And now what to do I don’t know
I sit in this temple alone
Adrift in seas with a violet dawn
Where meaning dies in mazes long
And waves ascend with bones and teeth
You twist and turn beg for relief
Adrift in seas with dying stars
Where wishes beg at cheap bazaars
And reason pants and gasps and drowns
And no one finds the doorway out
And I grasped it all
When her future hit the wall
And I grasped it all
When her future hit the wall
Lead me where lost stars one day go
(You can’t get out of here you know)
Lead me to long forgotten homes
(You can’t get out of here you know)
Lead me through secret doors in space
(You can’t get out of this place)
Asylums that lie beyond this place
(In time you’ll fade away)
Adrift in seas with a violet dawn
Where meaning dies in mazes long
And waves ascend with bones and teeth
You twist and turn beg for relief
Adrift in seas with dying stars
Where wishes beg at cheap bazaars
And reason pants and gasps and drowns
And no one finds the doorway out
And I grasped it all
When her future hit the wall
And I grasped it all
When her future hit the wall
So, I sit here the guest of an alien race
Whose science is necrosis, whose art is decay
And wish that we never had left long ago
And wonder if joy’s still alone
There’s lights in the cosmos where dramas unfold
And sometimes I feel like I’ve stories untold
But we’re trapped in ourselves like a maze in a cage
Our story is always the same
Lost within these lands we never made
|
||||
16. |
Oki & Skyler 2
01:11
|
|||
|
Oki:
Have you seen Cindilou?
Skyler:
I think she’s still holed up, in that sanctum she’s got
Oki:
Still doing that assassins thing or not?
Skyler:
I don’t think so, but if you’re game
I just made a move, give up your moping and come play
The Kratu have got, this outpost this spot
This place far away, Mining Planet 9A
A new piece has emerged, it’s worth your while, so I’ve heard
I know you’ve had a rough time, but this girl, she’ll blow your mind
See you around. It’s your move now.
Oki:
We’re an unlucky bunch
|
||||
17. |
L3X & The Merchant
03:46
|
|||
|
Yery:
Does everybody understand the plan?
Jes:
I think we’re good
Cery:
So then, L3X will sneak away and meet the merchant
And they should have guns and ammo then when the next shuttle comes our way
Yery:
We can commandeer it, then together fly out into space
Jenna:
You think that we can do it?
Yery:
I just know it, plus we twins
Cery:
Have a union with the universe
Yery:
It will help us all to win
L3X:
I’m not quite sure about that
-----not quite s-----not quite su---- not quite s------
Yery:
I just know it, plus we twins
Cery:
Have a union with the universe
Yery:
It will help us all to win
Jenna:
It just happened again
L3X:
Yeah, they never notice, best to just keep going
Yeah, yeah, I’m still not quite sure about that
Cery:
Oh, L3X, you silly bot, just go and meet the merchant
Yery:
You’re the best chance that we’ve got
.
Merchant:
Another bot, it’s always good to meet a kindred spark
I have snuck onto this planet with some goods
L3X:
What have you got?
Merchant:
I’ve got four guns, lots of ammo for the kelys that I see
L3X:
I will take it all
Merchant:
That’s splendid, although between you and me
I’ve also got some static, really good, the primo kind
From Sirius and Cygnus, it’ll make you lose your mind
L3X:
Those strains are legendary... But I… I can’t
Merchant:
Just an offer, deals like this do not come often, understand?
L3X:
I…. I can’t… I.. I mean… I don’t know…
Merchant:
Just take a taste… just a tiny taste…
.
Jes:
Two guns? Only two guns?
Crimson:
That’s all he had?
Yery:
That’s all we’ve got?
Cery:
He only had two guns?
L3X:
Yeah, sorry guys, it wasn’t much
But I think we can make do
Jenna:
I guess we’ll have to
Jes:
I don’t know
It was risky here already now I don’t know how we’ll cope
L3X:
Excuse me….
Yery:
You can do your thing L3X, it’s not your fault
Cery:
You did your best
Yery:
We are really proud and grateful
Cery:
You have earned your little rest
Jes:
Let’s think of what to do; we could use a bit more help
L3X:
I hate myself. I.. I hate myself… I hate myself so much.. you stupid, stupid… oh…. Oh yeah… Oh yeahh.. oh yeah
|
||||
18. |
L3X On Drugs
05:55
|
|||
|
Narrator:
The sweet inner sanctum that waits right here for you
The soft secret place where the world cannot harm you
The womb where the sadness can no longer find you
The hole where you bury your mind
As all falls around you outside
The haven you hide in from winds always raging
While outside the monsters grow bigger, rampaging
Your absence, they flourish the hunt for you raising
But here you can close all your eyes
Pretend they won’t find you in time
The still silent running of blissful libation
Retreat by inertia, synthetic stagnation
Your time in the world outside this elation is done
Run fool go run
The haven where memories blur far behind you
The guilt which will stalk you can never here find you
The things you have done you can breathe and be blind to
Here in the cradle you crave
Drifting at last far away
A long time ago, may be ill-advised choices
Or dark violent figures with loud, brutal voices
And round in your brain may be echoes and noises
But here you can close all your eyes
Pretend they won’t find you in time
The still silent running of blissful libation
Retreat by inertia, synthetic stagnation
Your time in the world outside this elation is done
Run fool go run
.
In here the bad things can touch you no longer
The tears you keep buried, the sharp, bitter trauma
Your pain and your failures are real and they haunt you
Perhaps there were once better roads
But this is the one you now know
The sweet inner sanctum that waits right here for you
The soft secret place where the world cannot harm you
The womb where the sadness can no longer find you
The hole where you bury your mind
As all falls around you outside
The still silent running of blissful libation
Retreat by inertia, synthetic stagnation
Your time in the world outside this elation is done
Run fool go run
|
||||
19. |
Rainu & Mir 2
03:24
|
|||
|
Narrator:
And so, my friends we turn our gaze
Back to Rainu and to Mir
Mir’s requested once again that Rainu meet her here
Word has come down from command that Rainu must discern
That spells a bit of trouble for our friends as we will learn
Mir:
Rainu, listen carefully, I know that you can sometimes be
Attached to workers but decrees have come that you must understand
Command does not agree they think that Bunker 23
With the Wanderer did speak, contamination is at hand
They think the only way, extermination
Rainu:
Mir just wait, they were in their bunker safe
Mir:
Come on, you know it’s not that plain
They were right there when the massive blast went off but then
They’re in their bunker once again, it’s too suspicious I’m afraid
Bunker 23 you need to understand will be
Exterminated, make your peace
Rainu:
There must be another way
Mir:
Rainu listen please, this comes from higher up than me
The orders soon will be received, and you cannot just disobey
Rainu:
These people, they’re afraid, we bring them here and make them slaves
Mir:
Rainu they’re animals, now they are not evolved like you and I
I also don’t agree, but if you disobey, you’ll be
Thrown in prison don’t you see, one more year, you have to try
Narrator:
Unbeknownst to Mir there is a listener to their talk
Crimson Rose has overheard and quickly she runs off
It’s very early morning, the bunkers still asleep
But she goes to wake up Jes who sleeps in Jenna’s bed this week
Crimson:
Jes they’re gonna kill us, I have heard the Kratu say
Very soon, tomorrow, it could even be today
Jes:
Let me wake the others, just wait with Jenna here
Crimson:
Jenna I am shaking, I am frightened, I am scared
Jenna:
We’re all in this together, we will have each other’s back
Why don’t you tell me all about your people and your past
Crimson Rose:
My species are all female, each in groups of six
Form a little ryhma and we share memories and things
Once a month or when one of us dies we go to sleep
Absorbing all their memories, telepathically
Here then is the story of my people best I can
A tale slightly disturbing, I hope you understand
|
||||
20. |
Crimson Rose
03:54
|
|||
|
Crimson Rose:
So few of us were left after the plague had wiped our home
Extinct until a doorway to green lands opened so
We crossed and there we found a sweet and lovely garden maze
But the maze itself was sentient and wanted us to stay
Caring for the mazes, now this eden is our home
Here within this paradise, our kind can live and grow
Live in constant springtime here in mazes that connect
Wanting now for nothing, where the garden never ends
Pollen made us all be female, and pollen made us change
Wererats, we became every full moon but still, we stayed
For happy we all were though when one would die then soon
Another would get pregnant but how we never knew
Caring for the mazes, with this eden now our home
But some of us would wonder, and some of us would roam
A few required answers, and answers we would get
Though the pollen made it difficult for us to be upset
Once a month the night of the wererat would occur, where we’d hunt throughout the mazes in our lycanrodent forms
A few of us went wandering, discovered many things
The mazes would impregnate and or cull us and we think
The plague that wiped our planet was a thing the mazes made
For they needed us, a symbiotic union to maintain
This group came back and told us, but soon they all were dead
And sure enough new pregnancies happened in their stead
Most agreed that life here was as good as it could get
And if we just forgot about it all’d be for the best
Caring for the mazes, but a few of us could not
The mazes they connect but yet we fled, and we ran on
We found a way on out of there, we roam the galaxy
Hoping that one day all of our sisters can be free
|
||||
21. |
A Flame In The Darkness
04:51
|
|||
|
Jenna:
There’s no telling how the day will end
There’s no telling what will come
There’s no telling how the pieces fall around you
And where they lay when day is done
Once, in the darkness I lay down
Waiting for the end to come and find me
Now, in a forge of fire and fear
I’ve found a tribe to make a stand beside me
A flame in a grim and starless place
I’ll burn for you down paths no light can blaze
A flame, in a strange and wretched place
Lost out in the night I’ll light your way
Once, in the black I lost my way
The home I loved was taken far beyond me
Now, in the worst and hopeless place
I’ve found the friends to make a stand beside me
A flame in a grim and starless place
I’ll burn for you down paths no light can blaze
A flame, in a strange and wretched place
Lost out in the night I’ll light your way
Jes:
Once, I was stabbed I was betrayed
And all the life I knew was taken from me
Now, where I only wished to die
I’ve found a tribe to stand with and around me
A flame in a grim and starless place
I’ll burn for you down paths no light can blaze
A flame, in this strange and wretched place
Lost out in the night I'll light your way
Cery & Yery:
Once, we were victims of our fate
Pawns in others schemes and endless games
Now, in this desert of despair
We’ve found the tribe to brave the face of fate
Jenna, Jes, Cery & Yery:
A flame in a grim and starless place
I’ll burn for you down paths no light can blaze
A flame, in this strange and wretched place
Lost out in the night I’ll light your way
Crimson Rose:
Once, just a few of us had fled
And out here in the stars we lost our way
Now, in this cruel and hopeless place
I’ve found the friends to brave the face of fate
.
Rainu:
I take my gun and out I go to every ugly rock I know
I kill whoever they tell me to get
And I’m a bored, gun in my hand, hard-drinking, marching, killing man
When I’m done be with my lover once again
I take my gun and out I go to every ugly rock I know
I kill whoever they tell me to get
And I’m a bored, gun in my hand, hard-drinking, marching, killing man
When I’m done be with my lover once again
I take my gun and out I go to every ugly rock I know
I kill whoever they tell me to get
And I’m a bored, gun in my hand, hard-drinking, marching, killing man
When I’m done be with my lover once again
Oki:
Adrift in seas with a violet dawn
Where meaning dies in mazes long
And waves ascend with bones and teeth
You twist and turn beg for relief
Adrift in seas with dying stars
Where wishes beg at cheap bazaars
And reason pants and gasps and drowns
And no one finds the doorway out
Adrift in seas with a violet dawn
Where meaning dies in mazes long
And waves ascend with bones and teeth
You twist and turn beg for relief
Adrift in seas with dying stars
Where wishes beg at cheap bazaars
And reason pants and gasps and drowns
And no one finds the doorway out
Everyone else:
A flame in a grim and starless place
I’ll burn for you down paths no light can blaze
A flame, in this strange and wretched place
Lost out in the night I’ll light your way
A flame in a grim and starless place
I’ll burn for you down paths no light can blaze
A flame, in this strange and wretched place
Lost out in the night I’ll light your way
.
Everyone:
There’s no telling how the day will end
There’s no telling what will come
There’s no telling how the pieces fall around you
Jenna:
And where they lay when day is done
|
||||
22. |
||||
|
Narrator:
And so our tale has come to a crossroads I’m afraid
The cards fall on the table and nothing’s quite the same
The Kratu they are arming to kill all of our friends
A cleansing made of violence; our first acts messy end
In the far beyond, the lost move on
Here and gone the black beyond
Where time slides on each memory gone
Far off songs, the black beyond
Cery:
It looks like they are coming, and we’ve only got two guns
Yery:
Jes fought in a revolution, we need to give her one
Cery:
Jenna, here’s the other
Jenna:
No, don’t give that to me
I have never held a weapon. Yery take it from me, please
Kratu Announcement:
Involuntary Workforce Termination Notice is in effect.
Acute Severance Package Dismissal protocols are set for immediate enforcement.
Prepare offboarding message.
Kratu:
We bring to you good news my friends
Your work here now is at an end
We thank you for your service and your care
You’ve learned and grown, progressed and more
You’re better than you were before
Rest can now be yours, it’s only fair
To thank you for your diligence
We promise we will make this quick
It’s time your weary bodies had some rest
We’re sorry now to see you go
We value you more than you know
Your service here at last comes to an end
Kratu Soldier:
Recruit down on your knees
Cery:
I have no weapons, don’t kill me
Kratu Soldier:
Recruit your contract’s been released
Yery:
Say hi to your mom in hell from me
Jenna:
L3X we’re gonna get killed
L3X:
So, I’m going to assume that a mecha assassin’s guild
Run by Ragged Cindi Lou doesn’t mean a lot to you
Jenna:
What are you talking about?
L3X:
Well, it’s true
Back in the day, I killed a lot
Jenna:
What?
L3X:
And by a lot, I mean a lot
But it was quiet and mostly unseen
This is chaos
Jenna:
What?
L3X:
What I mean
We need to kill guards I can help
But I’m used to quiet, surprise, and stealth
A battlefield’s not my forte
Jenna:
I’ve got questions
L3X:
Another day
Rainu:
Recruit, apologies, your contracts termina..
Crimson:
Don’t kill me. I never caused you any harm
Rainu:
It’s not my choice
Crimson:
You’ve got the gun
Raini:
I have orders.. my task
Crimson:
But I’ve done everything you’ve asked
Why must it be this way?
Rainu:
Get out of here. Run away.
Mir:
Prepare to go on my signal. Okay, go!
I’ve got you now, human die
L3X:
No!
Jenna:
L3X!
Why?
L3X:
I’m sorry I failed you
Jenna:
L3X don’t die
L3X:
I’m glad I met you, it was worth the time
Cindi Lou told me not
To get the emotion circuit installed
But I don’t regret…
Mir:
Human vermin meet your end
-----human vermin meet your end
-----human ver ---ver ---ver --vermin end---- end--------
Cery:
It looks like they are coming and we’ve only got two guns
Yery:
Jes fought in a revolution, we need to give her one
Cery:
Jenna, here’s the other
Jenna:
Yes, I’ll take it
L3X:
Good choice
Jenna:
All right, they’ll be coming in a minute from our three and six and nine
Mir:
Prepare to go on my signal. Okay, go!
I’ve got you now, human die
L3X:
You nailed her
Jenna:
I was ready for you that time
Rainu:
Recruit, apologies, your contracts termina..
Crimson:
Don’t kill me. I never caused you any harm
Rainu:
It’s not my choice; Mir… Mir!
Die! Die! Die you vermin, die!
Kratu Soldier:
Recruit down on your knees
Cery:
I have no weapons, don’t kill me
Kratu Soldier:
Recruit your contract’s been released
Yery:
Please don’t kill her. Cery!
Jenna:
I got him. Cery, no!
Cery:
Kingdoms fall, empires one and all
And soon enough you and I
Yery:
But we’re the ones they say are fated to save
Cery:
One day even saviors will die
Cery & Yery:
We cowered in their abbeys in dim isolation
Their caged child prophets, their poisoned salvation
We cowered together two stars in rotation
The warm light, the hapless lamb’s last consolation
Yery:
She’s dead
L3X:
We gotta get out of here
Jenna:
Yery, come with me
L3X:
Where is Crimson Rose?
Jenna:
Look, that’s her body right there
All that blood
L3X:
I can see all her vitals and heat
Jenna:
Maybe we
L3X:
Jenna she’s not alive we must go
L3X:
Just run
Jenna:
Where is Jes?
L3X:
Look, she’s at that small ship
Jenna:
We can make it
L3X:
I don’t think that we call all fit
Jenna:
It’s so small
L3X:
Maybe two
Jenna:
That’s okay, we’ll cram in, find a way
L3X:
You know there is one other exit...
Jes:
Jenna I’m sorry love, I’ve got to run
You gave me back life and you gave me back hope
I’ve made a vow, I know somehow
I will find a way now to win back my throne
But Jenn my love, you cannot come
They will target and torture and turn you their way
Not again, I cannot take…
I could not bear to watch you break
|
||||
23. |
Jes
03:46
|
|||
|
The palace in the summer, all the gardens, it was magic, and the suns there in the sky
The ballroom you should see it, and the dances, and the teas, and it was paradise so why
Did it have to ever fade
Did those days just go away
I was happy
Molly was a maid, but she was also ‘round my age and as we grew, we fell in love
Secret rendezvous we had a love so bright and true she was for me the only one
She was all that I could need
She made paradise complete
And we were happy
Then the revolution came, politics an ugly game
Violence in our city’s street, the palace closed its door and all the armies went to war but yet
I knew that we would never part, she loved me so with all her heart
It would end as quick as it would start, but then the revolutionaries they kidnapped her and other things
I knew that she would always stay, true to me and not betray
But torture body and the mind, the spirit always breaks in time
She held out for as long as she could bear, but in the end, you see, everyone
Breaks, everyone breaks
Love cannot take the pain they gave her
Love is perfect, love is all
Who can bear to watch it fall
In the end they
In the end they break you
I’m going now, you know, back there to recollect my throne but they will learn of you
They’ll find you track you down they’ll take you prisoner somehow and then the things they’ll do
I cannot watch this once again
I cannot see you suffering
The only way I can prevent this is to kill you
(Shoots Jenna)
|
||||
24. |
End Of Act 1
03:16
|
|||
|
Yery:
Jes took the spaceship and shot Jenna
L3X:
Just keep pressure on her wound
Yery:
Cery’s dead
L3X:
I know, and probably we’ll be joining her real soon
There’s one last chance, so listen, carry Jenna, run with me
The mines they send me in, there is a cart, we’ll head down deep
Yery:
But the mines, all those who go in, none of them come back
L3X:
Yeah, that’s the point, our luck’s run out, there is no other plan
Rainu:
My love, why have you gone? The only thing in life I want
The only reason I go on, oh Mir, this cannot be
My love we had a dream, we were so close and we would be
Together once again now see, oh Mir, come back to me
Those animals now why, tell me why she had to die
But now vengeance will be mine and I will send them to their graves
I take my gun and out I go
To every ugly rock I know
I’ll hunt them down I swear I’ll see them dead
And I’m a mad, gun in my hand hard-drinking, bitter, killing man
When I’m done be with my lover once again
L3X:
Yery climb into the cart with us
Yery:
She’s bleeding really bad
L3X:
Jenna, please don’t die
Yery:
The time has come
Yery:
We’re heading down
L3X:
Jenna, stay alive
Yery:
There’s so much blood
L3X:
Down into the mines at last we come
Yery:
The day in which our mining here is done...
|
||||
Paul Shapera Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Cama’s attempt to commune with higher beings failed; she only found Decadent Dottie. Together they roamed, indulging in dangerous forms of psycho-neural self-exploration which Cama hoped would present the key to her people’s further evolution. It only led to her destroying her people so that one of their pets could evolve. She sat in her former civilization's rubble and listened to Paul Shapera. ... more
Paul Shapera recommends:
The Silver Key
by Ah Pook the Destroyer
It was a chance to collaborate with Matthew Broyles of The Matthew Show, longtime co-conspirator, and make a classic rock album.
go to albumIf you like Paul Shapera, you may also like:
The Bifrost Incident
by The Mechanisms
supported by 21 fans who also own “The Puppetshade Chronicles 1: The Black Beyond”
If I had a nickel for every time Jonny destroyed the universe by opening a door, I'd have two nickles.
go to album
High Noon Over Camelot
by The Mechanisms
supported by 19 fans who also own “The Puppetshade Chronicles 1: The Black Beyond”
This is a great adaptation of Arthuriana and a brilliant narrative album. I love how the queerness of the characters is handled as an integral part of the narrative and plot development without it being the end all be all of the characters themselves. my boy Gawain deserved better though
go to album
Tales To Be Told, Volume II
by The Mechanisms
supported by 19 fans who also own “The Puppetshade Chronicles 1: The Black Beyond”
every single track is a banger was nearly impossible to pick a favourite
go to album
Super Connected (2023)
by Tim Arnold
Tim Arnold's latest album of lushly detailed art-pop explores the insidious ways tech surveillance has become a part of our lives.
go to album
The latest from NY’s David Nagler is a stirring chamber-folk record with rich instrumentation and vivid, evocative lyrics.
go to album
