"A Starship will be leaving for the planet they have found:  
A blue-and-golden paradise of seas and fertile ground,  
A world alive and warm and wild awaits the pioneer,  
But it's ninety-eight light years away from here."  

And he told her, "You know how this world is closing in on me,  
I'm just a number, and I don't feel free,  
A slave to the computerized society,  
You know this world is not the place I want to be.  
  
So I'm going to go, and I've got to know: will you be my wife?  
I love you and I want you and I'll need you in that life.  
Though I know it takes a century to sail across that sea,  
Still, will you come with me?"  
  
 And the Great Starship is loading here  
 With goods and gear and grain--  
 And people who will pioneer  
 A new world once again.  
  
"I feared that you would ask me, I could see it in your eyes.  
I know you won't be happy if I keep you from the sky,  
And you know I love you also and I want to have you near,  
But not ninety-eight light years from here."  
  
And she told him: "You know how this world is Home to me,  
Why, to think of leaving all my friends and family,  
Forsaking all this comfort and security 
For the Law of Relativity. 

I can only pray that you will stay and let me be your wife, 
I love you and I need you and I want you in my life,  
But you know it takes two hundred years to came back from that
star
I just can't go that far." 

     And the Great Starship is hovering, 
     The Gravwarp Engines wind-- 
     One last kiss for lovers to be 
     Forever left behind.  

He stood among two thousand on the decks and waved goodbye 
As the mighty Starship fell away into the sky. 
And he watched his Homeworld dwindle in the distance for all time
As he went ninety-eight light years on down the line. 

The StarDrive is engaged, the great ship transforms into light, 
Projected through the cosmos like a laser in the night, 
The distance in an instant flashed a century of flight-- 
For time does not exist (does not exist) for those who go the
speed of
light.  

And near the new sun Canopus the Starship reappeared, 
And jewel-like in her orbit was the blue-and-golden sphere. 
But he looked back through space and time and sadness touched his
brow 
For he knew that she must have died by now. 

     And the great Starship descending  
     Through the velvet atmosphere, 
     And humans barely comprehending 
     Just how alone they are here. 

In two years they made a city with their high technology 
And he built himself a cabin in a forest by a sea, 
It was best if he kept busy so as not to remember 
That he was ninety-eight light years away from her. 

And he lived alone with just her memory. 
He did not take up another woman's company. 
There was no one for him among the Colony. 
It was not the way he wanted it to be. 

--Meanwhile, back on Homeworld, a hundred years before 
She too could not forget their star-torn romance. 
Tho she tried to give her love to others, she found she had no
more, 
And she decided it was time to take a chance. 

She sold everything she had, said farewell to folk and friends 
And never did look back to ask or weep, 
For she knew where she had to go before this journey ends 
And she bought ninety-eight light years of cryogenic sleep. 

So they froze her like a popsicle, and of course when she awoke 
She was a stranger stranded from her past. 
But a century of progress made that first Starship a joke, 
And the ships that they had now were really fast (really fast). 
     She said: "My lover's just arrived on Canopus Five, 
     Can I catch up with him there by ZipTrip Drive?"-- 

He heard a celebration in the city distantly. 
A skycar landed by his cabin, someone got out,  
          and of course we all know that it was she-- 
A new Starship had just arrived, more colonists had come. 
They kissed again, one hundred years undone. 

     And the great Starships are landing here 
     With goods and gear and grain-- 
     And lovers who will pioneer 
     A new world once again. 

   C                F  C            F                C
"A Starship will be leaving for the planet they have found:

  Em                          F                G 
A blue-and-golden paradise of seas and fertile ground, 

  Am                             G
A world alive and warm and wild awaits the pioneer, 

         F                  Em         Am     F
But it's ninety-eight light years from here." 


                  Am                                 F 
And he told her, "You know how this world is closing in on me, 

Am                       F
I'm just a number, and I don't feel free, 

  Am                        F
A slave to the computerized society,

              Am                               G   F 
You know this world is not the place I want to be. 


       C                     F      C     F              C 
So I'm going to go, and I've got to know: will you be my wife? 

  Em                               F                G
I love you and I want you and I'll need you in that life. 

         Am                         G
Though I know it takes a century to sail across that sea, 

F      Fm                 C
Still, will you come with me?" 


             Am                G
     And the Great Starship is loading here 

          F                  Fm
     With goods and gear and grain-- 

         Em              G
     And people who will pioneer 

       F               C
     A new world once again. 

----------------------------

  C                  F   C        F               C
--Meanwhile, back on Homeworld, a hundred years before 

    Em                                   F G 
She too could not forget their star-torn romance. 

        Am                                    G
Tho she tried to give her love to others, she found she had no
more, 

          F                           Em
And she decided it was time to take a chance. 



         Am                           F
She sold everything she had, said farewell to folk and friends 

    G                             Am--F
And never did look back to ask or weep, 

             Am                    G
For she knew where she had to go before this journey ends 

               F                           Em        Am    Em
And she bought ninety-eight light years of cryogenic sleep. 



        Am               G                F                Em
So they froze her like a popsicle, and of course when she awoke 

    Am             G                 F--G
She was a stranger stranded from her past. 

      Am                            G
But a century of progress made that first Starship a joke, 

        F                   Em              Am
And the ships that they had now were really fast (really fast). 


                   G                       F       Am 
     She said: "My lover's just arrived on Canopus Five, 

           G                                  Am       Em Am Em
     Can I catch up with him there by ZipTrip Drive?"--