Lonely in the Void
	Clif Flynt  Copyright 1986

#     D                     C                                         D
On a space ship there's no morning.  There's no midnight. There's no day.
#G               D                C         D
No reason to divide the clock in any given way.
#    G               D             C               D
But there's a magic moment that a spacer will not miss.
#D                           C                                 D
When the comm board lights 'receiving' and the data starts to hiss.

You'll never hear a voice out here, the bandwidth need's too high.
A packet switching data net is the best man can supply.
And the letters form in columns, and they dance upon the screen.
And you say hello to folks you know, but may have never seen.

Now, the relay rock on Titan's pumped a new game on the net,
And there's a letter from a single-ship you've never even met.
She says she's lost and lonely feeling.  You've felt that way, too.
You type for her, as screen or so, append to transmit queue.

And the rock rat in the cluster moved his pawn to bishop three.
You chuckle, if that's good for him, it's plenty good for me.
Knight takes Pawn, you type out, see the new board on the screen.
When he sees how he's been set up, well, he's gonna turn bright green.

And there's techie talk from NASA and some things they'd like to check.
And Ten K of new data on the Sigma Seven Wreck.
And in the endless night you'll scream, just to hear the human voice.
But in six months, you'll be Earthside, and you'll make the same old choice.

Oh, how many hours of floating before you forget to walk.
How many words are typed before you lose your wish to talk.
How many hours of solitude make companionship seem strange.
And in Half a hundred hours, relay four will be in range.

On a space ship there's no morning.  There's no midnight. There's no day.
No reason to divide the clock in any given way.
And, though you hate the life you live, you know you'll never change.
And in forty eight more hours relay four will be in range.