Sublevel Nine (Version 2)

Verse

Ramp spirals down past level eight

Concrete pillar, painted number nine

Ticket stub won't validate

Same red arrow, same white line

Fluorescent tube stutters twice

Engine idles, tank runs thin

Barrier arm stuck at knee height

Nowhere out and nowhere in

Pre-Chorus

Tell the gate to lift its arm

Tell the ticket where to go

Tell the lot it's done no harm

Nine more laps and still we're slow

Chorus

Sublevel nine, the gate won't rise

Sublevel nine, the same white lines

Headlights circle, tires whine

Sublevel nine, we're out of time

Verse

Payment kiosk eats the coin

Screen flashes error, screen goes dark

Exhaust pools thick around the loin

Of pillar four, the same old mark

Security light spins on the wall

Painting numbers we've already read

Nine, then eight, then nine again

Circling the same concrete bed

Pre-Chorus

Tell the gate to lift its arm

Tell the ticket where to go

Tell the lot it's done no harm

Nine more laps and still we're slow

Chorus

Sublevel nine, the gate won't rise

Sublevel nine, the same white lines

Headlights circle, tires whine

Sublevel nine, we're out of time

Bridge

Kill the engine

Let it cool

Watch the arm

It won't move

It won't move

Chorus

Sublevel nine, the gate won't rise

Sublevel nine, the same white lines

Headlights circle, tires whine

Sublevel nine, we're out of time