Uploaded March 2022 | Updated September 2026, 6 minutes ago

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Fire in the Sky track 03. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: archive.org/details/filk_fire_in_the_sky
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[see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_propulsion ]
Lyrics:

Chorus:
The launch cannon thunders, the pilot beam burns,
Command says she's tracking, the big mirror turns.
The main beam roars out and the plume reaches high,
And our lasers are sending out life to the sky.

There's a shell standing ready. We load her up fast
With five tons of ice for the lasers to blast.
A clear ton of payload, she lifts at ten gees,
And in five minutes flat she'll be orbiting free.

(Chorus)

Now the spacers get the glory, the spacers get the pay,
But their steel and their air comes from us every day.
They may look down their noses at us on the ground,
But they're all unemployed if our lasers shut down.

(Chorus)

Now the shuttle men boast of the fires they ride,
Of their great clumsy candles with people inside.
Let them fly limousines! We've no time for that here.
We lift more in three days than they'll carry all year.

(Chorus)

From the beam crews on down to the loaders below,
We work like the devil till the launch boss shouts “Go!”
Then the deep-throated roar of a billion-watt beam
Shakes deep in our bones and takes root in our dreams.

(Chorus)

Then the last shell lifts out and the plume drifts away,
We greet the next shift and go home for the day.
But the big laser's building to lift out a man,
And we'll ride our own beams just as soon as we can!

(Chorus)

Yes, our lasers are sending out life to the sky!