Uploaded March 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago

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Fire in the Sky track 11. 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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Lyrics:

We sent them out to the planets, to worlds beyond our own
Where frail men dared not venture they traveled on alone
Though they be no more than robots, yet to the stars they steer
And we wish them on their journey all the luck of the Pioneer

They set their course for Jupiter, the ruler of the worlds
To gain their speed from his mighty pull as from a slingshot hurled
They stole for us his image, his secrets guarded dear
But gave in turn a royal gift in the luck of the Pioneer

Then on and out to Saturn, the ringèd queen of skies
And through the very rings themselves they carried our distant eyes
We feared then for their safety, but they could know no fear
And they left their name on the gap they found by the luck of the Pioneer

The sun grows dim behind them, a billion miles or more
The stars are e'er before them, a glittering distant shore
An age will pass before the day some strange sun draws them near
And till that day we'll raise a toast to the luck of the Pioneer

But should some other find them as the galaxy they roam
And study these strange craft of ours and seek to learn their home
Why, they carry our maps upon them in friendship written clear
And we give to the race that reads them all the luck of the Pioneer

And when men someday follow to the places they have been
We'll take the paths they've marked for us, we'll see the sights they've seen
To Jupiter and Saturn, to the stars themselves we'll steer
And pray that God but grant us then the luck of the Pioneer
Aye, we pray that God but grant us then the luck of the Pioneer