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English
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Published:
2022-06-09
Words:
213
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1/1
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23
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[filk] Don't Let the Watchers See

Summary:

A miners' song from the universe of The Murderbot Diaries.

Notes:

I love filk that takes the form of in-universe workers'/union/rebel/etc. songs. Thanks to a discussion in the Murderbot Diaries discord for inspiring this, and to Dragon CompletelyDifferent for:
Concept just popped into my head
worker song with a main refrain like
"Don't let the SecUnit see"
or maybe with a euphamism for SecUnit?

Featuring authentic instrumentation of hitting rocks against each other. I'm an archaeologist, I have a lot of access to rocks.

(See the end of the work for more notes and other works inspired by this one.)

Work Text:

You live to work another day
Don't let the Watchers see
You work to live and live to pay
Don't let the Watchers see
Go down the mines, into the deep
And come back up to eat and sleep
And hope that you have earned your keep
Don't let the Watchers see.

You keep your books, or songs, or vids
Don't let the Watchers see
With all they took, they won't take this,
Don't let the Watchers see
You keep the word from worlds above,
And folded hopes from ones you love,
We all keep ones we're thinking of
Don't let the Watchers see.

You sing to know you're not alone
Don't let the Watchers see
While working your hands to the bone
Don't let the Watchers see
You borrow time between the blasts
Can pause and talk once they are past
You're hard at work, if they should ask,
Don't let the Watchers see.

You pass the news from bunk to bunk
Don't let the Watchers see
You let them think you're dumb or drunk
Don't let the Watchers see
If you recall the sky or not
If you came soft or if you fought
We stand together, or we rot,
Don't let the Watchers see.

Notes:

More broadly applicable to sci-fi indentured or prison-labor space miners whose productivity is overseen by robots... but yes "Watchers" is here a euphemism for SecUnits. Don't want to catch the SecUnits' attention, after all.

Works inspired by this one: