the ballad of the RosaRing

In Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's novel Carpe Diem, there is a description of a song called "the ballad of the RosaRing". (Yes, yes, ring around the rosie. Good name for a place depopulated by a plague.) I'm pretty sure the following quote regarding the song doesn't spoil too much of the book, at least, not the really key plot points. The only lyric they write down is a couple mentions that the chorus repeats the phrase "fly on by", and we get this description of the subject:

"The audience, respectful, may have been expecting another set of rounds: what they got was the ballad, in Terran, of a pair of lovers separated forever when an experimental virus got loose on the RosaRing.
The translation they had given Hakan for the audience had the Ring a resource-rich island cursed with a strain of infectious madness--which to Miri's mind was as close as made no difference. The Ring virus had been deadly, the world it circled rich, and three rescue teams had been shot down by automatics before the fatcats had finally seen the stupid waste of it and quarantined the sector. The lover had been on the last rescue team. For Hakan--for the Winterfair--he escaped."

~Partners in necessity (3-book trade paperback) p.796

So I decided it would be fun to write the "ballad, in Terran" in its entirety. It IS pretty depressing (song spoiler alert!--everyone dies) but I'm pretty sure I stayed true to the description and kept it all Liaden-Universe-legit. :D So if Lee & Miller ever decide to do a Carpe Diem movie, this would go GREAT in the soundtrack. *bats eyelashes* Just sayin'.



the RosaRing, it circled round
a world where remedies were found
in plenty, so the Ring became
a hospital with wide acclaim
they researched every malady
from places 'cross the galaxy
so RosaRing always had need
for pilots with spare time and speed

fly on by, fly on by
fly on by

there was a woman and a man
flew side by side in one tin can
they struck it rich, but had a fight
each certain they were in the right
she took off in a single ship
he partied on the landing strip
without her, nothing felt the same
he sent a message, "I'm to blame..."

fly on by, fly on by
fly on by

she got his pinbeam at the port
she'd filed her flight and locked her coords
but sent back to him, all smiling
"come meet me at the RosaRing
you never know what we might find"
so he set off, three days behind
but coils all redlined, moving fast
felt each hour, slower than the last

fly on by, fly on by
fly on by

at RosaRing, a lone lab tech
pain in his head, crick in his neck
let slip, let break a piece of glass
that virus hit his system fast
and scrambled up his fine young mind
he ran, and left the lab behind
rushed madly out into the hall
so many heard his footsteps' fall

fly on by, fly on by
fly on by

the lady had stopped for a bite
she heard the sirens, saw the lights
that seared across the station
"viral contamination!"
she rushed to find the evac crew
but that's one thing they could not do
the plague had slid through all the vents
and would have come with if they went

fly on by, fly on by
fly on by

the guns were armed--the crew's last job
the lady ducked the panicked mob
and closed her mind to the alarms
remembering her lover's arms
which he wrapped round his chest and cried
he'd landed, learned two med ships died
to Rosa's automatics
screaming out into the static

fly on by, fly on by
fly on by

the stationmaster, planetside
said "we could give it one more try,
but who would go?" the pilot roared
"they lift off with me at the board!"
scraped up a fey and grim-faced crew
for each of them had loved ones too
aboard the cursed RosaRing
they signaled in an endless string

"if anyone's alive there still,
go power down the guns: we will..."

fly on by, fly on by
fly on by

when their wreckage spread across
the sky, all knew the Ring was lost
they pierced the hull and stopped the wheel
since then it's just a lump of steel

fly on by
fly on by
fly on by