Last Run

(This is a dorian waltz, based in the feel of d minor)

Black is the alley and dark is the hour
Bright are the windows up in the watch-tower
Carefully, silently, skirt the walls, edge the eaves
Always remember, we're less than gods, more than thieves
ID match, data-snatch, damn what the corp believes
We don't exist: that's our power
Those whom the shadows devour

Refrain:
And wouldn't my mother be proud?
Her vile goblin daughter is leading this crowd.
And wouldn't my father's heart swell?
When the change took me, I lost my family as well
When you run in the shadows, there's comfort in hell,
And the only real rule is "survive."
The shadows will/won't/can't keep you alive.

Smile when you steal from the corps you despise
Sure and consistent the plans you devise:
Get through security, aim for obscurity,
Tell lies with clarity, show your sincerity,
Use your dexterity, reverse their parity,
Normality's our disguise:
Get out before their doubts arise.

Refrain
Storm in the city, the thunderclouds rise
I sense the worry in my decker's eyes
Turn on the infrared, wait for the go-ahead,
What Mister Johnson said echoes inside my head,
"Falsify and embed; try to avoid bloodshed.
"This run's a cakewalk, you guys."
You know, Mister Johnson tells lies.

Refrain
After three botches, the corp's alarms ring.
I take the rear; our escape's a sure thing:
We've got contingency for an emergency.
One loud noise behind me; one guard I didn't see:
Disconnect, mind-body, can't catch my memory.
As it flees, I hear one thing:
A song that my mom used to sing.

Tag (same tune as refrain):
Hush now, my baby, don't fret.
I'll love you forever, don't ever forget.
Hush now, my baby, don't cry.
The Sandman will send you dreams out of the sky
Of dragons and fey folk, my love, hushaby-
And the world shatters into moonbeams
As the shadows fragment in my dreams.

(Instrumental chorus, slower and slower, like a music box winding down)

Notes: This song was written for the Conterpoint Four Song Contest. The theme was, "The Future Ain't What It Used To Be," and I had a hard time coming up with anything. Song contests like short, funny songs. So I already knew I wouldn't be competing to win. But I also don't write a lot of songs about the future. Although I am sad about the state of our space program, I've never written a lament about not being able to visit the Moon on weekends. So I thought and thought-- do I do anything that's futuristic? Well, yes. I haven't recently, and it's not my favorite game on earth, but I used to play Shadowrun. It was my ex-husband's favorite game, and it's about a dark future, plus magic. I really enjoyed some great tabletop roleplaying in my ex-husband's various Shadowrun games over the years. So I wrote this, about a Shadowrunner whose mission doesn't turn out. Some terms that might make the song easier to understand: Corp is short for corporation, and you pronounce the "p". Goblin: at the beginning of the current Shadowrun timeline, magic is coming back into the world. In adolescence, some people morph, or goblinize into not-quite-human forms, like trolls, for example. A decker is a character who is cable of physically jacking in to a computer network. Mister Johnson is the guy at the corp who hires your team of Shadowrunners to pull off some kind of corporate espionage. His name is always Mister Johnson. And he never tells the truth. This song is a tear-jerker.

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