Thinking again about the line "And hide their research projects real good" reminded me of Leslie Fish's song "Where Do We Go From Here", written for C. J. Cherryh's "Merovingian Nights" shared-world series. The second half of the second stanza and just about all of the third stanza are particularly appropriate to your concept. I can't find the lyrics to "Where Do We Go From Here" written down anywhere, but in case somebody here hasn't heard the song, it goes like this:
Word came out of the sky
To our Ancestors long ago:
"Leave this planet or die";
So, many rose to go.
But a few were stubborn of soul,
And would not quit their hard-won ground;
They hid, and held, through the winter cold
When the Scouring Time came down.
Chorus: And how shall we survive?
How shall we stay alive?
Where do we go from here?
Hard was ravaged the land,
And when the folk came out again,
They found on every hand
Ruined the work of men.
And how to build once more,
With eternal threat in the silent sky?
Only hidden work that will mark no score
To any watchful eye.
Chorus
We were not born to crawl,
But to sail the depths of the boundless sky.
They shall no prison us all;
Even hidden birds may fly.
So we labor underground,
In the promise sworn to the hope of men:
When the time is right, when the day comes 'round,
We will have the stars again!
Chorus
-----
Big Brother is watching you. And damn, you are so bloody BORING.
Word came out of the sky
To our Ancestors long ago:
"Leave this planet or die";
So, many rose to go.
But a few were stubborn of soul,
And would not quit their hard-won ground;
They hid, and held, through the winter cold
When the Scouring Time came down.
Chorus: And how shall we survive?
How shall we stay alive?
Where do we go from here?
Hard was ravaged the land,
And when the folk came out again,
They found on every hand
Ruined the work of men.
And how to build once more,
With eternal threat in the silent sky?
Only hidden work that will mark no score
To any watchful eye.
Chorus
We were not born to crawl,
But to sail the depths of the boundless sky.
They shall no prison us all;
Even hidden birds may fly.
So we labor underground,
In the promise sworn to the hope of men:
When the time is right, when the day comes 'round,
We will have the stars again!
Chorus
-----
Big Brother is watching you. And damn, you are so bloody BORING.