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Dimension X - "Universe" (1951) · Old Time Sci-Fi Radio | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On a vast, many-decked spaceship, Cadet Hugh Hoyland has been
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: taught that the ship is the whole of creation. But
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: when he and Alan Mahoney seek John the Witness, keeper
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: of the community's sacred history, Hugh begins to question the
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: rules governing the lower levels and the fearful accounts of
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: the decks above. From NBC Radio Network's Dimension X, comes Universe,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: episode 42, broadcast August 2nd, 1951. George Lefferts' radio adaptation
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: of Robert A. Heinlein's science fiction story with Mason Adams
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: as Hugh Hoyland, Peter Capel as Gregory, and Norman Rose
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: as announcer. The ship is underway. We now take you
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: back to the original broadcast.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Adventures in time and space.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: Transcribed in future tense.
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: Dimension. Act, act, act, act.
• 1:08
  Speaker 5: In the beginning, there was Jordan, thinking his lonely thoughts.
• 1:14
  Speaker 5: Out of the loneliness came a longing. Out of the
• 1:17
  Speaker 5: longing came a vision. Out of the dream came a planning.
• 1:21
  Speaker 5: And out of the planning came decision. Jordan's hand was lifted,
• 1:27
  Speaker 5: and the ship was born.
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: You, look out!
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Are you all right? Yes, it missed me. What was it?
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: A mutant with a slingshot. I think it dashed down
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: that passageway.
• 1:42
  Speaker 6: You want to go after it? We'd never catch it, Alan.
• 1:44
  Speaker 6: It's probably 12 decks above us by now. I didn't
• 1:46
  Speaker 6: think they ever came down this far. The trolls usually
• 1:49
  Speaker 6: get them before they reach this level.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: They get more daring with each generation. This one looked
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: like a female.
• 1:54
  Speaker 6: Male or female, it might have killed us. I told
• 1:57
  Speaker 6: you this trip was pure foolishness. Climbing 24 deck levels
• 2:00
  Speaker 6: to hear a crazy old man rave?
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: We're almost there now. Compartment X-15, level 24. This is
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: the place.
• 2:10
  Speaker 6: This area smells as if it hadn't been visited by
• 2:13
  Speaker 6: a sanitation crew for generations.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Part of the ship is almost deserted.
• 2:24
  Speaker 6: Yes?
• 2:25
  Speaker 7: This is the compartment of John the Witness.
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: Who are you?
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: My name is Hugh Hoyland.
• 2:29
  Speaker 7: I'm a cadet from the scientist barracks.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: This is my friend, Alan Mahoney. What do you want
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: of John the Witness? Only to talk.
• 2:35
  Speaker 8: Are you a believer in Jordan?
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Naturally.
• 2:38
  Speaker 6: I have heard that there are those among the younger
• 2:40
  Speaker 6: scientists who doubt.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: The word of Jordan. To doubt is death. We're not heretics. Enter.
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: Enter.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: I have brought a gift of tobacco, grown on the
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: richest level. It smells good.
• 2:59
  Speaker 9: I assure you it's the best.
• 3:01
  Speaker 8: Wait here.
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: What a rat's nest. What the devil do you think
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: he can tell you?
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: I don't know. Now hush.
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: Well?
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: You are John the Witness?
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: I am. Good eating to you.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: I am Hugh Hoyland. This is my friend, Alan Mahoney.
• 3:26
  Speaker 10: What brings a gentleman of the scientist class to my
• 3:29
  Speaker 10: humble apartment?
• 3:30
  Speaker 7: I have heard that you and your parents before you
• 3:32
  Speaker 7: have long been keepers of the legend of the ship.
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: Since Jordan gave the word.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: I am anxious to hear the word as Jordan spoke it.
• 3:41
  Speaker 10: Why?
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: You see.
• 3:43
  Speaker 7: Among the young scientists, there have been some who talk
• 3:47
  Speaker 7: against the word.
• 3:48
  Speaker 10: There are regulations against such heresy.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: Some of them say the ship has no purpose. They say...
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: They say that we're here accidentally. That we have.
• 3:59
  Speaker 7: No more grace in Jordan's eyes than the most deformed
• 4:02
  Speaker 7: mutant who dwells in the highest level of the ship.
• 4:04
  Speaker 9: What shall I say to you?
• 4:08
  Speaker 7: I wish to hear the word from the mouth of
• 4:10
  Speaker 7: one who knows.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: That I may become more convinced.
• 4:15
  Speaker 9: Sit.
• 4:17
  Speaker 10: You have gift for the witness?
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: The finest tobacco. Good.
• 4:21
  Speaker 10: I will dim the light. Now, pay close attention, for
• 4:28
  Speaker 10: these are the words as my father's father's father gave
• 4:32
  Speaker 10: them to his son's son's son. This is how the
• 4:38
  Speaker 10: ship came into being. How our people were created. In
• 4:46
  Speaker 10: the beginning, there was only Jordan, thinking his lonely thoughts.
• 4:53
  Speaker 10: In the beginning, there was darkness, formless and dead. Out
• 5:00
  Speaker 10: of the loneliness came a longing. Out of the longing
• 5:05
  Speaker 10: came a vision. Out of the dream came a planning.
• 5:10
  Speaker 10: And out of the planning came decision.
• 5:13
  Speaker 11: Jordan's hand was lifted, and the ship was born. Mile
• 5:21
  Speaker 11: after mile of good compartments, tank after tank for golden corn,
• 5:28
  Speaker 11: ladder and passage, door and locker, fit for the needs
• 5:33
  Speaker 11: of the yet unborn. He looked on his work and
• 5:37
  Speaker 11: found it pleasing, meet for a race that was yet
• 5:41
  Speaker 11: to be. He thought of man, and man came into being.
• 5:47
  Speaker 11: Then Jordan checked his thought and searched for a key.
• 5:52
  Speaker 11: Man untamed would shame his maker. Man unruled would spoil
• 5:58
  Speaker 11: the plan. So Jordan made the regulations, some to speak
• 6:05
  Speaker 11: and some to listen. Order came to the ranks of men.
• 6:10
  Speaker 11: Crew he created to work at their stations. Scientists to
• 6:15
  Speaker 11: guide the plan. Over them all he created Captain made
• 6:19
  Speaker 11: him judge of the race of men.
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: Thus it was in the golden age.
• 6:34
  Speaker 9: These are the true words. As my father's father taught them.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: But what of the strange beast-like people on the upper
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: levels of the ship? Surely Jordan did not create them.
• 6:45
  Speaker 11: Jordan is perfect. All below him lack perfection. You have
• 6:49
  Speaker 11: heard of the legend of Huff?
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: I have heard that he mutinied against Jordan.
• 6:53
  Speaker 11: Darkness swallowed the ways of virtue. Sin prevailed upon the ship.
• 6:58
  Speaker 11: And before wisdom prevailed and the bodies of Huff and
• 7:01
  Speaker 11: his followers were fed into the converter... Some of the
• 7:05
  Speaker 11: rebels escaped and lived to father the mutants. They are
• 7:09
  Speaker 11: tainted with the sins of their fathers.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: One more question, witness. Speak.
• 7:14
  Speaker 9: What is the ship? The ship is a great sphere.
• 7:22
  Speaker 11: 25 kilometers wide and 100 levels deep.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: I know that, but what about the upper levels?
• 7:30
  Speaker 11: The regulations forbid us to venture into the upper levels, but...
• 7:35
  Speaker 11: It is said that beyond the levels of the mutants
• 7:39
  Speaker 11: lies the forbidden place where Jordan's spirit prevails.
• 7:46
  Speaker 7: So I've heard. But something troubles me. Something which prompted
• 7:50
  Speaker 7: my coming here.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: Yes, my son. What lies beyond the ship?
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: What?
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: What lies beyond the ship?
• 7:58
  Speaker 10: Mrs.
• 7:59
  Speaker 12: Ellison.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: Answer me. I will not permit such talk.
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: The ship is complete.
• 8:04
  Speaker 11: The ship is universal.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: The ship is everywhere. The ship is endless. Ah, your
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: mutterings are those of a frightened old man. They answer nothing.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: You question the world? I think you lie. Hear me, Mr.
• 8:14
  Speaker 11: Highland. For what you have already said, I can have
• 8:17
  Speaker 11: your body fed to the converter. Your soul launched on
• 8:21
  Speaker 11: the endless trip. You threaten me.
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: You, for Jordan's sake.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: You think I fear this dried fig of a man? You.
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: Sir, my friend is impetuous. He doesn't understand.
• 8:30
  Speaker 10: I might be persuaded to forget a substantial gift.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: You pig. Come on, Alan. The fright of this so-called
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: holy man offends me.
• 8:38
  Speaker 10: No, you shall not leave.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Mark, don't try to frighten me with a gun, old man.
• 8:42
  Speaker 11: Remain where you are, heretic.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: I warn you, put down the gun.
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: No. No closer.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Drop it.
• 8:48
  Speaker 8: Very well, then. Dip to the heretic.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: Alan, get him.
• 8:55
  Speaker 9: Is he dead?
• 8:57
  Speaker 10: I don't know.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Come on, Hugh.
• 8:59
  Speaker 6: We've got to get out of here.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Now where?
• 9:05
  Speaker 9: We can't go back.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: They'd feed us into the converter. What's that? The old
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: woman must have turned in an alarm. Come on. The
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: patrol will be here in no time.
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: Where can we go?
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: The upper levels. But the mutants. We'll have to take
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: our chances.
• 9:18
  Speaker 11: Shh.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: That's the patrol.
• 9:22
  Speaker 9: We've got to climb.
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: There's a hatchway.
• 9:24
  Speaker 9: Down the corridor, quickly.
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: Halt!
• 9:25
  Speaker 8: Halt or we fire!
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Up the ladder.
• 9:29
  Speaker 13: You wait.
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: How far are we from the outside wall?
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Judging by the slope of the deck, about two miles.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: Mutant territory. Come on, we'll try this passageway. You... What?
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: I don't know. I.
• 10:00
  Speaker 9: feel as if we're being watched.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: It's your imagination. Perhaps. It's only a ship's wreck. Get
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: a grip on yourself.
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: It was as big as a dog.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: Come on.
• 10:09
  Speaker 6: I can't drag myself much further. We've got to find
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: a compartment with water. If only you hadn't asked him
• 10:15
  Speaker 6: that stupid question.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: There's no use going over that. Why did you do it? Why?
• 10:20
  Speaker 7: Alan, I've been thinking about it for a long time.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: And when he began to give me.
• 10:24
  Speaker 6: Those stupid pat answers, well, I just saw red, I guess.
• 10:29
  Speaker 6: But who are you to question the ways of Jordan?
• 10:32
  Speaker 6: When you asked me to go with you to visit
• 10:33
  Speaker 6: the witness, I thought you wanted spiritual help.
• 10:35
  Speaker 9: I never dreamed that you.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry, Alan. I couldn't foresee this. I didn't know... Wait.
• 10:39
  Speaker 9: Wait a minute.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: Oh, what? Another shipwreck? No.
• 10:45
  Speaker 9: I thought I saw something move near that bulkhead.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: I didn't see anything.
• 10:55
  Speaker 8: You mad?
• 10:57
  Speaker 13: Alan, look out! Where am I? What are you?
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Get away from me.
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: Alan!
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Alan!
• 11:19
  Speaker 8: Look out for that knife. Stay away from me. Alan! Alan!
• 11:22
  Speaker 8: Don't kill him, Bobo.
• 11:25
  Speaker 10: Not yet.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Who are you?
• 11:29
  Speaker 8: Forgive my friend Bobo.
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: Like so many of my people, he's rather impetuous where
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: members of the so-called super race are concerned.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: Who are you? What place is this?
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: As you can guess from my leg, I'm a mutant.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: Where is Alan?
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: Your friend is dead. I was not able to restrain
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: my people in time to save him.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: Why don't you destroy me and get it over with?
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: We do not kill for pleasure, Mr. Hoyland. Only when necessary.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: You know my name?
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: I read your identification tag.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Who are you? Mutants can't read?
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: My name is Gregory. I'm a leader of my people.
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: Although we are unfortunate in our heredity, Mr. Hoyland, many
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: of us are quite intelligent.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: Why do you live like animals?
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: We would rather live like free animals and like regimented slaves,
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: as you do.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: I've heard that you practice cannibalism.
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: Undoubtedly, you hear many things about us. We raise our
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: own cattle on the upper levels, and those of our
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: people who choose to farm raise enough crops for our
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: small population. You turn your head.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: Why? This one. I've never seen a creature like him.
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: Bobo is an unfortunate. He was born without the power
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: of speech.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: How can you tolerate a monstrosity?
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: We have learned to live with difference. If we began
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: to destroy our imperfects as you do on the lower levels,
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: there would soon be no one left.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: This violates the regulations. The word of Jordan states.
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: You know, Mr. Hoyland, your people are really primitive and barbaric.
• 13:10
  Speaker 9: You dare say that to me?
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: I dare say a good deal more. Let us go
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: to my compartment and speak further. I'm always interested in
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: information of the lower levels.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: I won't give you any information.
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: Bobo, I want Mr. Hoyland in my cabin, please.
• 13:25
  Speaker 9: I advise you to go quietly, Mr.
• 13:28
  Speaker 11: Hoyland.
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: Bobo has a hatred of superior beings, which is unfortunate,
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: but quite understandable.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: Proceed.
• 13:37
  Speaker 8: Come.
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: Enter, Mr.
• 13:51
  Speaker 11: Harlan.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: This is where you live?
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 13:58
  Speaker 9: But you have books.
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: Stolen from your libraries, Mr.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Harlan.
• 14:04
  Speaker 14: Compton's Astrophysics. The Philosophy of Interstellar Navigation. Celestial Mechanics. You
• 14:13
  Speaker 14: have read these?
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: Most of them.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: Why did you bring me here? What do you intend
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: to do?
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: Do you believe in Jordan, Mr.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: Hoyland? There is no other belief.
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: And the trip? I suppose you believe in the trip, too.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Well, what else is there to believe?
• 14:33
  Speaker 7: When you die, your remains are fed to the converter
• 14:36
  Speaker 7: and your soul makes the trip.
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: And where does the trip take you?
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: Why, to Centaurus, of course.
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: And where or what is Centaurus?
• 14:46
  Speaker 7: Why, Centaurus, mind you, I'm just telling you the orthodox answers.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: Centaurus is where you arrive when you've made the trip.
• 14:53
  Speaker 7: A place where everything is happy and everybody's happy and
• 14:56
  Speaker 7: there's always good eating.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: It's mythological, of course.
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: And you believe this?
• 15:02
  Speaker 7: The peasants believe it, literally, but many of the younger
• 15:05
  Speaker 7: scientists like myself know that it's figurative, symbolic.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Why do you ask?
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: Didn't it ever occur to you, Mr. Harlan, that the
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: trip is exactly what your peasants believe it is? That
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: the ship and all the crew were actually going someplace.
• 15:22
  Speaker 11: Moving.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: The ship can't go anywhere. It already is everywhere.
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: Imagine a place bigger than the ship.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Much bigger.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: With a ship inside it. Moving inside.
• 15:33
  Speaker 7: But there can't be any place bigger than the ship.
• 15:36
  Speaker 7: There wouldn't be any place for it to be.
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: Oh, for heaven's sake.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: Listen.
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: You know the lowest level?
• 15:44
  Speaker 11: Yes.
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: If you started digging a hole in the lowest level,
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: where would that hole go?
• 15:51
  Speaker 9: Where would that hole.
• 15:52
  Speaker 8: Oh.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: No, it's forbidden to think such a thought.
• 15:56
  Speaker 9: Where would it go?
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: No. No, I can't think about it.
• 15:59
  Speaker 8: Bobo.
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: Bobo, we're going to take Mr. Hoyland to the place.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: Where are we going?
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: To the top level.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: But at certain depth.
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: Nonsense. I've been there a thousand times. Come along.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: No, I won't. You can't make me.
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: I think we can... Now, shall we proceed peacefully, or
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: shall I have Bobo persuade you?
• 16:21
  Speaker 13: Open the door, Bobo.
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: Inside.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: What place is this?
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: This, Mr. Hoyland, is the main control room.
• 16:53
  Speaker 9: Why, Mr.
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: Hoyland, you're trembling.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: It isn't true.
• 16:57
  Speaker 9: There is no such place except in mythology.
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: You younger men are so wise, Mr. Hoyland, except for
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: one thing. This happens to be the main control room
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: of the ship.
• 17:07
  Speaker 7: But it's nothing but a huge room with an instrument panel.
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: What did you expect?
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: How do you know this is the main control?
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: See these instruments? Using them, the navigator many hundreds of
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: years ago actually steered the ship on its voyage. I
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: don't understand. I didn't suppose you would. Your people have
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: been so steeped in superstition and ignorance that the whole
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: concept has lost its meaning. Sit in that chair. Don't
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: be frightened. Sit down.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: Very well. Look up.
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: What do you see?
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: Nothing but a huge shield.
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: Watch it for one moment, Mr.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: Hoyland.
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: You are going to see something that few of us
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: have ever been privileged to witness. Something so dazzling that
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: you may find it hard to accept at first.
• 17:58
  Speaker 9: But it is there.
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: It is a reality. And ultimately you must accept it.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: What are you doing?
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: I'm dimming the lights. Don't be frightened. Keep your eyes
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: focused on the shield above us.
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: Ready?
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: Ready. Watch.
• 18:17
  Speaker 9: The shield.
• 18:18
  Speaker 8: It's sliding back.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: Ghost of Jordan.
• 18:24
  Speaker 8: Well?
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: What am I seeing?
• 18:31
  Speaker 10: The universe, Mr.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: Harlan.
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: The universe in all its beauty. The stars, the planets,
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: the suns, the moons, and the constellations. This is your heritage, Mr.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: Harlan.
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: The heritage you've been too stupid to see.
• 18:55
  Speaker 9: But it can't be. The ship is the universe.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: There is nothing.
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: But the ship. Ah, but there it is. You see
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: it before your eyes, spread out like a canopy of glory.
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: You still deny it? Answer me, Mr.
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: Harlan.
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: Do you deny it?
• 19:18
  Speaker 12: No.
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: No, I can't. They lied. They lied to us. Good.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: Why did you close the shield?
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: You will see it again if you're not afraid.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: I'm not afraid.
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: Many times. I've shown this to others of your people
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: whom we captured, and though they saw it before their
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: very eyes, they would not believe it.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: Tell me about it. Tell me about the ship, about
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: the universe. What are these things? How did this come about?
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: Many thousands of years ago, on a planet like those
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: you've just seen, a planet called Earth, a scientist named
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: Jordan decided to build a ship that would carry men
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: from one planet to another. For many years, Jordan and
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: thousands of others studied and planned. And when they were finished,
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: they built the ship. A ship so large that it
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: had to be assembled in its own orbit beyond the
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: place called the moon. Sixty years it took them to construct.
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: And when it was finished, a whole new science had
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: been conceived. Then the trip was begun. The trip that
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: was to land a colony of Earth men on a
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: far-off planet called Centaurus. Millions of light-years beyond the furthest planet.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: Ever reached before. How do you know these things?
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: Among my books are the log which Jordan himself kept,
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: and the records of the journey for the first 40 years.
• 20:52
  Speaker 9: What happened?
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: There was a mutiny. A man named Huff led a
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: rebellion of those who wanted to turn back. In the struggle,
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: the navigators were killed, and the crew fell into a
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: state of anarchy. In the years to follow, small groups
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: of men tried to organize the ship for navigation, and
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: each time they failed. Finally, the whole idea was abandoned.
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: And so for centuries, we have swung in space, unmanned, undirected,
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: living in a lost world of our own making, without purpose,
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: without direction.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Why have you told me this? Why have you brought
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: me here? You could have killed me.
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: Can you guess?
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: No. No, I can't. Unless... But it would be too fantastic. Well,
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: you want to finish the trip.
• 21:51
  Speaker 9: Yes, that's it. What would it take to do it?
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: A miracle almost. The crew would have to be trained.
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: Many people, each skilled in a certain duty.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: Couldn't you train your own people?
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: We are too few. Besides, the main drive is in
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: the lower levels where my people are forbidden to go.
• 22:11
  Speaker 10: No.
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: It would mean that both our peoples would have to
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: work together. Our differences encouraged rather than denied.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: It can be done. You showed me. You can show others.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: I can show them.
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: Can you?
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: I'll see the captain himself. I have an uncle on
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: the central board. I'll tell him what I've seen here.
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: And do you think he'll believe you?
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: Send one of your people with me.
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: That's asking a good deal.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: I'm risking a good deal by going back.
• 22:33
  Speaker 11: Very well.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: Bobo will go with you.
• 22:36
  Speaker 9: He can't talk.
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: There will be no need for talk. I will write
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: a message guaranteeing safe conduct for a group of unarmed
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: scientists to visit the main control room. Bobo will take
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: you safely through our territory. What happens when you reach
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: your own level is up to you.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: One moment.
• 23:09
  Speaker 9: Yes, what do you.
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: You.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Quick, Uncle Edison.
• 23:12
  Speaker 9: But this mutant... He's harmless.
• 23:15
  Speaker 13: Please.
• 23:15
  Speaker 9: Now, what is this? You're wanted for.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: I know all about that. Listen, Uncle, I must see
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: the captain.
• 23:23
  Speaker 9: The captain? Are you mad?
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: You're a council member. You can get me to see him.
• 23:26
  Speaker 9: They'll kill you.
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: You're wanted for heresy.
• 23:28
  Speaker 8: I don't care.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: I must speak with the captain. You're close to him.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: You can arrange it.
• 23:32
  Speaker 9: I don't understand why.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: Uncle, listen to me.
• 23:35
  Speaker 9: The ship is moving.
• 23:37
  Speaker 7: I can prove it. Do you understand there is a
• 23:40
  Speaker 7: purpose in the ship?
• 23:42
  Speaker 9: I don't understand what you're babbling about.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: Never mind.
• 23:45
  Speaker 7: Just talk to the captain. Tell him I have information
• 23:47
  Speaker 7: of tremendous importance. Tell him I've arranged a truce with
• 23:51
  Speaker 7: the mutants.
• 23:52
  Speaker 9: A truce?
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: Here, show him this paper signed by their leader. Do it, Uncle,
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: for my sake.
• 23:57
  Speaker 9: I don't know. Please, Uncle.
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: If I'm to die, let this be my last request
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: to you.
• 24:04
  Speaker 9: Very well.
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: I'll speak to the captain.
• 24:08
  Speaker 9: I'll try.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: Can you say, Mr. Harlan, that you saw this with
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: your own eyes? I swear it, Captain. I swear it
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: on the word of Jordan. Let me see that paper again.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: What do you think, Commander Estes? I don't know, sir.
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: It might be a trick.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: I guarantee you, safe conduct. If these things are as Mr.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: Hoyland reports them, it would pay to risk a few lives.
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: The man is a convicted heretic.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: Still, we mustn't discount his word entirely. He has a
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: safe conduct. The mutant risked his life coming with him.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: I think we might investigate.
• 24:49
  Speaker 9: You'll do it.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: I'll have an expedition outfitted. Dismissed, Mr. Hoyland.
• 24:53
  Speaker 9: Thank you, sir.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: Captain, do you.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: Commander Erst. Set. You'll make the necessary arrangements for an expedition.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: I trust you understand. Perfectly, sir. Perfectly.
• 25:13
  Speaker 13: Lieutenant.
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: Mr.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: Hoyler. You'd better watch your men here. This is the spot.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: Patrol, halt. I see no welcoming party of mutants.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: There will be none. Their leader will meet you inside
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: the main control room.
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: You don't say. And just where is this main control room?
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: Beyond that door. I see.
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: All right, men. Ready arms.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: Why do you ready arms?
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: In case of ambush.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: Ambush? Don't you think they could have ambushed you on
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: the way up here a good deal more easily?
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: You know, Mr.
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: Hoyland, I think you're a mutie lover. They have a
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: place in the converter for that kind.
• 25:53
  Speaker 9: Lieutenant, are you mad?
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: No, Mr.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: Hoyland.
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: But most certainly you are. Think that we could be
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: lured up here to be slaughtered with a fantastic story
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: about some mythical control room.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: Guns ready, sir. Lieutenant, I warn you, these people have
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: acted in good faith. If you break that gate now.
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: Call your mutants to open the control room, Mr.
• 26:08
  Speaker 13: Harlan.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: No, not until those guns are dismounted. As leader of
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: this expedition, I order you to call them. I refuse.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: You cannot do this thing. This is no way to
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: keep a truth.
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: Very well, if you refuse.
• 26:19
  Speaker 8: Oh, there.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: Mutants. Come out. For Jordan's sake, Lieutenant.
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: Don't be quiet for company.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: Mutant!
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: Open the door!
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: Please, Jordan, don't let anything happen. Please don't.
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: It's opening.
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: Ready, men.
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: Someone's coming out.
• 26:42
  Speaker 9: Look at his leg.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: Horrible. Steady.
• 26:45
  Speaker 9: He's walking toward us.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: I can't stand this.
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: Look out!
• 26:49
  Speaker 13: Gregory!
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: No!
• 26:51
  Speaker 8: No!
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: Fools!
• 26:53
  Speaker 8: You've killed him!
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: Here come the rest of them.
• 26:55
  Speaker 8: Fire!
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: That should teach them a lesson they won't forget.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: All right, men. Inside the room.
• 27:15
  Speaker 8: Boylan, you're under arrest.
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: As a conspirator in this ambush.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Ambush, you fool.
• 27:25
  Speaker 9: You blind, stupid fool.
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: That'll be enough. Have you been inside this place before?
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: What's all this machinery?
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: These are the controls he would have used to steer
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: the ship.
• 27:36
  Speaker 9: He's gone out of his mind, Lieutenant.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: Steer the ship? Who? The leader. The one you killed.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: This ugly mutant?
• 27:45
  Speaker 7: This ugly mutant happened to be a man of true greatness.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: You're mad. Am I mad? This man had a vision
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: which could have saved you, but you chose to kill
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: him because you couldn't stand the sight of his difference
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: from you.
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: I'll not listen to these ravings.
• 27:58
  Speaker 9: Close your ears.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Shut your minds against the conscience that tells you it's
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: wrong to kill, that tells.
• 28:03
  Speaker 7: You that your need to be arrogant only proves your
• 28:05
  Speaker 7: inadequacy to yourself.
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: Shut him up. Don't listen to him, man.
• 28:07
  Speaker 11: You can't shut your ears.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: My words sting you.
• 28:10
  Speaker 12: You cannot shut your mind, and you cannot shut your eyes.
• 28:14
  Speaker 8: Don't do this.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: The roof.
• 28:19
  Speaker 8: It's moving back.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: Look.
• 28:24
  Speaker 12: Let the vision of this confound your ignorance and blind
• 28:30
  Speaker 12: your eyes. This is the heritage you've tried to stifle
• 28:35
  Speaker 12: in your own breasts.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: This is the heritage of stars and open skies.
• 28:41
  Speaker 9: For which men have yearned for centuries.
• 28:45
  Speaker 12: Try to destroy this and you will only destroy yourselves.
• 28:52
  Speaker 10: Death To the heretic.
• 28:55
  Speaker 9: Kill me if you choose.
• 28:57
  Speaker 15: But I say to you that this you cannot keep
• 29:01
  Speaker 15: from our people. That they will seek it out and
• 29:06
  Speaker 15: the ship will be manned and the ship will be.
• 29:09
  Speaker 12: Steered and there will be freedom and purpose and respect
• 29:16
  Speaker 12: for ourselves.
• 29:18
  Speaker 8: This is your heritage.
• 29:20
  Speaker 10: Look!
• 29:21
  Speaker 8: Upon the universe! Kill him!
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: Kill him!
• 29:26
  Speaker 8: Kill him!
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: Kill him!
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: You have just heard another adventure into the unknown world
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: of the future, the world of Dimension X. Today, Dimension
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: X is transcribed, Universe, written for radio by George Lefferts
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: and based on a story by Robert Heinlein. Featured in
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: the cast were Mason Adams as Hugh and Peter Capel
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: as Gregory. Your host was Norman Rose. Music by Burt Berman. Engineer,
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: Bill Chambers. Sound created by Manny Siegel, Max Russell, and
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: Wes Conant. Dimension X is produced by William Welch and
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: directed by Edward King. Ed Archie Gardner tangles with Tallulah
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: Bankhead on The Big Show.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Dimension X, Episode 42, Universe, now concludes. Good evening, and
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: thank you for joining us. Follow Old Time Sci-Fi Radio
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: for more classic science fiction broadcasts.