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Dimension X - "And the Moon Be Still as Bright" (Old Time Radio, 1950) · The 50 Greatest Old Time Radio Shows | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On September 29, 1950, NBC aired the 26th broadcast of
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Dimension X, Ray Bradbury's, and The Moon Be Still as Bright.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Adapted for radio by Ernest Kenoy and directed by Edward King,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: it follows Earth's fourth expedition to Mars after three earlier
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: missions have vanished. Alexander Scarby is Spender, an archaeologist among
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: the explorers, with Wendell Holmes as Captain Wilder. The crew
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: finds deserted Martian cities and the remains of a civilization
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: still standing around them. The Bradbury story first appeared in
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1948 and was later included in
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: the Martian Chronicles. Produced by Van Woodward, this sustaining NBC
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: broadcast was heard without commercials, with Norman Rose as narrator.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: For this late-night visit to Dimension X, here is the
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: original broadcast.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Adventures in time and space, told in future tense.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: Dimension X!
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Tonight, transcribed from Ray Bradbury's collection, The Martian Chronicles, we
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: present And the Moon Be Still as Bright. The first
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: three expeditions to Mars left Earth in a mushroom of flame,
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: arced through the atmosphere and finally dwindled to tiny specks
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: in the big eye of Mount Palomar Telescope, and then
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: were lost to sight forever. the prearranged landing signals flashed
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: back to Earth. And then the radios went dead. One
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: after the other, ships had disappeared and were never heard
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: from again. But still the rockets came. The fourth expedition
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: emerged from the silent gulfs of space and angled down
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: toward the floating red.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: Disc of Mars, down into an orbit as the order
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: came to land.
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: Stand by for deceleration.
• 2:20
  Speaker 5: Deceleration, aye, sir.
• 2:22
  Speaker 6: Skids down.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: Skids down, sir.
• 2:27
  Speaker 6: Engine room.
• 2:28
  Speaker 7: Engine room, aye.
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: Landing procedure, fire one, three, and five.
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: Aye, sir.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: The last blast of the bow jets broke red against
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: the blue desert sands, and the ship slid to a
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: halt at the edge of a vast city that reflected the.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: Icy glare of the moonlight. For a while, all was still.
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: All right, Parkeel.
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: Open the airlock.
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: Aye, sir.
• 3:15
  Speaker 6: Fresh air.
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: How about a fire, Captain Wilder?
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: It's freezing.
• 3:19
  Speaker 6: Later.
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: We got work to do.
• 3:21
  Speaker 8: Smell that air. You could get drunk on it. Say,
• 3:26
  Speaker 8: there's an idea. Why don't we break out a bottle
• 3:29
  Speaker 8: and celebrate?
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: Biggs, there'll be no drinking until we're secured.
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: But we're landed, Captain.
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: Three other expeditions landed and disappeared within 24 hours. We're
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: not relaxing security until we find out what happened to them.
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: Maybe Martians?
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: Exactly, Pargill. Splendor, you're an archaeologist. How old would you
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: say those buildings are? Somebody built these cities?
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: I can't tell till I study them more closely. It's
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: the kind of engineering we couldn't duplicate on Earth. Those thin,
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: reed-like towers and the stone filigree wouldn't stand up under
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: Earth pressure. Beautiful, aren't they?
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: I'm not interested in the architecture now. I want to
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: make sure there's nothing there that might be dangerous. Mr.
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: Hathaway.
• 4:11
  Speaker 8: Yes, sir.
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: I want you to take a reconnaissance party into the
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: city and find out what's there. The cities all look
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: dead from the air, sir. They look dead, but I
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: want to make sure.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Mr.
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: Spender, you better go with Hathaway.
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: Yes, sir.
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: Don't waste any time gathering relics, either. You can make
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: an archaeological study later. Right now, I want a security report.
• 4:28
  Speaker 6: Biggs?
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: Yes, sir.
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: We'll set up camp right here. No man is to
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: go more than 50 feet from the rocket. And there'll
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: be no celebration until Hathaway and his party report back.
• 4:37
  Speaker 8: No, sir.
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: It's just that we've been cooped up in there.
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: That's all, Biggs. We've landed safely. We're not safe yet.
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: Not until we know what we're up against here. We'll
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: maintain full security until Hathaway gets back.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: In the sea bottoms, the wind stirred along faint vapors.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: and from the mountain's great stone visages looked upon the
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: silvery rocket and the small fire.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: The sky was black overhead as.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: The two racing moons threw knife-edge double shadows on the desert.
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: All right, come and get it, chow. What you got
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: to eat, Cherokee? Sawdust, smothered in cold lamb fat. Good,
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: I thought it was something I couldn't eat. Hey, you guys,
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: pipe down. Captain.
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: Mr.
• 5:37
  Speaker 7: Hathaway's back.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: Captain.
• 5:38
  Speaker 6: Captain Wilder.
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: Over here, Mr. Hathaway.
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: Well?
• 5:42
  Speaker 6: Most of the city is dead, sir. Spender says it's
• 5:45
  Speaker 6: been dead a good many thousand years. But we found
• 5:48
  Speaker 6: one part about a mile over.
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: What about it?
• 5:50
  Speaker 6: People were living in it last week, sir.
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: People? Martians. I see.
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: Where are they now?
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: Dead.
• 5:58
  Speaker 5: We found the bodies. Thousands of bodies. Hadn't been dead
• 6:01
  Speaker 5: more than ten days.
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: What did they die of?
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: You won't believe it.
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: What killed them?
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: Chicken pox. Chicken pox? Yes, I made tests. It worked
• 6:09
  Speaker 5: differently on Martians than on Earth people. Burned them black
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: and dried them out to brittle flakes.
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: But where could they get chicken pox?
• 6:16
  Speaker 6: From Earth, sir.
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: And the other rockets did get through? Yes, sir.
• 6:20
  Speaker 6: I don't know what the Martians did to them, but
• 6:22
  Speaker 6: I sure know what they did to the Martians. Gave
• 6:24
  Speaker 6: them chicken pox and wiped them out. They just didn't
• 6:27
  Speaker 6: have any resistance to an Earth disease.
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: There aren't any of them left?
• 6:31
  Speaker 6: There won't be any. When a thing like that starts spreading, sir,
• 6:34
  Speaker 6: there's no stopping it anywhere. It's a thousand to one
• 6:36
  Speaker 6: that's killed them all. This planet is through.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: Incredible.
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: Think of it, Captain. A dirty, silly child's disease like
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: chicken pox. It isn't right.
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: Spender, take it easy.
• 6:49
  Speaker 5: It's like saying the Greeks died of mumps or the
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: proud Roman Empire collapsed because of athlete's foot. We didn't
• 6:55
  Speaker 5: even give them a decent excuse for dying. We just
• 6:57
  Speaker 5: gave them chicken pox.
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: Spender, get a hold of yourself.
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: We didn't see those bodies, Captain.
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: Must have been a shock, I suppose. You need a rest.
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: A little relaxation. Martians are dead. There's nothing you can
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: do about it now. Hey, you hear that?
• 7:11
  Speaker 6: The Martians are all dead.
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: Well, come on.
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: Let's break out a bottle and open up. How about it, Captain?
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: Well, all right, man.
• 7:19
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: Hathaway, see to the security guard.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir.
• 7:25
  Speaker 5: Good Lord, do they have to do that now?
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: It's been a tough trip. It's only natural they'd want
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: to celebrate a little.
• 7:30
  Speaker 5: Celebrate because the world died because a rotten little virus
• 7:33
  Speaker 5: from Earth wiped out a whole civilization?
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: Well, they're not thinking of that.
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: Isn't it time later to throw old beer cans into
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: the canals? A civilization died here. It's like butchering a
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: pig in a churchyard.
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: Friend, you think too much. We're lucky to get to
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: Mars without catching a meteor in our bulkheads. Let it
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: go at that.
• 7:49
  Speaker 6: Save on Mars.
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: The first statement, save on Mars.
• 7:53
  Speaker 6: We gotta celebrate.
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: Yahoo!
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Many bottles were opened and drunk. The voices got louder.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: The earth laughs and shouts, echoing across the empty Martian sands.
• 8:10
  Speaker 8: There was a time in New York when I ran
• 8:13
  Speaker 8: into that blonde.
• 8:15
  Speaker 5: Boy, what a blonde. Listen, the first thing she said....
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: Spender listened to the wind over his ears, cool and whispering.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: He felt the land getting cooler. The stars drew closer,
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: very clear. The air smelled clean and new. He looked
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: at the cool ice of the white Martian buildings over
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: there on the empty sea lands.
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: What a woman.
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: What a woman. Hey, what do we do with these
• 8:52
  Speaker 5: empty bottles?
• 8:53
  Speaker 6: Save them.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: There's a two-cent deposit.
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: Throw them away.
• 8:57
  Speaker 6: Wait.
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: How about that building? Do the one for a buck,
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: I can heat one right through that window. You're right.
• 9:05
  Speaker 5: Here goes.
• 9:08
  Speaker 8: Double or nothing on the next shot?
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: Put that bottle down, Figgs.
• 9:14
  Speaker 6: Who's that?
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: Mr.
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: Spender? Stop smashing those windows. What's the difference? The planet's
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: ours now. I guess I can do anything with it
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: that I want. Drop that bottle or I'll knock your
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: teeth out.
• 9:25
  Speaker 6: Yeah?
• 9:26
  Speaker 5: Just watch me.
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: I warned you, big head.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Spender!
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: Spender, what is this?
• 9:38
  Speaker 6: I hit him.
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: He's crazy, Captain. He just walked up and slugged me.
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: Beggs wasn't doing nothing.
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: All right, let go of him. You men go back
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: to your party. Spender, come with me. Spender, suppose you explain.
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: What was the idea?
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: Oh, the noise, the drunken brawl. I guess I was
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: ashamed of the spectacle the whole crew was making. Where's
• 10:01
  Speaker 5: their respect for what's happened? Their sense of what's right?
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: Men are tired. It's been a long trip. You've got
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: a different way of seeing things.
• 10:08
  Speaker 5: I'm seeing things all right. I'm seeing how we'll ruin Mars.
• 10:11
  Speaker 5: We'll rip it up, rip the skin off the way
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: we've already ruined Earth. We Earthmen have a talent for
• 10:17
  Speaker 5: ruining big, beautiful things.
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: Is that why you hit bigs?
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: Yes, I couldn't stand the idea of them watching us
• 10:22
  Speaker 5: make fools of ourselves.
• 10:23
  Speaker 6: Them?
• 10:24
  Speaker 5: The Martians.
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: The Martians? They're dead. All dead.
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: They know we're here. Doesn't an old thing always know
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: when a new thing comes? We've come a long way
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: to smash their windows and spit in their wine.
• 10:38
  Speaker 6: Maybe you're right.
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: I'm fining you $ 50 for that fight. Now suck in
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: your shins. We'll go back there and play happy.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: Now the whole party moved out into the moonlight across
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: the desert. They made their way into the dreaming dead city.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: The light of the racing twin moons glinted on the
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: barrel of a pistol. The long blade of a machete.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: The round, gurgling shape of a raised bottle. Their shadows
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: under them were double shadows on the ice-blue sand... They
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: were waiting, waiting for something to stir in the dead city,
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: something to rise, some ancient ancestral shape to come galloping
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: across the vacant sea bottom on an ancient armored steed
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: of impossible lineage of unbelievable derivation.
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: Look at it, Captain. Down those avenues in the mist.
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: You can almost see them.
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: The mind's eye populated the dead city.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: Each window was given a person who leaned from it
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: and waved slowly, as if under some timeless water, at
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: some moving form in the fathoms of space below the
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: moon-silvered towers. There were faint murmurs of sound, and odd
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: animals scurrying across the gray-red sands. The wind blew in
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: from the dead sea bottom and brushed through the silvery
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: wire filigree of the towers. Strange music drifted down to
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: the double-shadowed streets, a thin, haunted music that played as
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: it had played through the uncounted.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: Years of time.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Nobody moved. The moons held and froze them. The wind
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: beat slowly around them.
• 12:19
  Speaker 6: Hey, out there!
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: You people in the city!
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Thanks.
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: Why, I just wanted to make a little noise.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: Come on.
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: They built this city thousands of years ago. And now
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: where are they? How did they die? Who cares? They're dead.
• 12:37
  Speaker 5: It's good enough for me. Lord Byron.
• 12:41
  Speaker 7: What?
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: Lord Byron, an old 19th century poet. He wrote a
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: poem that fits this city. Might have been written by
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: the last Martian. So we'll go no more a-roving so
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: late into the night. Though the heart be still as
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: loving and the moon be still as bright. For the
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: sword outwears the sheath and the soul outwears its breast.
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: And the heart must pause to breathe and love itself
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: must rest. Though the night was made for loving and
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: the day returns too soon, yet will go no more
• 13:20
  Speaker 5: a roving by the light of the moon.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Without a word, the earth men stood in the center
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: of the city It was a clear night.
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: There was not a sound except the music of the wind.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: At their feet lay a tile court worked into the
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: shapes of ancient animals and images. They stood there, silvered
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: by the double moons beneath the crystal towers of Mars.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: Then Biggs was sick, and the sour stench of liquor
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: filled the cool air. The men of Earth had come
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: to Mars, and Spender turned and walked away into the
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: city Alone in the moonlight, never once stopping to look.
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: Back.
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: That you, Hathaway?
• 14:26
  Speaker 6: Yes, sir. My trick on the watch, sir.
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: What time is it?
• 14:32
  Speaker 6: 0-400. Any orders, sir?
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: No, I'll stay on watch. You turn in.
• 14:38
  Speaker 6: Aren't you sleeping, sir? I'll wait for Spender. He didn't
• 14:42
  Speaker 6: come in?
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: No.
• 14:43
  Speaker 6: He's crazy. Walking away into the shadows, he didn't even
• 14:47
  Speaker 6: look back.
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: Spender's a strange man.
• 14:49
  Speaker 6: He's crazy, sir. How's the rest of the crew? Sleeping
• 14:53
  Speaker 6: it off. Biggs had DTs, but he's calmed down now.
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: You can go back below, Hathaway.
• 14:58
  Speaker 6: I'll take your watch. Captain Wilder. Do you think Spendl
• 15:03
  Speaker 6: will be coming in before morning?
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 15:07
  Speaker 6: You know, sir, I don't think he's ever coming back.
• 15:12
  Speaker 6: That's the way I feel about him, sir. He'll never
• 15:15
  Speaker 6: come back.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: It was a morning that might have been a Monday,
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: or a Tuesday, or any day on Mars. Biggs was
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: on the canal rim, his feet hung down in the
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: cool water soaking, while he took the sun in his face.
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: What are you doing back here, Biggs?
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: Didn't you go out with the search party? Yeah, I
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: come back. I got a blister.
• 15:46
  Speaker 6: Sure, sure.
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: What do you mean?
• 15:49
  Speaker 6: Look.
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: Look, Cherokee, see that? Anyway, I had enough searching. Four
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: days hunting for that screwball spender. Didn't find him yet, huh? Nah,
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: good riddance. Oh, my feet. I'm gonna soak them good.
• 16:06
  Speaker 8: If I was wild, I wouldn't worry about that nut spender.
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: Let him go. He's a crackpot anyway.
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: A little foggy upstairs, I guess.
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: Why don't you take your feet out of that canal, Biggs?
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: I gotta make coffee out of that water.
• 16:20
  Speaker 5: Coffee? You call that stuff coffee?
• 16:24
  Speaker 8: I had a motorcycle once that dripped grease that tasted
• 16:27
  Speaker 8: better than that.
• 16:27
  Speaker 6: Hey, wait a minute.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: Biggs, look over there.
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: Where?
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: By that bush. There's someone there.
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: Hey. It's him. Hey, Spender.
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: Spender?
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: Hey, he's coming over.
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: Why didn't he stay lost, the crazy jerk?
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: Hi, Spender. Long time no see.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: Hello, Cherokee.
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: I've been exploring some ruins. You and them ruins. You're
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: like a dog in a bone yard. What's the matter?
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: Where you been? Up in the hills. What would you
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: say if I told you I found a Martian?
• 17:09
  Speaker 6: Where?
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: Never mind. Let me ask you a question. How would
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: you feel if you were a Martian and people came
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: to your land and started to tear it up?
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: I know how I'd feel.
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: I've got Cherokee blood in me. My grandfather told me
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: lots of things about the way they kicked the Indians
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: around in the Oklahoma Territory. If there's any Martian around,
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: I'm all for him. How about you, Biggs?
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: They're dead.
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: They're all dead. A good thing, too. Well, I found
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: a Martian up in a dead town in the hills.
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: I've been reading their books. They're easy to understand. I've
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: learned their language. Then I found this Martian. He said,
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: give me your boots, and I did. He said, give
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: me your uniform, and I gave him my uniform. You're crazy, Spender. Hey, Cherokee,
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: he's crazy. And the Martian said, give me your gun,
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: and I gave him my gun. And then he said,
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: come along and watch what happens. And the Martian walked
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: down into camp, and he's here now.
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: I don't see no Martian.
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: I'm the last Martian.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: What?
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: Biggs, I'm going to kill you.
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: Cut it out.
• 18:06
  Speaker 8: What kind of a lousy joke is that? Stand up
• 18:10
  Speaker 8: and take it. Hey, put that gun away, Spender.
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: Cut it, Spender.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Don't.
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: Put that gun away.
• 18:17
  Speaker 5: You're joking. You're kidding, huh? Spender.
• 18:26
  Speaker 6: He's dead. Killed him.
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: You can come with me, Cherokee. You know how the
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: Martians would feel. You can be in this with me.
• 18:34
  Speaker 6: You killed him. You just killed him.
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: He deserved it.
• 18:39
  Speaker 6: You're crazy.
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: Maybe I am. But you can come with me.
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: Come with you? For what?
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: Go on, go on. Get out of here, you crazy murderer.
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: All of them. I thought you'd understand. I thought you'd
• 18:50
  Speaker 5: remember what happened to your own people.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: You get out of here, you crazy murderer.
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: Don't reach for that gun.
• 18:57
  Speaker 6: Spender.
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: Spender.
• 19:00
  Speaker 8: Spender.
• 19:10
  Speaker 6: They're both dead, Captain Wilder.
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: Who's missing?
• 19:13
  Speaker 6: Only Spender. It must have been him, sir.
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: Why didn't he come and talk to me? Why didn't he.
• 19:19
  Speaker 5: He should have talked to me. I'd have shut his
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: brains out.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: That's what I'd have done.
• 19:23
  Speaker 6: He took them by surprise. There's no sign of a struggle.
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: Hathaway, break out the arms locker. Issue pistols, rifles, and grenades.
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: Yes, sir.
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: You better get the Bible out of the navigation chest.
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: We'll have to bury these two. Park Hill. Aye, sir.
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: You start digging a grave.
• 19:36
  Speaker 6: How about Spender?
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: We'll have to go up in the hills and find him.
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: Just let me at him with my bare hands. Crazy
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: murdering louse.
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: That's enough, Parkhill. The man is sick. He must be.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: Sick my eye.
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: Now grab a shovel.
• 19:52
  Speaker 6: Start digging.
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: Spender saw the thin dust rising in the valley, and
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: he knew the pursuit was beginning. The sun burned farther
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: up the sky, and the blue sand drifted lazily across
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: the sea bottom below. He sat beside a quiet pool,
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: ten thousand years old, and held a silver book. Through
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: the house played the strange wind music of ancient Mars,
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: and he heard voices whisper in his mind.
• 20:29
  Speaker 8: Earthman, Earthman.
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: I hear you.
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: I've always heard you, even down there on Earth. I won't.
• 20:37
  Speaker 5: What's the use? What for? To see them tear down
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: your temples and put up hot dog stands? They've seen me.
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: They know I'm up here. There's Wiley now. Got him
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: right in my sights. Funny he hasn't ordered me to
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: use grenades. He could lob one right up here and
• 20:58
  Speaker 5: blow me to bits. And maybe the captain thinks I'm
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: too nice to be blown to bits. He wants my
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: death to be clean. Yeah, just one bullet hole in me,
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: nothing messy. And why? Because he understands me. He's the
• 21:12
  Speaker 5: only one in the crew who ever did. Well, at
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: least I can do the same for him. Just one
• 21:18
  Speaker 5: bullet in his heart, a nice clean check. All I
• 21:20
  Speaker 5: have to do is pull the trigger and then.
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: It's no use.
• 21:29
  Speaker 5: I can't do it to him.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Vander!
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: Vander!
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: Spender, can you hear me, Spender? I hear you, Captain.
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: What do you want?
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: Talk.
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: Truce.
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: All right, come on up. Leave your gun down there
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: and keep your hands up.
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: Spender, are you there?
• 21:52
  Speaker 7: Over here.
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: It's quite a climb. Mind if I sit down?
• 22:05
  Speaker 6: Cigarette?
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: Thanks.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: Light?
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: Yeah, got my own.
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: It's warm.
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: It is.
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: You comfortable up here in the hills?
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: Quite. How long do you think you can hold out?
• 22:24
  Speaker 5: About 12 minutes worth.
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: Why didn't you kill all of us this morning when
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: you had the chance? You could have.
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: I know. I got sick. After I started killing people,
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: I realized they were just fools and I shouldn't be
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: killing them. It was too late, so I came up
• 22:43
  Speaker 5: here where I could get angry again.
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: Why did you do it?
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: Because I've seen what... I've seen that what these Martians
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: had was just as good as anything we'll ever hope
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: to have. They stopped where we should have stopped a
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: hundred years ago. They knew how to combine science and
• 22:57
  Speaker 5: art and religion. They knew how to live with dignity
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: and peace.
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: And for that reason, you started shooting people?
• 23:03
  Speaker 5: When I was a kid, my folks took me to
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: visit Mexico City. I'll always remember the way my father acted,
• 23:08
  Speaker 5: loud and big. My mother didn't like the people because
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: they were dark and didn't wash enough. I didn't see
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: my mother and my father coming to Mars and acting
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: the same way. Anything that's strange is no good to us.
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: We aren't fit to take over this planet.
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: But kill two men.
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: What could I do?
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: It's me against the whole Earth. Isn't it enough they've
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: ruined one planet? Now they want to ruin this one.
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: I'll kill you all off, Wilder. That'll delay the next
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: rocket five years. And I'll kill them, too. I'm lucky
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: I live to be 60. I'll meet every expedition that
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: lands on Mars. I'll be very friendly. I'll explain that
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: our rocket blew up one day. And I'll kill them off.
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: I'll save Mars for half a century. And by then,
• 23:59
  Speaker 5: maybe the Earth people will give up.
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: You got it all planned.
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: Yet you're outnumbered. We already have you surrounded. In an hour,
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: you'll be dead.
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: I found an underground passage that'll take me back into
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: the hills, Wyler. I'll go back there, and then I'll
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: pick you off one by one.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: We'll see.
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: It's a nice town you got here, Spender.
• 24:28
  Speaker 6: Beautiful.
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: I'd like to live here.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: You can.
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: But join me. You're not like them. I... I'll show
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: you what a good life these people had. I'll play
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: you an old reel of Martian music that must be
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: at least 50,000 years old, a kind of music you've
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: never heard in your life.
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: That sounds wonderful. But I can't stay with you. Sorry, Spender.
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: I'm sorry this is happening.
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: I guess you'd better go back now so you can
• 24:56
  Speaker 5: start your attack.
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: I guess so.
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: Captain, I... I won't kill you. When it's all over,
• 25:05
  Speaker 5: you'll still be alive. Then maybe you'll change your mind.
• 25:08
  Speaker 7: No.
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: There's too much earth blood in me. I may even
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: agree with you about all this. But that doesn't change
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: what I've got to do.
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: You won't stay?
• 25:19
  Speaker 6: No.
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: This is your last chance, Spender. You're sick.
• 25:25
  Speaker 6: Come along with me quietly.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: No.
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: Look.
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: One last thing. If you win... Do me a favor.
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: Try to see that they don't tear this planet apart. Right.
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: If it helps, just think of me as a very
• 25:46
  Speaker 5: crazy fellow who went berserk one summer day. It'll be
• 25:49
  Speaker 5: easier on you that way.
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: I'll think it over.
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: So long, Spender.
• 25:56
  Speaker 5: Bye, Captain. Good luck.
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: All right, we'll go after him now. Hathaway, you take
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: the right. I'll lead on the left. You have to
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: kill him. He won't come down. Make it a clean
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: shot if you can. Get it over with.
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: I'll blow his bloody brains out.
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: No, Park Hill.
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: His bloody brains.
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: You heard what I said. Through the heart. Now let's
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: go get him.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: They spread out again, walking and then running on the
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: hot hillside places. where there would be sudden cool grottos
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: that smelled of moss, and sudden open blasting places that
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: smelled of sun on stone. The men ran and ducked,
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: and ran and squatted in the shadows. Captain Wilder hugged
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: the rock warmed by the sun. He gasped that the
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: air was thin and not meant for running. Spender lay
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: at the top of the hill, and a gap in
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: the rocks showed the white of his shirt against the shadows.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: Wilder looked at the towers of the little clean Martian
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: village like sharply carved chess pieces lying in the afternoon.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: He saw the rocks and the interval between where Spender's
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: chest was revealed.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: Go on, Spender, get out.
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: You've only got a few seconds to escape. Get out
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: to the caves and come back later. Go now, Spender,
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: or I've got to end it. I've got to think
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: I'm right and pull the trigger.
• 27:30
  Speaker 5: Go now. Get out.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: I'll get him.
• 27:32
  Speaker 5: Slug in the head.
• 27:33
  Speaker 6: I'll blow his bloody face.
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: No, Park Hill, put down that gun. I've got to
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: do this myself.
• 27:41
  Speaker 6: Spender. Why didn't you get out?
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: Why?
• 27:49
  Speaker 5: Why?
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: They buried him in that ancient valley town where the
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: music of the wind played on through the days and
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: the nights. They laid him in an ancient silver sarcophagus
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: with waxes and wines which were 10,000 years old his
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: hands folded on his chest. The last they saw of
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: him was his peaceful face in the cold silver light
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: of the racing twin moons. The captain found the poem
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: in Spender's pocket, and he read it before he shut
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: the marble door.
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: So we'll go no more a-roving, so late into the night,
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: though the heart be still as loving, and the moon
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: be still as bright. though the night was made for loving,
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: and the day returns too soon.
• 28:43
  Speaker 6: Yet we'll go no more a-roving.
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: By the light of the moon.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: The next afternoon, Parkhill did some target practice in one
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: of the dead cities, shooting out the crystal windows and blowing.
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: The tops off the fragile towers.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: Captain Wilder caught Parkhill and nearly knocked his teeth out.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: All of you regular listeners to Dimension X will be
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: interested to know that our show is changing its day
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: and time of broadcast over this station. Starting early in November,
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: we'll be back at the new time. We suggest you
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: watch your local newspaper and be sure to join us
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: in a four weeks for a new series of adventures
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: into the unknown world of tomorrow, the world of.
• 29:47
  Speaker 7: Dimension X! Tonight, Dimension X is transcribed, and the moon
• 29:58
  Speaker 7: be still as bright. Adapted for radio by Ernest Canoy
• 30:01
  Speaker 7: from the original story by Ray Bradbury. Featured in the
• 30:04
  Speaker 7: cast were Alexander Scorby as Spender, Wendell Holmes as Captain Wilder,
• 30:09
  Speaker 7: and your host and narrator for the story, Norman Rose.
• 30:12
  Speaker 7: Music by Albert Berman, engineer Bill Chambers. Dimension X is
• 30:16
  Speaker 7: directed by Edward King. This is Robert Warren speaking. Enjoy
• 30:28
  Speaker 7: the life of Riley with William Bendix next Friday on NBC.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: Dimension X and Ray Bradbury's and the moon be still
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: as bright now fade from the dial.
• 30:46
  Speaker 5: Good night.