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X Minus One - "At the Post" (Old Time Radio, 1957) · X Minus One | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: August 15, 1957 brought NBC Radio episode 107 of X-1
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: at the Post. Adapted by Ernest Kenoy from a story
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: by H.L. Gold, it follows New York race handicapper Clocker
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Locke as he searches for meaning in the repeated actions
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: of his institutionalized wife Zelda and other patients. The broadcast
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: revisits a script heard earlier that year with a different
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: cast for this performance. From the NBC sustaining series X-1,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: here is At The Post. And now, the original broadcast.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Countdown for blastoff.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: X-5, 4, 3, 2, X-1, fire.
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: From the far horizons of the unknown come tales of
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: new dimensions in time and space.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: These are stories of the future.
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: Adventures in which you'll live in a million could-be years
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: on a thousand maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company, in
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, presents X-Minus-One.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: Tonight, At the Post by H.L.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: Gold.
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: When I come into the Blue Ribbon on 49th Street
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: west of Broadway, I could tell right away nobody told
• 2:05
  Speaker 5: Doc Hawkins about my misfortune. Doc, who ain't one really,
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: writes a daily medical column for the racing forum and
• 2:12
  Speaker 5: we're celebrating his being sprung from the alcoholic ward. He
• 2:16
  Speaker 5: got one look at me and he choked on a
• 2:18
  Speaker 5: piece of gefilte fish.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: What happened? What happened? Look at that. Clocker's become a character.
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: Now, lay off, Doc.
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: Look at that, a gray flannel suit, a black tie. Clocker,
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: where is your purple and green checked sports jacket? Where
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: are your two-tone suede shoes? Why, you've become a character.
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: That was Zelda's idea. She wanted to make a gentleman
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: out of me.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Wanted to?
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: Why, you two kids got married just before they took, uh,
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: my steaks away.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Don't tell me you've, uh, flipped already?
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: You don't know, Doc?
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: No.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: What happened?
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: Well, it was right after you tried to take the
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: warts off the fire hydrant that Zelda started hearing voices.
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: It got real bad.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: How bad?
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: Well, she's at Glendale Center upstate. I just came back
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: from visiting.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Well, did the psychiatrist give you a diagnosis?
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I got it memorized. Catatonia dementia precox.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Oh, rough. Very rough. The outlook is never good in
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: such cases.
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: Maybe they can't help her, but I will.
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: Now, Clocker, you're a race handicapper. You run the best
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: tip sheet on Broadway. But people are not horses. You've
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: got to think of your public. For instance, what's good
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: at Hialeah, huh? My bar bill is about to be
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: foreclosed and I can use a long shot.
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: Those couch artists don't know what's wrong with Zelda. I do.
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: You do?
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: Well, almost. I'm so close I can hear the finish
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: line camera clicking.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Now, that's very interesting.
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: Perhaps we can collaborate on an article for the psychiatric journal.
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: All right, look. Look at these charts. Look, here, here.
• 3:52
  Speaker 5: I use the same system I use to dope the races. Look,
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: Zelda's got catatonic. She used to be a hoofer before
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: we got married, and now she does time steps all day.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Stereotype movements are typical of catatonia.
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: You don't get it. She does time steps. The first
• 4:07
  Speaker 5: thing you learn in hoofing, over and over. Ten or
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: fifteen hours a day. And she keeps talking like she's
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: giving lessons to some jerk kid who can't get it straight.
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: And I hear when these catatonics pull out, they don't
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: remember much or maybe nothing.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: Protective amnesia.
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: They work harder and longer at what they're doing than
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: they ever did when they were regular citizens. And they
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: don't get a red cent for it.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: I beg your pardon?
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: I said they were getting stiff. Anybody who works that
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: hard ought.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: To get paid. I, uh, don't understand what you're getting at.
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: What are they knocking themselves out for if it's for free? Doc,
• 4:38
  Speaker 5: I tell you, I miss that mouse. I gotta save her.
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: She can't see or hear us, but she can sure
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: see or hear something. And I'm gonna dope her.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Parker, it's too much for you.
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: Too much for me, huh? Who was it said Warlock
• 4:50
  Speaker 5: had turned into a dog in his third year? Who
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: was it had seven winners the opening day at Belmont?
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: You take my word for it, Doc. I'll beat this
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: schizophrenia handicap... I hadn't been paying much attention to my
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: tip sheet while I was doping a catatonia touch. I
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: tell you, I missed Zelda. I missed the bobby pins
• 5:16
  Speaker 5: on the floor and the nylon stuck on the shower rack.
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: The toothpaste tube squeezed from the top. I had to
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: get her back somehow. Next day, I took a cab
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: and went out to that place. Sat in the room
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: and watched her dance.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Oh, it was something.
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: Because Zelda was worth watching, even with her eyes blank
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: and her feet shuffling through that simple time step.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Mr. Locke, visiting time is almost up.
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: All right, all right. Zelda, listen, Zelda. How long can
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: they take to learn a time step?
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: She can't hear you.
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: Look, kid, I don't know who these squares are that
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: you're working for, but tell them if they take you,
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: they gotta take me too, you hear? I had an
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: idea now. I had it doped that Zelda was showing
• 5:59
  Speaker 5: them how to dance, whoever they are. And the only
• 6:02
  Speaker 5: way I could spring her was to find out who
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: was controlling her and what they were after. The first
• 6:06
  Speaker 5: step was to get them interested in me, in what
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: I know about racing, doping horses. So I stood there
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: next to Zelda and I started to talk. Now the
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: first thing you gotta figure is bloodlines. You take a horse,
• 6:17
  Speaker 5: you gotta know back maybe four or five generations on
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: both sides. Then you gotta know where the coat was folded,
• 6:23
  Speaker 5: what time of year, because all horses are one year
• 6:26
  Speaker 5: old on the first of January. And there's confirmation. Train.
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: You take a horse with good bloodlines, break him in
• 6:32
  Speaker 5: in a spring on a hard train and surface track,
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: and the first thing you know, you've got a horse
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: with a shin splint. Oh, they may cover it up,
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: but if you know what's there... I once knew a
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: horse ran in Hialeah who was scared of flamingos. Had
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: a fine record at Gulfstream and Bowie. But when he
• 6:46
  Speaker 5: got down to Hialeah and got one look at the flamingos,
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: he wouldn't run for beans.
• 6:49
  Speaker 6: Mr.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Locke, are you all right?
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: Shut up, I'm busy. You bet on a horse that's
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: scared of flamingos at Hialeah and you're gonna come in
• 6:55
  Speaker 5: with your tail between your legs. I kept coming back
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: every day. I'd just sit there next to Zelda while
• 7:11
  Speaker 5: she did a time step and I'd talk about horses.
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: Over and over. And then finally, finally I started to
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: hear voices. Locker!
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: Locker!
• 7:22
  Speaker 6: Locker! This way, clocker, come this way.
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: This way, clocker.
• 7:33
  Speaker 6: Come on now, come with me.
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: Like it was a fog, I could see the attendant
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: in his white coat, asking me questions, and I couldn't
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: hear him. I knew I just kept on talking about
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: the horses. And then suddenly I wasn't there. I was
• 7:48
  Speaker 5: somewhere else. I was in a big square, and the
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: buildings looked like the new Roosevelt Raceway. All modern. Or
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: maybe like the world's fair. There were threes and statues.
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: And there were hundreds of people standing around and they
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: all looked scared. There was a little man with bifocals
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: and a vest with pins and needles in it standing
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: next to me. He looked scared. But I knew it
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: had worked. I was on my way to Zelda.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: How did I get here?
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Excuse me, mister.
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: How did I get here?
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: I can't take time for pleasure trips. I've got a
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: customer coming in tomorrow for a fitting. She'll positively murder
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: me if her dress isn't ready.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: She can't murder you.
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: Not anymore. You mean we're dead? Don't ask me, but
• 8:28
  Speaker 5: I don't think you're dead. That much I can tell you.
• 8:35
  Speaker 5: Some of the people in the crowd were complaining they
• 8:37
  Speaker 5: had families to take care of, while others were worried
• 8:39
  Speaker 5: about leaving their businesses. And they all grew quiet when
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: a man climbed up on a big platform in front.
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: He was a very tall and dignified guy, and he
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: had formal clothes and a white beard like the chief
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: mourner at a politician's funeral.
• 8:53
  Speaker 7: Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, please feel at ease.
• 8:57
  Speaker 6: You are not in any danger. No harm will come
• 9:00
  Speaker 6: to you.
• 9:01
  Speaker 7: If you will listen carefully to this orientation lecture, you
• 9:04
  Speaker 7: will know where you.
• 9:05
  Speaker 6: Are and why.
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: What is it? I don't understand.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: It's a pitch.
• 9:10
  Speaker 7: Friends, I know you are puzzled at all this. Now
• 9:13
  Speaker 7: let me explain. You've been chosen, yes, carefully screened and selected...
• 9:19
  Speaker 7: to help us in what is undoubtedly the greatest cause...
• 9:22
  Speaker 7: of all history. You will learn more about it as
• 9:25
  Speaker 7: we work together in this vast and noble experiment.
• 9:29
  Speaker 5: What experiment?
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: What is it?
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: I got it picked. This is a pitch. These guys
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: are out for something. Smells like a con.
• 9:36
  Speaker 6: Let me state this in its simplest terms.
• 9:39
  Speaker 7: Now, you know that there are billions of stars in
• 9:42
  Speaker 7: the universe and that the stars have planets.
• 9:45
  Speaker 6: A good many of these planets are inhabited. In almost
• 9:48
  Speaker 6: all instances.
• 9:50
  Speaker 7: The dominant form of life is quite different from yours.
• 9:54
  Speaker 7: I am not of your planet or solar system. I
• 9:57
  Speaker 7: am not formed as you see me. My true appearance
• 10:01
  Speaker 7: would seem to be rather confusing to human eyes.
• 10:05
  Speaker 5: Nuts. Get to the point.
• 10:06
  Speaker 6: The truth is, we are not here. And neither are you.
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: Here is a projection of thought. A hypothetical point in space.
• 10:17
  Speaker 7: A place that exists only by mental force.
• 10:21
  Speaker 6: Actually, our bodies are on our own respective planets.
• 10:25
  Speaker 5: What's he saying?
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: What does he mean?
• 10:27
  Speaker 5: Wait, he'll give us the convincer after the build-up.
• 10:30
  Speaker 6: Our civilization is considerably older than yours.
• 10:33
  Speaker 7: For many of your centuries, we have explored the universe
• 10:37
  Speaker 7: both physically and telepathically.
• 10:39
  Speaker 6: And during this exploration, we discovered your planet.
• 10:43
  Speaker 7: We tried to establish communication, but there were grave difficulties.
• 10:49
  Speaker 6: And it was the time of your dark ages.
• 10:52
  Speaker 7: And I'm sorry to report that those people we did
• 10:55
  Speaker 7: make contact with were generally burned at the stake.
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: Here it comes. He's getting ready to slip us the stink.
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: I don't think you ought to say a thing like
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: that about a fine, decent gentleman. He's obviously very sincere.
• 11:07
  Speaker 7: The problem we face is that the human race is doomed.
• 11:12
  Speaker 7: The history of your race is a record of incessant wars,
• 11:15
  Speaker 7: each more devastating than the last. And now, finally, man
• 11:20
  Speaker 7: has chained the power of worldwide destruction. The next war,
• 11:24
  Speaker 7: or the one after that, would unquestionably be the end
• 11:28
  Speaker 7: not only of civilization, but of humanity, perhaps even of
• 11:32
  Speaker 7: your entire planet. Then, why have we brought you here?
• 11:38
  Speaker 7: Because man, in spite of his suicidal blunders... is a
• 11:42
  Speaker 7: magnificent race. He must not vanish without leaving a complete
• 11:48
  Speaker 7: record of his achievements.
• 11:51
  Speaker 6: This is the task we must work together on. Each
• 11:54
  Speaker 6: of you has a.
• 11:55
  Speaker 7: Skill, a talent, a special knowledge we need for the
• 11:58
  Speaker 7: immense record we're compiling. Every area of human society must
• 12:03
  Speaker 7: be covered. And so we need you urgently. Your data
• 12:09
  Speaker 7: will become part of an imperishable social document that shall
• 12:13
  Speaker 7: exist untold eons after mankind has vanished.
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: Oh, he had a slick con. He had that crowd
• 12:31
  Speaker 5: in the palm of his hand like a small-time grifter
• 12:33
  Speaker 5: selling pearl necklaces on 6th Avenue. They all cheered. They
• 12:37
  Speaker 5: were all flattered to think that they were joining in
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: this vast project to make a record of the human race.
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: After a while, they broke us up into divisions, and
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: I got herded into a building marked Sports and Rackets.
• 12:48
  Speaker 5: They took my name and my occupation like I was
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: applying for unemployment insurance.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: Now, here's our problem, Mr. Locke.
• 12:54
  Speaker 7: We're making two kinds of perpetual records. One is written,
• 12:58
  Speaker 7: more precisely, microscribed. The other is a wonderfully exact duplicate
• 13:03
  Speaker 7: of your cerebral patterns. In more durable material than brain matter,
• 13:09
  Speaker 7: of course.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: Of course.
• 13:11
  Speaker 7: The substance we use in place of brain cells absorbs
• 13:15
  Speaker 7: memory quite slowly. But you'll be happy to know that
• 13:18
  Speaker 7: the impression once made can never be lost or erased.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: Delighted.
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: Tickled to pieces.
• 13:24
  Speaker 7: I knew you would be. Well, let's proceed, shall we? First,
• 13:28
  Speaker 7: a basic description of horse racing.
• 13:35
  Speaker 5: I started telling them about horse racing, but they held
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: me down to one sentence. They said I had to
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: repeat it over and over so that that recording thing
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: could get it. They had a picture of my body
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: back on Earth lying in a bed in a hospital
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: just saying that one sentence over and over again.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: Well, that's enough for the day. Isn't it amazing?
• 13:54
  Speaker 7: We have a more detailed record of human society than
• 13:57
  Speaker 7: man himself ever had.
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: Your life, my life, the life of.
• 14:01
  Speaker 7: This Zelda whom you came here to rescue, all are trivial.
• 14:06
  Speaker 7: For we must all die eventually. But the project, the
• 14:10
  Speaker 7: project will last eternally.
• 14:12
  Speaker 5: You're telling me you know what I'm here for?
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: To secure the return of your wife.
• 14:17
  Speaker 7: I would naturally be aware that you'd submitted yourself to
• 14:20
  Speaker 7: our control voluntarily.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: It was in your file that was sent to me
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: by admissions.
• 14:25
  Speaker 5: Then why did you let me in?
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: Because, my dear friend, we also.
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: Leave out the friend pitch. I'm here on business.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: As you wish.
• 14:32
  Speaker 7: We let you in, as you express it, because you
• 14:36
  Speaker 7: have knowledge that we should include in our archives. We
• 14:40
  Speaker 7: hoped you'd recognize the merit and scope of our undertaking.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: Most people do, once they're told.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: Zelda, too? Oh, yes.
• 14:50
  Speaker 7: Yes, Zelda's extremely cooperative, quite convinced. Would you like to
• 14:55
  Speaker 7: see her?
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sure I would.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: Well, that can be arranged.
• 14:58
  Speaker 7: I'll call the arts and entertainment section and arrange a meeting.
• 15:09
  Speaker 5: Zelda, Zelda, baby.
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: Clocker.
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: Let's get out of here. Oh, hello, Clocker. Aren't you
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: glad to see me? I spent months and shot every
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: dime I've got just to find you.
• 15:16
  Speaker 8: For sure I'm glad to see you, hon, but I
• 15:18
  Speaker 8: can't waste any time. This work is so important.
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: I want to talk to you. That con artist with
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: the white beard said.
• 15:23
  Speaker 8: Oh, isn't he wonderful, Clocker? Aren't they all wonderful? Regular
• 15:26
  Speaker 8: scientists devoting their whole lives to this terrific cause.
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: What's so wonderful about that?
• 15:31
  Speaker 8: They could let the earth go boom. It wouldn't mean
• 15:33
  Speaker 8: a thing to them. Everybody wiped out, just like there
• 15:36
  Speaker 8: never were any people. Not even as much record of
• 15:38
  Speaker 8: us as the dinosaurs. Gee, wouldn't that make you feel
• 15:41
  Speaker 8: simply awful?
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: I wouldn't feel a thing. All I'm worried about is us, baby.
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: Who cares about the rest of the world doing the
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: disappearing act?
• 15:48
  Speaker 8: I do, and so do they. They aren't selfish like
• 15:51
  Speaker 8: some people I could mention.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: Selfish?
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: You're darn right I am. Zelda, listen. I'm selfish because
• 15:56
  Speaker 5: I got a wife and I'm nuts about her and
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: I want her back.
• 15:58
  Speaker 8: I have to help out on this project. It's the
• 16:00
  Speaker 8: least I can do for history.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: History?
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: What did history ever do for us? Go turn in
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: your time card, baby. Tell them you got a date
• 16:06
  Speaker 5: with me back on Earth.
• 16:07
  Speaker 8: No, this is my job as much as theirs.
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: More even.
• 16:10
  Speaker 8: They don't keep anybody here against their will. I'm staying
• 16:12
  Speaker 8: because I want to, Clocker.
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: But, honey... Excuse me.
• 16:15
  Speaker 8: I've got to get back. I'm teaching them the soft
• 16:17
  Speaker 8: shoe now.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: Are you satisfied now, Mr.
• 16:32
  Speaker 7: Locke?
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: Listen, take away the doom pushing as racket falls. Listen,
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: suppose you're all square. Suppose you're leveling. You're knocking yourself
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: out because your guess is we're going to commit suicide.
• 16:43
  Speaker 7: Is there any doubt of it? Do you honestly believe
• 16:46
  Speaker 7: the Holocaust can be averted?
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: I think it can be stopped, yeah. Listen, between these
• 16:51
  Speaker 5: catatonics and me, we could tell them what it's all about.
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: I notice you've got people from all over the world here.
• 16:57
  Speaker 5: They're getting along fine because they have a job to
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: do and don't have time to hate each other. Well,
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: it could be like that back on Earth.
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: Mr.
• 17:03
  Speaker 7: Locke, we have experimented in the manner you suggest, but
• 17:07
  Speaker 7: a human psychological mechanism defeated us.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: What was that?
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: Protective amnesia.
• 17:14
  Speaker 7: They completely and absolutely forgot everything they'd learned here.
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: Well, what are the odds on me remembering?
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: Well, you are our first volunteer.
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: Look, I'll give you a deal. You let me out,
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: and maybe I'll be the first case that didn't get amnesia.
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: And I can tell the world all about this. I'll
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: come back if I lame out. You can pick me
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: up any time you want. But if I make headway,
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: you've got to let Zelda go, too.
• 17:41
  Speaker 7: That's a very reasonable proposition. We'll lift our control, Mr. Locke,
• 17:46
  Speaker 7: for a suitable time. If you can arouse a measurable
• 17:49
  Speaker 7: opposition to racial suicide, measurable, mind you... Then we agreed
• 17:54
  Speaker 7: to release your wife and revise our policy completely.
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: I came to at Glendale. It took me about two
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: weeks to convince them that I was all right again.
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: But I had to convince the world that they were
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: throwing a race and that they needed a saliva test.
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: So I started to write it all out in my
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: tip sheet, in and around the horses. Around that time,
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: I ran into Doc.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: Parker, my boy, you've no idea how anxious we were
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: about you.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: But you're looking fit, I'm glad to say. Thanks.
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: I wish I could say the same about you and
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: the rest of the world.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: No need to worry about us. We'll muddle along somehow.
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: You think so, huh?
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: I'm glad to see you've got your tip sheet going again.
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: As long as the bobtails run, who cares what happens
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: to anything else?
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: Of course, nobody listened to me. I had posters printed
• 18:50
  Speaker 5: telling everybody. I hired sandwich men to walk through the city.
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: I made speeches in Columbus Circle. I told everybody Doomsday
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: was near. I sent letters to Congress, to the UN,
• 18:59
  Speaker 5: editors of newspapers. Nobody paid any attention. I sneaked into
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: the balcony of the General Assembly and tried to shout
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: a speech, and they threw me out, very polite. I
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: wrote the whole thing up for a magazine, and they
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: printed it and sent me a check and told me
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: if I had any more fiction, I'd be glad to
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: run it. They kept trying to tell everybody the truth
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: about the catatonics. We ought to go to the hospitals
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: and get ourselves let in and have the aliens take
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: over and show us where we're going. Nobody would listen.
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: And then finally, I went back out to Glendale.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: Oh, Mr. Locke, we were wondering when you'd come visit
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: your wife. You been away?
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: I want my old room back.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: But you're perfectly normal.
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: Give me half hour alone and you'll be glad to
• 19:38
  Speaker 5: give me my room. Well, here I am back again.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: Oh, Mr. Locke.
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: Okay, I'll give you all the rest of the dope
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: on racing. You won't have any trouble with me.
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: Then you're convinced you failed.
• 19:59
  Speaker 5: I'm no dummy. I know when I'm licked.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: So do we, Mr. Locke. Naturally, you have no way
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: of detecting the effect you've had. We do.
• 20:08
  Speaker 7: The result is that because of your experiment, we're gladly
• 20:12
  Speaker 7: revising our policy. Huh?
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: Is this a rib? Nobody listened to me.
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: Oh, but they did. Visits to catatonics have increased considerably.
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: When the visitors are alone with.
• 20:24
  Speaker 7: Our human associates, they tentatively follow the directions you gave
• 20:28
  Speaker 7: them in your article.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: Not all do, to be sure.
• 20:31
  Speaker 7: Only those who feel as strongly about being with their
• 20:34
  Speaker 7: loved ones as you do about your wife. We've accepted
• 20:38
  Speaker 7: four voluntary applicants.
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: You mean I made it?
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 20:42
  Speaker 7: Before long, we shall have to increase our staff as
• 20:45
  Speaker 7: the numbers of voluntary applicants increases geometrically. And then we'll
• 20:48
  Speaker 7: be able to release the first group to go back
• 20:51
  Speaker 7: and carry the message. Whenever you care to, Mr. Locke,
• 20:55
  Speaker 7: you and your wife are free to leave.
• 20:58
  Speaker 5: Okay, okay, but I'll tell you what. I owe you plenty.
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: I'll help make that record before I go. I'll teach
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: you how to dope the horses. Is that what you want?
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: Why, yes.
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: All right, then, let's go. The quicker we get started,
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: the quicker we can get back.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: The End.
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: You have just heard X-Minus One presented by the National
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, which
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: this month features A Touch of E-Flat by Joe Gibson.
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: A story with a warning. Never let anyone point any
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: weapon at you, even something as harmless looking as a
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: water pistol. It may be a cooling gun. Galaxy Magazine
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: on your newsstand today. X-1 has brought you At the Post,
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: a story from the pages of Galaxy written by H.L.
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: Gold and adapted for radio by Ernest Canoy. Featured in
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: our cast were Frank Maxwell as the clocker and Thomas
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: as his time-stepping wife, Zelda, Arnold Moss as the otherworldly one,
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: John Griggs as the doc who wasn't one, really, and
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: Sam Raskin as the confused little.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: Tailor with his mouth full of pins. Your announcer, Fred Collins.
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: X-1 was directed by Kenneth McGregor and is an NBC
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: Radio Network production.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: That concludes X-1's At The Post. Follow X-1 for more
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: classic broadcasts.