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Dimension X - "Outer Limit" (1950) · Old Time Sci-Fi Radio | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: In 1950, NBC opened its science fiction anthology Dimension X
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: with episode one, The Outer Limit, broadcast April 8th. Set
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: in the then future year of 1965, it follows test
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: pilot Steve Weston as he takes an experimental rocket aircraft
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: aloft from a desert southwest base carrying just 10 minutes
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: of rocket fuel. When the craft disappears from radar, Controller
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Hank Hansen and the base crew face a long and
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: uncertain wait. Ernest Kenoy adapted Graham Doerr's Saturday Evening Post
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: story for radio, with Joseph Julian as Weston, Wendell Holmes
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: as Hansen, and Edward King directing. And now, we return
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: to the original broadcast.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Adventures in time and space.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: Told in future tense.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Can you predict what will come in 100 years? Or
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: in 10? Or in the next minute? Some people think
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: they can. Nuclear scientists, mathematicians, astronomers, biologists. They'll predict the
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: shape of the future.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: Why?
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Because they make the future. Because they see beyond the
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: known dimensions of time and space. Into the unknown. Dimension X.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: We go ahead now in time to 1965. We're on
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: a vast concrete runway set in the desert of the southwest.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: A giant metal ship stands before us, prow.
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: Pointed for the stars.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: And in five minutes, the signal will flash and it
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: will tear up through the atmosphere to the outer limit.
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: Attention.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: Attention.
• 2:09
  Speaker 6: Clear field for takeoff.
• 2:13
  Speaker 7: Clear field.
• 2:14
  Speaker 6: Five minutes, Steve.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 2:15
  Speaker 6: Takeoff. Warmer up, Charlie.
• 2:17
  Speaker 8: Warmer up. Takeoff.
• 2:18
  Speaker 6: I want to go over procedure again, Steve. Don't worry.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: I got it straight.
• 2:23
  Speaker 6: You just make sure.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 2:25
  Speaker 8: I take her up on jets to 50,000, then I
• 2:28
  Speaker 8: cut in the rockets. No lower, or your tail blast
• 2:30
  Speaker 8: will burn out three counties. I climb four minutes on rockets,
• 2:33
  Speaker 8: then start maneuver tests.
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: Remember that. No more than four minutes.
• 2:36
  Speaker 7: Right.
• 2:36
  Speaker 6: This ship isn't like those strata rockets you've been testing.
• 2:39
  Speaker 6: She's the first one built for outer space. If she works,
• 2:42
  Speaker 6: she can go clear to the moon.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: If I'd have known that, I'd have brought my toothbrush.
• 2:45
  Speaker 6: Well, not this trip. Now, get this, Steve. You've got
• 2:48
  Speaker 6: power there to clear the Earth's gravitational field. But remember,
• 2:52
  Speaker 6: after you cut in the rockets, you've only got ten
• 2:55
  Speaker 6: minutes' fuel. If you go beyond the outer limit and
• 2:58
  Speaker 6: don't save fuel for the return... I know.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: I won't get down again.
• 3:01
  Speaker 6: That's right, Steve. You'll drift off into space. Get that now.
• 3:05
  Speaker 6: Ten minutes' fuel.
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: Got you.
• 3:07
  Speaker 6: Now, as far as I'm concerned, this project is a
• 3:09
  Speaker 6: lot more important than that cosmic ray bomb they're testing
• 3:12
  Speaker 6: out in the Pacific tonight.
• 3:13
  Speaker 8: Well, Security Commission brass doesn't think so. I don't see
• 3:16
  Speaker 8: any undersecretaries under anything.
• 3:18
  Speaker 6: Don't worry. In the long run, our ship will make
• 3:20
  Speaker 6: the CR bomb back paid stuff. But in the meantime,
• 3:23
  Speaker 6: it's just as dangerous. Remember, half the principles in this
• 3:26
  Speaker 6: ship are pure theory, Steve. Slide rule stuff. If anything
• 3:30
  Speaker 6: goes wrong, we may have to scrape you off the
• 3:32
  Speaker 6: landscape with a soup spoon.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: You have a charming sense of humor.
• 3:35
  Speaker 6: Here's what I'm getting at. We're risking your neck in
• 3:38
  Speaker 6: this test. If anything blows, we don't want to have
• 3:40
  Speaker 6: the next man pull the same boner.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: I know, Hank.
• 3:43
  Speaker 6: So keep your mic open and keep talking. If anything
• 3:46
  Speaker 6: goes wrong, we want to know exactly why. And we
• 3:49
  Speaker 6: won't be able to ask you. Let us know before
• 3:52
  Speaker 6: you pull every switch. Before you do anything. You got that?
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 3:57
  Speaker 6: Even if you only have to blow your nose. All right,
• 3:59
  Speaker 6: get those fuel lines away.
• 4:00
  Speaker 8: Okay, Mr. Crowe.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: Well.
• 4:03
  Speaker 6: I guess that's about all, Steve.
• 4:04
  Speaker 8: That reminds me. Look, if Mary calls, I'm just up
• 4:07
  Speaker 8: on a milk run. I didn't tell her today was it.
• 4:09
  Speaker 6: How is she?
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: She's okay, but she's due about now, and I don't
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: want her to be nervous. Hey, I didn't know the baby.
• 4:14
  Speaker 6: Was that close.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 4:16
  Speaker 6: Steve, I really ought to be sending a single man
• 4:18
  Speaker 6: on this job.
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: What, and cut me out of a soft paycheck? Forget it, Hank.
• 4:22
  Speaker 8: You know you can't get anybody else who can take
• 4:24
  Speaker 8: 15 G's acceleration when those.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: Rockets cut in. Yeah, I know.
• 4:29
  Speaker 6: It's time, Steve.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 4:31
  Speaker 6: Well.
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: See you later. Don't worry, Hank. I'll sweat for both
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: of us.
• 4:36
  Speaker 6: Button her up, Charlie.
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: So long, Hank. So long.
• 4:40
  Speaker 6: We'll give you the light from control. Excellent.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: We're out of control.
• 4:53
  Speaker 7: Excellent.
• 4:56
  Speaker 6: We're out of control. Are you there yet, Hank? Okay, Steve.
• 5:01
  Speaker 6: Got you on the speaker. I'm ready to go.
• 5:03
  Speaker 7: Mr.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: Hanson.
• 5:04
  Speaker 6: Ready on radar, Sergeant?
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: Check.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: Mr.
• 5:05
  Speaker 6: Hanson, you better see this. What is it, Elsa? Message
• 5:08
  Speaker 6: sent for Steve.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: Mrs.
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: Weston just left for the hospital.
• 5:10
  Speaker 7: What?
• 5:11
  Speaker 6: Hello, Steve. Yeah. Stand by a minute.
• 5:13
  Speaker 8: Shall we hold the takeoff, Mr.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: Hanson? What?
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: Oh, yes.
• 5:16
  Speaker 6: No, wait just a minute. It's too late now.
• 5:19
  Speaker 7: You going to tell him?
• 5:20
  Speaker 6: Maybe he's got enough to worry about. Hey, what's holding
• 5:23
  Speaker 6: us up, Hank? Something on your mind? No, no, it's nothing, Steve.
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: I just wanted to say good luck. Clear for takeoff, Charlie?
• 5:31
  Speaker 8: Right.
• 5:31
  Speaker 6: Okay. Give him the light.
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: All right, Steve. I'm reading you clear.
• 5:39
  Speaker 5: I'm at 40,000.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: Airspeed 600. She's running fine. Soundproofing works.
• 6:00
  Speaker 6: A third-degree waver in the A.G.Y.
• 6:01
  Speaker 8: Pressure.
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: Got that, Charlie?
• 6:03
  Speaker 7: Check.
• 6:03
  Speaker 6: Dead center on radar, Mr.
• 6:05
  Speaker 7: Hanson.
• 6:06
  Speaker 6: 50,000 now. Cutting out the port jet. Now the starboard.
• 6:12
  Speaker 7: Off jets.
• 6:13
  Speaker 6: Airspeed dropping. Opening the rocket ports. Switch sticks a little, Charlie.
• 6:21
  Speaker 6: Oxy alcohol pressure 350. All right, now I'm advancing the
• 6:26
  Speaker 6: ignition key.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Here goes rocket one.
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: Steve.
• 6:34
  Speaker 6: Steve, you all right?
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: Don't let somebody slug me with a sledgehammer.
• 6:40
  Speaker 7: Airspeed now 1,200.
• 6:41
  Speaker 6: Here goes number two.
• 6:57
  Speaker 7: Hello, Steve.
• 6:58
  Speaker 6: Elapsed rocket time is now four minutes. What's your altitude?
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: Over to you. Speed 4,400. Still climbing. Altitude, 297 miles.
• 7:08
  Speaker 6: All right. You're at the outer limit. Level off for
• 7:10
  Speaker 6: maneuver test. You've got exactly six minutes fuel left.
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: Okay. Starting at three degree left bank. It's a little sluggish.
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: It's all right now.
• 7:23
  Speaker 8: There's a low vibration someplace. Maybe the cockpit hatch. I'm
• 7:29
  Speaker 8: straightening out.
• 7:30
  Speaker 6: Five minutes of fuel left.
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: Now I'm starting a three-degree... Hey!
• 7:35
  Speaker 6: What's the matter? What's wrong?
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: There's something up here. Something's shining.
• 7:40
  Speaker 6: What are you talking about?
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: There's something above me, Hank. I'm going to chase it.
• 7:44
  Speaker 8: Steve!
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: Steve, you're at the outer limit now. I can see
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: it plain now.
• 7:47
  Speaker 6: Steve, don't go any higher. You've only got four minutes left.
• 7:50
  Speaker 6: You've only got.
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: I'm getting static. I can't hear you, Hank. It's dead
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: ahead now.
• 7:55
  Speaker 8: I'm going to make a pass at it, get a
• 7:57
  Speaker 8: good look. Hey, it's swerving to meet me.
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: It's dead ahead now.
• 8:03
  Speaker 6: It's dead ahead.
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: Hello.
• 8:17
  Speaker 6: Hello. Hello, Steve. Steve, come in.
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: Nine minutes, fuel gone.
• 8:21
  Speaker 6: Still no sign on radar. Hello.
• 8:23
  Speaker 8: Hello, Steve.
• 8:24
  Speaker 6: Steve, what's happened? Charlie, get out the crash squad. Tell
• 8:28
  Speaker 6: the army squadron to alert their search planes.
• 8:30
  Speaker 8: Right.
• 8:31
  Speaker 6: Nine and a half minutes gone.
• 8:32
  Speaker 5: Hello.
• 8:33
  Speaker 6: Hello, Steve. What's happened? What the devil is it? Hello.
• 8:37
  Speaker 6: Come in, Steve. We need a search squadron. Come in.
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: No, Mr.
• 8:40
  Speaker 6: Hanson's busy.
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: Hello.
• 8:42
  Speaker 6: Hello, Steve. Hello, Steve.
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: Ten minutes, Mr.
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: Hanson. It's the end of the fuel. How long has
• 8:54
  Speaker 6: it been now?
• 8:55
  Speaker 8: Ten hours, Mr.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: Hanson.
• 8:56
  Speaker 8: Nothing more on radar, Sergeant?
• 8:59
  Speaker 6: Screen's blank.
• 8:59
  Speaker 8: Colonel Corelli called in.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: Search planes are back.
• 9:20
  Speaker 6: They didn't find anything. Should be some trace.
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: He couldn't have bailed out, could he?
• 9:24
  Speaker 6: You don't hit the silk at 4,400 miles an hour.
• 9:26
  Speaker 6: Either one passed the outer limit, ran out of fuel,
• 9:31
  Speaker 6: something blew, and we'll find the pieces scattered from here
• 9:34
  Speaker 6: to the coast. Why does it have to be the
• 9:36
  Speaker 6: best man? Always the best man.
• 9:38
  Speaker 7: I'll get it.
• 9:40
  Speaker 6: Charlie, Charlie, we... You know, we've got to figure out
• 9:42
  Speaker 6: what was wrong. All right, I'll tell you.
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: Something must have blown.
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: There's a message from Northside Hospital for.
• 9:49
  Speaker 6: For Steve.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: What is it? Mrs. Weston's fine. It's a boy.
• 9:54
  Speaker 6: Thank you, Elsie. It's a boy, Charlie.
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: Oh.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: Fine. Fine.
• 10:01
  Speaker 7: It's a boy.
• 10:03
  Speaker 6: He didn't even know she went to the hospital. How
• 10:06
  Speaker 6: am I going to tell Mary that?
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: Wasn't your fault, Mr.
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: Hanson?
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: Ship had to be tested.
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:13
  Speaker 6: We'll build another one and some other flying fool will
• 10:15
  Speaker 6: shoot past the outer limit into space. Oh, I'm getting old, Charlie.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: Charlie?
• 10:20
  Speaker 6: You can remember when I used to take them up myself.
• 10:23
  Speaker 6: Now I've got to send other men.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: It's a job, Mr. Hanson.
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: Now I'm afraid.
• 10:27
  Speaker 6: Every time I hear a jet go off, I jump.
• 10:31
  Speaker 6: Every time I have to send someone up in a
• 10:33
  Speaker 6: new model, I start to sweat.
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: Mr.
• 10:35
  Speaker 6: Hanson? Yeah? I think there's something on the radar. No
• 10:39
  Speaker 6: flights scheduled in, are there, Elsie?
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: We have the whole day cleared.
• 10:42
  Speaker 6: It's coming in behind us. Here it comes over the building.
• 10:48
  Speaker 6: What crazy junk is buzzing the field like that? Is
• 10:50
  Speaker 6: that an army plane, Charlie? I can't see.
• 10:53
  Speaker 7: It's turning.
• 10:54
  Speaker 6: Charlie, alert the field. I know that engine. It's Steve.
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: That's impossible.
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: Look, that's his ship.
• 11:04
  Speaker 6: It can't be.
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: There's no other model like that.
• 11:06
  Speaker 6: It's Steve, all right.
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: It's coming in.
• 11:12
  Speaker 6: Thank God. Thank God.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: Thank God.
• 11:28
  Speaker 6: All right, sit down, Steve. The quicker we get this done,
• 11:30
  Speaker 6: the quicker you get over to see Mary and the baby.
• 11:32
  Speaker 7: Hank.
• 11:33
  Speaker 6: Elsie, give the order to check and refuel the rockets.
• 11:35
  Speaker 6: I don't want anybody in here till I get Steve's reports. Barry,
• 11:38
  Speaker 6: any calls? All right, let's have it. What the devil
• 11:41
  Speaker 6: happened to you?
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: Hank, does that cosmic ray bomb still go off tonight?
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: What are you talking about?
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: Straighten out, Steve.
• 11:47
  Speaker 6: Where have you been for the last ten hours?
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: Listen, Hank, there's something more I'm... Come on, come on.
• 11:52
  Speaker 6: I've got to get a report on the screen to Washington,
• 11:54
  Speaker 6: so let's have it. I've got to know how you
• 11:56
  Speaker 6: stretch 10 minutes fuel to keep you in the air
• 11:58
  Speaker 6: for 10 hours.
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: Now, one thing before I talk.
• 12:00
  Speaker 6: Look, Steve.
• 12:01
  Speaker 8: Have the Geigerman run over the ship before they refuel.
• 12:04
  Speaker 6: What'd you run into?
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: So help me, Hank, I don't know. We better check
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: and make sure it isn't radioactive.
• 12:11
  Speaker 6: Elsie, add a Geiger report on the standard check. Steve,
• 12:14
  Speaker 6: maybe we better have the doc look you over, too.
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: No, no, I'll be all right. They said I'd be
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: all right.
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: They?
• 12:22
  Speaker 6: Look, son, I know you've had a tough time, but
• 12:24
  Speaker 6: we've had this field on the alert for ten hours.
• 12:27
  Speaker 6: One of the army boys cracked up looking for you,
• 12:28
  Speaker 6: and he's hurt bad. So let's have the story. Let's
• 12:31
  Speaker 6: have it straight.
• 12:34
  Speaker 8: I don't know how to tell you. Hank, I saw
• 12:38
  Speaker 8: something up there.
• 12:39
  Speaker 6: At 300 miles?
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: I chased something up there, Hank, and I caught it.
• 12:43
  Speaker 6: Now, don't hand me that.
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: Listen, Steve.
• 12:44
  Speaker 8: I was cruising along, just starting the right bank, when
• 12:47
  Speaker 8: I spotted something.
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: It must have been going about half my speed.
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: It was.
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: Egg-shaped and smooth.
• 12:54
  Speaker 8: I made a pass at it, and I was coming
• 12:55
  Speaker 8: back for another, and then there was a humming sound.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: Humming?
• 12:58
  Speaker 8: A sort of vibration. And I blacked out. I was
• 13:01
  Speaker 8: headed straight for it at 4,400 miles an hour. I
• 13:05
  Speaker 8: thought it was going to be the biggest smash since Hiroshima, and....
• 13:08
  Speaker 6: Hank, is there a drink in that bottle? Never mind that, Steve.
• 13:10
  Speaker 6: What happened?
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: I came to inside their ship.
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: Uh-huh.
• 13:19
  Speaker 8: Steve, this whole thing has been a devil of a
• 13:21
  Speaker 8: strain on you. I'm going to call Major Donaldson from
• 13:23
  Speaker 8: the Army base. Ask him to sit in.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: Psychiatrist?
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, that's a good idea. Let him run his test.
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: He'll tell you I'm not kidding.
• 13:34
  Speaker 8: Because, Hank, unless I miss my guess, I've just been
• 13:38
  Speaker 8: tipped off to the way the world ends.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: The End All right, Mr. Weston, suppose you continue your story.
• 13:52
  Speaker 6: Yes, let's have it, Steve. You woke up inside the ship?
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: Yes, and the place was jammed with machinery. Dials, blinkers.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: I couldn't recognize anything.
• 14:02
  Speaker 6: And you were surrounded by these men from Mars?
• 14:06
  Speaker 8: I didn't say anything about men from Mars. I didn't
• 14:08
  Speaker 8: even say they were men. I couldn't see them clearly.
• 14:11
  Speaker 8: They were just there.
• 14:15
  Speaker 6: Where did they come from, then?
• 14:17
  Speaker 8: Another galaxy. Millions of miles outside of our solar system.
• 14:21
  Speaker 8: That's all I know. You figure out where they came from.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: And they came all that distance to find the Earth?
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: Did they tell you that?
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: You mean they spoke English to you?
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: No, no, they didn't.
• 14:33
  Speaker 8: That's funny. I hadn't thought. They didn't really speak to
• 14:37
  Speaker 8: me at all. They just planted the thoughts in my mind.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: You mean thought transference, telepathy?
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: Yes, that's right.
• 14:44
  Speaker 6: Well, Steve, what brought them here?
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: We did, Hank.
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: We rang their bell. We brought them in.
• 14:50
  Speaker 7: How?
• 14:51
  Speaker 8: With our atomic explosions. Hank, that's why you've got to
• 14:54
  Speaker 8: stop that bomb test tonight.
• 14:56
  Speaker 6: I'll give up.
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: Look, you've got to believe me, Hank. Oh, how can
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: I make you understand?
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: Maybe I can help, Mr. Weston. Would you submit to narco-psychometry?
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: What's that?
• 15:07
  Speaker 8: Under proper drugs, I can put you back in this
• 15:10
  Speaker 8: ship by suggestion. Then we can get a playback record
• 15:14
  Speaker 8: of your memory pattern on the audio circuit.
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: And how long will that take?
• 15:18
  Speaker 8: Half an hour. We'll have to go over to the lab.
• 15:21
  Speaker 8: Will you believe me if it checks? It will give
• 15:22
  Speaker 8: us an accurate memory picture of what your mind reports.
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: All right, let's go.
• 15:26
  Speaker 8: Hank, you gotta believe me, we haven't got much time.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: You should be getting drowsy now. Count backwards from ten. Ten. Nine. Eight.
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: Seven.
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: Six. Six.
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: Seven.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: He's under. Now we attach the head plate electrodes. Cortical pickup.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: Look out for that wire, Mr. Henson. 3-0 setting.
• 16:29
  Speaker 7: 31.3.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: Now throw that switch, Mr. Henson. I have to start
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: him off by suggestion. All right, Steve. You're in your
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: shit now. You're in the rocket.
• 16:48
  Speaker 6: Rocket?
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: You're in the rocket. You're in the rocket. And you've
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: just sighted something strange.
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: Now I'm starting at three degree right.
• 16:58
  Speaker 6: What's that?
• 16:59
  Speaker 7: Hey, there's something up here.
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: Something shining.
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: His memory pattern. We're picking it up electronically.
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: There's something above me, Hank. I'm going to chase it.
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: It's piped through the audio circuits.
• 17:10
  Speaker 6: I'm getting static. I can't hear you, Hank. This is
• 17:12
  Speaker 6: where we lost contact with him. I'm going to make
• 17:15
  Speaker 6: a pass at it and... Hey, it's swerving to meet me.
• 17:18
  Speaker 6: It's not ahead now. It's not ahead. Now what?
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: This is where he blacked out. There's no telling how long,
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: minutes or hours.
• 17:30
  Speaker 6: What's that noise?
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: I don't know. Quiet.
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: Where? How did I get in here?
• 17:36
  Speaker 7: What?
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: Who are you?
• 17:40
  Speaker 6: Is he seeing things?
• 17:42
  Speaker 7: Intergalactic patrol.
• 17:45
  Speaker 6: What's that?
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: What are they saying, Steve? What are they saying?
• 17:50
  Speaker 7: It's about nuclear fission.
• 17:53
  Speaker 9: They know about it. They know the danger of it.
• 17:58
  Speaker 9: Long ago they had wars that almost destroyed them. But
• 18:01
  Speaker 9: finally they learned. Now they've outlawed war.
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: Go on, Steve.
• 18:07
  Speaker 7: They patrol space.
• 18:10
  Speaker 9: When their detector picks up an atomic explosion, they send
• 18:13
  Speaker 9: a patrol.
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: What are they going to do?
• 18:16
  Speaker 7: They've quarantined us.
• 18:18
  Speaker 6: Quarantined?
• 18:19
  Speaker 7: They've isolated the Earth.
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: Because we don't know how to control ourselves yet. Until
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: we learn, we'll be a menace to the whole universe.
• 18:27
  Speaker 6: What is this nonsense?
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: How are they going to do it, Steve?
• 18:31
  Speaker 9: They've spread a layer out here of... I don't know
• 18:35
  Speaker 9: how to call it. All around the Earth. It's miles deep.
• 18:40
  Speaker 9: When there's an atomic explosion on Earth... The radioactive particles
• 18:44
  Speaker 9: will drift up to this layer and set off a
• 18:46
  Speaker 9: chain reaction.
• 18:48
  Speaker 7: It'll go around the world in microseconds. And that's the end.
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: The end?
• 18:53
  Speaker 6: What's he.
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: Wait, wait.
• 18:54
  Speaker 7: Yes. Yes. I understand. I've got to bring back the warning.
• 19:02
  Speaker 9: You're going to put me back in my ship to
• 19:05
  Speaker 9: bring the warning.
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: Now what?
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: Blacked out again. I guess that's all.
• 19:18
  Speaker 6: What does all that mean?
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: It's what he remembers.
• 19:20
  Speaker 6: I don't think that really happened.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: No, no.
• 19:23
  Speaker 8: Narcosecometry circuits produce what he remembers. It just means that
• 19:26
  Speaker 8: Steve believes this happened.
• 19:28
  Speaker 6: I don't like to see this. I've seen too many
• 19:31
  Speaker 6: top pilots snap. Steve is the best I've known. How
• 19:37
  Speaker 6: bad do you think he is?
• 19:38
  Speaker 8: Frankly, outside of the presence of this Well organized as
• 19:41
  Speaker 8: a hallucination, there's no sign of unbalance.
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: May not be too serious.
• 19:45
  Speaker 8: If he had a more plausible story, I'd be inclined
• 19:48
  Speaker 8: to believe him.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: Warning.
• 19:50
  Speaker 6: Warning. Hank.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: It's all right, boy.
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: Did you hear it, Hank? You understand?
• 19:57
  Speaker 6: Sure, sure. We've been quarantined.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: Let me give you something to make you sleep, Steve.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: Don't you understand?
• 20:02
  Speaker 8: They fixed it so that if we set off one
• 20:05
  Speaker 8: more nuclear explosion, that'll be it.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: Of course. Don't roll your sleeve down.
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: You don't believe me.
• 20:10
  Speaker 6: Now, take it easy, Steve.
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: There's a test tonight. They're setting off to see our bomb. Hank,
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: what time is it?
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: 11.20.
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: Well, it's scheduled for midnight. Hank, we've got to stop
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: that bomb.
• 20:21
  Speaker 6: Steve, let Donaldson give you the hypo.
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: Hank, you've got to believe me. I saw them. I
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: got the warning.
• 20:26
  Speaker 8: If we touch off that bomb tonight, it'll be the
• 20:28
  Speaker 8: biggest galactic Fourth of July of all time.
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: The whole Earth will go up like a Roman candle.
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: April 10th, 1965, the end.
• 20:35
  Speaker 6: Now, look, Steve, you better calm down. Don't you want
• 20:38
  Speaker 6: to see Mary and the baby? You've got a new son, remember?
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's just it. I want to see my son.
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: I want him to live. If that bomb goes off, Hank,
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: we've got to stop them.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: Mr. Hanson, I think we'd better get over to the
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: base hospital.
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: Hank, you've got to believe me. Yeah, sure, sure, Steve.
• 20:52
  Speaker 6: Maybe there is something to it. Look, it's out of
• 20:54
  Speaker 6: your hands. I'll put it in a report and shove
• 20:56
  Speaker 6: it into Washington in the morning.
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: In the morning? There isn't going to be any morning, Hank.
• 20:59
  Speaker 8: Don't you understand? You've got to call Washington now. Get
• 21:03
  Speaker 8: the head of the security commission and postpone that test.
• 21:05
  Speaker 6: Now, you know I can't do that, Steve. My neck
• 21:07
  Speaker 6: would be out a mile. Besides, this is 1965, not 45.
• 21:12
  Speaker 6: Twenty countries have atomic bombs now. What's the use of
• 21:15
  Speaker 6: stopping just this one? The rest will keep right on
• 21:18
  Speaker 6: popping them off.
• 21:18
  Speaker 8: Then we'll have to call an international conference. Can't you understand, Hank?
• 21:22
  Speaker 8: The first one that goes off finishes us at the end.
• 21:25
  Speaker 8: They've given us the quarantine warning.
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: Steve, I think you'd better go with us to the
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: base hospital.
• 21:30
  Speaker 7: Look, Steve.
• 21:31
  Speaker 6: We can call up for a detail if we have to.
• 21:35
  Speaker 6: All right, all right.
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: I'll go with you.
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: You don't need.
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: A straight jacket. That's the way, Steve. You'll probably feel
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: better by morning. Let's go.
• 21:56
  Speaker 6: Well, Steve, tomorrow I'll drive you over to the hospital
• 21:58
  Speaker 6: to see Mary and the kid.
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: Sure.
• 22:01
  Speaker 6: Look at the ship under the floodlights.
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: Pretty, huh?
• 22:04
  Speaker 6: You'll be flying her again soon, don't you worry.
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I guess so.
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: What you doing out in the line?
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: The refueler?
• 22:14
  Speaker 6: Yeah, we got Clausewitz coming in tomorrow from Denver for
• 22:16
  Speaker 6: another test. Figured we'd give you a day off.
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: That's good, that's fine.
• 22:20
  Speaker 8: Steve, Steve, come back.
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: Come on, Donaldson. Steve, Steve, wait. He's heading for the rocket.
• 22:29
  Speaker 6: Look, there he goes up. That crazy fool. We can't
• 22:34
  Speaker 6: get at him now. That covers armor glass.
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: He's waving. Yeah, towards control.
• 22:38
  Speaker 6: It's the radio. He means the radio.
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: Come on.
• 22:42
  Speaker 6: I should have gotten help. Another radio still hooked up here.
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: Hello.
• 22:49
  Speaker 6: Hello, Steve. Listen to me, Hank. You got to call
• 22:52
  Speaker 6: Washington now. Come out of that rocket, Steve. I'll call
• 22:55
  Speaker 6: my men. Don't try anything, Hank. They refueled the rocket
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: for tomorrow. Take it easy, Steve. Listen, you know what'll
• 23:00
  Speaker 6: happen when I fire the rocket tubes down here? Steve, don't.
• 23:02
  Speaker 6: It'll burn out every building for five miles. All of
• 23:05
  Speaker 6: us in one big blast. Steve, what do you want?
• 23:08
  Speaker 6: You've got to stop that bomb. You've got to call
• 23:10
  Speaker 6: Washington right now. They won't believe me. You make that
• 23:12
  Speaker 6: call or I cut in the rocket. Now, I mean it, Hank. Now,
• 23:17
  Speaker 6: hook my screen to yours in parallel. I want to
• 23:19
  Speaker 6: see exactly what you're doing. All right, all right. Just
• 23:21
  Speaker 6: don't fire those rockets. Get going, Hank. You got 12
• 23:24
  Speaker 6: minutes to make that call and stop that bomb. All right,
• 23:26
  Speaker 6: I'm making the parallel hookup right now. Donaldson, do you
• 23:29
  Speaker 6: think he'll really blast it?
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: I don't know. Up to now, I'd almost say it
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: was normal. But now he's liable to do anything, Hanson.
• 23:34
  Speaker 7: Steve. Steve, there.
• 23:36
  Speaker 6: Are you getting it on your screen? Yeah. Now put
• 23:39
  Speaker 6: that call through. All right. Operator. Visit screen to Washington.
• 23:43
  Speaker 6: The visit screen circuits are busy, sir. If you'll try
• 23:45
  Speaker 6: again in half an hour. This is security commission priority.
• 23:48
  Speaker 6: Break in and get me a line.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
• 23:50
  Speaker 6: Just a moment, please. Ten minutes, Hank. Listen, Steve, I'm trying.
• 23:54
  Speaker 6: Ready to take your call, sir. Washington, security commission three.
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: This is urgent.
• 23:58
  Speaker 6: I want undersecretary Herbert Ames. Washington three.
• 24:02
  Speaker 7: One moment, please.
• 24:03
  Speaker 6: Hurry, will you? One moment, please.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: What time is it, Donaldson? 11.51.
• 24:06
  Speaker 6: Do you think he'll fire those rockets?
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: He might.
• 24:09
  Speaker 6: Washington? Visit screen three.
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: Mr.
• 24:11
  Speaker 6: Herbert Ames, please. That is a coded exchange. I cannot
• 24:14
  Speaker 6: accept your call without clearance. Get it through, Hank.
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: Listen, Washington.
• 24:17
  Speaker 6: Put it through. This is Mr. Hanson at San Marco
• 24:20
  Speaker 6: Air Base. This is a priority call. I'm coded.
• 24:22
  Speaker 8: One moment, please.
• 24:23
  Speaker 6: I will check your code number. Get that through, Hank,
• 24:25
  Speaker 6: or that bar goes off at 12. Will you be reasonable, Steve?
• 24:27
  Speaker 6: Your call has cleared, San Marco. Washington, visit screen three.
• 24:31
  Speaker 6: Herbert Ames, please. Security Commissioner Ames. Listen to Ames. Oh, hello, Hank. Ames,
• 24:37
  Speaker 6: you've got to get me to the chief.
• 24:38
  Speaker 7: Are you kidding?
• 24:39
  Speaker 6: He's at the test control room. Yes, I know, but
• 24:41
  Speaker 6: get him for me. What's up? You look lousy. Or
• 24:44
  Speaker 6: is it a bad circuit? There's no time. I've got
• 24:45
  Speaker 6: to get him before the test. It's about the CR box.
• 24:48
  Speaker 6: I can't take that responsibility. Get that through, Hank, or
• 24:50
  Speaker 6: I blast. Hey, what's going on there? Ames, my project
• 24:53
  Speaker 6: has a high enough rating. This is a priority A call.
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: What?
• 24:56
  Speaker 6: Well, okay, it's your neck.
• 24:57
  Speaker 7: I'll try to get him for you.
• 24:59
  Speaker 6: He's in the control room, so you'll have to switch
• 25:01
  Speaker 6: off your screen and speaker and go on earphones. Too
• 25:03
  Speaker 6: much going on in there.
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: Security ruling.
• 25:05
  Speaker 6: You hear that, Steve? I've got to cut the incoming screen.
• 25:08
  Speaker 6: All right, but don't try anything. Eight minutes, Hank.
• 25:14
  Speaker 7: Hello?
• 25:16
  Speaker 6: Hello?
• 25:18
  Speaker 7: What?
• 25:19
  Speaker 6: You got him, Hank? Yes. This is Hanson at San Marco. No, sir,
• 25:27
  Speaker 6: priority A request to cancel the bomb test. No, no,
• 25:30
  Speaker 6: I'm serious. This is deadly serious. We sent the X-2
• 25:33
  Speaker 6: JTR up today to the outer limit. We uncovered evidence. Yes,
• 25:37
  Speaker 6: on the automatic instruments. What's that? No possible chain reaction. No,
• 25:41
  Speaker 6: I can't tell you the whole story. There isn't time here. Yes, yes,
• 25:44
  Speaker 6: I'll bring the readings into Washington in the morning. You've
• 25:47
  Speaker 6: got to postpone the test till you see them. Look,
• 25:50
  Speaker 6: I've worked on contracts with the commission for 10 years. Yes, yes,
• 25:53
  Speaker 6: I have complete confidence in my information. You can record that.
• 25:56
  Speaker 6: All right, I'll call you back immediately.
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: Bye.
• 25:58
  Speaker 8: Bye. Hank? Hank?
• 26:01
  Speaker 6: He's agreed to cancel, Steve. The bomb won't go off.
• 26:07
  Speaker 6: All right, boy. You can come down out of that ship.
• 26:27
  Speaker 6: He's opening up.
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: Here he comes.
• 26:33
  Speaker 6: All right, Steve. Come on down.
• 26:35
  Speaker 7: Sure, Hank.
• 26:37
  Speaker 6: Just a second.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: Hank, I was scared.
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: I was plain scared.
• 26:47
  Speaker 6: Easy now. It's all over. The bomb won't go off.
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: Thank God.
• 26:53
  Speaker 8: Look, I want to see Mary and the baby. You
• 26:56
  Speaker 8: got any transportation now?
• 26:58
  Speaker 6: Wait a minute.
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: It's almost 12.
• 26:59
  Speaker 6: They won't let you in the hospital now.
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: I want to see the baby.
• 27:01
  Speaker 8: Sure you do, but you've been under a strain. I've
• 27:04
  Speaker 8: got a shot for you here, Steve. Give you a
• 27:07
  Speaker 8: good night's sleep.
• 27:08
  Speaker 7: All right.
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: Roll up your sleeve. Yeah, here.
• 27:14
  Speaker 6: There.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: That'll make you sleep. Sergeant will find you a bed.
• 27:17
  Speaker 6: Yes, sir.
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: Come on, Mr. Weston.
• 27:19
  Speaker 7: Okay.
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: Good night, Hank. I'm kind of beat.
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: It's been a tough night.
• 27:31
  Speaker 8: It sure has. I thought for a minute he was
• 27:34
  Speaker 8: going to blast those rockets and send us all to
• 27:36
  Speaker 8: Kingdom Come.
• 27:37
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: Quite a stunt, getting the ray bomb test called off.
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: It isn't called off.
• 27:43
  Speaker 6: But the chief said... Ames couldn't get the chief. I
• 27:48
  Speaker 6: was talking to a dead circuit. Bomb goes off in
• 27:51
  Speaker 6: a couple of minutes. Oh.
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: Poor Steve. He was one of the best.
• 27:59
  Speaker 6: He was the best. One in ten million.
• 28:03
  Speaker 8: Some story of his, poor guy. For a while, he
• 28:07
  Speaker 8: almost had me believing that quarantine. That's a very common delusion.
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: End of the world.
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: I suppose so.
• 28:18
  Speaker 6: Ah, it's a nice night. Never saw the stars so bright.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: We'd better be getting in. That wind is cold.
• 28:24
  Speaker 6: The bomb goes off in 30 seconds. Poor Steve.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: You know, Hanson, there's just one thing. Yeah?
• 28:37
  Speaker 8: It's outside my field, but I'm curious. How did he
• 28:42
  Speaker 8: keep that ship in the air for ten hours with
• 28:46
  Speaker 8: only ten minutes' fuel?
• 29:04
  Speaker 5: You have just heard The Outer Limits by Graham Dorr.
• 29:09
  Speaker 5: An adventure in time, space, and the unknown.
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: Dimension X. Now, about next week. Have you ever heard
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: of the Mark III?
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: The amazing electronic brain at Harvard that instantly solves the
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: most complicated scientific problems. Suppose you had a mechanical brain
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: like that in your house. A robot that was always
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: at your service. So that you could just sit with
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: folded hands and relax the rest of your life.
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: That would be nice, wouldn't it? Perfect.
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: That's what they thought when it happened in the year 2006.
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: But they were wrong, terribly wrong. How? I'll tell you
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: next week.
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: Tonight's story, transcribed on Dimension X, The Outer Limit by
• 30:15
  Speaker 5: Graham Dorr, was adapted for radio by Ernest Canoy.
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: Featured in the.
• 30:19
  Speaker 5: Cast were Joseph Julian as Steve, Wendell Holmes as Hank,
• 30:23
  Speaker 5: and Joe DeSantis as Major Donaldson. Your host is Norman Rhodes.
• 30:29
  Speaker 5: Music was by Albert Berman. Sound designed by Sam Monroe.
• 30:33
  Speaker 5: Edward King directed. Tomorrow, here's Sam Spade. Now it's Truth
• 30:46
  Speaker 5: or Consequences on NBC.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: Dimension X has brought us The Outer Limit. Good evening
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: and thank you for joining us. Follow old-time sci-fi radio
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: for more classic science fiction broadcasts.