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X Minus One - "Project Trojan" (1956) · Old Time Sci-Fi Radio | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: In England during 1943, British intelligence considers an unusual deception
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: aimed at Nazi rocket research, a rumor built around a
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: weapon so formidable that Germany must take notice. That is
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: the setting for NBC's X-1, Project Trojan, episode 56, first
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: broadcast June 19, 1956. Ernest Canoy wrote this original radio
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: play from an idea in a Galaxy magazine editorial by H.L.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Gold with Daniel Sutter directing. Alistair Duncan, Ivor Francis, Burford Hampton,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Alfred Shirley, William Quinn, and Alfred Isiff are heard in
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the cast. Now, back to the golden age of radio.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: In just a moment, X minus one. But first, a
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: quiz program does not always improve your IQ. But what's
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: an NBC radio quiz program? Well, you can be sure
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: it'll improve your disposition. Yes, NBC offers listeners a laugh
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: lesson every Wednesday night with two fun-filled question-and-answer shows. One
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: is Truth or Consequences, and though you may never learn
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: why a chicken crosses the road, you'll howl as contestants
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: perform the stunts dreamed up by MC Jack Bailey. The
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: other is You Bet Your Life, and with a quiz
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: master like Groucho Marx, your good time is always guaranteed.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Hear Truth or Consequences and You Bet Your Life with
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Groucho Marx tomorrow. Now stay tuned for X-1 on NBC.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Countdown for blastoff. X minus 5, 4, 3, 2, X
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: minus 1, fire. From the far horizons of the unknown
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: come transcribed tales of new dimensions in time and space.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: These are stories of the future. Adventures in which you'll
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: live in a million could be years on a thousand
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Galaxy
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: Science Fiction Magazine, presents X minus 1. Tonight, Project Trojan
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: by Ernest Canoy. Most of the greatest contributions and biggest
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: messes in history have been made by two kinds of brains,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: the devious and the literal. We quote from the monthly
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: column written for Galaxy by its editor, H.L. Gold. For
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: our story tonight has been inspired by one of his
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: recent columns, discussing the exceedingly thin line that sometimes lies
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: between science fiction and science fact, and of the strange
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: use that both Allied and German intelligence made of science
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: fiction during the recent World War II. Our report, of course,
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: is entirely fictional, but similar schemes are known to have
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: been attempted by both sides. And now, here is Project Trojan.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: Project Trojan.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: The idea of Project Trojan was originally conceived in February
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: of 1943. The Intelligence Plans Commission, an adjunct to Joint
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: Army and Naval Intelligence, was under the command of Colonel
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: Sir Harold Bostwick. The first antecedent of Project Trojan occurred
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: on an afternoon in February.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: Corporal Arthur Muggeridge.
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: Was serving tea to Lieutenant Maurice Withering and Captain Amos McKenzie.
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: There you are, sir.
• 4:07
  Speaker 6: That's real butter on the bread. I won five pounds
• 4:10
  Speaker 6: of it from one of those Yank Miss sergeants over
• 4:12
  Speaker 6: at the Crown of Land.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: Oh, butter, eh? Aye, sir. Mackenzie. Hmm? Well, confounded man,
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: you might show some interest. Here, Muggeridge tangles with the
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: Eighth Air Force to improve your tea, and you sit
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: there reading. What the devil is so engrossing? No, never mind.
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: If it's me you're worrying about, you needn't, sir.
• 4:30
  Speaker 6: I was cleared for most confidential and top secret before
• 4:32
  Speaker 6: I set foot in the pantry.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: What is it, Mackenzie? Well, I was reading about a
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: fascinating notion. It's a machine, you see, dreadfully ingenious. It's
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: a method of setting up a reverse polarization field about
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: a given metallic surface, say, the plates on a submarine
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: or a tank. Makes them five times as strong. A
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: little more cream, Muggeridge.
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: It's powdered milk, sir.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: A hush leave me to my illusions. But, Mackenzie, how
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: can you be so calm? Don't you realize what this means?
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: Tanks five times as strong? Is it in production? I mean,
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: when are the first models going to combat? But it's
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: certainly been a well-kept secret. I wouldn't say that. There's
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: about 50,000 people who know all about it here in England. And,
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: of course, a great many more in America. Oh, that's impossible.
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: But I doubt if it will ever be used in combat.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: But your stark raving crackers are secret-like. Where did you
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: find this? Now, let me see that. Here you are.
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: Incredible science fiction. It's an American magazine. You mean this
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: is a story, one of those Jules Verne things you've
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: been pulling my leg? Aye. Well, I... I mean, after all...
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: Captain McKenzie, I hardly think that... Well... Now, don't get stuffy, man.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: After all, you... Chaff me before the ranks.
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: Oh, I don't mind, sir.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: But it did have you going, didn't it? Well, it
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: sounded plausible. I don't know a confounded thing about electrical fields.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: Even if you did, it might take you in, huh?
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: You see, the trick these science fiction lads do is
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: to take something that's solid as a rock and then
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: to push it just a wee bit forward till you
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: simply can't tell where the science ends and the fiction begins. Still,
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: I wish you'd exercise your ingenuity in deceiving Jerry rather
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: than me. Good Lord. That's a fine idea. What is?
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: If an intelligent, brilliant officer and gentleman like yourself might
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: be taken in by a wild tale like this, whom
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: else's leg might we pull? A muggeridge, another bread-and-butter sandwich,
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: if you please, and take one yourself.
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: Lieutenant Withering and Captain McKenzie worked out preliminary plans for
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: Project Trojan and presented them at an appropriate time to
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: Colonel Sir Harold Bostwick.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: Well, sir, sit down, Withering, McKenzie. Thank you, sir. Have
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: you had breakfast? I understand Corporal McGregor has been playing
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: darts with the Yanks again. There are fresh eggs for breakfast.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: We've had breakfast, sir. Oh, well, then. We have a plan, sir. Capital, capital.
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: You remember, sir, our intelligence reports indicated a concentration of
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: German research scientists working near Hanau. Certainly, I recall. They've
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: got the whole lot of them inside a mountain. We
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: tried bombing. I doubt if they even noticed. They're supplying
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: the basic research for the German guided missile program. Yes,
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: we know that. The reaction motor for the V-1s came
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: out of the Hanau lab. Oh, Magritte... You see, sir,
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: if a considerable number of those research scientists were diverted
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: to another project, The rocket program would be crippled. Yes, well,
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: of course it would. What are you going to do?
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: Advertise in the Times and offer them higher wages? Aye, sir. Oh, Muggeridge,
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: this coffee.
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: Ah, no, sir.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: Next time you go to the Crown and Lance, keep
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: coffee in mind, will you?
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: Aye, sir. Only the Yanks are getting fair dabs at darts.
• 7:35
  Speaker 5: It was touch and go with the Yanks.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: We can only expect you to do your best.
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: I'll try, sir.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: Well, now, come to the point, gentlemen. Suppose the Germans
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: got hold of one of our top new development weapons.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: Something so completely overwhelming that they'd have to pull almost
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: every man off rockets to work on it. Now, look here, McKenzie.
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: Those jelly scientists are not exactly playing about with small
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: boys' chemistry sets. They're a cut above our own chaps
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: in several fields. What makes you think you could plant
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: something on them? Science fiction, sir. I beg your pardon?
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: You see this magazine? Yes. Incredible science fiction. What's that
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: chasing that girl? That's a Martian, sir. You can tell
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: by his tentacles. Mackenzie, are you stringing this along preliminary
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: to applying for compassionate leave on the grounds that you're overworked?
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: No, sir.
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: It's a good plan. We invent a weapon. A weapon
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: that might exist, but doesn't. And we leave it lying
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: about where the Germans can snap it. And then they
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: take most of the scientist fellows off the rocket program
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: to work on our weapon. That's the most preposterous nonsense
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: I've ever heard. But, sir... I don't want to hear
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: anything more about it. Yes, sir. I suppose she was right.
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: Who was right? This Wren... I met her going up
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: to London. Rather proper little type, till you got to
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: know her. But then she's rather a firebrand. Captain McKenzie,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: please spare us the sordid details of your off-duty peculation. Sorry, sir.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: You see, she's the secretary to Admiral Sir Alan Drummins.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: They're talking of dropping this unit. They feel that other
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: intelligence groups are quite confident to handle the routine, unimaginative
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: work that we've been doing. Oh. Oh, I see. Of course, they'd...
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: reassigned personnel.
• 9:15
  Speaker 7: Mm-hmm.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: Would you say this science fiction scheme of yours was imaginative? Oh,
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: it's practically visionary. Well, suppose you do some preliminary work.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: Thank you, sir. Routine, eh? And imaginative, eh? Bah!
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: On the 14th of February, preliminary work was begun on
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: Project Trojans. At first, Lieutenant Withering and Captain McKenzie worked alone,
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: researching the source material of the project.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: Slamming the firing keys, Brick blasted down on the Crow warship.
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: Bright beams of crisp destruction lanced out from the giant
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: dreadnought and licked along the place. of Brick's one-man scout.
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: Nothing in that one. What have you got? It's a
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: story about two robots who fall in love. What's the
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: name of that Johnny who came closest? Herman. Jad Herman.
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: He's got half a dozen ideas that are close. Where
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: do you suppose he is? Somewhere in the States, I suppose.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: That's no use, then. Why? Oh, look, man, perhaps we
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: can put a query through central-shape intelligence. The Yanks ought
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: to be able to dig up this Herman Schaap for us. Oh,
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: it's worth a try.
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: It took seven days for a report to reach IPC
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: that one Jacob David Herman, a private first class in
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: the American Air Force, was based on a field north
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: of Cheltenham in the Gloucestershire area. Lieutenant Withering and Captain
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: McKenzie requisitioned transport and visited Herman at his place of duty.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: You don't mind if I go ahead with my job,
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: do you?
• 10:59
  Speaker 7: I've got to have this place ready for inspection by 1300.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: Go right ahead. Hand me the cleaning powder, will you please? Oh, yes.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: Very well. Say, uh.
• 11:06
  Speaker 7: What do they put in porcelain in England? You break
• 11:08
  Speaker 7: your arm trying to get it clean.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: Private Herman, you are Jad Herman, a writer?
• 11:15
  Speaker 7: Yeah, that's a pen name, Jad. I use it for
• 11:18
  Speaker 7: SF stuff. I used to write for the Confessions under
• 11:21
  Speaker 7: the name of Cynthia Herman.
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: I remember one article.
• 11:26
  Speaker 7: I was saved by the YWCA from a life of shame.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: We're interested in your science fiction articles at the moment. Oh, yeah? Well,
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: I know we had some sci-fi fans in England. We're
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: not exactly sci-fi fans. We're from... Anybody else here? Well,
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: look for yourself. There's no hiding place down here. Well, um,
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: we are from Intelligence Plans Commission. Uh-huh. We need your assistance, sir, Mr. Herman.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: No kidding. We have a project that... Calls for your
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: particular talents. You got a latrine needs cleaning? We're quite serious, Mr. Herman.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: Will you kindly pack your things and be ready to
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: come with us within one hour?
• 12:12
  Speaker 7: Oh, I'm sorry, gentlemen. I couldn't possibly leave until after inspection.
• 12:17
  Speaker 7: I've got too much of myself invested in this latrine.
• 12:20
  Speaker 7: But after that, I'm at your service.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: Private First Class Jacob D.
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: Herman, 32962126, was transferred on special detached duty to Project
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: Trojan and after briefing was set to work on basic plans.
• 12:43
  Speaker 7: Oh, look, Mac, here's the way I see it. If
• 12:46
  Speaker 7: you want to con a scientist, you've got to be
• 12:48
  Speaker 7: pretty straight all the way. You can't get away with
• 12:50
  Speaker 7: more than one phony step in the process.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: Precisely.
• 12:54
  Speaker 7: Now, here's the way I see it. It's a focusing
• 12:56
  Speaker 7: beam weapon. The electronics on that are square. I used
• 13:00
  Speaker 7: it in a story about two years ago. Feinschreiber at
• 13:03
  Speaker 7: MIT and Temple and Westover at the Bell Telephone Laboratories
• 13:06
  Speaker 7: worked out the basic field formulas.
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: What do you mean it's real? Well, up to a point.
• 13:12
  Speaker 7: Everything's on the level till you get to the catalytic
• 13:14
  Speaker 7: action on the grid. Now, that just won't work. It's
• 13:19
  Speaker 7: a basic problem in physics and it makes the whole
• 13:23
  Speaker 7: thing impossible.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: But don't the Germans know that? Oh, sure, sure. You see.
• 13:29
  Speaker 7: You make up plans for the weapon, call it a
• 13:32
  Speaker 7: death ray. You let the Germans steal everything but the
• 13:35
  Speaker 7: catalyst formula. They'll think we've got it licked, and they'll
• 13:39
  Speaker 7: break their necks trying to duplicate it before we put
• 13:41
  Speaker 7: the weapon in production.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: I see. But we can't call it a death ray.
• 13:46
  Speaker 7: Well, how about, uh, projector, electronic grid deflecting, type 3?
• 13:52
  Speaker 5: Hmm.
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: That is a brawl ring to it, my lad.
• 13:56
  Speaker 7: I've got the basic idea of the thing, but, uh,
• 13:59
  Speaker 7: You'll have to get some of.
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: Your science boys to work it out. We'll put a
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: requisition into the manpower commission in the morning.
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: Doctors Montague, Felder, Harrison, Sisonby and Pilsudski were assigned to
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: Project Trojan and under the direction of Private First Class
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: Jacobs complete specifications and plans for Projector Electronic Grid Deflecting
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: Type 3 were drawn up. Project Trojan was ready for
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: Phase 2.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: Have we got everything? Blueprints. Check. Specifications. Check. Machine tool inventories. Check.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: Letter rejecting the plans from the War Office. Check. Endorsement
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: from Supreme Headquarters rejecting plans. Check. Note from 10 Downing
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: Street overriding rejections. Handwritten postscript, build the confounded thing, WC. Check.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: Don't you think that's going a little too far, the rejections?
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: Not at all. That's the master touch. A rejection of
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: an idea by the War Office makes it appear most genuine.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: All right. Private Herman, if this thing were real, if
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: it could be built... What would it do? Oh, don't ask.
• 15:01
  Speaker 7: It could blow a hole in a mountain ten miles away.
• 15:03
  Speaker 7: Or it could knock down a whole wing of bombers.
• 15:06
  Speaker 5: Without even aiming.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: Oh, dear. Lucky it won't work. I should say so.
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: Oh, well.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: Now to get this lovely thing into Jerry's hands.
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: Phase three of Project Trojan was commenced on the 15th
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: of March, 1943... Central Counterintelligence Agency had discovered the infiltration
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: of a German agent, a Belfast Irishman named Gogarty, into
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: the blueprint division of Clark and Portister, a printing firm
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: doing some subcontract work for the Air Ministry. Gogarty, the
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: German agent, presumably microfilmed the plans because shortly thereafter he
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: received word that his sister, living in the Irish Free State,
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: was to be married to a bus conductor. British agents
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: attending the wedding disguised as farm labourers lost track of
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: Gogarty for several hours due to circumstances beyond their control.
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: Then we have no way of knowing whether Gogarty delivered
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: her Project Trojan plans. Well, sir, there was a submarine
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: sighted the day before off the coast. It's likely he
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: made contact. Well, keep me informed. That's all we need now.
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: Another disaster. Did something else go wrong? Jolly well, right.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: Muggeridge has been playing darts with the Yanks again.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: Oh?
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: What have we got this time? Butter or beefsteak? Nothing.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: The blight has lost my whole month's whiskey ration.
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: Now the cover operation supporting Project Trojan was undertaken. A
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: battalion of the Royal Engineers was detailed to practice at
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: secret installations with wooden mock-ups of the projector. A lance
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: corporal in this detachment, a volunteer afterwards awarded the George Medal,
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: was court-martialed and sentenced to seven years' hard labour for
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: revealing information about the project while drunk on a three-day
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: leave to Tynecastle. This particular aspect of Project Trojan has
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: been in the news recently, inasmuch as several backbench Labour
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: members of Parliament have asked questions in the House as
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: it came out that the corporal served the full seven
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: years and wasn't released until 1951. The Home Secretary explained
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: that this was an unfortunate oversight, and there were jeers from.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: The opposition, with Mr.
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: O'Neill in Devon taking the occasion to call for the
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: resignation of the government. At the time, March and April 1943,
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: the Intelligence Plans Commission awaited reports from British operatives.
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: Sir, there's been a shift in assignment at the research
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: laboratories at Hanau. Professor Schlickmann and Drs. Hirsch, Van Sulao,
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: and Grischmann have been transferred from rocket research to another project. Trojan?
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: We must assume so. But that's only four names. But
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: they're the top experts in electronics, chemistry, and metallurgy. If
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: they're really working on Trojan, we've set the German rocket
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: program back a year, while their scientists go yelping off
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: after a red herring. Let's hope so. Bring me any
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: further reports as soon as received.
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: British intelligence reports filtering back through occupied Norway and neutral
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: Sweden continued to indicate the success of Project Croton. Four
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: more top scientists were known to be transferred from the
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: rocket research base at Peeneminde to the Hanau Laboratories. Definite
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: knowledge was obtained that the new assignment was a startling
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: new weapon, agreeing in detail with Project Trojan.
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: What a sally, McKenzie. What a stunt. Yes, sir. We
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: shall have to have a little party to celebrate. We'll
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: have that Herman chap in for a drink. I've been
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: sending Muggeridge off to play darts with some of the
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: free French over at Germain Manor. He ought to be
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: back soon with the champagne. Poor all round. Private Herman?
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: Thank you. All right now, to the projector, electronic grid
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: deflecting type three. The biggest fraud since the South Sea bubble.
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: Colonel Bostwick. Oh, take a glass. We're just drinking to Trojan. Well,
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: I think I'd rather not, sir. What do you mean?
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: There's a dispatch from Germany. What about it? A section
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: of the mountain overlooking Hanau has disappeared. What? It's true.
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: It was on the reconnaissance maps yesterday and it was
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: gone this morning. A ten-mile slice of mountain. That's impossible.
• 19:26
  Speaker 7: No, it isn't.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: It works. Trojan works. But it can't. There's no catalyst.
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: It's impossible. All our scientists said so. Well, I guess
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: they were wrong. It works. They must have found the catalyst.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: I suppose we should have foreseen that. All those scientists
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: working on it.
• 19:38
  Speaker 7: They must have built a model and tried it out.
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: It won't take them more than three months to put
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: it into production.
• 19:43
  Speaker 7: Well.
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: Here goes the war.
• 19:46
  Speaker 7: Nuggeridge.
• 19:46
  Speaker 5: Aye, sir.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: Fill the glasses up. again.
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: Intelligence Plans Commission now waited for additional dispatches concerning the
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: reaction to Project Trojan in Germany. It was decided as
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: a matter of policy to confine knowledge of these latest
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: developments to the personnel of the project.
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: Anything new, McKenzie? No, sir, except that aerial reconnaissance confirmed
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: the damage to the mountain at Hanau. It's not quite
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: as extensive as the first dispatch, but it is a
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: bit of a hole. Oh, what do they think caused it?
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: The Air Ministry seems to feel that an ammunition dump
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: must have blown up. Couldn't that be it? I'm afraid not, sir.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: We have an intelligence report about several captured British and
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: American tanks being brought to Hanau for testing. They were
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: spotted the next day, completely destroyed. Trojan? Trojan. There's been
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: an alert at factories producing parts for V-1 and V-2
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: rockets to prepare for retooling. They're going to make the projector?
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: It would seem so, sir. Well, I suppose I'd better
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: go up to London tomorrow and make a clean breast
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: of it. I'm afraid so, sir. Well, that's the end.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: Seems rather unsporting, doesn't it? Just handing the war over
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: to them. I hate to think what the War Office
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: will say. Not to mention the Prime Minister.
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: Project Trojan was nearing its closing phase. At precisely 0600,
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: the next morning, Colonel Sir Harold Bostwick ordered his staff
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: car and, taking a thermos of tea, proceeded to leave
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: his office. Just before the staff car got underway, Lieutenant
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: Withering appeared with another dispatch, accompanied by Captain McKenzie and
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: Private Herman.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: Colonel Bostwick, sir. Wait. So what is it withering? Another dispatch. No,
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: don't please. It's bad enough. There's been another disaster at Hanar.
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: They knocked another mountain with our little present to them? No, sir.
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: They've knocked themselves out. What? The laboratory under the mountain.
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: It's exploded. It has?
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: Went up like a Roman candle.
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: We've got pictures.
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: There was a flight of mosquito bombers over at the time.
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: What happened? The projector. It backfired. How do you know?
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: It had to.
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: That's why the catalyst is impossible.
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: You see, the metal fatigue on the grid is a
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: function of... Never mind, never mind. Are you sure?
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: We have a reliable agent's report. The Germans are completely confused.
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: They were operating the projector under a top-secret designation. Nobody
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: knew any of the details except the dozen scientists working
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: on it. And they were inside the laboratory when it blew.
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: Our man was in the rescue squad. There isn't a
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: thing left, sir. Plans, models, or scientists. Sir, do you
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: realize that Project Trojan was a success? We've diverted a
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: dozen top scientists from the rocket program permanently... Well, do
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: you think we'll be decorated? Lieutenant Withering, inasmuch as we
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: came particularly close to handing the whole war to the
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: Germans on a silver platter, I suggest we forget Project Trojan. Oh, yes. Yes,
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: I see, of course. You're very canny, sir. I think
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: we had all better return to precisely what we were
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: doing before the whole nasty mess started.
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: The final phase of Project Trojan was completed on the
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: 22nd of March, 1943.
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: The file, through.
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: Some inadvertent error, was lost before the Intelligence Plans Commission
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: had a chance to report to the War Office. All
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: personnel returned to their previous assignment.
• 23:14
  Speaker 7: All right, all right, no splashing on the floor. I
• 23:17
  Speaker 7: gotta get this latrine ready for inspection by 1300.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: You have just heard X-Minus One, presented by the National
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, which
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: this month features the William Tenn novelette, Time in Advance,
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: the story of a man who made a strange bargain
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: and endured the worst the galaxy had to offer, so
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: that someday he could make the Earth sweat. Galaxy Magazine,
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: on your newsstand today. Tonight, by transcription, X-Minus One has
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: brought you Project Trojans, An original story by Ernest Canoy
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: based on an idea contained in an editorial in Galaxy
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: written by H.L. Gold. Featured in the cast were Burford Hampton,
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: Alistair Duncan, Ivor Francis, Alfred Shirley, Bill Quinn, and your
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: narrator was Alfred Hislip. Your announcer, Fred Collins. X-1 was
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: directed by Daniel Sutter and is an NBC Radio Network production.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: X-1 has brought us Project Trojan. We hope you'll join
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: us again for another broadcast from Radio Science Fiction Years.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Follow old-time sci-fi radio for more classic science fiction broadcasts.