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X Minus One - "Hostess" (Old Time Radio, 1956) · X Minus One | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Research biologist Rose Smollett has invited an off-world physician into
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: her home, where his study of a fatal illness begins
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: to raise questions about Earth itself. From NBC's X-Minus One
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: comes Hostess, Episode 79. First broadcast December 12th, 1956. Adapted
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: by Ernest Kenoy from Isaac Asimov's story, it brings Terry
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Keene as Rose, Les Damon as her husband Drake, and
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Kermit Murdoch as Dr.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Harg Tholen, a physician from Hawkins Planet.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: Tholan is investigating why humans appear immune to inhibition death,
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: while Drake, of the World Security Board, grows uneasy with
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: their guest and with the mystery of Earth's missing persons.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Daniel Sutter directed. And now, we return to the original broadcast.
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: Countdown for blastoff.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: X minus 5, 4, 3, 2... X minus one, fire.
• 1:29
  Speaker 5: From the far horizons of the unknown come tales of
• 1:32
  Speaker 5: new dimensions in time and space.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: These are stories of the future.
• 1:38
  Speaker 5: Adventures in which you'll live in a million could be
• 1:40
  Speaker 5: years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company,
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, presents.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: X minus 1.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: Tonight, Hostess by Isaac Asimov.
• 2:18
  Speaker 6: I was so happy about it when I came home,
• 2:20
  Speaker 6: almost triumphant. I dashed in the front door, peeled off
• 2:22
  Speaker 6: my gloves, threw my hat on the side table and
• 2:24
  Speaker 6: tossed my coat over the back of a chair.
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: Well, you missed supper.
• 2:28
  Speaker 6: Drake, we're going to have him here. Who here?
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: What are you talking about?
• 2:31
  Speaker 6: The doctor from Hawkins Planet. Didn't you realize that was
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: what today's conference was about?
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: When you say the doctor from Hawkins Planet, do you
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: mean the Hawkinsite you've got at the Institute?
• 2:39
  Speaker 6: Well, of course. Who else could I possibly mean?
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: May I ask what the devil you mean by saying
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: we'll have him here?
• 2:45
  Speaker 6: Darling, the Hawkinsite would like to stay at a private
• 2:47
  Speaker 6: house somewhere where he won't be bothered with official ceremony,
• 2:50
  Speaker 6: where he'll be able to proceed more according to his
• 2:52
  Speaker 6: own likes and dislikes. I find it quite understandable.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: Hmm.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: Whenever you start using formal sentences, I know you're hiding
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: extreme irritation.
• 3:00
  Speaker 6: Well, you don't seem to be trying to hide it
• 3:02
  Speaker 6: at all. What's the matter?
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: Look, I don't see where we've got room for extraterrestrial visitors.
• 3:09
  Speaker 6: Are you serious? He can stay in the spare room. Honestly, Drake,
• 3:12
  Speaker 6: all we have to do is show a certain amount
• 3:14
  Speaker 6: of adaptability.
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: Sure, just a little adaptability. The Hawkinsite breathes cyanide. We'll
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: just adapt ourselves to that.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: I suppose.
• 3:21
  Speaker 6: He carries cyanide in a little cylinder. You won't even
• 3:24
  Speaker 6: notice it.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: And what else is there about them I won't notice?
• 3:27
  Speaker 6: Nothing else. They're perfectly harmless. They're even vegetarians.
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: Well, what about us? Do we eat meat ourselves, or
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: will that make us look like cannibals to him? I
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: won't live on salads to suit him, I warn you.
• 3:38
  Speaker 6: Drake, it means very much to me.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Well, why?
• 3:41
  Speaker 6: Because if he stays here for any length of time,
• 3:43
  Speaker 6: I can study him real closely. Very little work has
• 3:47
  Speaker 6: been done on the biology and psychology of the individual Hawkinsite,
• 3:50
  Speaker 6: or of any of the extraterrestrial intelligences. Surely you must
• 3:54
  Speaker 6: see the opportunity. He stays here. We speak to him,
• 3:57
  Speaker 6: watch him, observe his habits.
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: Look, look, I've spoken to men who are in charge
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: of security groups watching various Hawkinsite missions on Earth. The
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: missions stay in the rooms assigned to them. They don't
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: leave for anything but the most important official business. They
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: have nothing to do with Earth men. It's quite obvious
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: that they... They're as revolted by us as I personally
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: am by them.
• 4:17
  Speaker 6: Drake, he's a doctor. He's coming here for medical research.
• 4:20
  Speaker 6: And I'll grant you that he probably doesn't enjoy staying
• 4:22
  Speaker 6: with human beings and will probably find us perfectly horrible.
• 4:25
  Speaker 6: But he must stay just the same.
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: All right, all right. Have it your own way. You
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: sure you don't want any coffee? No.
• 4:32
  Speaker 6: Drake, you're not angry about this.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Are you? No.
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: No, I'm not angry.
• 4:46
  Speaker 6: Most of my friends had been surprised when I married
• 4:49
  Speaker 6: Drake because they couldn't understand my marrying a policeman. I
• 4:52
  Speaker 6: explained he wasn't simply a policeman. He was a member
• 4:54
  Speaker 6: of the World Security Board, but most of the staff
• 4:57
  Speaker 6: at the Institute thought it rather odd that I hadn't
• 4:59
  Speaker 6: married a biologist or at least an anthropologist, even a chemist,
• 5:04
  Speaker 6: but certainly not a policeman. I was waiting for Drake
• 5:08
  Speaker 6: with some apprehension that evening as I sat in the
• 5:10
  Speaker 6: living room. Hark Tolan, the Hawkinsite, was standing quietly in
• 5:14
  Speaker 6: the middle of the room. He was not sitting since
• 5:17
  Speaker 6: he was not anatomically constructed to sit. He stood on
• 5:21
  Speaker 6: two sets of limbs placed close together, while a third pair,
• 5:24
  Speaker 6: entirely different in their construction, were suspended from a region
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: that would have been the upper chest in the human being.
• 5:30
  Speaker 6: His skin was hard, glistening, and ridged. And his face
• 5:34
  Speaker 6: wore a distant resemblance to something alienly bovine.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Mrs. Smarratt, you must forgive my English. The construction of
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: my mouth, combined with the absence of incisors and canine teeth,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: is an obstacle to clear speech.
• 5:50
  Speaker 6: I think you speak very well.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 5:54
  Speaker 6: My husband will be home soon, and then we'll eat.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Your husband? Husband?
• 5:59
  Speaker 6: Yes, you know.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 6:01
  Speaker 6: Smollett.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: A male, of course. You must forgive me, Mrs. Smollett.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Perhaps the greatest source of confusion among the five known
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: races of the galaxy... lies in the differences among them
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: in regard to their sex life and the social institutions
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: that grow around it.
• 6:16
  Speaker 6: I understand that.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: The concept of husband and wife, for instance, exists only
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: on Earth. I can achieve a sort of intellectual understanding
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: of what that means, never an emotional one. Dr.
• 6:31
  Speaker 6: Tolan, I've consulted the Institute in preparing a menu, and
• 6:34
  Speaker 6: I trust you'll find nothing in it that will upset you. Drake? Drake,
• 6:38
  Speaker 6: is that you?
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:40
  Speaker 6: I'm in the living room, dear.
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: I suppose he's all delivered, complete.
• 6:43
  Speaker 6: Drake, this is Dr. Hark Tolan of Hawkins Planet. Dr. Tolan,
• 6:47
  Speaker 6: my husband.
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: Good evening, Dr.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Tolan, Mr. Smollett.
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: Would you care for a drink?
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: I'm not particularly thirsty.
• 6:56
  Speaker 6: On Earth, there is a custom of drinking liquids which
• 6:58
  Speaker 6: have been fortified with ethyl alcohol. We find it stimulating.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes. Afraid then that I must decline. Ethyl alcohol
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: would interfere most unpleasantly with my metabolism.
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: Well, so it does to Earth men, too. But I understand, Dr.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Tolan.
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: Would you object to my drinking?
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Of course not. Good. I need one. A stiff one.
• 7:26
  Speaker 6: He stood at the table. I tried not to look
• 7:29
  Speaker 6: at him as he ate. His wide, lipless mouth split
• 7:32
  Speaker 6: his face alarmingly as he ingested food, and in chewing,
• 7:36
  Speaker 6: his large jaws moved from side to side. There was
• 7:39
  Speaker 6: evidence of his ungulate ancestry. I found myself wondering whether
• 7:43
  Speaker 6: he would chew his cud later, and then I was
• 7:45
  Speaker 6: afraid that Drake would get the same idea and leave
• 7:47
  Speaker 6: the table in disgust, but he was taking everything quite calmly.
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: I imagine, Dr. Tolan, that the cylinder at your side
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: holds cyanide.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: Quite so.
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: Pure cyanide?
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: I hope you're not considering possible danger. I know the
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: gas is highly poisonous to you. I do not need
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: a great deal. None of it emerges, except when I
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: actually suck at the tube, which is fixed at the
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: corner of my mouth. I see.
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: And you really must have the gas to live?
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: Are you not a biologist, Mr. Smollett?
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: No, Dr. Toland. Merely a minor government official. My wife's
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: friends call me a policeman. Tell me, what happens if
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: you don't breathe cyanide? Do you just go like that?
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: Not quite. The absence of it would be equivalent to
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: slow strangulation. It's also very painful, difficult to treat. I've
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: done some research on the problem.
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: I find it difficult to keep thinking of you as
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: a doctor.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: I understand what you mean. I find it difficult to
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: think of you as a policeman.
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: I gather that you are not here on a pleasure trip.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: No. I intend to study this queer planet you call Earth.
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: Queer?
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: In what way? It is always amazing to me to
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: find how little you Earth men understand your own characteristics.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: There are five intelligent races in the galaxy. Over and
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: over it is you Earth men, more than any of
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: the others, who are unique. Your people are the only
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: ones which find hydrogen cyanide poisonous. Yours is the only
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: form of intelligent life which is carnivorous. Yours is the
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: only form of life which has not developed from the
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: grazing animal. And most interesting of all, yours is the
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: only form of intelligent life known which stops growing upon
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: reaching maturity.
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: Well, you don't look very large, Dr. Tolan. I should
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: say that you're an inch taller than I, which would
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: make you six foot two. Are you young or... Are
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: you just small on Hawkins Planet?
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Neither. We grow at a diminishing rate with the years,
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: so that at my age it would take 15 years to...
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: grow an additional inch. But we never entirely stop. And,
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: of course, as a consequence, we never entirely die.
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: Did you hear that, Rose?
• 10:11
  Speaker 6: I never knew that before.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: You mean people on Hawkins Planet are immortal?
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: No people are truly immortal. Few of us live more
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: than several centuries of your time. Still, it is unpleasant
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: to think that death may come involuntarily. It is something
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: which to us is extremely horrible.
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: Oh, we're quite used to it.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: You earth men live with the thought. We do not.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: This is why we are disturbed to find that the
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: incidence of inhibition death has been increasing in recent years.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: What is this inhibition death?
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: A pathological cessation of growth. It's a wasting disease. A
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: tragic one. Absolutely incurable. It's fatal within a year.
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: What causes it?
• 10:59
  Speaker 6: Mr.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: Smollett, we know nothing about the cause of the disease.
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: Well, then why did you come to Earth to study it?
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Because, again, Earth men are unique. They are the only
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: intelligent beings who are immune... The inhibition death affects all
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: other races, while Earth men are immune. Somewhere in the
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: biochemistry of the Earthite, there is the secret of that immunity.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: How interesting it would be to find it.
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: Well, now, look here. You can't say that Earth men
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: are immune. From where I sit, it looks as if
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: the incidence is 100%. All Earth men stop growing, and
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: all Earth men die. We've all got the inhibition death.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: Earth men live up to 70 years after the cessation
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: of growth. That is not death as we know it.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Your equivalent disease is rather one of unrestrained growth. Cancer,
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: you call it.
• 12:02
  Speaker 6: Drake was being pleasant to Dr. Tolan. I wasn't sure
• 12:06
  Speaker 6: whether it was for my sake or for his own.
• 12:08
  Speaker 6: Drake has never gone out of his way to please me.
• 12:12
  Speaker 6: Sometimes when I'm gloomy, I look at him across the
• 12:14
  Speaker 6: table and ask myself, why did he marry me? And suddenly,
• 12:20
  Speaker 6: after dinner in the living room, Dr. Tolan asked a
• 12:22
  Speaker 6: question which surprised me.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: You are a policeman, Mr. Smoltz? Yes.
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: I wonder.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: Could you show me through one of the police departments
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: on your planet?
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: Well, I don't belong to a police department in exactly
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: the way you imagine. However, I have some contacts in
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: the New York City department.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Would I be able to visit the Missing Persons Bureau?
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: Why are you interested in the Missing Persons Bureau?
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Because, there again, you are unique. There's no such thing
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: as a missing person on our planet. We're always aware
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: of each other's exact location, no matter where on the
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: planet we might be.
• 13:01
  Speaker 6: Can you feel such awareness even now, on Earth?
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: You mean across space? No, I'm afraid not. But you
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: see the importance of the matter. All the uniqueness of
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Earth should be linked. If the lack of this sense
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: can be explained, perhaps the immunity to inhibition death can
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: be also. Tell me truthfully, Mr. Smollett, if Mrs. Smollett
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: were to leave this room and enter another without your
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: having seen her do so... Would you really not be
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: aware of her location?
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: I really would not.
• 13:34
  Speaker 6: Amazing.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: Please do not be offended by the fact that I
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: find it revolting as well.
• 13:55
  Speaker 6: Drake?
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: Drake?
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: Yes, I'm awake.
• 14:00
  Speaker 6: Why were you talking about the inhibition death to Dr. Tolan?
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: I'm taking an interest in your work, Rose. You've always
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: wanted me to take an interest.
• 14:08
  Speaker 6: I'd rather you weren't sarcastic.
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: Rose, I'm tired. I'll talk to you tomorrow.
• 14:11
  Speaker 6: No, right now.
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: I want no questions from you and no interference. You
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: do your job and I'll do mine.
• 14:16
  Speaker 6: The nature of my job is open and known.
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: The nature of my job isn't, by definition, but I'll
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: tell you this. Our six-legged friend is here in this
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: house for some definite reason. You weren't picked as biologist
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: in charge for any random reason. Two days ago, he'd
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: been inquiring about me at the commission. But that's my job,
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: and I won't discuss it with you any further. Do
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: you understand?
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: No.
• 14:39
  Speaker 6: But I won't question you if you don't want me to.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: Then go to sleep.
• 14:51
  Speaker 6: I lay stiffly on my back, and the minutes passed
• 14:53
  Speaker 6: in the quarter hours. I was trying to fit the
• 14:56
  Speaker 6: pieces together. One picture remained clear in my mind. It
• 15:00
  Speaker 6: hovered over me mockingly. At the end of the evening,
• 15:03
  Speaker 6: the Hawkinsite had turned to me just before he left
• 15:05
  Speaker 6: the room.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: Good night, Mrs. Smollett. You're a most charming hostess.
• 15:11
  Speaker 6: I wanted to giggle then. How could he call me
• 15:14
  Speaker 6: a charming hostess? To him, I must have been a horror,
• 15:16
  Speaker 6: a monstrosity with too few limbs and too narrow a face.
• 15:21
  Speaker 6: But then I saw Drake. He turned white. For one instant,
• 15:24
  Speaker 6: his eyes had burned with something that looked like terror.
• 15:27
  Speaker 6: I'd never before known Drake to show fear of anything.
• 15:29
  Speaker 6: And the picture of that instant of pure panic remained
• 15:32
  Speaker 6: with me until all my thoughts finally sagged into the
• 15:35
  Speaker 6: oblivion of sleep. I remember one question that nagged at
• 15:40
  Speaker 6: me through the haze. Why did he marry me?
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: I found your Missing Persons Bureau interesting in that the
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: large majority of missing persons are males.
• 15:58
  Speaker 6: Oh, well, that's not mysterious, Dr.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: Tolan.
• 16:01
  Speaker 6: You simply didn't realize the economic setup we have on Earth.
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: My wife is an example of the minority of women
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: who are capable of making their own way in the world.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: Would you call the Missing Persons Bureau of New York
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: a fair sampling of such cases in the planet at large?
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: Yes, I should think so.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: Is there then an economic explanation for the fact that
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: since interstellar travel has been developed, the percentage of young
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: males among the missing is more pronounced than ever?
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: That's even less of a mystery than the other. Nowadays,
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: a runaway can hop the nearest space freighter. They're always
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: looking for crewmen, no questions asked.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: Almost always young men in their first year of marriage.
• 16:41
  Speaker 6: Well, that's just the time a man's troubles seem the greatest.
• 16:44
  Speaker 6: If he survives the first year, there's usually no need
• 16:46
  Speaker 6: to disappear at all.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: Would it offend you if I disconnected for a period
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: of time? Disconnected?
• 16:53
  Speaker 6: It's like sleep. I hope you haven't had too exhausting
• 16:58
  Speaker 6: a day.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: It's just that I've been absorbing so many new and
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: unusual concepts that I feel a desire for a little disconnection.
• 17:16
  Speaker 6: Drake, we've been sitting here for ten minutes. Aren't you
• 17:18
  Speaker 6: going to speak to me?
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: About what?
• 17:20
  Speaker 6: Last night, you said you'd speak to me tomorrow. Well,
• 17:24
  Speaker 6: I'm ready now.
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: I thought it was agreed that you wouldn't question me
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: about my business in this matter.
• 17:28
  Speaker 6: I think it's too late for that. I know too
• 17:31
  Speaker 6: much about your business by now.
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: What? What do you mean?
• 17:34
  Speaker 6: Drake, let go of my arm.
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: What are you talking about?
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: Dr.
• 17:37
  Speaker 6: Tolan thinks that Earth is spreading the inhibition death purposely.
• 17:42
  Speaker 6: That's it, isn't it?
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: Where did you get that idea?
• 17:44
  Speaker 6: It's true, isn't it?
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: I want to know exactly why you say that. Don't
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: play games with me, Rose.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: This is for Keith.
• 17:50
  Speaker 6: Why don't you ask Dr.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: Tolan?
• 17:52
  Speaker 6: He's an outstanding worker in the field. I looked over
• 17:54
  Speaker 6: his papers this afternoon.
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: And what are his theories about the origin of the disease?
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: Try to remember, Rose. I.
• 18:01
  Speaker 6: I think he blames Earth, but I think he admits
• 18:03
  Speaker 6: they know nothing about how the disease is spread.
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: I'll find out about this right now.
• 18:08
  Speaker 6: Drake, what are you going to do? What's that?
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: That's my gun. I'm going to ask him a few questions.
• 18:22
  Speaker 6: He ran out of the bedroom down the corridor towards Dr.
• 18:24
  Speaker 6: Tolan's room. I ran after him, caught him just as
• 18:27
  Speaker 6: he entered the door. The Hawkinsite was standing there motionless,
• 18:31
  Speaker 6: his eyes unfocused. His four standing limbs sprawled out in
• 18:35
  Speaker 6: four directions as far as they would go.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: Now keep quiet.
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: He'll gradually become aware of me.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: Get out of here. No, Drake. What are you doing? Quiet. There,
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: you see?
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: The skin on his face is beginning to quiver. Well,
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: that's about all, Dr. Tolan. Don't throw in connection with
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: any of the limbs. Your sense organs and the voice
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: box will be quite enough.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: Why do you invade my disconnection chamber? And why are
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: you armed? What do you want?
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: The answer to certain questions.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: With a gun in your hand? Sorry, Mr. Smollett, that
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: the duties toward a guest are so badly understood on Earth.
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: You're no guest of mine, Dr. Tolan. You entered my
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: home under false pretenses.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: You had better shoot. It will save time.
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: You are convinced that you'll answer no questions? Now, that
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: in itself is suspicious. It seems that you consider certain
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: answers to be more important than your life.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: I consider the principle of courtesy to be very important.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: You as an Earth man may not understand.
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: Perhaps not. But I can't understand one thing. Your cyanide cylinder.
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: Suppose I.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Pull it out of your mouth.
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: Rose, hold your breath until I close the valve.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: There. All right, Tolan.
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: You realize what will happen to you if you don't
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: answer the questions I'm going to ask you. Cyanide lack.
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: It would be a most uncomfortable death. I'm only an
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: Earth man. I can't appreciate its true horrors, but you can,
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: can't you?
• 20:05
  Speaker 6: Drake, give him the cylinder. Give it back to him.
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: You have about one hour, I think. until the effects
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: are irreversible. Talk quickly, Dr. Tolan, and you'll have your
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: cyanide cylinder back.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: What are your questions?
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: What are your theories concerning the inhibition death? Why did
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: you really come to Earth? What is your interest in
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: the Missing Persons Bureau?
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: For years, I have been investigating the cell structure of
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: my patients suffering from inhibition death. I've been forced to
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: use the utmost secrecy. since the methods I used were
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: frowned on by my people. Your society would have similar
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: feelings against human vivisection, for instance. For this reason, I
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: could not present the results I obtained to my fellow
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: physicians until I had verified my theories here on Earth.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: And what are they? The inhibition death is entirely a
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: disease of the mind.
• 21:01
  Speaker 6: You mean it's psychosomatic?
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: No, Mrs. Smollett, it is not psychosomatic. It is a
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: true disease of the mind, a mental infection. My patients
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: had double minds. Beyond and beneath the one that obviously
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: belonged to them, there was evidence of another one, an
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: alien mind. In short, there are not only five intelligences
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: in the galaxy, but six. And the sixth is parasitic.
• 21:27
  Speaker 6: This is impossible. You must be mistaken, Dr.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Taylor. I'm not mistaken. One can imagine such a parasite
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: through the course of millions of years, perhaps losing all
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: portions of its physical being. It'll become nothing but pure mind,
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: living in some mental fashion we cannot conceive of on
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: the minds of others, particularly on the minds of Earth men.
• 21:48
  Speaker 6: Why particularly Earth men?
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: Have you not surmised that the sixth intelligence is a
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: native of Earth? Mankind from the beginning has lived with it,
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: has adapted to it, is unconscious of it. It is
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: why the higher species of terrestrial animals, including man, do
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: not grow after maturity and eventually die. And it is
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: what is called natural death. It is the result of
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: this universal parasitic infestation. Where earth men could survive the
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: infection for decades with little harm, we others die a
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: quick death within a year. Give me back my cylinder.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: You have your answer.
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: What about the missing persons bureau?
• 22:28
  Speaker 6: Drake, look at his eyes. Give it back to him.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: As we are not well adapted to the intelligence that
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: infests man. Neither is it well adapted to us. It
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: can live on us, but it cannot reproduce, with ourselves
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: alone as the source of its life. The inhibition death
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: is therefore not directly contagious among our people.
• 22:49
  Speaker 6: What are you implying, Dr. Tolan?
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: The Earthman remains the prime host for the parasite, and
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: an Earthman may infect one of us if he remains
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: among us. But the parasite, once it is located in
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: an intelligence of the outer world, must somehow return to
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: an Earthman if it expects to reproduce. We are infected
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: and reinfected as the parasites return to Earth and come
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: back to us via the mind of Earthmen who travel
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: through space.
• 23:16
  Speaker 6: And the missing persons?
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: Are the intermediate hosts. The masculine terrestrial mind seems better
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: suited for their purpose. But once reproduction has been taken
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: care of, The infested male leaves by spaceship for the
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: outer worlds. He disappears.
• 23:32
  Speaker 6: But this is impossible. What you say implies that the
• 23:36
  Speaker 6: parasite mind can control the actions of its host. That
• 23:40
  Speaker 6: can't be, or we would have noticed their presence here
• 23:42
  Speaker 6: on Earth.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: The control may be very subtle. It may, moreover, be
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: exerted only during the period of active reproduction. I simply
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: point to your missing persons bureau. Why do the young
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: men disappear? I'm quite ill now, cyanide-like, and I cannot
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: speak much longer.
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: And you alone, of all your people, have any knowledge
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: of this theory of yours?
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: I alone. You will give me back my cyanide cylinder now.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: I have become quite weak. Sure. Sure, Dr.
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: Tolan.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: Rose.
• 24:17
  Speaker 6: No, no.
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: Rose, come out of here.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: Come on now.
• 24:20
  Speaker 6: Come on. He's dead.
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: He's dead.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: You shot him.
• 24:24
  Speaker 6: Outside.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: Out. Quiet, Rose. Quiet.
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: I told you it had nothing to do with this.
• 24:30
  Speaker 6: Let me go. I want to go away.
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: I want to go away.
• 24:34
  Speaker 6: Why?
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: Because of something it was my job to do? You
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: heard what that creature was saying? You suppose I could
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: allow him to return to his world and spread those lies?
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: They'd believe him. What do you think would happen then?
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: They would have to kill us all to stop that disease.
• 24:50
  Speaker 6: What he said wasn't a lie. It was true.
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: Oh, come on. Now you're hysterical. You need sleep.
• 24:54
  Speaker 6: I know what he said was true because the security
• 24:56
  Speaker 6: commission knows all about the same theory and knows it's true.
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: Why do you say a thing like that?
• 25:01
  Speaker 6: Because you let it slip yourself.
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: Now, now sit down. Sit down. Well, so I gave
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: myself away, did I? When?
• 25:12
  Speaker 6: You turned white when Hark Toland referred to me as
• 25:16
  Speaker 6: a charming hostess. Hostess has a double meaning, Drake. A
• 25:21
  Speaker 6: host is one who harbors a parasite.
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: I had no idea I was so transparent. Look, Rose,
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: I've done my best to keep you out of this.
• 25:32
  Speaker 6: The truth can't be held down forever. Somebody else will
• 25:35
  Speaker 6: find out. You can't kill them all.
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: We know that, too. We have no choice.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: Why?
• 25:40
  Speaker 6: Why can't we combine with the other intelligences and wipe
• 25:43
  Speaker 6: out the parasite?
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: No, no, you don't understand. Arctolan was right. Man and
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: his prehistoric ancestors have been living with this parasitic intelligence
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: for uncounted ages. We've not only become adapted to it,
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: we've become dependent on it. It is no longer a
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: case of parasitism. It's a case of mutual cooperation. You
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: biologists have a name for it.
• 26:07
  Speaker 6: What are you talking about? Symbiosis?
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: Yes, exactly. We have a disease of our own, remember?
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: It is a reverse disease, one of unrestrained growth. We've
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: mentioned it already as a contrast to inhibition death. It's
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: all very well to say that if we could remove
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: the parasite, we would have eternal growth in life, but
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: it's impossible for us. If for any reason the parasitic intelligence,
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: as Hark Toland calls it, does leave the human body,
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: or if its relationship to the human mind is in
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: any way impaired, growth does take place, but not in
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: an orderly fashion. We call the growth cancer, and there
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: you have it. There's no way of getting rid of
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: the parasite. We're together for all eternity. To get rid
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: of their inhibition death, extraterrestrials must first wipe out all
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: vertebrate life on Earth. There is no other solution for them.
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: So we must keep knowledge of it from them. Now
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: do you understand?
• 27:04
  Speaker 6: He got the body out of the apartment. I sat
• 27:16
  Speaker 6: there numbly. He lied to me. Cancer could not be
• 27:21
  Speaker 6: a disease that was an expression of lost ability for
• 27:24
  Speaker 6: normal growth. Cancer attacked children while they were still growing.
• 27:27
  Speaker 6: It could even attack embryonic tissue. Cancer had nothing to
• 27:32
  Speaker 6: do with the presence or absence of normal growth. Its
• 27:36
  Speaker 6: absence would not cause cancer. Drake lied, but no one
• 27:41
  Speaker 6: would believe me. The young men who disappeared were usually
• 27:45
  Speaker 6: in the first year of their marriage. Whatever the process
• 27:48
  Speaker 6: of reproduction of the parasite intelligence was, it must involve
• 27:52
  Speaker 6: close association with another parasite. The type of close and
• 27:56
  Speaker 6: continuous association, as in the case of newly married couples.
• 28:02
  Speaker 6: The parasite could control actions. I'd report them both, Drake, Smollett,
• 28:07
  Speaker 6: and Harktoll, into the Missing Persons Bureau... but they'd never
• 28:11
  Speaker 6: find them for they'd be out in space. I wanted
• 28:14
  Speaker 6: to weep, but I couldn't. I was dry-eyed and it
• 28:18
  Speaker 6: was painful. I'd looked for the answers to so many
• 28:21
  Speaker 6: questions and I'd found them all. I even found the
• 28:26
  Speaker 6: answer to the question I thought had no bearing on
• 28:28
  Speaker 6: the subject. I finally learned why Drake had married me.
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: Who have just heard X-1, presented by the National Broadcasting
• 28:41
  Speaker 5: Company in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine. Your announcer,
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: Fred Collins. X-1 was an NBC Radio Network production.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: We leave you now with X-1's hostess. Follow X-1 for
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: more classic broadcasts.