Latest / X Minus One | Old Time Radio / X Minus One - "Something for Nothing" (Old Time Radio, 1957)

Transcript

X Minus One - "Something for Nothing" (Old Time Radio, 1957) · X Minus One | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On April 10th, 1957, NBC Radio broadcast X-1's episode 96,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Something for Nothing. Adapted by Ernest Kenoy from Robert Sheckley's
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Galaxy Science Fiction Story, and directed by Daniel Sutter, the
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: drama opens in a cheap, rain-leaking hotel room, where a
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: down-on-his-luck man named Joe discovers an unfamiliar device called a
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Class A Utilizer. the machine appears able to provide whatever
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Joe asks for, offering an extraordinary answer to his immediate
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: problems while he tries to understand its terms. Sheckley's story
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: first appeared in Galaxy's June 1954 issue. Joseph Julian stars
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: as Joe with Danny Arco, Jock McGregor, John Gibson, Wendell Holmes,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Ralph Bell, Karen Ford, and Fred Collins.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Here is the original broadcast. Countdown for blastoff.
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: X minus 5, 4, 3, 2, X minus 1, fire.
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: From the far horizons of the unknown come tales of
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: new dimensions in time and space.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: These are stories of the future.
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: Adventures in which you'll live in a million could be
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company,
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, presents.
• 1:53
  Speaker 5: X minus 1.
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: Tonight, Something for Nothing by Robert Sheckley.
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: I woke up when I thought I heard a voice.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: But I must have been mistaken because there was no
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: one in my room. It was the same network of
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: cracks in the muddy yellow ceiling and the same water
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: dripping slowly and mournfully through from the roof. I'd seen
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: it a hundred times before, the worst room in a
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: cheap hotel. But then, when I swung my feet onto
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: the floor, I saw it. It was a machine on
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: the floor. It hadn't been there when I went to
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: sleep the night before. It was about three feet square,
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: and it was humming softly. The crackle-gray surface was featureless,
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: except for a red button in one corner and a
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: brass plate in the center. I leaned in closer and
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: read the marking. Glass A Utilizer, Series AA-1256-432. Warning, this
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: machine should be used only by Class A ratings.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Hey, where did you come from?
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: Utilizer, huh? What do you utilize? No switches, no knobs.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: Just one red button. Okay, we'll give it a try.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: Here goes the button. All right, what happens now? Little
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: green men drop from the ceiling? Okay, we'll push it again.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Come on, do something. I'll have to pawn it.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: Unless Charlie will give me a dollar for the metal
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: for junk.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Boy, it's heavy.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: Can't even get the corner off the floor. They should
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: have sent me somebody to help.
• 3:55
  Speaker 6: Where do you want it, Mac?
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Hey, where did you come from?
• 3:59
  Speaker 6: Come on, come on.
• 3:59
  Speaker 7: We haven't got all day.
• 4:00
  Speaker 8: Where do you want it?
• 4:02
  Speaker 7: Lucky it's one of the small ones. The big models
• 4:04
  Speaker 7: up roots to get a grip on.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: Who are you?
• 4:07
  Speaker 6: Moving man? What do I look like?
• 4:09
  Speaker 7: Queen of the May?
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: But where did you come from? You just appeared in
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: the room. What are you doing here?
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: I'm from the Power Vinyl Movers Incorporated, and I came
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: because you wanted movers.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: That's why.
• 4:21
  Speaker 7: Now, where do you want it?
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: Well, uh, I don't know.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure. Look, you go away. I'll call for
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: you later.
• 4:33
  Speaker 6: Okay, Mac. It's your problem.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: Ah!
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: Utilizer, huh?
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: Utilizer.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't know where you came from, but I
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: know what you are. You're a wishing machine.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: I suppose most people would be shocked if a wishing
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: machine suddenly showed up in their room.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: But not me.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: Most of my life has been spent wishing, hoping, praying
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: that something marvelous would happen to me.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: In high school, I.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: Dreamed of waking up some morning with an ability to
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: know my homework without having to do it. In the army,
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: I used to wish for some witch to change my orders,
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: put me in charge of the day room instead of
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: forcing me to do close order drill like everyone else.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: Out of the army, I avoided work. You see, I'm
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: kind of psychologically unsuited for it. I just drifted around
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: hoping some fabulously wealthy person would for some reason change
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: their will and leave me everything. I never really expected
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: anything to happen, but now it did. All right, machine,
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: let's go. I'd like $ 1, 000 in small, unmarked bills.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: There it is. How about that?
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: Fives, tens.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: They're all dirty. Just perfect.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: Okay, here's what I'll do. I'll get the machine out
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: of New York. Maybe upstate someplace where I won't be
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: bothered by nosy neighbors. I've got a lot of problems
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: on the income tax with this sort of thing. Well,
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: maybe I get organized and I'll go to Central America.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Hey, what's happening? There's a hole opening up in the wall.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: What? Somebody's trying to get through to me. The owner
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: of the machine, he's trying to get it back. That
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: hole's getting bigger.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: Hey, hey, hey, Utilizer. Protect me.
• 6:22
  Speaker 8: Sanisar League, Temporal Wall Protection Service. What can I do
• 6:25
  Speaker 8: for you?
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: That man coming through the wall, get rid of him,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: get rid of him.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: He's almost through.
• 6:28
  Speaker 8: Take it easy now. There's plenty of time.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: Let me see.
• 6:32
  Speaker 7: Where did I put that unit?
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: There's his head!
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: Wait a minute! Wait a minute! You don't understand!
• 6:37
  Speaker 6: Now, wait!
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: Well, that takes care of him. Anything else? Did you
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: kill him?
• 6:45
  Speaker 8: Of course not. I just veered him back through his glommet.
• 6:47
  Speaker 8: He won't try that way again.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: What, you mean he'll try some other way? It's possible.
• 6:52
  Speaker 8: He could attempt a microtransfer or even animation. Say, um,
• 6:57
  Speaker 8: this is your utilizer, isn't it?
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Of course... Sure it is, of course. Then you're an
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: A rating? Naturally. If I wasn't, what would I be
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: doing with a utilizer?
• 7:09
  Speaker 8: Oh, no offense. Just being friendly. Well, well, how you
• 7:14
  Speaker 8: A's get around. I suppose you've come back here to
• 7:16
  Speaker 8: do a history book.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm really not permitted to say. You understand, don't you? Oh,
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: of course.
• 7:24
  Speaker 8: I'll be on my way. One call after another, night
• 7:28
  Speaker 8: and day, night and day. I'd be better off in
• 7:31
  Speaker 8: a quarry.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: Bye. There I was alone with the machine with a
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: thousand dollars in small bills scattered around the floor.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Those A ratings, whoever they were, had it pretty good.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: Want something? Just ask for it. Press the button.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: Well, the next few days marked a great change in
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: my fortunes. With the aid of the power vinyl movers,
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: I took the Utilizer to upstate New York. There I
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: bought a medium-sized mountain.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: In a neglected corner of the Adirondacks.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: And once the papers were in my hands, I walked
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: to the center of my properties, several miles from the highway,
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: with the men from the moving company sweating behind me,
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: carrying the Utilizer. On all sides, as far as I
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: could see, were closely spaced forests of birch and pine.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: The air was sweet and damp.
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: Birds were chirping merrily in the treetops and occasional squirrel
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: darted by.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: I always loved nature.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: This would be the perfect spot to build a large,
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: impressive house with swimming pool, tennis courts, and possibly a
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: small airport.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: So I pushed the button.
• 8:46
  Speaker 5: Yes, sir?
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: Can I be of service?
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: I want a house.
• 8:48
  Speaker 9: Well, yes, sir, but you really must be more specific.
• 8:51
  Speaker 9: Do you want something classic, like a bungalow, ranch, split level, mansion, castle,
• 8:55
  Speaker 9: or palace? Or primitive, like an igloo or hut? Now,
• 8:59
  Speaker 9: since you're an A, you could have something up to
• 9:01
  Speaker 9: the minute, like a semi-face, an extended new, or a
• 9:03
  Speaker 9: sunken miniature.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Oh, um, I don't know. What do you suggest? A
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: small mansion. They usually start with that. They do?
• 9:11
  Speaker 6: Oh, yes.
• 9:12
  Speaker 9: Later, they move to a warm climate and build a palace.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Shall we start immediately?
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sure.
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: Fine.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: Start immediately.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: I wanted to ask a couple more questions, but I
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: decided against it. Everything was going too smoothly. These people
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: thought I was an aide and a true owner of
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: the Utilizer. There wasn't any sense in disenchanting them. The
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: rest of the day, I reclined on a couch and
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: drank iced beverages while the Maxim Ulf Construction Company materialized
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: equipment and put up my house.
• 9:47
  Speaker 9: Well, now, there you are, sir. Modest, low-slung affair with
• 9:50
  Speaker 9: 20 rooms. Built only of the best materials from the
• 9:52
  Speaker 9: design of Meg of Degma. Interior by Toeg, Mueller's swimming pool,
• 9:57
  Speaker 9: and formal gardens by Verium. It's really the latest thing.
• 10:00
  Speaker 9: With your permission, we'll include a complete layout on it
• 10:03
  Speaker 9: in Galactic House and Gardens.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: By evening, it was completed, and a small army of
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: workmen packed up their equipment and then vanished. I allowed
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: my chef to prepare a light supper for me. And afterwards,
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: I sat in my cool living room to think the
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: whole thing over. In front of me, humming gently, sat
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: the utilizer. I ordered cigars.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Ah, Havana.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: I wonder what's behind it all. Of course, it can't
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: be supernatural. There are no demons or devils in this.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: My house was built by regular, ordinary human beings. They
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: swore and laughed and cursed like human beings. The Utilizer
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: was simply a scientific gadget which worked on principles that
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: I didn't understand or care to understand. Could it have
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: come from another planet? Not likely.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: They wouldn't have learned English just for me.
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: And so I decided that the Utilizer must have come
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: from the Earth's future. But how?
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Well, accidents will happen.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: Why couldn't the Utilizer have just slipped back into the
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: past and ended up in my room? What a wonderful
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: future it must be. Wishing machines. How marvelously civilized. All
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: a person has to do is think of something, presto,
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: and there it is. Of course, I had to watch
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: my step. It was still the owner and the rest
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: of the A's that probably tried to take the machine
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: away from me.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: A sudden movement caught my eye. I looked up.
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: The utilizer was quivering. As I walked towards it, a
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: faint mist of steam came out of it.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Must be overheating.
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: Maybe a bucket of water. Then I noticed it was
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: becoming smaller. It was no more than two feet square
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: and shrinking before my eyes. The owner, perhaps the A's,
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: are causing a microtransfer that Leak had talked about. I
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: had to do something quickly. I pushed the button. Leak
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: protection service.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Well, now look here.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: I was on my way to the golf course.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Must I be disturbed every time? Do something. Look at it.
• 12:13
  Speaker 6: It's shrinking.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: It's getting smaller. It's getting hot. Do something. Well, there's
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: nothing I can do.
• 12:17
  Speaker 7: Temporal wall is all I'm licensed for.
• 12:20
  Speaker 8: You want the micro-control people. Bye.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: Wait a minute. Come back. It's getting hot. It's getting smaller.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: I'll press the button again. Micro-control. Micro-control.
• 12:32
  Speaker 7: With whom do you wish to make an appointment?
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: Get me help, fast. Look, the utilizer is growing smaller.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: They're microtransferring it.
• 12:38
  Speaker 7: Well, Mr. Bergman is out to lunch.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: He's de-zoned himself.
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: I can't reach him.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Well, who can you reach?
• 12:43
  Speaker 6: Well, Mr.
• 12:44
  Speaker 7: Veers is in the decontinuum, and Mr.
• 12:46
  Speaker 8: Elgis is doing field work in Paleontic Europe.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: If you're really in a rush, maybe transfer point control.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: They're a smaller unit. All right, all right, all right.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: Transfer point control.
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: Ow!
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: That button's hot. I gotta push it. Gotta push that button.
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: Transfer point control.
• 13:05
  Speaker 7: Well, what can I do for you?
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: Uh-huh, just a minute. I'll take care of that. There
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: you are.
• 13:13
  Speaker 9: Got just in time, didn't I?
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: Ain't fancy, but we're all reliable. My hand, my finger,
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: it's burned. Can you do something?
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: Who, me?
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: Nope, not in my department. Do one thing, do it well,
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: I always say.
• 13:24
  Speaker 8: Bye.
• 13:24
  Speaker 10: My finger, it's burned. button again now fix me up
• 13:30
  Speaker 10: fix my finger ah that's better much better.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: The owner of the utilizer didn't try anything for at
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: least a week but i found that my mansion in
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: the woods had been the wrong thing to do I
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: had to hire a platoon of guards to keep away sightseers,
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: and hunters insisted on camping in my formal gardens. Also,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: the Bureau of Internal Revenue began to take a lively
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: interest in my affairs. And so with the aid of
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: the Power Vinyl Movers and the Maxima Ulf Construction Company
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: and the Jangston Instantaneous Travel Bureau, and a good deal
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: of money placed in their proper hands, I moved to
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: a small Central American republic. And there, since the climate
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: was warmer and the income tax nonexistent, I built a large, airy,
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: ostentatious palace.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: It came equipped with the usual accessories.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Horses, dogs, peacocks, servants, musicians, bevvies of dancing girls, and
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: everything a palace should have. I spent two weeks just
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: exploring the place. One morning, I went up to the
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: utilizer with the vague intention of asking for a sports car,
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: or perhaps a small herd of pedigreed cattle.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: But as I bent over the gray machine and reached
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: for the red button.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: Hey, where are you going? Hey, you can't move. You
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: weigh a ton. Hold still so I can push the button.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: Hey, come back here! It's animation, that's what it is. Hey,
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: come back here!
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: I gotta push the button and get some kind of help.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Hey, hey, machine, stop! Back into the corner. Here we go.
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: There we are.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: Careful, can't let it get through the door. Inside, a
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: little dot, and that.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: Animation control. Wow, that was close. I can't take any
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: more chances. I better do some big wishing now while
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: I still have the chance. All right, pay attention here, machine.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: I'll have five million dollars, three functioning oil wells, a
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: motion picture studio, perfect health, 25 more dancing girls, immortality,
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: a sports car, and a herd of pedigreed cattle.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: What is it? What happened? The utilizer. It's gone. Where
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: is it?
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: Wait a minute. What happened to me? I'm gone, too.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: Where am I?
• 16:10
  Speaker 7: Oh, it's perfectly all right, sir. You can open your
• 16:13
  Speaker 7: eyes now.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: Where am I?
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: What happened?
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: I was in my room.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: Where am I now?
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: Where's the utilizer?
• 16:23
  Speaker 7: Oh, it's been returned to stock.
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: Wait a minute.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: You're the one that tried to come through the wall.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: You're the owner.
• 16:31
  Speaker 7: Won't you have a chair?
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: Well, I guess it's all over, isn't it? The A's
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: finally caught me. Well, it was glorious while it lasted.
• 16:42
  Speaker 6: Cigarette?
• 16:43
  Speaker 11: No.
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: Well, you got your machine back now. What else do
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: you want?
• 16:47
  Speaker 7: My machine? That's not my machine, sir.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: Not at all.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: Oh, don't try to kid me, mister. UA ratings want
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: to protect your monopoly, don't you?
• 16:53
  Speaker 7: My name is Flynn.
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: I'm an agent for the Citizens Protective Union, a non-profit
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: organization whose aim is to protect individuals such as yourself.
• 17:01
  Speaker 7: From errors of judgment.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: You mean you're not one of the A's?
• 17:05
  Speaker 7: Well, you're laboring under a misapprehension, sir.
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: The A rating does not represent a social group as
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: you seem to believe.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: You mean it's not an aristocracy, a hereditary?
• 17:14
  Speaker 7: Oh, goodness, no. An A rating is merely a credit rating.
• 17:16
  Speaker 6: A what?
• 17:18
  Speaker 7: A credit rating. Well, now, you haven't got much time,
• 17:21
  Speaker 7: so I'll make this as brief as possible here.
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: You're quite correct, sir, that this is the future, as
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: you put it, Ours is a decentralized age, sir. Our businesses, industries,
• 17:31
  Speaker 5: and services are scattered throughout an appreciable portion of space
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: and time. Now, the utilization corporation that produces the Utilizer
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: is an essential link. It provides for the transfer of
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: goods and services from point to point.
• 17:45
  Speaker 7: Do you understand?
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: I get it, I get it. Well, credit, of course,
• 17:50
  Speaker 5: is an automatic privilege. But eventually, well, everything must be
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: paid for.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: Paid for?
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: Hey, nobody said anything about paying What are you talking about?
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: Well, now, of course, you certainly couldn't have expected to
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: be provided with all these services without paying.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: Why didn't somebody stop me?
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: They must have known I didn't have a proper rating Oh,
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: credit ratings are suggestions, not laws In a civilized world,
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: an individual has the right to his own decision I'm
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: very sorry, sir Now, would you care to look at
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: this bill and tell me whether it's in order? Bill?
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: What bill?
• 18:25
  Speaker 7: For all the services that you ordered from the utilizers
• 18:29
  Speaker 7: There they are.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Let's see.
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: There's one palace with accessories, credit $ 450 million. Services, Maxima
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: Ulf Movers, $ 111, 000 credits. 122 dancing girls, $ 1, 222, 000.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: Perfect Health, 8,882,422.
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: Well, there's a whole list of them here. The total
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: comes to slightly less than 18 million credits.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: Wait a minute. I can't be held to this.
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: The utilizer just dropped into my room by accident.
• 18:57
  Speaker 7: Well, that's the very fact I'm going to bring to
• 18:59
  Speaker 7: their attention.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: What's going to happen to me?
• 19:02
  Speaker 7: Oh, it's already happened. You've been adjudged through bankruptcy court.
• 19:06
  Speaker 6: Good luck. Goodbye.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: What? Where am I? What happened?
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Where is this place?
• 19:18
  Speaker 6: All right, buddy, on your feet.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: Who are you?
• 19:22
  Speaker 6: On your feet, Mac. Here, take this.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: What is it?
• 19:26
  Speaker 6: It's a pick.
• 19:27
  Speaker 11: And over there is a quarry where you and I
• 19:29
  Speaker 11: and a couple of others are going to cut marble.
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: Marble?
• 19:32
  Speaker 6: Sure.
• 19:33
  Speaker 11: There's always some idiot who wants a palace. You better
• 19:36
  Speaker 11: get working now, boy, or I'll hand you a touch
• 19:38
  Speaker 11: of that electronic whip.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: What do you mean?
• 19:41
  Speaker 6: You'll find out. You can call me Jang. We'll be
• 19:44
  Speaker 6: together for some time.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: How long?
• 19:47
  Speaker 6: You work it out. The rate is 50 credits. a
• 19:50
  Speaker 6: month until your debt is paid off.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: They can't do this to me. It's all a mistake.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: It was their fault they left the machine. They let
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: it slip into the past. It's all a mistake.
• 20:00
  Speaker 11: It's no mistake. They're short of labor. They don't want
• 20:04
  Speaker 11: to go recruiting all over for it.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: Come on.
• 20:07
  Speaker 6: After the first thousand years, you won't mind it.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: The first thousand years? I won't live that long.
• 20:13
  Speaker 6: Sure you will. You got immortality, didn't you?
• 20:16
  Speaker 7: That's right.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: That's right. I wished for it just before they took
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: back the machine.
• 20:24
  Speaker 6: Sure you did.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: Hey, wait a minute. Wait a minute.
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: That bill that Flynn showed me, I didn't see immortality
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: on that bill. How much did they charge me for immortality?
• 20:33
  Speaker 11: Oh, don't be naive, pal. You should have figured it
• 20:37
  Speaker 11: out by now. Naturally, they give that away for nothing. Well,
• 20:43
  Speaker 11: grab your pick.
• 20:43
  Speaker 6: Let's go.
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: You have just heard X-1 presented by the National Broadcasting
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: Company in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazines. which this
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: month features Founding Father by Clifford D. Simak, the story
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: of a man whose job was to be first in
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: the hearts of his countrymen, if he ever managed to
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: find them. Galaxy Magazine, on your newsstand today. Tonight, X-1
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: has brought you Something for Nothing, a story from the
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: pages of Galaxy written by Robert Sheckley and adapted for
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: radio by Ernest Canoy. Featured in our cast were Joseph
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: Julian as Joe, with Danny Ocko, Jock McGregor, John Gibson,
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: Wendell Holmes, Ralph Bell, and Karen Ford. Fred Collins speaking.
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: X-1 was directed by Daniel Sutter and is an NBC
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: Radio Network production.
• 22:02
  Speaker 12: Scanning the globe ever watchful, the NBC Radio News Department
• 22:05
  Speaker 12: maintains a 24-hour vigil on the world. From the UN,
• 22:08
  Speaker 12: from Washington, from the Middle East, NBC Radio Newsmen are
• 22:12
  Speaker 12: on the beam, reporting the news from where it happens,
• 22:14
  Speaker 12: as it happens. Every minute of the day, news streams
• 22:18
  Speaker 12: into the NBC Newsroom, is sifted and evaluated. Every 60 minutes,
• 22:21
  Speaker 12: the most important stories are broadcast to you by top
• 22:25
  Speaker 12: commentators like Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, and Alex Dreyer on
• 22:28
  Speaker 12: News on the Hour. And when the hot stories break,
• 22:31
  Speaker 12: you get them in a flash on Hotline. It's like
• 22:34
  Speaker 12: having a seat in the NBC radio newsroom. Listen for
• 22:38
  Speaker 12: news on the hour and the exclusive Hotline service all day,
• 22:43
  Speaker 12: every day, on most of these stations.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: X-1's Something for Nothing now returns us to the quiet
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: beyond the microphone. Follow X-1 for more classic broadcasts.