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X Minus One - "The Moon Is Green" (Old Time Radio, 1957) · X Minus One | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Inside a sealed, radiation-shielded apartment in post-atomic war America, Effie
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: and Hank live by the rules that keep the world
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: beyond their shuttered window at a distance. But when a
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: wanderer appears outside without protective gear, Effie is drawn toward sunlight,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: open air, and the questions his presence raises. From NBC's
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: X-Minus One, this is The Moon is Green, Episode 82.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Broadcast January 2nd, 1957. George Lefferts' radio adaptation of a
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Fritz Leiber story, directed by Fred Weiher. Joyce Gordon, Bill Lipton,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and Ian Martin are featured in the cast. And now,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the original broadcast. Countdown for blastoff. X-Minus Five.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Four.
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: Three, two, X minus one, fire.
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: From the far horizons of the unknown come tales of
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: new dimensions in time and space. These are stories of
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: the future. Adventures in which you'll live in a million
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: could be years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, presents.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: X minus 1.
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: Tonight, the time after the next atomic war. The place
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: somewhere in the United States. The story, The Moon is
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: Green by Fritz Leiber.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: The moon is green. Green as emeralds. Green as leaves.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Green as grass. I reached my arms toward it and
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: let it bathe me. I closed my eyes and let
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: it kiss me.
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: Effie?
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: Effie, where are you?
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Oh, dear Lord, he mustn't see it. It's so beautiful
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: and he always kills beauty.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: Effie!
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: In the bedroom, Hank. I've got to close the shutters
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: before he comes. He mustn't.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: Effie! What the devil are you doing? Close those shutters,
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: you fool! Come away from there.
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: You're trying to destroy yourself and me, too. You know
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: those shutters are not safe to open for another five years.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: I only wanted to look at the moon.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: The moon?
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: Here, count yourself for radiation. You know what the Central
• 3:11
  Speaker 5: Committee would do to you for breaking the lead shield?
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Kill me? I wouldn't mind.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: Don't talk like that.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: Would it be so different from being shut up in
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: a lead coffin the way we are now? It would
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: be worse than the eternal thought of the air conditioners
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: and the radiation filters.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: Be still and count yourself. Good Lord. We're past the
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: danger zone. Wait a minute.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Did you take off your watch?
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: No.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: Well, give it to me. You fool.
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: You little fool. What am I going to do with you?
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: Can't you understand what kind of a world you're living in?
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: Can't you?
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes, husband. I can understand only too well. It's
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: the world that can't seem to understand. The world that
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: went on stockpiling hydrogen bombs. The world that started testing
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: those bombs. telling itself it hadn't really exploded enough to
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: make the air dangerous. Men began to throw them across continents,
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: one nation against another. It lasted about two months, and
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: after that, the fury, the fury of doomed men who
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: thought only of taking with them as many of the
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: enemy as possible. After the fury, In the time of terror,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: men and women with deaths sifting into their bones and
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: through their nostrils, fighting for bare survival under a dust-hazed
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: sky that played fantastic tricks with the light of the
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: sun and the green light of the moon. The only
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: chance for existence was to claim one of those underground
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: radiation-shielded places. They went to the strong.
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: And afterward, the.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Waiting behind the lead shields. The endless, interminable waiting.
• 5:39
  Speaker 5: You understand, I suppose, that we were allowed to reclaim
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: this ground-level apartment only because the committee believed us to
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: be responsible people? And because I've been making a darn
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: good showing lately? Yes.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: I understand.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: It's a privilege to have some privacy, you know.
• 5:59
  Speaker 5: I could send you back to the basement tenements. Would
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: you like that?
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Oh, no.
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: Oh, no.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: Anything rather than that embedded huddling and that shameless communal sprawl.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: Yet is this really so much better? Being on the
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: surface is meaningless. It only tantalizes. And yet.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: Well?
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: No, no, Hank. I don't want to go back underneath.
• 6:32
  Speaker 5: Well, then try to behave yourself. Coming up through the
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: tunnel just now, I decided I'd better talk to you. Frankly, Effie,
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: the committee's beginning to be a little concerned about our
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: lack of children.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: Oh.
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: Charlie Baker asked me this morning if I'd like my
• 6:49
  Speaker 5: name put on the list for a free woman.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: You needn't bother.
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: What do you mean?
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: I mean... We're going to have a baby. We.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: What? Heffy, Heffy, are you sure?
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: Heffy, that's wonderful.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: It's magnificent.
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: Do you realize what this means to my rating with
• 7:11
  Speaker 5: the committee? You know how important it is to the
• 7:13
  Speaker 5: community to raise healthy members for the day when we
• 7:15
  Speaker 5: can resume the surface war.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: Yes, I've heard the broadcast.
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: We'll announce it at the meeting of the junior committee tonight.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: Tonight?
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: What? Well, you hadn't forgotten about it, had you?
• 7:26
  Speaker 5: It's the annual banquet. You brighten yourself up and put
• 7:30
  Speaker 5: on your best dress. I want the other juniors to
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: see what a handsome wife the new member has got.
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: What's the trouble now?
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: I'm terribly sorry, Hank, but you'll have to go alone.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: I'm really not well.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: There you go again.
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: First the infantile, inexcusable business of opening the lead shutter,
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: and now this. Don't you know what this could mean
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: to my reputation, Effie?
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry. You're coming, Effie.
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: This is just neurotic pampering.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: Hank, I'll just be sick and you wouldn't be proud
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: of me at all.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: Now, listen, Effie.
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: Tonight's too important. It'll cause a lot of bad comment
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: if a new member's wife isn't present. You know how
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: just a hint of sickness starts all kinds of rumors
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: about radiation disease. Now, what do you say?
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: No. Effie, you're going... There's nothing wrong with you if
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: I have to.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: You're hurting my arm. It isn't good for the baby.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: The baby?
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: I'd almost forgotten.
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: Oh, no, we have to be very careful. I suppose
• 8:35
  Speaker 5: if I explain to them you aren't there because of
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: the baby, it will make a difference.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: I guess I'll just stay here alone till you come back.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: When will you be back?
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: Well, those things usually go on pretty late.
• 8:52
  Speaker 5: So if you're expecting company, you needn't worry.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: Hank?
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: Yes, Effie?
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: Do you remember when we were first married?
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: Of course I remember.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: You liked to go skiing, remember? You said it was
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: like feeding a hunger for beauty, being up on a
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: mountain covered with snow.
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: What are you talking about?
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: You forgot.
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: I haven't forgotten. I have just as much desire to
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: get outside as you do, but I know there's no
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: chance for me. I've got to see that my children
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: and their children survive to see the sun again. We've
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: got to behave like adults, to make sacrifices. We've got
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: to keep the strain pure.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Hank, what do you suppose it's like for them?
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: For whom?
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: The freaks and the mutants, the outsiders.
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: What do you know about them?
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: I remember some of the pariahs. They were careless, cringing
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: creatures with radiation welts all over their bodies. Begging to
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: be taken in during the last months of the terror.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: The committee ordered them to be shot down, just like dogs.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: We don't like to talk about that.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: Hank, are they still out there?
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: Effie, this is the sort of talk that's just morbid.
• 10:16
  Speaker 5: Are they? Yes. There are still humans out there. At
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: least they were humans. They know better than to come
• 10:24
  Speaker 5: near the shelters now.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: Poor creature.
• 10:27
  Speaker 5: I can't stand here discussing this nonsense all night. I
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: have to get going. For the last time, are you
• 10:33
  Speaker 5: sure you won't come down with me? No.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: I'll wait here.
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: Don't you get lonely?
• 10:42
  Speaker 5: No.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: I was talking to Jim Barnes today. He told me.
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: He wasn't going to be able to make it to
• 10:52
  Speaker 5: the banquet either. Touch of the old flu, he said.
• 10:57
  Speaker 5: That isn't like him, is it? Effie, are you listening?
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: What?
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: You remember Jim Barnes, don't you? He used to be
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: sweet on you. Said you had the soul of a poet.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Well, yes, I remember him. Why?
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: Never mind.
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: Well, I guess I got a bit sharp with you.
• 11:17
  Speaker 5: I'm sorry about that. I... I was excited about being
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: made a junior and the baby and all. Selfish of me,
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: I apologize. As you get to bed early, I'll probably
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: go over to the men's dorm for a while after
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: the meeting. You'll be completely alone for the next four hours.
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: Do you mind?
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: But.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: Oh, but no, no.
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: Good night, Effie.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: He looked at me strangely, and then his features returned
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: to their usual harder, more calculating expression. Was it possible
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: that he had sensed my very dream? Had it been
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: a dream? Oh, it must have been. It wasn't possible
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: that it had really happened. It had just been an illusion,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: a silly projection out of my starved romantic imagination. I
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: waited until Hank's footsteps vanished down in the tunnel. And
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: then I waited until I heard it. No, it isn't possible.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: There's nothing out there. Nothing but deformed monsters.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: Meow.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: And open the shutters. I must go home. Dear Lord,
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: I've got to know. I've got to know. I've got
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: to know.
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: Well, now, so you haven't forgotten our meeting after all.
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: You.
• 13:06
  Speaker 6: And what are you expecting someone else?
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: It wasn't a dream. You really were out there last night.
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: Oh, yes, on the night before.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: I was afraid I dreamed it. I still think it's
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: a dream.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: Lean out into the moonlight a moment. Is this a dream?
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: Or was it a flesh and blood kiss? And your
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: name is Patrick? I? Patrick.
• 13:46
  Speaker 6: Well, now, did you open the window to find God's
• 13:48
  Speaker 6: own breath of fresh evening air, or did you open
• 13:50
  Speaker 6: it to invite me in?
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: Oh, of course. Come in. Come in.
• 13:56
  Speaker 6: Come, George Lewis. Ah, here, now, let me help you.
• 13:59
  Speaker 6: Being a cat with 12 toes on each foot and
• 14:02
  Speaker 6: ears like boxing gloves is a bit cumbersome.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: I have to help you a bit, you see. Come on, now,
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: let me... There, now. Is, uh... Is your husband about?
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: No. No, he won't be home for a while.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: I'll still light better clothes.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Oh, no. Leave them open.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: The radiation?
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: I don't care. I want to see the moonlight. I.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: Would you have a bit of food? Joe Lewis and
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: I are starved for a bite to eat. Oh, yes.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: Yes, I'll get it.
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: Oh, Effie.
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: Yes?
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: Oh, but you're a fair creature.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: His face wasn't horrible at all. Only thin and sensitive
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: and terribly sad. And there were no radiation welts or
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: scars on his skin. He looked just as he had
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: looked that first night when I opened the ledge shutter
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: and saw him crouch to the window. And now I
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: knew it had been no dream. He was an outsider.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: A pariah. He was my love. Here's some canned meat
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: and a food pill, and I put on some water
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: for coffee.
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: Oh, bless your own. Come on now, Joe.
• 15:31
  Speaker 6: Here, here's a bit of meat for your black soul
• 15:33
  Speaker 6: to feed on. He's hungry, poor creature.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: Well, then. Sit down, girl, where I can look at you.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: All right. All right. Have you missed me?
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: Oh, I've had some thoughts of you, I dare say.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: Talk to me. Of what? Tell me again about outside,
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: what it's like.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: Again?
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Again and again.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: Well, now, outside... You say the coffee's eaten?
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: Mm-hmm.
• 16:04
  Speaker 6: Well, then, it is a wonderland for sure. More amazing
• 16:09
  Speaker 6: than you and your entombed folk could ever imagine a
• 16:12
  Speaker 6: veritable fairy land.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Tell me the truth about it.
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: The truth? I am telling you the truth, my love.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: But the bombs and the dust made only ugliness.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: At first, at first.
• 16:20
  Speaker 6: But then they changed the life in the seed of
• 16:23
  Speaker 6: them that were brave enough to stay. Wonders beyond wondering
• 16:27
  Speaker 6: bloomed and walked.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: Well, have none of you been outside?
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: Well, the radiation teams go up into the ruined buildings
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: once or twice a year to find canned food and batteries.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: They can only work for a few minutes at a time.
• 16:41
  Speaker 6: Ah, sure, those blind-souled slugs could never see anything but
• 16:44
  Speaker 6: food and batteries anyway.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: Oh, tell me what you see beyond the city.
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: I mean.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: Ah, there are gardens there.
• 16:50
  Speaker 6: Gardens where a dozen buds blossom for every one before.
• 16:55
  Speaker 6: And the flowers have petals a yard across.
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: Oh.
• 16:58
  Speaker 6: And there are stingless bees as big as sparrows, so
• 17:02
  Speaker 6: for their nectar.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: But did the radiation make all the cats laugh? like
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: this one?
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: Like this runt? Why, no, girl.
• 17:07
  Speaker 6: They are grown, spotted, and huge as leopards. But they're
• 17:11
  Speaker 6: gentle beasts, for the dust has burned all the murder
• 17:14
  Speaker 6: out of every living thing.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: Hank says the dust kills.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: Would you like to hear a poem I made?
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: I'd say it.
• 17:23
  Speaker 6: Fire can hurt me, or water, or the weight of earth.
• 17:29
  Speaker 6: But by some curious coincidence, The dust is my friend.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: Oh, more. Well, then.
• 17:40
  Speaker 6: There are robins like cockatoos and squirrels like a prince's ermine,
• 17:44
  Speaker 6: all under a treasure chest of sun and moon and
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: stars that the dust changes from ruby to emerald and sapphire.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: And there are.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: What is it, love? What's that look for?
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: There's one thing you've never told me about.
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: And what is that?
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: The children. The new children.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: Ah, now, the children. The truth. The truth?
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: Promise.
• 18:14
  Speaker 6: I swear on the skin of my cat here.
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: The children, is it, huh?
• 18:20
  Speaker 6: Well, now, if you'd ever catch a glimpse of one
• 18:22
  Speaker 6: of them, you'd never doubt me again. They have long
• 18:25
  Speaker 6: limbs and smiling, delicate faces and white teeth and the
• 18:29
  Speaker 6: finest hair.
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: They're so nimble that.
• 18:32
  Speaker 6: Well, that even I, a sprightly man and somewhat enlivened
• 18:35
  Speaker 6: by the dust, feel crippled beside them, and their thoughts
• 18:38
  Speaker 6: dance like flames.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: But what's wrong with them, Patrick?
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: Wrong? Nay, love, there's nothing wrong. Different, perhaps, anew, but
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: not wrong.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: Oh, tell me, tell me.
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: Well, then, they do have.
• 18:50
  Speaker 6: Seven fingers on each hand and eight toes on either foot.
• 18:54
  Speaker 6: But they're much more beautiful for it. And they have large,
• 18:58
  Speaker 6: beautiful ears that the sun shines through. So lovely and
• 19:02
  Speaker 6: delicate to behold.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: How do they behave? They're mine.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: Not as you and I, perhaps.
• 19:06
  Speaker 6: They play happily in the gardens all day long, laughing
• 19:09
  Speaker 6: and finding joy in the simplest beauty.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: Are they defective?
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: Well, no.
• 19:18
  Speaker 6: By the standards out there, you're the defective one shut
• 19:22
  Speaker 6: up here all the while, hating and crawling in ugliness
• 19:25
  Speaker 6: and feeling dirty.
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: No, they're quite lovely. And they're quite perfect, the new children.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: Oh, you're telling the truth. You're not making it up.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: It is true every word of it.
• 19:40
  Speaker 6: Oh, I'll admit you have to look a bit.
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: Hard to find these things I've been telling you. But
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: find them you may. Do you believe me?
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes. Yes, I believe you. But I'm afraid.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: Give me your hand. Here. Now listen to me.
• 20:08
  Speaker 6: You must not be afraid to do as your heart
• 20:11
  Speaker 6: tells you.
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: That's why I'm here.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: Oh, Patrick.
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: Patrick.
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: Don't either of you move.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: Oh, Hank, I.
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: Stay there or I'll blast both of you.
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: Hank, but.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: You're carrying on like this and not even with a
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: man in the community with an outcast of pariah.
• 20:33
  Speaker 6: No, man, I know what you're thinking, but you're wrong.
• 20:36
  Speaker 6: I just happened to be coming by hungry, a lonely tramp.
• 20:40
  Speaker 6: And I knocked at the shutter and your wife was
• 20:41
  Speaker 6: a bit foolish and let her kind heart get the
• 20:43
  Speaker 6: best of me.
• 20:43
  Speaker 5: Do you think you can sell me that?
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: Hey, please.
• 20:45
  Speaker 5: So you're going to have a child, my dear. My child?
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: Yes, your child.
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: I should pull this trigger right now. I should shoot
• 20:51
  Speaker 5: him down in cold blood.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: Man, you're mad I never touched your wife.
• 20:54
  Speaker 5: You contaminated pariah.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: You're going to die.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: Don't you know that?
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: Hank.
• 20:58
  Speaker 7: Hank, if you kill him, you kill the bringer of
• 21:01
  Speaker 7: the best news we've ever had.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: Put aside your jealousy for just a minute and listen
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: to me. Patrick has something wonderful to tell us, all
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: of us. What do you mean? I mean that we
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: need no longer fear the dust. Oh, Hank, remember how
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: it was with me. All the exposure I had, and
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: yet there were no burns. Hank, those who were brave
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: enough to stay outside have adapted. They've become a beautiful people.
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: Did he tell you that?
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Everything that grew or moved was purified.
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: He filled you with lies so he could take you.
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: True.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: The radioactivity is almost gone, burned out.
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: Effie, I've been out there. It's horrid.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: No, no, no. You've been blinded. Blinded to beauty. Blinded
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: to living.
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: Good Lord, you believe it. It's true.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: It must be true. Look at Patrick. He's living proof.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: He's been outside for a year and there isn't a
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: mark on him, not a scar. It's because he's brave.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: And the dust can't hurt the brave.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: Well, you think that's it, huh? All right, Effie, I'm
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: going to prove something to you.
• 22:09
  Speaker 5: You, Patrick, take this radiation counter.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: Take it.
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: Very well. Press the button and count yourself.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Go on.
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: As you say. Read it again.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: Read it! 1,700.
• 22:38
  Speaker 6: Yeah, you hear that?
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: 1,700 radioactives.
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: Enough to kill a thousand men. He's like raw radium.
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: If you turn out the light, he'll glow green in
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: the dark. A week's exposure to him will destroy you.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: Are you proving anything?
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: That he's a freak.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: A freak!
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: Get away from him.
• 22:55
  Speaker 5: He's destroying you right now.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: May I shut this thing off now?
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: Patrick.
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: Is it true? Yes, I'm afraid it is true. Oh,
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: you do well to cringe, both of you. I'm living death.
• 23:17
  Speaker 6: I'm death itself. As your husband so wisely said, I'm
• 23:22
  Speaker 6: a freak. Just like the man who ate nails and
• 23:25
  Speaker 6: walked on fire. Only my oddity is that for some
• 23:28
  Speaker 6: unknown reason, the dust can't harm me. I'm the only one.
• 23:33
  Speaker 6: Step right up, ladies and gentlemen. Not too close now.
• 23:36
  Speaker 6: And examine the man who couldn't die. And now, if
• 23:43
  Speaker 6: you don't mind, I'll go back to my dead world.
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: And leave you to your.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: Wait.
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: All of those.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: those beautiful things.
• 23:58
  Speaker 6: It gets so lonely out there. And I was starved
• 24:04
  Speaker 6: for beauty. And so were you.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: There's no garden out there.
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: Garden? Listen to me, the both of you.
• 24:18
  Speaker 6: What is out there is more terrible than either of
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: you can imagine.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: You're worse than Hank, even. He only killed beauty once.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: But you brought it to life. So you could kill
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: it again. You're afraid. Afraid of the loneliness out there. Well,
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: I'm not afraid.
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: Ethel, keep away from the window.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: No, I'm not afraid.
• 24:49
  Speaker 7: Maybe there is no garden out there. And no beautiful,
• 24:52
  Speaker 7: strange children to play happily. It can be if we're
• 24:58
  Speaker 7: brave enough.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: Effie.
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: I'm going.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: I'm going. Effie, come back.
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: Effie. It's no use trying to keep her, man. Effie,
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: come back.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: I love you.
• 25:05
  Speaker 5: Come back.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: It's no use, man. There's still time. She stood the
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: dust better than most.
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: There's still time. You.
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: The dust won't hurt you. Find her.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: Bring her back.
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: I'll reward you. I'll give you food. If you want her,
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: you'll have to go yourself. She'll die. Maybe she won't.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: How can you say such a thing? Because... perhaps she's
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: like me. I.
• 25:36
  Speaker 6: Perhaps the two of us together could be the first
• 25:39
  Speaker 6: of a race that'll live in sunlight again.
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: Get against the wall where I can kill you easier.
• 25:44
  Speaker 6: Why would you kill me? Is killing all the answer
• 25:46
  Speaker 6: you have to life's riddles? Is the smell of blood
• 25:49
  Speaker 6: better than compassion? Is it more joy to own her
• 25:52
  Speaker 6: than to be loved by her?
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: Move!
• 25:54
  Speaker 6: Man, you'll not kill me, shall I tell you why.
• 25:56
  Speaker 6: Because my flesh will not die. I live a thousand years.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: Not your brain, Patrick. And that's where this gun is aimed. Well,
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: then you leave me no choice. You get him!
• 26:08
  Speaker 6: Hey!
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: Call him up!
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: Cut my arm!
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: No!
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: Stop! Well, then I have your weapon now.
• 26:21
  Speaker 6: Out there, you see, we freaks have learned to live
• 26:24
  Speaker 6: together and to cooperate. It's the only way we can
• 26:29
  Speaker 6: stay alive. Oh, I'll... I'll give after your love. Come on, Joe. Oh, you'd...
• 26:46
  Speaker 6: You'd better close the shutters as soon as we're gone.
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: The moon is beautiful. But it's deadly.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: I was waiting for him at the end of the
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: ruined street. When we looked back, we saw Hank closing
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: the ledge shutters on himself. We were alone in the world.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: Above us, the moon was green. I bent and picked
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: up a handful of the dust and let it trickle
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: through my fingers. And I remembered the words of Patrick's poems.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: Fire can hurt me, or water, or the weight of
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: the earth. But by some strange coincidence, the dust is
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: my friend.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: The Dust.
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: You have just heard X-1 presented by the National Broadcasting
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: Company in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, which this
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: month features Advance Agent by Christopher Anvil, the story of
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: a spy who had the worst possible break. The disguise
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: he had assumed was that of a famous man. Galaxy Magazine,
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: on your newsstand today. Tonight, by transcription, X-1 has brought
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: you The Moon is Green, a story from the pages
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: of Galaxy written by Fritz Leiber and adapted for radio
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: by George Lefferts. Featured in the cast were Joyce Gordon
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: as Effie, Bill Lifton as Hank, Ian Martin as Patrick,
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: and Frank Milano as the cat. This is Fred Collins.
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: X-1 was directed by Fred Way and is an NBC
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: Radio Network production.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: We close with NBC's X-1 and the moon is green.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: Until our next broadcast, good night.