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Dimension X - "First Contact" (1951) · Old Time Sci-Fi Radio | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Two exploratory spacecraft meet in deep space, and their crews
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: discover that communication brings a problem neither side can safely ignore.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: On September 8, 1951, NBC brought Dimension X, Episode 47,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: First Contact, adapted for radio by Howard Rodman from Murray
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Leinster's 1945 science fiction novelette. Bill Quinn, Cameron Prudhomme, John McGovern,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Wendell Holmes, and Bob Hastings head the cast under Fred
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Wise's direction. As the Earth vessel and its alien counterpart
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: weigh what to share and what to withhold, the route
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: home becomes a matter of mutual concern. And now, the
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: original broadcast. Follow old-time sci-fi radio for more classic science
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: fiction broadcasts.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Adventures in time and space. Transcribed in future tense.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: Dimension X.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Street and Smith,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: publishers of astounding science fiction, bring you Dimension X. Dimension X.
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: Tonight's story, First Contact, by Murray Limester. They had been
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: in space six months now, moving with the incredibly faster-than-light
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: speed of the overdrive. In six months, they had gone
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: from Earth outward and outward to the crab-like nebula with
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: the twin stars... A routine flight of exploration and scientific research.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: Solid object about 90,000 miles away, sir.
• 2:11
  Speaker 5: Located, Dort. Exactly. Identify it.
• 2:15
  Speaker 6: A small object, sir.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: Captain, I've never seen anything like this before. Whatever it
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: is out there is coming toward us at an incredible
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: speed and retreating to zero.
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: Just as rapidly. What's the mass of the object, Dort?
• 2:26
  Speaker 7: Well, it varies with the distance from us, sir.
• 2:28
  Speaker 5: Step up the scanners.
• 2:31
  Speaker 7: Nothing, sir.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: Absolutely nothing shows out there. And yet there must be something.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: Those alarms are foolproof.
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: Action stations, man all weapons. Condition of extreme alert in
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: all departments immediately.
• 2:42
  Speaker 7: Captain, what is it?
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: Dort, I ran into the same thing once before on
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: the Earth-Mars run. We were being located by another ship
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: and their locator beam was the same frequency as ours.
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: Every time it hit, it registered as something solid and monstrous.
• 2:55
  Speaker 7: But, Captain, we're the only Earth ship in 18 light
• 2:57
  Speaker 7: years around.
• 2:57
  Speaker 6: How?
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: I didn't say it was another Earth ship out there, Dork.
• 3:02
  Speaker 7: Another race?
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: That's right. There's a spaceship out there, all right. But
• 3:06
  Speaker 5: it's not manned by human beings.
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: It had been contemplated and speculated upon. Mathematically, it was
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: almost a certainty that such a race existed. But in 18,000
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: Earth years, no human spaceship had ever encountered them. Now
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: the situation was precipitated. And somewhere outside the Earth vessel,
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: there was an alien race.
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: Of what shape?
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: Of what quality? Of what psychology?
• 3:41
  Speaker 7: It's moving, sir. Heading right for us.
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: At that speed, we'll be in touch in 10 minutes.
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: Heading right for us, huh? Just what we'd do if
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: a strange ship appeared in our hunting grounds. Friendly? Well, maybe.
• 3:52
  Speaker 5: We'll try to contact them. We have to do that.
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: But friendly? Thank the Lord for the blasters.
• 3:59
  Speaker 7: They may not be hostile, sir.
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: They may be. That's what I'm paid for, put on
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: this job for, to worry about the troubles that may
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: never happen. To all hands, now hear this. A ship
• 4:07
  Speaker 5: is approaching, manned by an alien race. I'll give the
• 4:10
  Speaker 5: signal for attack or defense if it be necessary. There'll
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: be no move made unless I give the order. I
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: do not wish to provoke trouble. Stand by.
• 4:17
  Speaker 7: Their ship is slowing down, sir.
• 4:19
  Speaker 6: It's stopped.
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: Weapons department, report. Weapons department, report.
• 4:24
  Speaker 6: Alien ship remarked. Target fixed. Weapons alert.
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: Communications department, report. Communications department, report.
• 4:32
  Speaker 6: We're receiving a modulated shortwave, sir. Frequency modulated. Apparently a signal.
• 4:38
  Speaker 6: Not enough power to do us any harm.
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: We'll try to make some sense out of it. Report
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: any progress to me immediately.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: One thing in their favor, sir. They didn't attack immediately
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: without question. They're trying to establish contact. That seems to
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: indicate they're reasonable.
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: We'll see, we'll see. What are they doing now? Can
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: you make out the locator screen? Bring that power up.
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: They're doing something now, sir. There's a section of the
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: hull opening. Probably an airlock, sir.
• 5:03
  Speaker 7: If they breathe, they're... They're letting something out. It's round.
• 5:07
  Speaker 6: A bomb, sir? Unknown object released from alien ship.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: Observed by weapons department and targeted.
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: Stand by.
• 5:14
  Speaker 6: See what they're doing, sir?
• 5:15
  Speaker 7: They've left the object out there right where they were.
• 5:17
  Speaker 7: And now they're withdrawing the ship.
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: There's no reason why that object couldn't be a bomb, Mr.
• 5:21
  Speaker 8: Dorton.
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: Intended to let us think precisely as you're thinking right now.
• 5:25
  Speaker 7: I just have a hunch, sir. I think they're friendly.
• 5:29
  Speaker 7: I think whatever it is out there is a means
• 5:30
  Speaker 7: of communication.
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: You're probably right, but I won't gamble the ship on
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: the probability.
• 5:33
  Speaker 7: Sir, I'd like to volunteer to go out there and
• 5:36
  Speaker 7: look that thing over.
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: You understand whoever does examine it is expendable.
• 5:41
  Speaker 7: Yes, sir.
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: Requisition a lifeboat?
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: If it's all right with you, sir, I'd prefer just
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: a suit with the drive in it. It's smaller and
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: the arms and legs won't make me look like a bomb.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: And I'll carry a scanner, sir.
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: You may leave when you're ready.
• 5:53
  Speaker 7: Thank you, sir.
• 6:00
  Speaker 6: I'm all ready. Clear the lock and let me out.
• 6:02
  Speaker 5: Come on.
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: Weapons department reporting to the captain. Mr. Dort located.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 6:14
  Speaker 6: Dort is targeted.
• 6:15
  Speaker 5: Stand by. If that object out there is a device
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: to capture one of our people for observation and questioning,
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: it'll be blown out of existence, including Mr. Dort. Stand by. Mr.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Dort.
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: Mr.
• 6:32
  Speaker 6: Dort. Report.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: Report.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: Object, as you can see on the scanner, sir, is
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: covered with many small horns, like the detonating horns of
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: the obsolete mines formerly.
• 6:45
  Speaker 6: Used in naval warfare.
• 6:46
  Speaker 5: Is that their purpose, do you assume, Mr.
• 6:47
  Speaker 8: Dort?
• 6:48
  Speaker 7: I'm going to find out, sir.
• 6:50
  Speaker 6: I'm going to grab one.
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: Mr. Dort?
• 6:54
  Speaker 6: I'm here, sir. I don't think this is a mine.
• 6:58
  Speaker 5: Circle it so we can see it completely through your scanner.
• 7:02
  Speaker 7: Deadlock, sir.
• 7:04
  Speaker 6: Nothing to report that the scanner hasn't shown you. Oh,
• 7:07
  Speaker 6: wait a minute, sir. A section of the outer hull
• 7:08
  Speaker 6: seems to be opening. Do you see it?
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: Very good, Dort. Hold that.
• 7:12
  Speaker 6: I'm sure it's a communications device, sir.
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: It looks like it. Fix your scanner so it'll focus
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: on that communications device. Return to the ship.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Communications department.
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: Communications department.
• 7:34
  Speaker 6: Progress report, please.
• 7:36
  Speaker 7: We've established communication, sir.
• 7:38
  Speaker 6: Is there a.
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: Psychologist on the team down there with you? Yes, sir.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 7:40
  Speaker 7: Burns is working with us.
• 7:41
  Speaker 6: Will both of you please report to the bridge at.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: Once?
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: Well, you look tired, Dort.
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: We've established fairly satisfactory communication, sir. They seem to have
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: highly developed thought patterns... We got a satisfactory translation from
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: the machine on the fourth attempt.
• 8:01
  Speaker 7: We can say almost anything we want to say to
• 8:03
  Speaker 7: each other now. Of course, how much of what they
• 8:05
  Speaker 7: tell us is the truth, we have no way of knowing.
• 8:08
  Speaker 6: Mr.
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: Burns, you're the psychologist. What do you think?
• 8:10
  Speaker 7: Well, I don't know, sir. They seem to be completely direct.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: They haven't let slip even a hint of the tenseness
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: we know exists.
• 8:17
  Speaker 5: They act as if they were setting up a means
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: of communication for friendly conversation, but, well, there's an overtone that... Well, Mr. Burns,
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: I have a decision to make. On the one hand,
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: opening contact with the friendly people of a vastly different
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: culture could only be beneficial to us of Earth. On
• 8:34
  Speaker 5: the other hand, if they're hostile, I ought to blast
• 8:35
  Speaker 5: them out of existence without any other preliminaries.
• 8:38
  Speaker 7: But, sir, you can't... I'm not talking to you, Dorn.
• 8:42
  Speaker 7: It's not warranted yet, sir.
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: Yes. Now, hear this, all departments. Hear this, all departments.
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: This ship is on an extended alert... Provisions will be
• 8:53
  Speaker 5: made so that personnel can have maximum rest and nourishment.
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: Communication continued by means of the artificial language set up
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: arbitrarily between the Earthmen and the aliens, decoded by the
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: mechanical decoders.
• 9:16
  Speaker 7: Dort disobeyed orders.
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: He lived on powerful stimulants so that he could stay
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: with the communications machine. Talking, talking, talking to the aliens.
• 9:30
  Speaker 7: Other people, other people. Are we being received?
• 9:35
  Speaker 6: We are receiving your message.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: The chief of this ship wishes to speak with the
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: chief of your ship.
• 9:42
  Speaker 6: The message is heard by the chief of this ship.
• 9:46
  Speaker 8: The chief of this ship communicates that he will hear
• 9:49
  Speaker 8: the message of the chief of that ship.
• 9:52
  Speaker 7: Go ahead, sir.
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: People of the other ship, I'd like to say the
• 9:57
  Speaker 5: appropriate things about this first contact of two disciples. civilized
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: races and of my hopes that a friendly intercourse between
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: the two peoples will result.
• 10:07
  Speaker 8: People of that ship, what you say is all very well,
• 10:12
  Speaker 8: but is there any way for us to let each
• 10:16
  Speaker 8: other go home alive?
• 10:21
  Speaker 7: That's all, sir. They've stopped sending.
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: Very direct people. Very direct.
• 10:26
  Speaker 7: But, sir, I don't follow. I didn't know what that meant.
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: You know, is there any way for us to let each.
• 10:31
  Speaker 7: Other go home alive?
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: It means what it says, Dort.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: Sir, what's to stop us from just cutting communication and leaving?
• 10:36
  Speaker 7: And they can do likewise.
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: What's to stop us? Simply that whichever ship leaves first
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: will be followed by the other. If they find Earth
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: and get back to their own planet and we don't
• 10:44
  Speaker 5: know where that planet is, Earth will be completely at
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: their mercy. If they leave first, we'll follow them. We'll
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: attempt to find their home planet. Dart, could you swear
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: to any decision that the policymakers on Earth will come to?
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: Sir, even if they do follow us, the closer we
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: get to home, the more of our ships and weapons
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: they'll face.
• 11:02
  Speaker 7: They'd never get away.
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: Well, how do you know that they can't communicate with
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: their home planet without returning?
• 11:06
  Speaker 7: We can't, sir.
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: How do you know they can't?
• 11:10
  Speaker 7: I don't, sir.
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: So that's the situation. We'll sit out here facing each other,
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: trying to outguess each other. Until time wears us out
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: and we'll have to face the fact either they destroy
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: us or we destroy them. Navigation officer, attention. Navigation officer, attention.
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: Every star map on this ship is to be prepared
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: for instant destruction.
• 11:30
  Speaker 8: The chief of this ship wishes to know whether the
• 11:34
  Speaker 8: chief of that ship can suggest an answer to the
• 11:37
  Speaker 8: problem concerning us both.
• 11:39
  Speaker 7: Do you want me to answer that, sir?
• 11:41
  Speaker 5: I'll answer it myself. Tell me when to talk.
• 11:45
  Speaker 7: Now, sir.
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: I am giving that matter personal attention. Every effort will
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: be bent to the solution of this problem. Will you
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: consider a temporary truce in the meantime?
• 11:58
  Speaker 6: What would a truce gain? Could we trust you? Would
• 12:03
  Speaker 6: you trust us?
• 12:05
  Speaker 8: I suggest that we continue as we have up to
• 12:09
  Speaker 8: this particle of time.
• 12:11
  Speaker 6: I agree.
• 12:13
  Speaker 5: Sign off, George.
• 12:21
  Speaker 7: Weeks went by.
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: And during the weeks, the exchange of information continued without
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: let up.
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: What particle of time are the people on that ship at?
• 12:32
  Speaker 8: The resting time. All rest except myself and others on
• 12:36
  Speaker 8: alert duty.
• 12:37
  Speaker 7: Same on this ship.
• 12:39
  Speaker 8: You people of that ship are very similar in many ways.
• 12:43
  Speaker 6: Do you have.
• 12:45
  Speaker 8: A family.
• 12:46
  Speaker 7: I have a mate.
• 12:48
  Speaker 8: I have a mate and three offspring. It is too
• 12:52
  Speaker 8: bad for them, as well as us, to have to
• 12:56
  Speaker 8: kill each other.
• 12:57
  Speaker 7: This ship can't see any way out of it. Can
• 12:59
  Speaker 7: that ship?
• 13:00
  Speaker 8: If we could believe each ship, yes.
• 13:04
  Speaker 6: Our chief would like it.
• 13:06
  Speaker 8: But we can't believe you, and you are afraid that
• 13:09
  Speaker 8: we do not tell truth, although we do. This ship
• 13:14
  Speaker 8: would trail you home if this ship were able to.
• 13:17
  Speaker 8: That ship would do the same. But this ship feels
• 13:22
  Speaker 8: sorry about me.
• 13:24
  Speaker 7: I believe you're a friend.
• 13:26
  Speaker 6: I share your belief and like you.
• 13:31
  Speaker 8: But there is a possibility that you were put to
• 13:34
  Speaker 8: make a trap for me.
• 13:36
  Speaker 6: I will stop now and think it over. Just sit down, Dort.
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: Control yourself. We're all under tension. Doesn't do any good
• 13:56
  Speaker 5: to pace like some caged animal. Yes, sir. All right, now,
• 13:59
  Speaker 5: I've read the complete transcription of your conversations with this
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: one alien. What does it prove, Dort?
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: Sir, these people are so much like us, and they're thinking... Well, sir,
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: they're likable.
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: They're likable, and they breathe oxygen. Their air is 28%
• 14:14
  Speaker 5: oxygen instead of 20. They could do very well on Earth.
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: It'll be a highly desirable conquest for them. Dort, I'm
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: as set against violence as you are. I don't see
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: any way out of this. And I think we've got
• 14:26
  Speaker 5: to break this status quo. So if in 70 hours
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: we don't see any other way, then I have no
• 14:34
  Speaker 5: further choice. I'll blow them to bits.
• 14:52
  Speaker 8: Will that ship receive communications? Will that ship receive communications?
• 14:58
  Speaker 7: This ship is listening.
• 14:59
  Speaker 6: It seems to me better to communicate.
• 15:03
  Speaker 8: than to sit by the machine silently.
• 15:07
  Speaker 7: I would have called you, but you signed off before.
• 15:09
  Speaker 6: The problem goes around and around. I find no answer.
• 15:15
  Speaker 7: Perhaps we could turn our thoughts to other things.
• 15:17
  Speaker 8: The psychologist of this ship tells us that you people
• 15:20
  Speaker 8: on that ship.
• 15:21
  Speaker 6: have a threshold of tolerance to tension.
• 15:25
  Speaker 8: He tells us that you will be forced to take
• 15:27
  Speaker 8: one action or another in a period of less than
• 15:30
  Speaker 8: a hundred time particles.
• 15:32
  Speaker 7: I have no communication on this matter.
• 15:35
  Speaker 6: Well, this ship is not trying to extract unwilling information
• 15:38
  Speaker 6: from that ship. A truth is mentioned in passing.
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: A report of this conversation will be carried to the
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: chief of this ship.
• 15:44
  Speaker 6: It would be so. We are prepared.
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: If only the people of this ship could meet in
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: direct contact with the people of that ship, it might
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: be better.
• 15:52
  Speaker 6: We could not communicate then.
• 15:54
  Speaker 8: The communications machine is too large to carry from place
• 15:57
  Speaker 8: to place. In direct contact, the peoples of the two
• 16:00
  Speaker 8: ships would be further apart than now.
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: That's true.
• 16:04
  Speaker 8: I am sad. Much that is pleasant has passed between us.
• 16:12
  Speaker 7: I am sad too.
• 16:14
  Speaker 8: We are not yet ready for each other.
• 16:18
  Speaker 7: We are not yet ready for each other.
• 16:23
  Speaker 5: It's hard, isn't it, Dort?
• 16:25
  Speaker 7: Well, Captain, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were here, sir.
• 16:29
  Speaker 5: I've been here for quite a while. Eavesdropping, I'm afraid.
• 16:33
  Speaker 7: It's all right, sir. Nothing can be personal in a
• 16:36
  Speaker 7: situation like this.
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: That's right. How long is a hundred time particles, Dort? Pardon, sir?
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: That reference he made to us not being able to
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: stand tension is interesting. Their psychologists seem to make more
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: out of us than we do out of them, don't they? Yes, sir.
• 16:55
  Speaker 7: They hit the nail right on the head. Yes, they did.
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: I think, Dort, we'll just have to push our timetable
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: up a bit. No further communication with the aliens under
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: any circumstances. That's clear, isn't it?
• 17:06
  Speaker 7: Yes, sir.
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: Sir, if they know so much about our psychology, isn't
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: it possible that remark was intended to make us act
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: more quickly?
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: Probable, Dort.
• 17:16
  Speaker 6: Probable.
• 17:18
  Speaker 7: Why would they do that, sir?
• 17:20
  Speaker 8: Why?
• 17:21
  Speaker 5: You tell me why, Norton.
• 17:24
  Speaker 7: All of a sudden I have an idea, sir.
• 17:26
  Speaker 6: That's crazy.
• 17:27
  Speaker 5: It doesn't matter how crazy. I'll listen to it.
• 17:31
  Speaker 7: Sir, I think these people are playing some kind of
• 17:33
  Speaker 7: a joke on us.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: Joke?
• 17:35
  Speaker 6: A joke, Norton?
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: Yes, sir.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: Over and over again I've noticed what I think is
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: a sense of humor. A highly developed sense of humor.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: Do you recall when we went to all the trouble
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: to set up a fictitious star map and then they
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: just sent us back a mirror image of the same one?
• 17:49
  Speaker 7: I think somehow they're playing a joke on us.
• 17:54
  Speaker 5: Maybe you're right. In which case, you've seen practical jokers, Dort.
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: Their jokes aren't always funny. Sometimes they hurt people. All departments, man,
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: instant alert. All departments, man, instant alert. Report instantly. Report instantly.
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: Weapons department alerted. Target the enemy ship.
• 18:27
  Speaker 7: On target, sir.
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: Stand by. Fire! They're gone, sir.
• 18:41
  Speaker 7: Not a trace of them left. Not a tiny trace.
• 18:46
  Speaker 7: Now we can go home.
• 18:59
  Speaker 5: Communications to captain report sir i'm picking up new signals
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: same frequency as the original alien signal that's impossible that
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: ship was destroyed i'm receiving signals sir set the machine
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: up we'll be down there in a minute mr dort
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: come with me please.
• 19:19
  Speaker 6: It's good to be on the way home. Yes, it
• 19:22
  Speaker 6: is good.
• 19:24
  Speaker 8: Do you suppose we'll ever figure out what happened to
• 19:26
  Speaker 8: the other ship?
• 19:28
  Speaker 6: Never. A blinding flash and they were gone. I suppose
• 19:33
  Speaker 6: they couldn't figure a way out of the situation. An
• 19:36
  Speaker 6: unstable people.
• 19:38
  Speaker 8: They had no sense of humor to cope with the situation.
• 19:42
  Speaker 6: They exploded themselves out of existence. It seems reasonable.
• 19:46
  Speaker 8: They must have had powerful weapons to destroy themselves so completely.
• 19:50
  Speaker 6: Yes what a shame in a way.
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: I grew to like them this isn't meant for us
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: sir i don't know what's happening but i think we're
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: overhearing a private conversation understand or be quiet will you
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: Many things.
• 20:04
  Speaker 9: Might have come out of a relationship with that people.
• 20:07
  Speaker 9: They were describing a disease they call cancer. I think
• 20:11
  Speaker 9: it is similar to the Fogren syndrome. We might have
• 20:15
  Speaker 9: helped them. They might have helped us, too.
• 20:18
  Speaker 6: Well, too bad. We'll never find them again, I think.
• 20:23
  Speaker 8: The odds of such a chance meeting in the vast
• 20:26
  Speaker 8: space of.
• 20:26
  Speaker 6: The whole universe... There are no figures for such odds,
• 20:31
  Speaker 6: are there, Peter?
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: Turn it up, Dort. Turn it up louder.
• 20:36
  Speaker 7: That's all there is, sir. The signal stopped there.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: Sir, I don't know how, but somehow when we fired
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: at them, we didn't destroy them, but we did set
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: up a condition whereby they've become invisible to us and
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: we've become invisible to them.
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: Captain to engineering department. Halt, forward motion. Captain, why are
• 20:54
  Speaker 5: we stopping? Listen, Dort, you say they're invisible. All right,
• 20:56
  Speaker 5: they are, but they're not destroyed because we just heard them.
• 20:58
  Speaker 5: They're out there somewhere.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: Well, you heard them, sir. They're heading for home. We're
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: invisible to them, too, sir.
• 21:04
  Speaker 5: How do you know, Dort? How do you know this
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: whole thing isn't a setup?
• 21:07
  Speaker 7: Well, suppose that's true, Captain. You heard their conversation.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: They weren't talking like any monstrous people. They seemed decent
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: and warm, just as decent and warm as we are.
• 21:14
  Speaker 5: How do you know this conversation wasn't planned and deliberately
• 21:16
  Speaker 5: set up for us to hear? How do you know that, Dort?
• 21:20
  Speaker 7: Yes, sir, you're right.
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: They may be out there and they may not. They
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: may be telling the truth or they may be trying
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: to trick us. They may be friends, or they may
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: be the most deadly enemies.
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: You said they had a sense of humor, Dort. What
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: a joke to play. To deliberately set up a situation
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: where we wouldn't know fact from fantasy, truth from lie.
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: Wouldn't that be a joke, Dort?
• 21:46
  Speaker 7: But we don't know that they did that, sir.
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: And we don't know that they didn't. We don't know anything.
• 21:53
  Speaker 7: Sir, does that mean we never go home again?
• 21:58
  Speaker 6: I don't know.
• 22:00
  Speaker 5: I have to think about it I have to think
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: about it.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: You have just heard another adventure into the unknown world
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: of the future. The world of... Dimension X.
• 22:47
  Speaker 7: Dimension X.
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: Dimension X is presented each week by the National Broadcasting
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: Company in cooperation with Street and Smith, publishers of the
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: magazine Astounding Science Fiction. Your host was Norman Rose, music
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: by Albert Berman. Dimension X is produced by William Welch and.
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: Directed by Fred Way.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: First Contact.
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: Written by Murray Leinster and adapted for radio by Howard Rodman.
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: Featured in the cast were Wendell Holm, Bob Hastings, Scott Gordon,
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: William Lally, and Stan Early.
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: Your announcer, Fred Cullen.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: That was Dimension X, episode 47, First Contact. Thank you
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: for joining us for this NBC science fiction broadcast. Follow
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Old Time Sci-Fi Radio for more classic science fiction broadcasts.