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X Minus One - "Apail of Air" (Old Time Radio, 1956) · X Minus One | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: March 28, 1956, NBC Radio aired the 44th episode of X-1,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: A Pale of Air. Adapted by George Lefferts from a
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: story by Fritz Leiber, it places young Bud and his
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: family in the nest, a blanket-lined shelter within a frozen,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: nearly airless city. A coal fire keeps them alive, while
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Bud makes hazardous trips outside in a helmet, gathering frozen
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: air to be melted for breathing. As the family holds
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: close its memories of sunlight, warmth, and ordinary life, Bud
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: sees an unexplained light among the ice-covered buildings. Ronnie Liss
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: heads the cast with Pamela Fitzmaurice, Richard Hamilton, Eleanor Phelps,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Rita Lloyd, and Joe DeSantis. Daniel Sutter directed. We now
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: take you back to the original broadcast.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: In just a moment, X-1. But first, if you're planning
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: to join the family for this holiday weekend... Remember, you
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: have a friend who will keep you company through the
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: long hours on the road. That friend is your car radio,
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: and it brings you a full weekend of the most
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: stimulating variety entertainment when you tune in to NBC's Monitor. Yes,
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: you set your dial just once for hours and hours
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: of refreshing variety, news as it happens, sports coverage, everything
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: from baseball to skin diving, interviews with the stars, plus
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: lots of the relaxing music you like to hear. It's
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: all on Monitor this weekend. And now stay tuned for
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: X-1 on NBC.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: Countdown for blastoff. X-5, 4, 3, 2, X-1, fire.
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed tales
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: of new dimensions in time and space.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: These are stories of the future.
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: Adventures in which you'll live in a million could be
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company,
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, presents.
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: X minus 1.
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: Tonight's story, A Pail of Air, by Fritz Leiber.
• 2:57
  Speaker 6: It was pretty quiet in the nest. Pa was just
• 3:00
  Speaker 6: sitting by the fire, staring into it like he does
• 3:03
  Speaker 6: these days. And Ma was asleep. That's why it was
• 3:06
  Speaker 6: so quiet. Ma has some pretty bad times when she
• 3:10
  Speaker 6: just screams and screams and huddles back against the blankets
• 3:13
  Speaker 6: that line the nest. Sis was looking at herself in
• 3:17
  Speaker 6: the mirror that hangs next to the bookshelf. I don't
• 3:20
  Speaker 6: know what she finds to look at so long, but
• 3:22
  Speaker 6: then she's a girl. She just looks at herself. Saturdays,
• 3:27
  Speaker 6: when Pa puts a couple of extra lumps of coal
• 3:29
  Speaker 6: on the fire and we take a bath, she looks
• 3:32
  Speaker 6: at herself in the mirror and sometimes she cries.
• 3:36
  Speaker 7: I dropped the book I was reading, and I guess
• 3:38
  Speaker 7: that woke Ma.
• 3:40
  Speaker 8: Huh?
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: What? Pick up the book, Bud.
• 3:43
  Speaker 7: I'm sorry, Pa.
• 3:44
  Speaker 9: It's come back. Hasn't it, Alfred? It's come back.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: It was just Bud. He dropped his book.
• 3:50
  Speaker 9: Oh, but it's come back. Well, it's out there now,
• 3:53
  Speaker 9: isn't it? I feel a lot warmer.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: No, Ethel.
• 3:57
  Speaker 9: It's up there in the sky. Just the way it
• 4:00
  Speaker 9: always was. I know. I had a dream, Alfred.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: I know, dear. Sis, melt your mother a cup of water.
• 4:10
  Speaker 7: I'm combing my hair.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: Sis.
• 4:12
  Speaker 10: Oh, all right.
• 4:13
  Speaker 9: I've got to get up.
• 4:14
  Speaker 7: I I know it's there.
• 4:16
  Speaker 8: There'll be crocuses and the spring bulbs and daffodils.
• 4:22
  Speaker 7: What are daffodils, Ma?
• 4:23
  Speaker 8: Well, buddy, they're... Oh, they're a flower and they're very pretty.
• 4:28
  Speaker 8: Yellow on a tall green stalk.
• 4:32
  Speaker 9: Oh, I want to go out. I want to take
• 4:34
  Speaker 9: the children out.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: All right now, Ethel. Here's some water.
• 4:38
  Speaker 9: Come on, children. We'll all go out and you can
• 4:40
  Speaker 9: play in the sun.
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: Sure, Ma.
• 4:43
  Speaker 9: Here, drink the water, Ma. It's cold, Alfred. You wrap
• 4:49
  Speaker 9: on the pipes and make that super send up some
• 4:51
  Speaker 9: more heat.
• 4:52
  Speaker 7: What's a super, Pa?
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: It doesn't matter, Bud. There aren't any anymore. Oh.
• 4:58
  Speaker 9: Pa, the pail's running low.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: Bud, you better get into your things and go out
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: and get an extra pail of air.
• 5:04
  Speaker 7: There are a couple of pails behind the first blankets.
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: Go on, get into your things.
• 5:10
  Speaker 9: It isn't back, is it?
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: No, it isn't.
• 5:14
  Speaker 9: There's no sun in the sky. No sun, is there?
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: No, Ma.
• 5:21
  Speaker 9: What was it like? The sun.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: Sis, don't get your Ma upset.
• 5:25
  Speaker 9: The sun was yellow. And so bright you couldn't look
• 5:28
  Speaker 9: at it. Burning hot. So hot.
• 5:33
  Speaker 8: But when you stretched out in it, it made you
• 5:35
  Speaker 8: feel warm all over. Tingly warm. It's been so long
• 5:40
  Speaker 8: since I've been that warm.
• 5:42
  Speaker 6: I was warm last year on my birthday when Pa
• 5:45
  Speaker 6: put all that extra coal on.
• 5:47
  Speaker 8: And then every morning it would come out of the east,
• 5:50
  Speaker 8: make the clouds all pink and yellow, and the mist
• 5:54
  Speaker 8: would rise in the ground, and.
• 5:55
  Speaker 9: Then slowly everything would glow warmer, warmer. And then it
• 6:03
  Speaker 9: would be up there in the sky, shining, warm.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: Hurry up, Bud.
• 6:11
  Speaker 7: I'm almost ready, Pa.
• 6:12
  Speaker 9: I want the sun. I want the sun there. Alfred,
• 6:21
  Speaker 9: get me the sun.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: It's gone, Ethel. There's nothing I can do.
• 6:26
  Speaker 9: For Christmas? On my birthday?
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: Go ahead, bud. Take the big pail and get it
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: full this time. There's no sense in taking the trip
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: for only half a bucket of air. I spilled it
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: the last time.
• 6:38
  Speaker 8: It's dark, Alfred.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: It's dark.
• 6:40
  Speaker 7: Go ahead, Bud. Strap down the helmet, will you, sis?
• 6:43
  Speaker 8: What a good mistake.
• 6:45
  Speaker 9: Stand up straight.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: Okay. All right, I'll be right back. Don't hold the
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: blankets open too long. All right, Ethel. We're all safe.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: Bud will be right back with another pail of air.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: It's all right.
• 7:07
  Speaker 6: I went through the 30 or so blankets that Pa
• 7:10
  Speaker 6: hung up to slow down the air escaping from the nest.
• 7:13
  Speaker 6: Of course, I knew the way. I've been going out
• 7:15
  Speaker 6: for air since I was a kid. Still, I get
• 7:19
  Speaker 6: a funny, crawly feeling every time I go out of
• 7:21
  Speaker 6: the nest. You've got to go up to the fifth floor,
• 7:24
  Speaker 6: which is just above the blanket of frozen air. You see,
• 7:28
  Speaker 6: when the earth got cold, all the water in the
• 7:30
  Speaker 6: air froze first and made a blanket about 10 feet
• 7:33
  Speaker 6: thick or so. and then down on top of that
• 7:35
  Speaker 6: dropped all the crystals of frozen air, making another blanket
• 7:38
  Speaker 6: 60 or 70 feet thick. I came out of the
• 7:42
  Speaker 6: window we use on the fifth floor and started to
• 7:44
  Speaker 6: scoop up the air into my pail. I had it
• 7:46
  Speaker 6: about full. Boy, my fingers are getting pretty cold. But
• 7:50
  Speaker 6: I saw something.
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: Hey!
• 7:58
  Speaker 7: That's a light! Darn it, I kicked over the bucket.
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: What?
• 8:03
  Speaker 6: There can't be a light. I'm not moving around in
• 8:06
  Speaker 6: a window like that. There can't be. Ma and Pa
• 8:10
  Speaker 6: and Sis are back in the nest. I'm up here,
• 8:12
  Speaker 6: and there can't be anyone else. Everybody on Earth is
• 8:16
  Speaker 6: dead except us. I had an idea how Ma must
• 8:28
  Speaker 6: feel sometimes, the way she sees things. There it was,
• 8:33
  Speaker 6: moving around in the building across the way. I stood
• 8:36
  Speaker 6: there shaking and I almost froze my feet. I did
• 8:40
  Speaker 6: froth my helmet so solid on the inside I couldn't
• 8:42
  Speaker 6: see anything. So I hurried up and scooped up another
• 8:45
  Speaker 6: bucket of air and headed back for the nest as
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: fast as I could.
• 8:47
  Speaker 9: Pa!
• 8:50
  Speaker 7: Pa, I saw something!
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: Go on, hang those outside clothes up by the fire.
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: Phew!
• 9:01
  Speaker 7: Pa, I saw something. I did.
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: Shh.
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: Your mother's quiet now. Don't upset her.
• 9:08
  Speaker 7: Pa, it was a light. Wait till I get this
• 9:10
  Speaker 7: air next to the fire. Give me the cloth, sis.
• 9:14
  Speaker 9: Shall I put another lump of coal on, Pa?
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: No, no, no. The oxygen from this bucket will get
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: the fire up when it begins to melt. There.
• 9:22
  Speaker 7: Pa, I'm trying to tell you I saw something up there.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: Light.
• 9:26
  Speaker 9: There's lots of light.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: Stars.
• 9:28
  Speaker 6: I know what stars look like, Dopey. They're big, steady
• 9:31
  Speaker 6: white lights in the sky. This was down here in
• 9:33
  Speaker 6: a building.
• 9:34
  Speaker 9: What is it? Alfred, what is it?
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: Nothing, nothing, Ethel. Now, what is this place?
• 9:39
  Speaker 7: Well, first I thought it was a lady. A young lady.
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: I mean it.
• 9:44
  Speaker 7: Like in one of those old magazines. I thought I
• 9:46
  Speaker 7: saw it in a window. But then all I saw
• 9:49
  Speaker 7: was a light.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: You watched it for some time, son?
• 9:51
  Speaker 7: Long enough for it to pass five windows and go
• 9:53
  Speaker 7: to the next floor.
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: And it didn't look like stray electricity? No, Pa.
• 9:57
  Speaker 7: I know what that looks like.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Or a star refracted through an ice Sometimes if you
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: catch it at the right angle.
• 10:03
  Speaker 6: Pa, honest, I never saw anything like it before.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: All right. I'll go out with you and you show me.
• 10:12
  Speaker 9: No, no, Alfred.
• 10:14
  Speaker 11: You can't go and leave us alone, not both of you.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: It's all right. We'll be right back.
• 10:19
  Speaker 9: Here's your helmet, Pa.
• 10:20
  Speaker 11: There's something out there. Well, we've known there was something
• 10:23
  Speaker 11: out there waiting to get us.
• 10:25
  Speaker 7: Hand me my glove.
• 10:26
  Speaker 11: Something that's part of the cold. Hates all warmth. Wants
• 10:30
  Speaker 11: to destroy the nest. Been watching us all this time. Now,
• 10:35
  Speaker 11: now it's coming after us.
• 10:37
  Speaker 9: And it'll get you. And then it'll come for me. Oh,
• 10:39
  Speaker 9: don't go. Alfred, please don't go.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: Everything will be all right. Now, sis.
• 10:46
  Speaker 9: Yes, Pa?
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: You come watch the fire. Keep an eye on that air, too.
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: If it gets too low or doesn't seem to be
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: boiling fast enough, get another bucket behind the blanket.
• 10:56
  Speaker 9: Oh, don't go. I'll take care of it, Pop.
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: Could there really be anybody out there?
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: I don't see how. We heard the last radio voices
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: a year before Bud was born. There hasn't been anything
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: since then.
• 11:09
  Speaker 9: Then what could it be?
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: I don't know. Probably just a reflection. An ice crystal cracking.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: Come on, bud. Get your helmet on.
• 11:31
  Speaker 7: It's funny. When I go out alone, I'm not scared
• 11:33
  Speaker 7: or anything.
• 11:34
  Speaker 6: But when I go out with Pa, I always hang
• 11:36
  Speaker 6: on to his belt like I used to when I
• 11:37
  Speaker 6: was a little kid.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: Habit, I guess.
• 11:41
  Speaker 6: It's the same no matter what trip we take. On
• 11:44
  Speaker 6: the fifth floor, we stopped to rest just before we
• 11:46
  Speaker 6: went out. We were in the room with the frozen people.
• 11:51
  Speaker 6: The lady sitting looking at the door. The man holding
• 11:54
  Speaker 6: his hands over that funny metal thing Pa calls a radiator.
• 11:58
  Speaker 6: It was like a fire, I guess, but I didn't
• 12:00
  Speaker 6: see any place for the coal. We put our helmets
• 12:03
  Speaker 6: together so we could talk.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: Catch your breath, son.
• 12:09
  Speaker 6: Pa, would it be possible... I mean, for any of
• 12:13
  Speaker 6: the frozen people to come to life? Like the ones
• 12:16
  Speaker 6: down in the basement around the furnace when we go
• 12:18
  Speaker 6: for water?
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: No, they're dead.
• 12:19
  Speaker 12: They were caught too quickly when it happened.
• 12:22
  Speaker 7: Oh, Pa. How do we know we're the only ones?
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: We don't, but.
• 12:28
  Speaker 12: Well, there's a feeling you get. Because it's always night.
• 12:33
  Speaker 12: There used to be some of that feeling every night
• 12:35
  Speaker 12: in the old days. But the sun chased it away
• 12:38
  Speaker 12: every morning. You wouldn't know about that... You weren't born
• 12:43
  Speaker 12: when the dark star pulled us away from the sun.
• 12:45
  Speaker 12: You wouldn't know unless you'd seen the sun.
• 12:51
  Speaker 7: I've seen the sun. It's that big star at the
• 12:53
  Speaker 7: end of the Big Dipper. I've seen it.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: It isn't the same. Come on. We're wasting time.
• 13:00
  Speaker 7: I don't know what the city looked like in the
• 13:10
  Speaker 7: old days.
• 13:11
  Speaker 6: But now it's beautiful. The starlight lets you see it
• 13:14
  Speaker 6: pretty well. We're up on a hill, and the plane
• 13:18
  Speaker 6: slopes down away from us. Some taller buildings push up
• 13:22
  Speaker 6: out of the feathery plane, topped by rounded caps of
• 13:25
  Speaker 6: air crystals. Some of them are on a slant because
• 13:28
  Speaker 6: a lot of the buildings are badly twisted by the
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: quakes and everything. When a dark star pulled the earth
• 13:33
  Speaker 6: away from the sun. That's why Pa can't seal up
• 13:36
  Speaker 6: the nest airtight. The building's twisted too bad. Besides, we
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: have to keep the chimney open. We touched our helmets
• 13:43
  Speaker 6: together so we could talk.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: Is that where you saw it, son?
• 13:49
  Speaker 7: It isn't there anymore.
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: Uh-huh. But it feels different.
• 13:53
  Speaker 6: I mean, as if there's something out here waiting.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: Bud, if you see something like that again, don't tell
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: the others. Huh?
• 14:02
  Speaker 9: Why not?
• 14:03
  Speaker 12: Well, you're more sort of nervous these days and We
• 14:07
  Speaker 12: owe her all the feeling of safety we can give her.
• 14:11
  Speaker 12: Once it was when your sister was born, I was
• 14:14
  Speaker 12: ready to give up and die, but your mother kept
• 14:18
  Speaker 12: me trying. Another time, she kept the fire going a
• 14:22
  Speaker 12: whole week all by herself.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: When I was sick.
• 14:24
  Speaker 7: She couldn't do that now. Not the way she is.
• 14:27
  Speaker 12: But you know that game we sometimes play, tossing a
• 14:30
  Speaker 12: ball around?
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: Well, courage is like a ball... A person can.
• 14:37
  Speaker 12: Hold it only so long, and then he's got to
• 14:40
  Speaker 12: toss it to someone else.
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: When it's tossed your way, you've got to catch it
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: and hold it tight.
• 14:46
  Speaker 12: And hope there'll be someone else to toss it to
• 14:48
  Speaker 12: when you get tired of being brave.
• 14:52
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I guess so.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: Come on. We'll fill up the pails and get back.
• 14:56
  Speaker 7: But what about whatever it is out here?
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: We'll just have to wait and see. Come on. Before
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: the helmet's frost over....
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: It's pretty hard to hide your feelings in the nest.
• 15:20
  Speaker 6: I mean, there's just room for the four of us.
• 15:23
  Speaker 6: The blanket overhead just touches when Pa stands up straight.
• 15:27
  Speaker 6: The floor is all covered with thick, woolly rugs. Pa
• 15:30
  Speaker 6: says it's inside a much bigger room, but I've never
• 15:33
  Speaker 6: seen the real walls or ceiling. Well, anyway, Pa laughed
• 15:39
  Speaker 6: and kidded about what I'd seen. He said I had
• 15:41
  Speaker 6: an imagination. But we could tell he took it serious.
• 15:45
  Speaker 6: It was Sunday morning by the clocks that Pa kept
• 15:48
  Speaker 6: all wound up on the shelf. So it was time
• 15:51
  Speaker 6: for the story. We all sat around in a circle
• 15:54
  Speaker 6: the way we always do. Except I noticed that Pa
• 15:57
  Speaker 6: casually took a hammer from the shelf and put it
• 15:59
  Speaker 6: beside him. I always liked the story. Of course, this one,
• 16:04
  Speaker 6: I know it by heart from now on. I mean,
• 16:07
  Speaker 6: every Sunday since we were kids. But every once in
• 16:10
  Speaker 6: a while, Pa surprises us by telling it a little different.
• 16:13
  Speaker 6: Or throwing in some extras. It starts out with a song.
• 16:18
  Speaker 6: Ma used to sing it, but she forgets the words sometimes.
• 16:21
  Speaker 6: And now Pa sings it mostly.
• 16:23
  Speaker 5: Oh, beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain,
• 16:33
  Speaker 5: thy purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain.
• 16:45
  Speaker 6: Of course, the words don't mean anything. I mean, the
• 16:48
  Speaker 6: skies are spacious.
• 16:50
  Speaker 7: Enough, but there aren't any waves of grain. and the
• 16:53
  Speaker 7: plane is all covered with a blanket of frozen air.
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: But it's part.
• 16:57
  Speaker 6: Of the story's ceremony, and Pa likes it.
• 17:01
  Speaker 7: He says it reminds him of the old days. After
• 17:03
  Speaker 7: the song, Pa starts the story.
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: In the days of my youth, the sun hung above,
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: golden and warm, and the earth was fruitful and multiplied,
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: and the fields were green. and the day was glorious.
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: The wind blew across the hilltops, and air was free
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: and good to breathe.
• 17:37
  Speaker 6: That's the part of the story I like best, about
• 17:39
  Speaker 6: how it was with the sun nice and warm. It's
• 17:42
  Speaker 6: hard to believe all those people living without having to
• 17:45
  Speaker 6: worry about cold and air, never waking up sweating and
• 17:50
  Speaker 6: screaming because you dreamed the fire went out It's impossible
• 17:53
  Speaker 6: to believe, but Pa was a good storyteller, and he
• 17:56
  Speaker 6: made it seem real.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: And then the dark star came rushing out of space.
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: In the beginning, they tried to keep the news from
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: the people, but when the floods and the earthquakes started,
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: the truth came out. At first, they thought the dark
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: star would hit the sun, and then they were afraid
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: it would strike the Earth itself. But it didn't.
• 18:20
  Speaker 9: It only.
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: came close.
• 18:33
  Speaker 6: Pa tells it like the sun and the dark star
• 18:35
  Speaker 6: fought for the earth like two dogs over a bone.
• 18:38
  Speaker 6: I know what he means because I've seen a picture
• 18:40
  Speaker 6: of a dog in a magazine. And then the dark
• 18:42
  Speaker 6: star won and carried us off. But the sun kept
• 18:46
  Speaker 6: the moon. There were earthquakes and floods and Pa says
• 18:50
  Speaker 6: that mountains fell and oceans slopped over. Oceans, that's a
• 18:54
  Speaker 6: lot of melted water lying around loose. It's hard to imagine.
• 18:58
  Speaker 6: Pa says it was so. Then came the open question
• 19:02
  Speaker 6: time in the story. Sis asked a question about what
• 19:05
  Speaker 6: girls wore for clothes. And I asked Pa how people
• 19:08
  Speaker 6: acted in those days when the earth was twisted and
• 19:10
  Speaker 6: jerked almost apart.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: Well, Bud, I was too busy to notice much. A
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: friend of mine, Dr. Weisbrod, and Kelly, the geophysicist, and Walters,
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: the astronomer. We knew what was going to happen. And
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: we were working to fix up a place with airtight
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: walls and insulation and big supplies of food and bottled air.
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: But the place got smashed up in the earthquakes and...
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: they were all killed. So I put the nest together
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: at the last minute in the living room of our apartment.
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: It's a four-room apartment.
• 19:44
  Speaker 7: You must have seen some of the people, like the
• 19:46
  Speaker 7: frozen ones downstairs.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: At that time, Bud, I only thought of one thing.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: Your mother and survival. If I had stopped to think,
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't have even tried to make the nest. It
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: would have seemed ridiculous. Blankets and a coal fire against
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: the cold and vacuum of space. But I didn't think.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: I survived.
• 20:14
  Speaker 6: I wasn't listening carefully as Pa went on about the
• 20:16
  Speaker 6: building of the nest. I kept thinking about something else.
• 20:19
  Speaker 6: About that light I'd seen outside. I kept asking myself,
• 20:25
  Speaker 6: what if the frozen people were coming to life? What
• 20:29
  Speaker 6: if they were like the liquid helium that crawls toward
• 20:31
  Speaker 6: heat when it should be frozen solid? What if something
• 20:34
  Speaker 6: were coming from the dark star to get us? Something
• 20:38
  Speaker 6: making the frozen people move, not by themselves. that would
• 20:43
  Speaker 6: fit with what I'd seen, a young lady's face and
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: the moving light. I sat there and shivered, thinking of
• 20:51
  Speaker 6: the frozen people with minds from the dark star creeping, crawling,
• 20:57
  Speaker 6: snuffing their way following the heat to the nest.
• 21:01
  Speaker 7: And then, over from beyond the blankets, I thought I
• 21:04
  Speaker 7: heard a tiny noise.
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: So I asked myself then, what's the use of going on?
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: Why prolong a doomed existence of hard work and cold
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: and loneliness? The human race is done. The Earth is done.
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: Why not give up, I asked myself.
• 21:23
  Speaker 7: And then I did hear the noise. Louder this time.
• 21:27
  Speaker 7: A kind of shuffling tread coming closer.
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: And then I got the answer. The Earth's always been
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: a lonely place millions of miles from the next planet.
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: And no matter how long the human race might have lived,
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: The end would have come some night. Those things don't matter.
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: What matters is that life is good. There's a lovely texture.
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: Like some rich cloth of fur. Or the petals of flowers. Crocuses. Daffodils.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: Or the fire's glow. And that's as true for the
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: last man as the first.
• 22:09
  Speaker 6: Still those steps kept shuffling closer. Pa was talking and
• 22:14
  Speaker 6: Ma was dreaming with her eyes closed. And Sis was
• 22:17
  Speaker 6: looking at herself sideways in the mirror. And I was
• 22:20
  Speaker 6: the only one who heard the noise. The noise outside.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: So right then and there I told myself that I
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: was going on as if we had all eternity ahead
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: of us. I'd have children and I'd teach them all
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: I could. I'd get them to read books, try to
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: enlarge and seal the nest. I'd try to keep everything
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: beautiful and alive. I'd keep alive my feeling of wonder,
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: even at the cold and the dark and the distant stars.
• 22:55
  Speaker 7: Pa. Pa, I hear.
• 22:57
  Speaker 9: I know. What is it, Alfred? What is it? What's
• 23:02
  Speaker 9: going on? You've got to tell me. Pa, I'm scared.
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: Quiet. But You heard it? Uh-huh.
• 23:13
  Speaker 7: Kind of shuffling. Coming toward the nest.
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: Sis, take care of your mother.
• 23:19
  Speaker 9: It's all right, Ma. Lie down. Come on.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: I'll take the hammer. You take the hatchet. What is it, Pa?
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: What is it? I don't know. Listen. It's closer. Ma, shh.
• 23:38
  Speaker 7: Pa, the blanket is moving. Ready with your axe.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: Hello. Who's there?
• 23:46
  Speaker 10: Is there somebody in there?
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: Come in. It's all right. They're alive.
• 23:54
  Speaker 9: Alive. Who are you?
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: Alfred. Alfred. Hutchinson. Dr. Alfred Hutchinson. You can take off
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: your helmets in here.
• 24:10
  Speaker 5: The air.
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: We have air.
• 24:11
  Speaker 7: We bring it in in pails.
• 24:13
  Speaker 9: Come on, Ralph. Let's take off the helmets.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: It's impossible. Where are you from? We thought we were
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: the only ones. Los Alamos. The nuclear laboratory.
• 24:29
  Speaker 7: Yes, that's right.
• 24:30
  Speaker 6: We get our power from the reactor using the stockpile
• 24:33
  Speaker 6: of bombs for fuel.
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: Then there are others.
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: There are.
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: There are other men.
• 24:42
  Speaker 7: There are other men. Pa, Pa, is it all right?
• 24:51
  Speaker 7: Should I put the axe down?
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, it's all right. You can put it down.
• 24:54
  Speaker 9: You mean you come from another nest?
• 24:56
  Speaker 10: It's a little bigger than this. We've got a small
• 24:59
  Speaker 10: airtight city with airlocks.
• 25:01
  Speaker 7: We generate our electricity, food from hydroponics.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: I can't believe it. I can't. I can't believe this.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: It's impossible.
• 25:09
  Speaker 10: You can't maintain an air supply without hermetic sealing.
• 25:12
  Speaker 7: It's impossible. Oh, no, no, it's simple.
• 25:15
  Speaker 6: As long as you keep the fire going to melt
• 25:17
  Speaker 6: the air, and enough air boiling to keep the fire burning.
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: How did you come here? Why?
• 25:23
  Speaker 10: Well, we keep scouting around for survivors. There are a
• 25:26
  Speaker 10: number of colonies, Brookhaven, Oak Ridge, and Harwell in England,
• 25:30
  Speaker 10: and the Argonne Laboratory in France. We didn't expect to
• 25:34
  Speaker 10: find anything in this city, though. But our detectors picked
• 25:38
  Speaker 10: up a heat tray, so we tracked it down.
• 25:40
  Speaker 9: Alfred, you're forgetting your manners. We have company.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: Of course, of course. Sis, throw a handful of coal
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: on the fire. Pa, a whole handful? Doesn't matter now.
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: And Bud, bring out another pail of air.
• 25:55
  Speaker 7: It's incredible.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: And you have laboratories and transport?
• 25:58
  Speaker 8: We only have a two-seater scout, but if we rip
• 26:01
  Speaker 8: out the bulkhead to the storage compartment, we can make
• 26:03
  Speaker 8: it all right.
• 26:04
  Speaker 10: We can have you back at Los Alamos in four hours.
• 26:08
  Speaker 7: What's the matter?
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: I guess... we really hadn't thought about it that way.
• 26:14
  Speaker 9: But, uh... I wouldn't know how to act there. And besides,
• 26:19
  Speaker 9: I haven't any clothes.
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: Just doesn't seem right to let this fire go out.
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: It's been 18 years. Burning every minute. But you can't
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: stay here. Ralph. But after all... Ralph. Oh. Look, Dr. Hutchinson.
• 26:38
  Speaker 10: We'll go out to the ship and bring back a
• 26:41
  Speaker 10: small power heater. I know this is very sudden and
• 26:46
  Speaker 10: upsetting to you. You need a chance to adjust.
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: We'll be back in a few minutes.
• 26:58
  Speaker 9: It's incredible.
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: Buckets of air. Well....
• 27:06
  Speaker 7: They didn't think the nest smelled so good. I could tell.
• 27:10
  Speaker 9: She had a wave in her hair. Did you see that?
• 27:15
  Speaker 9: And lipstick.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: I suppose we have to decide what to do.
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: Pa, at Los Alamos and those other places, there'll be
• 27:24
  Speaker 6: lots of people, won't there?
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 27:27
  Speaker 9: I mean, not just your father or a brother.
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: That's right. Boys? I suppose so. But... Somehow I feel
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: a little empty.
• 27:41
  Speaker 9: Alfred.
• 27:43
  Speaker 8: Alfred, it's different now that we know others are alive.
• 27:49
  Speaker 8: You don't have to feel the responsibility for keeping the
• 27:52
  Speaker 8: human race going.
• 27:55
  Speaker 6: Pa, I'd like to see those rockets and laboratories.
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: Wouldn't you, Pa? I suppose so.
• 28:04
  Speaker 7: But It won't be.
• 28:06
  Speaker 6: Easy leaving the nest. I mean, it's just right and
• 28:10
  Speaker 6: there's only four of us. It's kind of a scary idea.
• 28:15
  Speaker 6: Big place with a lot of strangers.
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: You'll get over that feeling, son. The trouble with the
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: world was that it kept getting smaller and smaller till
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: it ended with just the nest. Now it'll be good
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: to have a real huge world again. The way it
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: was in the beginning.
• 28:44
  Speaker 7: And so, we're going to leave the nest in the morning.
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: By pause clocks.
• 28:51
  Speaker 7: We've got the power heater going now.
• 28:54
  Speaker 6: Seems funny to be this warm when it isn't Christmas
• 28:57
  Speaker 6: or somebody's birthday. But still, it's hard for me to
• 29:02
  Speaker 6: realize that this is the last time I'll go out
• 29:04
  Speaker 6: of the nest. Through all the blankets... to get a
• 29:09
  Speaker 6: pail of.
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: Air.
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: You have just heard X-1 presented by the National Broadcasting
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: Company in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, which this
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: month features the Edward M. Ludwig story A Coffin for Jacob.
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: With never a moment to rest, the pursuit through space
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: felt like a game of hounds and hares. or was
• 29:38
  Speaker 4: it follow the leader? Galaxy Magazine on your newsstand today.
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: Tonight by transcription, X-1 has brought you A Pale of Air,
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: a story from the pages of Galaxy written by Fritz
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: Leiber and adapted for radio by George Lefferts.
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: Featured in the cast were.
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: Ronnie Liss, Pamela Fitzmaurice, Richard Hamilton, and Eleanor Phelps, Rita Lloyd,
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: and Joe DeSantis.
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: Your announcer, Fred Collins.
• 30:05
  Speaker 4: X-1 was directed by Daniel Sutter and is an NBC
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: Radio Network production.
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: And now an important announcement for the listeners of X-1.
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: Beginning next week, X-1 will be heard over most of
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: these stations at a new time, Tuesdays at 8.30 to
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Don't forget, listen next Tuesday
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: from 8.30 to 9 p.m.
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: For X-1.
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: Monitor takes you everywhere this weekend on the NBC Radio Network.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: This has been X-1's A Pale of Air. Follow X-1
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: for more classic broadcasts.