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X Minus One - "The Map Makers" (1956) · Old Time Sci-Fi Radio | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: A meteorite strikes the deep space survey ship Terra 2
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: during a hyperspace jump, throwing the vessel off course and
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: destroying its navigation atlas. Tonight, X-1 brings us The Mapmakers,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: episode 68, broadcast by NBC on September 26, 1956. With
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the crew unable to identify its position, the gravely injured navigator,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Grodin, becomes central to their effort to chart a
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: route through unfamiliar space. Ernest Kinnoy adapted Frederick Pohl's galaxy
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: science fiction story for radio with Daniel Sutter directing. Now,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: back to the golden age of radio. Follow old-time sci-fi
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: radio for more classic science fiction broadcasts.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Countdown for blastoff.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: X minus 5, 4, 3, 2, X minus 1, fire.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed tales
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: of new dimensions in time and space. These are stories
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: of the future. Adventures in which you'll live in a
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: million could be years on a thousand maybe worlds. The
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, presents.
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: X minus 1.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: Tonight's story, The Mapmakers, by Frederick Pohl.
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: The Mapmakers.
• 2:28
  Speaker 5: Damage report, Mr.
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: Bonner.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: Aye, sir.
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: Three bulkheads penetrated in A, C, and D sections, patched
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: in airtight.
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: How is Lieutenant Grodin?
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: He isn't good. He's unconscious. His head is all bandaged up.
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: There's a million to one chance. I don't think it's
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: happened in 300 years. Meteoric matter hitting a ship in hyperspace.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: Bonner, would you please have the air vents operated to
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: clear the control room of kerosene fumes?
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: Larch.
• 2:49
  Speaker 6: Aye, sir.
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: I'll have a half G spin, if you please. We
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: can use a little gravity when we figure this out.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: Aye, sir.
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: Engine room, half G-spin for simulated gravity. How about the Atlas?
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: That's the worst damage, sir. Celestial Atlas is destroyed.
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: Hmm.
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: The Atlas was the only record on board of the
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: hyperspace configurations. The total loss?
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: It's dead, sir.
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: Oh.
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: Hang on.
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: What was his name?
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: The Atlas?
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Spawn.
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: He had a sister in Seattle, I think.
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: The pass order's for burial at the afterlock.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: I see.
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: And, Mr. Bonner, have all officers assembled in the wardroom
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: for an emergency meeting as soon as we are secured
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: for normal space.
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: At ease, gentlemen.
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: Gentlemen, we are in trouble. We are in the soup.
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: And we're a long way from home. Ivana, would you
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: get me a bulb of coffee, please? Now, nobody is
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: going to come and get us out of this. We'll
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: have to do it ourselves, if we can. Ciccarelli is
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: trying to get us a fix. But I can tell
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: you right now, we are not close to the solar system.
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: Here you are, sir.
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: Oh, thank you. That meteor dropped us out of hyperspace
• 4:18
  Speaker 5: in the middle of a jump. Consequently, there isn't a
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: constellation in the sky that you or I or anybody
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: else ever saw before. We might be a hundred light
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: years from home, or we might be 10,000. Well, sir,
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: what about our records? They went with the Atlas. We
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: can't retrace our steps, not in hyperspace. Sir? Yes, what
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: is it, Lorch?
• 4:38
  Speaker 6: Burial detail standing by at the afterlock.
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: Very well, we'll get down there in a few minutes.
• 4:44
  Speaker 5: I'm afraid the Atlas will have to wait.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: He's a mess, isn't he?
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: Cover him up.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Haven't you got any respect? That's a laugh.
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: Spawn, I mean.
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: Look at his head. They spent four years stuffing it
• 5:04
  Speaker 5: with all those equations under that hypno-machine.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: Did you ever see him work in a jump?
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: Oh, my jump station's engine pit three. There's enough to
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: curl your hair. You know what it's like doing a jump.
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: No lights, no fluorescents even, just those kerosene lamps smoking.
• 5:20
  Speaker 5: Everything looking bent and twisted. You can't tell what you're seeing. Well,
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: Spahn stands right up there next to the captain in
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: a trance. And he's spouting numbers and times and equations.
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: And all the time, his eyes are shut. He's out
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: like a light. He's sure out for good now.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: It's funny.
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: He never knew how to count up his pay when
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: he was conscious. When he's out, he's as good as
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: a five-story computer.
• 5:41
  Speaker 7: I never could figure.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: It's kind of creepy.
• 5:44
  Speaker 5: Why don't they take a regular machine to do hyperspace navigating?
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: Well, you ought to know.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: You just lifted him.
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: Spawn weighed 130, ringing wet. A computer would weigh maybe
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: three or four tons. Ship couldn't lift it. We got
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: computers on board. Yeah, electronic computers. What's the first order
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: before a jump? Douse all electric gear.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: The Terra One blew higher than the kite before they
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: found that out.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: You don't use juice in hyperspace. Not if you want
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: to get out of it. So you can't use a
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: computer during a jump. That's where Spawn came in. Can't
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: use him in a jump anymore either. Yeah, that's for sure.
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: Hey, listen.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: There's a brass coming to dump him. I gotta get
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: back to my patient. Put out that cigarette and try
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: to look solemn. Mr. Broderick. How is he, Coneboy? Not
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: so good. I gave him three ampules of Neomorph in
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: the last two hours. That's twice the normal dosage. Let
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: me see.
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: Oh. Lieutenant Grodin's the navigator, isn't he? I mean, what
• 6:49
  Speaker 5: happens with him all cut up in the head? The
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: captain is a trained navigator. Well, that doesn't do us
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: any good in jump, does it? Not without the atlas
• 6:57
  Speaker 5: to do the calculating.
• 6:58
  Speaker 8: Look, our job down here is to keep Lieutenant Grodin
• 7:00
  Speaker 8: out of pain. We'll leave the rest to the bridge.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: All right?
• 7:03
  Speaker 6: Sorry, sir.
• 7:03
  Speaker 5: It's just that Corelli in the chart room told me
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: he can't locate.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: One of those stars in his chart. And what's more.
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: Oh. Convoy. Yes, sir.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: Hand me that ampule.
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: Now hear this. Now hear this. Recorders made second class
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: Eklund report to the ward room. Recorders made Eklund report
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: to the ward room. All right, Eklund, come in.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Recorders made Eklund reporting, sir.
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: Stand at ease, Eklund. You've heard about Recorders Made Spahn?
• 7:41
  Speaker 6: Yes, sir.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: I was with Charlie when.
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: Bonner, get Eklund a chair, please. Yes, sir.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: Here you are.
• 7:49
  Speaker 6: I'm all right, sir.
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: You know that Spahn's operation was essential to navigation in
• 7:55
  Speaker 5: a jump?
• 7:56
  Speaker 7: No, sir.
• 7:56
  Speaker 5: I mean, I don't know much of anything until I'm indexed.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Yes, of course.
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: You're rated a ship's librarian log.
• 8:04
  Speaker 6: Yes, sir.
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: Spahn read his calibrations up to this point into you?
• 8:08
  Speaker 6: I suppose so, sir.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: I'm in trance when I record.
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: Yes, of course. Now we're going to need those records.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: Are you ready?
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: Yes, sir.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: The key word is index. All right, I believe.
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: Index.
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: There she goes. Takes about 30 seconds for full trance.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: Uh-huh.
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: You know, Bonner, this is risky. Trying to backtrack on
• 8:34
  Speaker 5: hyperspace equations by dead reckoning. A centimeter off of the
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: figures might put us a thousand kilometers in hyperspace... Anything
• 8:43
  Speaker 5: up to a million light years when we dropped back
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: into normal. I wish that meteor had gotten me instead
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: of the Atlas.
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: She's in trance, sir.
• 8:53
  Speaker 5: All right, Eklund. Ship's log. Journey day one. Jump one.
• 8:58
  Speaker 6: Journey day one.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Jump 1. Normal space coordinates 34567465.
• 9:03
  Speaker 6: Sub 456. Time 4356.98.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Ensign Lodge reporting on watch, sir. No maneuvering during watch.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: No change in operating status.
• 9:32
  Speaker 6: I haven't made an entry for course in position, Mr.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: Bonner.
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: Just put down unknown in big letters.
• 9:39
  Speaker 7: Yes, sir.
• 9:40
  Speaker 6: You didn't get anything out of Eklund?
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: Oh, sure. We got the absolute magnitudes and the stellar
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: distances of half the stars in the galaxy. And short
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: course in the geodesics of the n-dimensional space. We didn't
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: get a road map. What does that thermometer read?
• 9:57
  Speaker 7: It's all right, sir.
• 9:58
  Speaker 6: I adjusted heat level.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: What?
• 9:59
  Speaker 7: The welding system.
• 10:00
  Speaker 6: Torches had the temperature up five degrees, so I ordered
• 10:02
  Speaker 6: air valved into the expansion line.
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: Mr.
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: Lorch, you were bleeding air?
• 10:06
  Speaker 6: Well, yes, sir.
• 10:06
  Speaker 7: The cool ship.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: Lorch, you're a fool.
• 10:08
  Speaker 7: What?
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: You valve off air as though we had a whole
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: world of it. Did it ever occur to you we
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: might be in space a long time and we might.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Run out of air?
• 10:15
  Speaker 6: But, sir, that doesn't happen.
• 10:16
  Speaker 5: I mean.
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: No, not when you can jump. Not when Earth is
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: an hour or a day away, but we can't jump.
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: You just leave those air valves alone. We'll need every molecule.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Broden, can you hear me? It's Doc Broderick. Can you
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: hear me?
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: Yes, I.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: All right, don't talk. You've been hurt.
• 10:44
  Speaker 8: A meteorite got the atlas and something got you right
• 10:47
  Speaker 8: across the eyes.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: Drops of molten metal. You're blind, at least for now.
• 10:53
  Speaker 5: Oh, oh.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: We can fix up from the eye bank. Let me
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: get back on those.
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: The atlas. Atlas.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: Dad.
• 11:03
  Speaker 8: We got enough problems. I've got to take the bandages
• 11:07
  Speaker 8: off now. Can you... Can you see anything? I'm going
• 11:17
  Speaker 8: to pass the light in front of your eyes. You
• 11:19
  Speaker 8: tell me if you can see anything.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: No. No.
• 11:29
  Speaker 7: Nothing but it hurts.
• 11:30
  Speaker 5: All right, convoy.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: Hand me that ampule. No.
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: Secure for jump, Mr.
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: Bonner. Secure. Engine room.
• 11:51
  Speaker 7: Damage aft. Damage forward.
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: Generator stations.
• 11:56
  Speaker 7: Radiation control. Cargo hold one.
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: Two.
• 12:01
  Speaker 7: Three.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: Four.
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: Men's quarters aft.
• 12:05
  Speaker 7: You ready, Eklund? Yes, sir.
• 12:07
  Speaker 5: Have you ever been on the bridge during a jump?
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: No, sir.
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: Well, it's tricky. Your eyes lie to you. You see
• 12:13
  Speaker 5: things that aren't there. I don't know how much you
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: will get in trance.
• 12:16
  Speaker 7: Nothing, sir.
• 12:17
  Speaker 6: I black out completely.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: Oh, good.
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: Ship secured, sir. Ship secured, sir.
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: Kill the spin.
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: Engine room, kill spin. Ship's company, stand by for free fall.
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: Free fall.
• 12:38
  Speaker 5: Check off.
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: Chronometers wound and synchronized. Kerosene lamps lit.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: Navigator. Aye.
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: Communicator. Aye. Atlas.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: Ready, Eklund?
• 12:50
  Speaker 9: Aye.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: Put her under.
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: Eklund. Index.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: Proceed, Mr.
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: Bonner. Main circuit breakers open.
• 12:58
  Speaker 7: Main circuit breakers open.
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: Electricity cut. Eklund's in trance.
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: Well, we'll give it a try. Now, Bonner, backtrack on
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: our jumps.
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: Maybe it'll work out.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: Maybe.
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: Stand by to jump.
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: Stand by to jump. Stand by to jump.
• 13:20
  Speaker 5: We'll go when she's straight up. Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Jump.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Jump.
• 13:50
  Speaker 7: Convoy! Convoy, where are you?
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: Over here.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: I can't see you.
• 13:53
  Speaker 7: Feel your way over to Grodin.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Everything's green.
• 13:55
  Speaker 7: Get me the hypo. Come on, man.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: You've been in the jump before.
• 13:58
  Speaker 5: Here's the ampule, sir.
• 14:00
  Speaker 7: Not the pressure hypo.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: We can't use current in jump.
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: The terrain.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: Grodin.
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 14:05
  Speaker 7: We're in jump.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: That's all.
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: My eyes!
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: My eyes!
• 14:09
  Speaker 7: My eyes!
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: Deal.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: I see you. She can't use the money even if
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: you win. We're trying to do chicken out. Corelli says
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: they got a fix after the jump.
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: What are we worried about? Deal.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: They got a fix, all right. 15,000 light years from south. Shuffle, shuffle.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: He says that's the way it is in hyperspace.
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: Distances haven't got anything to do with anything unless you
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: can navigate when you're in jumping.
• 14:46
  Speaker 7: We can't.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: Hey, when did Lortz make his rounds? Why? Why? I'm
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: going to take off my jumper. It's hot. Yeah, and
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: it's going to get hotter.
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: Every time the jets blast, every time the cook fries
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: an egg, the ship gets just a little hotter.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: Don't mention it. Every time the jump generators turn over,
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: every time you light a match, that gets us hotter
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: and hotter. Hey, what are you doing?
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: Taking off my skivvy shirt.
• 15:09
  Speaker 5: Deal.
• 15:09
  Speaker 7: Oh, oh, oh.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: How is he, Mr.
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: Broderick?
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: You can tell the captain that Lieutenant Grodin remains unimproved.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: How is he, really? He's working up to some real damage.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: A kind of can't handle. It's in his head.
• 15:35
  Speaker 8: I had to tell him his sight was gone. Unless
• 15:39
  Speaker 8: we can get back to an eye bank within ten days.
• 15:41
  Speaker 8: You can patch in an eye, but once the nerve
• 15:44
  Speaker 8: has deteriorated, you can't replace it.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: Did he take it hard? Worse? Worse.
• 15:50
  Speaker 8: He didn't say a word. I know that man is
• 15:53
  Speaker 8: in pain. The convoy found his pills hidden under his pillow.
• 15:56
  Speaker 8: He wouldn't take them. Just laid in without a sound.
• 16:00
  Speaker 8: Until we went into the jump. Then he screamed his
• 16:03
  Speaker 8: head off.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: What's wrong with him? Who knows?
• 16:06
  Speaker 8: By an electroencephaloscope on board? But I'm lucky they let
• 16:10
  Speaker 8: me have a mini x-ray.
• 16:11
  Speaker 6: What did doctors do before they had those gadgets?
• 16:14
  Speaker 7: Shoot the patients?
• 16:15
  Speaker 8: No. It was like I could run an old-fashioned verbal
• 16:18
  Speaker 8: psychoanalysis on him. I might pick something significant out of
• 16:21
  Speaker 8: the sludge. Maybe five or six months. That's what they
• 16:26
  Speaker 8: did before they had the EES. What time is it?
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: 0756.
• 16:32
  Speaker 8: I've got sick call in 20 minutes. Heat exhaustion, dizzy spells,
• 16:36
  Speaker 8: skin rashes. I'm running out of aspirin and salt tablets.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:40
  Speaker 8: Bonner had me with a ten-man detail defluffing the filter
• 16:44
  Speaker 8: traps on the air circulators.
• 16:46
  Speaker 6: It's a lucky thing spaceships aren't painted. They'd have us
• 16:48
  Speaker 6: chipping paint.
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: Now hear this.
• 16:52
  Speaker 7: Mr.
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: Broderick, report to the bridge.
• 16:55
  Speaker 7: Mr.
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: Broderick, report to the bridge.
• 16:57
  Speaker 8: How am I supposed to do that? I got two
• 16:59
  Speaker 8: corpsmen down with heat prostration. I'll look after Grodin, Mr.
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: Broderick.
• 17:04
  Speaker 6: Maybe I could give him an alcohol rub?
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: Thanks, Lord. Oh, by the way, that alcohol.
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: Yes?
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: It's denatured.
• 17:27
  Speaker 5: Here's the problem, Mr. Broderick. We have fuel for just
• 17:31
  Speaker 5: under 40 minutes of rocket blast at standard thrust. That
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: will bring our overall temperature up to 60 degrees centigrade.
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: That's the maximum the human body can stand, right?
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. That's about 140 Fahrenheit.
• 17:44
  Speaker 8: Well, it hits that on Earth in a couple of
• 17:45
  Speaker 8: places around the Dead Sea, but it isn't sustained heat.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: It drops considerably after dark.
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: We'll hope we find ourselves out of this before we
• 17:54
  Speaker 5: hit 60 degrees. If we don't, at least we won't
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: starve or suffocate. All right, gentlemen.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: Broderick, you can prepare for increasing heat casualties as we proceed.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: All right, Mr.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: Bonner.
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: Secure for jump.
• 18:10
  Speaker 7: All right. My eyes. My eyes.
• 18:23
  Speaker 6: Now take it easy, Groton.
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: Convoy.
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: Convoy. Yes, sir.
• 18:26
  Speaker 6: Where's the doctor?
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: He stayed on the bridge with the jump.
• 18:28
  Speaker 6: Well, what do we do for Groton?
• 18:29
  Speaker 7: During the jump, I can't even see him.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: I don't think he can hurt himself. We better just
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: wait till the jump's over.
• 18:41
  Speaker 7: My eyes. They lied. They lied to me.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: They lied.
• 18:48
  Speaker 7: They lied. I can see it. The master pattern. I...
• 18:56
  Speaker 7: I can see it.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: No.
• 19:01
  Speaker 7: No, not like seeing.
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: Like.
• 19:04
  Speaker 7: Like knowing. That's... That's Lorch. And Roderick's on the bridge.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: And the captain.
• 19:17
  Speaker 7: And Earth.
• 19:17
  Speaker 9: And.
• 19:19
  Speaker 7: And suddenly, I can see them. Unbuckle the straps. I've
• 19:25
  Speaker 7: got to get up to the bridge. The jump is
• 19:27
  Speaker 7: almost over. I'll be blind again.
• 19:28
  Speaker 9: If the Lord sees me, he'll think it's jump hallucinations.
• 19:35
  Speaker 7: They're lost. But I'm not. I can see. The whole universe.
• 19:46
  Speaker 7: I can see.
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: Yum, yum, yum. Secure for normal space. Grodin.
• 19:55
  Speaker 6: Grodin, come back here. What are you doing out in
• 19:57
  Speaker 6: the passage? Convoy.
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: Sir.
• 19:59
  Speaker 7: Come on, give me a hand. How did he get
• 20:02
  Speaker 7: out here and jump? He's blind.
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: Navigation report negative, sir.
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: Is there a fix?
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: No, sir. Corelli thinks he can get a triangulation on
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: an extragalactic nebula. That'll take time. What's the temperature? Forty-five.
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: We don't have time. We'll have to keep on. If
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: we don't end up within a light year of Sol,
• 20:34
  Speaker 5: we're cooked.
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: Literally.
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: So, at your convenience, we'll take another jump.
• 20:39
  Speaker 7: Sir, we've got to take a break.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: The only way to handle the temperature is frequent rests
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: and liquids.
• 20:45
  Speaker 5: Will ten minutes be enough?
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: Well, I suppose so. Mr.
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: Bonner, have steward sections issue whatever they have, juices, water.
• 20:51
  Speaker 5: There's no point in saving it for any length of time.
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: We have about 24 minutes of rocket time before the
• 20:58
  Speaker 5: hull heats up to 60 degrees.
• 21:00
  Speaker 8: Is there any reasonable chance?
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: Mr.
• 21:04
  Speaker 5: Broderick, we have tried dead reckoning from the records. But
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: in hyperspace, we can't follow them accurately, not without atlas.
• 21:12
  Speaker 5: I'm timing the blasts from my pulse. Because you can't
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: trust reading a clock unless you can touch it. When
• 21:19
  Speaker 5: we jump, I might as well be blind.
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: Easy.
• 21:34
  Speaker 6: Get him back on the bed.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: Easy, Conway, easy. I got his arm.
• 21:39
  Speaker 6: I can't figure how we got out there. I saw him,
• 21:42
  Speaker 6: but I thought it was a jump hallucination.
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: Easy, Mr.
• 21:44
  Speaker 8: Gordon.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: I'm just live.
• 21:45
  Speaker 7: No, no, no.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: I can see. I can see.
• 21:49
  Speaker 6: Is that possible?
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: Look at him, Mr.
• 21:51
  Speaker 7: Lodge.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: His eyes are covered with bandages.
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: He's blind. Ten minutes is up, Captain.
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: All right. Secure for jump.
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: I had to assign three more men to each generator.
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: The crew couldn't handle the manual clutching the heat.
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: Very well.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Proceed.
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: Renometers wound and synchronized. Kerosene lamps lit. Navigator.
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: Aye.
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: Freddie Eklund.
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: Aye.
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: Index.
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: Proceed, Mr.
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: Bonner.
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: Main circuit breakers open.
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: Stand by to jump.
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: Stand by to jump.
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: Straight up. Forward. Three, two, one, jump.
• 22:42
  Speaker 9: 30 seconds to full velocity, sir.
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: You never can get used to it. You can hear,
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: you can touch, but your eyes lie. The photons and
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: electrons that carry vision have some crazy mathematics of their own.
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: I know, sir.
• 23:03
  Speaker 5: I remember once I saw a row of monkeys sitting
• 23:06
  Speaker 5: on the control console. I wondered what they were before
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: hyperspace twisted them into monkeys.
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: Ten seconds.
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's what I mean. Now it seems as if
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: I'm seeing Grodin up here on the bridge, and I
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: know very well he's down in sickbay asleep.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: Captain.
• 23:20
  Speaker 7: Captain.
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: Who is that?
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Lorch?
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: Yes, sir.
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: You're not on bridge watch.
• 23:24
  Speaker 6: Captain, he's really here. It's not a hallucination.
• 23:28
  Speaker 5: What are you talking about?
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: Grodin. He's really here, sir.
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: Lodge, what's the idea of bringing him up here during jump?
• 23:34
  Speaker 6: I only brought him to the forward lock, sir. Then
• 23:36
  Speaker 6: he brought me.
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: Broderick, is this some kind of heat exhaustion?
• 23:39
  Speaker 7: I'm telling you, sir.
• 23:40
  Speaker 6: We went into jump and I couldn't see anything that
• 23:42
  Speaker 6: made sense. Just twisting shadows and lights, you know. But
• 23:45
  Speaker 6: Grodin took my hand and led me right up here
• 23:48
  Speaker 6: along the passage.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: He's blind.
• 23:50
  Speaker 6: Not in hyperspace.
• 23:51
  Speaker 7: Not in jump.
• 23:53
  Speaker 6: Then he can see.
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: Captain, I've got to get him to sickbay.
• 23:56
  Speaker 7: He must be in intense pain. Yes, yes, his pain's
• 23:58
  Speaker 7: all right. But I can see the whole plan, the
• 24:03
  Speaker 7: whole pattern. It makes sense to me now.
• 24:09
  Speaker 9: I can see the stars and the ship and the
• 24:12
  Speaker 9: Earth at the same time. The equations on hyperspace. I
• 24:18
  Speaker 9: can see them the way you can see a triangle
• 24:20
  Speaker 9: or a circle.
• 24:23
  Speaker 7: I can see the Earth. And I can tell you
• 24:25
  Speaker 7: how far it is.
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: Rodent.
• 24:28
  Speaker 7: You mean you can pilot us home?
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: Yes, I can.
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: All right, Mr.
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: Groden. Take over this ship.
• 24:49
  Speaker 7: Number three pattern.
• 24:51
  Speaker 9: Fire.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: Cut.
• 24:58
  Speaker 7: Velocity.
• 25:00
  Speaker 9: Five, six, three, seven, four, eight. Relative thrust. Seven, eight, six, seven.
• 25:08
  Speaker 9: Counterblast for two seconds. Pattern six, five, seven.
• 25:12
  Speaker 7: Blast.
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: Cut.
• 25:16
  Speaker 7: All right. Hit normal space at mark. Five. Four. Three.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: Two.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: One.
• 25:31
  Speaker 7: Mark, look out.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: He's going to fall.
• 25:33
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I've got him.
• 25:34
  Speaker 5: He saw. He saw in hyperspace. He navigated by line
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: of sight in hyperspace.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: We'll have to order a stretcher up. He's blind.
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: Again. Sun system, 239 degrees, 45 elevation. Magnified by 50
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: on forward screen.
• 25:53
  Speaker 7: That's not saw. No, but it's a place to land.
• 25:57
  Speaker 7: There's a planet there. It's Earth normal. You can land
• 26:00
  Speaker 7: and cool ship and replenish air. Mr.
• 26:05
  Speaker 5: Bonner, take her down to atmosphere. Have planetology section start
• 26:08
  Speaker 5: to check it out.
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: Aye, sir. Ensign Lodge, report down to planetology. Engine room,
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: landing rotation.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: Why didn't we hit Earth on the jump, Groden?
• 26:16
  Speaker 7: Why?
• 26:16
  Speaker 5: Just as well, Mr. Broderick. If the planet checks out,
• 26:19
  Speaker 5: it's a whole world for colonization.
• 26:22
  Speaker 8: Sure, sure, but it'll be two weeks before you can
• 26:24
  Speaker 8: replenish ship and catalyze fuel.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: There won't be any new eyes for Lieutenant Groden then.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: The opting nose will be gone too far. You'll never
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: have eyes again.
• 26:34
  Speaker 7: I knew that before I brought you up here.
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: Ready blast for skip deceleration in pit three.
• 26:41
  Speaker 5: You mean, Grodin, you could have brought us back to Earth?
• 26:44
  Speaker 7: In two jumps.
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: Then why didn't you? I can't allow a man to
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: go blind because of phony heroics.
• 26:49
  Speaker 9: Do you want to know how many Sol-type systems there
• 26:54
  Speaker 9: are within 5,000 light years? I can tell you. Want
• 27:00
  Speaker 9: to know what the universe looks like in hyperspace? I
• 27:04
  Speaker 9: can tell you that too. Only I can't describe it.
• 27:10
  Speaker 9: The whole thing is as orderly and chartable as our
• 27:14
  Speaker 9: own space.
• 27:15
  Speaker 7: And I could see it. All of it.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: And you offer me eyes.
• 27:23
  Speaker 9: Captain, we have a quadrant of hyperspace to chart.
• 27:28
  Speaker 7: I can see during the jumps. Captain, I... Look out.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: I'm still in pain.
• 27:39
  Speaker 7: I can see to the end of the galaxy.
• 27:45
  Speaker 8: And....
• 27:47
  Speaker 6: Beyond.
• 27:50
  Speaker 5: I know. But in the meantime.
• 27:52
  Speaker 7: Mr.
• 27:53
  Speaker 6: Broderick.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: Aye, sir.
• 27:55
  Speaker 5: When we take off again... Lieutenant Grodin will be in
• 27:58
  Speaker 5: command during jump. He will handle this ship, and at
• 28:02
  Speaker 5: his direction, we will chart hyperspace. In the meantime, will
• 28:10
  Speaker 5: you kindly lead him to his quarters?
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: You have just heard X-Minus One presented by the National
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, which
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: this month features Dead Ringer by Lester Del Rey, a
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: fascinating story about a man who learned that there was
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: nothing on Earth which could set him free, least of
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: all the truth. Galaxy Magazine on your newsstand today. Tonight
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: by transcription, X-Minus One has brought you The Mapmaker's A
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: story from the pages of Galaxy written by Frederick Pohl
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: and adapted for radio by Ernest Canoy.
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: Featured in the cast were John Larkin, Ed Prentiss, Bob.
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: Hastings, Tom Collins, Dick Hamilton, Burford Hamden, Raleigh Bester, and
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: Carl Frank.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: Your announcer, Fred Collins.
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: X-1 was directed by Daniel Sutter and is an NBC
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: Radio Network production.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: X-1 has concluded The Map Makers. Thank you for spending
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: this late hour with a broadcast from September 26, 1956.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Follow Old Time Sci-Fi Radio for more classic science fiction broadcasts.