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X Minus One - "Stars Are the Styx" (1956) · Old Time Sci-Fi Radio | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: At Kerbstone, an Earth orbiting way station, Prospective colonists are
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: evaluated before taking one way passages to the stars. On
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: July twenty fourth, nineteen fifty six, NBC's X minus one
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: brought that setting to the air in episode sixty one.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Stars Are the Styx, adapted for radio by Ernest Kennoy
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: from Theodore Sturgeon's nineteen fifty Galaxy science fiction story. A
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: release officer and his assistant Tween meet a new group
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: of candidates, among them the officer's old friend Judson. As
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: selection and the hazards of the voyage bear on their hopes.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Craig MacDonell, patsy O'sheay, Richard Hamilton, Charlotte Manson, Bob Hastings,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: and Wendell Holmes are featured under Bob Mauer's direction, with
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: William Welch producing. Now back to the golden age of radio.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: In just a moment X minus one, But first.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: A familiar theme that introduces some of the sweetest music
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: this side of heaven, the music of Guy Lombardo and
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: his Royal Canadians. And beginning Monday, July thirtieth, NBC Bandstand
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: brings you live two full hours of your favorite tunes
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: by Guy Lombardo, Tommy Dorsey, plus wonderful arrangements by Freddie
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: Martin and Wayne King. It's four top bands in person,
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: joined by sparkling personalities like Burt Parks and Johnny Mercer,
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: Your mister music. Remember July thirtieth for the premiere of
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: NBC Bandstand.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: At Now. Stay tuned for X minus one on NBC.
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: Calm down for blast off, X minus five for three
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: two X minus one Fire from the far horizons of
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: the Unknown come transcribed tales of new dimensions in time
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: and space. These are stories of the future adventures in
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: which you'll live in a million, could be years, on
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: a thousand, maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company and cooperation
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine presents.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: HE minus one on the Night the Stars are the
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: Sticks by Theodore Sturgeon. They call me Karen. It isn't
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: my real name, but it suits my job. Karen. You
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: may remember ferry dead souls across the River Styx of
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: Greek mythology. I ferried dead souls from the planet Earth
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: out into the unknown of space. My little satellite station
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: is known as Kerbstone. I've been here for twenty years. Yes, Karen,
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: oh tween, what is it?
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: There's a ship landing from Earth?
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Is it the regular shuttle?
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: Yes?
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Okay, we'll check the candidates as soon.
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: As they're in, I'll fill out the reports for you.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Thank you, oh tween. Yes, close the doorman, will you
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: I want to talk to you?
• 3:50
  Speaker 6: Yes?
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: How long have you been here on Curbstone.
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: I don't know. I think two.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: Years approximately, and you've been helping me here in the office,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: were almost a year and a half. Have you thought
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: about going back to Earth?
• 4:05
  Speaker 7: Well, you, sir, I've thought about it, and well I couldn't.
• 4:10
  Speaker 7: I'd rather die. I just don't seem to belong there.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: You'd rather stay here and wait. Yes, even though you
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: may never become certified for space.
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: One day it will happen.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Perhaps, I almost hope it won't.
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: Don't say that.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Well, the shuttles to be coming in soon. Maybe this
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: trip will be somebody aboard for you.
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: I have a feeling there will be.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: I suppose I ought to explain a little about Curbstone
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: at this point. We're a stopping point, well, a jumping
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: off place, and be more accurate, we get people from
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Earth who, for many reasons cannot remain there. Some around
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: his social criminals of the sort. Some are misfits, individualists
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: who cannot adjust to the rigid standardization. Some are just different,
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: people who are physically different than who have been ostracized
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: as a result. And a few are poets, those who
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: have souls too big for the confines of Earth. They
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: come to Curbstone and wait to be certified for space,
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: and it's my job to send them out.
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: They're waiting.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: How many of the strip two men and a woman.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: One of the men, yeah, nothing, Oh, I've known you
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: too well to be fooled. Why you're practically glowing? Did
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: you speak to him?
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: No?
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: But you think perhaps he'll be the one to choose you.
• 5:44
  Speaker 5: Well, I think perhaps.
• 5:47
  Speaker 7: The way he looked at me, Oh, he didn't think
• 5:51
  Speaker 7: there was anything funny about me.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: He just looked there is nothing funny about you.
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: You're trying to be kind here.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Should know me better. I'm the original Billy Goat griff.
• 6:02
  Speaker 5: I do know you better. You have a kind heart.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: Enough of that, ask him to come in one at
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: a time. I watched her walk to the door, and
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: I thought she was beautiful. She was, but not in
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: a way acceptable to the eugenics department. Back on Earth.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Queen was an albino. She had silver skin and hair
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: and ruby colored eyes. If I hadn't been such an
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: old fat foot.
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: This way, please thank you. This is the senior release officer.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: You'll check you in your name? Please? Why don't you
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: know it? No, I'm afraid Judd, good lord, Hello, Brad
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: jud Smith. For all these years, I understand they call
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: you Karen. Yes, good, I'll call you Karen. Well. What
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: in the name of misery brings you to Curbstone? Oh,
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: I'm a candidate. But you, of all people, you had
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: a good position, enough money, you didn't get into trouble you?
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: Oh the sort of what sort? When I was your
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: student at the university many years ago, you taught me
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: to enjoy my individuality. I tried to teach my students
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: the same thing. The authorities wouldn't stand for it. I see.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: So I decided to take my chances in space. Are
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: you aware of the risk? Not full of or I
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: probably wouldn't be here. Then let me acquaint to you
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: with the procedure here on Curbstone. Look, got that window.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: What do you see looks like a spaceship for launching platform?
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Exactly that ship is aimed at the outer galaxies. It
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: has enough fuel to reach its destination and land, but
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: not enough to come back and see. The people who
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: come here to the Curbstone have to be certified before
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: they can take off in one of those ships. How
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: does one go about being certified? There are three requirements.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: You must pass a physical examination and a mental examination,
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: and the third you must find an agreeable partner for
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: the trip. A partner, a partner of the opposite sex
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: who is willing to share her life or death with
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: you from now to eternity. That could be rather difficult.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: When your authorities agreed to Operation Curbstone, it was decided
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: that it'd be a method of colonizing the outer galaxies
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: with Earth people. Therefore, these ships are built to carry
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: two people. I see. Well, suppose I choose somebody and
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: she doesn't want me. You wait, Suppose I just suppose
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: I passed the physical and the mental tests and I
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: even find a partner. Suppose we get into the ship
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: and are launched into space. What are our chances? Come here?
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: This board shows a light for each ship that is
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: on route in space. There you see that one that's
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: a couple named Fort and Mary Ellen they went out
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: together last week, headed for the systems. As long as
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: the light shows they're all right. They haven't been destroyed
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: by radiation or piled up on some asteroid, or gotten
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: into a time warp. We know from our years of
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: launching couples here on Curbstone that forty six percent of
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: them never make it, and of those that make it,
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: we don't know they have the equipment for survival, of course,
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: but who knows what they'll meet on some strange planet.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: And still they go out, and still they go out.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: When do I take the examinations where you can start
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: tomorrow if you like. I'd like to talk over old
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: times with you right now, but I have to check
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: the other two passengers you came up with. Certainly, Between,
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: would you come in please? Tween assists me here, she too,
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: is waiting to find a partner for the trip.
• 9:44
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: Between, This is Judson. Judgson's an old friend. Here's a
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: student of mine many years ago. Very happy to meet you.
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: Yes, I know you are Between.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Tell the others to come in, please, yes, sir. A
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: remarkable girl, remarkable looking at any rate. Well, Treeen will
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: Tia where your quarters are? I hope we'll talk soon. Well,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: I hope so. Oh, by the way that light on
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: the board Fort and Mary Ellen, what about it? Well,
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: it just went out. I was happy to see Judson.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: My memories of our association with pleasant ones. As he left,
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: the other two passengers came in. The man was young,
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: dark haired, and slick looking. His name was Wald. The woman, well,
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: she takes some describing. Her name was Flower. Her voice
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: was like a shallow and her figure was a walking
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: demand for the revival of the now extinct profession of keeping.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: Tom Let me be honest, I didn't like either of them.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: That takes care of your documents.
• 10:54
  Speaker 8: How long will it take us to be certified?
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Well, it depends if you pass your tests. It can
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: happen in a week, as.
• 10:59
  Speaker 6: It passed me down pass our tests, you.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: Might be here a year, two years, there's no limit.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: You can keep taking the test and you can return
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: to word Earth.
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: Well, is there anything to do up here?
• 11:12
  Speaker 6: I'm in excitement.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: That depends on what you consider excitement.
• 11:16
  Speaker 6: Anything we haven't already tried. Isn't that right?
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: World?
• 11:20
  Speaker 9: We decided to come up here, mister, call me Karen, Karen,
• 11:24
  Speaker 9: Oh quaint? Anyway, we decided to come up here because
• 11:27
  Speaker 9: we were bored with the routine on Earth.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: You're aware of the risk involved.
• 11:31
  Speaker 8: You mean we might not make it. Well, that's life,
• 11:34
  Speaker 8: isn't it?
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Or for some, for others it's death.
• 11:37
  Speaker 6: I don't like that kind of talk.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: You'll attend an orientation session tomorrow. I'll have my assistant
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: show you at your quarters. Green, Yes, grin, Treen, I
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: want you to meet Flower.
• 11:49
  Speaker 5: How do you do.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: Well?
• 11:52
  Speaker 9: Cabstone is exciting already, something different, Darlan, shut out.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: This is twein. She'll show you where you live.
• 12:01
  Speaker 8: Oh, pleasure, a distinct pleasure.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: There was something decadent about World and Flower, something almost reptilian.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: I couldn't believe that these two would ever step into
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: a ship and risk the trip to space. Of course,
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: I could be wrong. Boredom drives people to risk many things.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: At the session the next day, I watched my three
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: new arrivals and it was over. I stood talking to Judson, Well,
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: I still want to go out. Yes, you got a companion?
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: Oh yes, really, you haven't met anybody yet. I've met
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: the person i'd like to go with. Mind if I
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: ask who you're assistant, Tween, you don't disappoint me Judge.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: I fell in love with her the first time I
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: met her too. I haven't even talked to her yet
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: except to say hello and where's the commissary? But there's
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: where there's a quality about it, like well, like a
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: cool breeze on a hot summer's day. Well, you are smitten,
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: and my ja can afford to be romantic.
• 13:14
  Speaker 6: Excuse me, am I interrupting.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: Not at all, Judson. You know Flower. Yes, we met
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: on the ship coming to Curbstone.
• 13:20
  Speaker 6: I wondered if you were busy for me? You well,
• 13:24
  Speaker 6: not really good. Then you can take me down the
• 13:27
  Speaker 6: recreation room for some metal caffeine.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Well I don't use it.
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: That doesn't mean you can't take me. Well, you're a
• 13:33
  Speaker 6: mister wall I mean, World and I are just very
• 13:35
  Speaker 6: good friends. Besides, he's busy right now. He's being shown
• 13:39
  Speaker 6: around the satellite by this gentleman's assistant Twin. That's her name,
• 13:44
  Speaker 6: The peculiar one coming, Judson, I guess, so.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: You excuse us certainly. When I saw Tween the next day,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: there were stars in her eyes. Good morning, good morning,
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: you are laughing, am I your eyes?
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: I'm happy?
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Good.
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: I think it won't be long now before what before
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: I'm certified.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Oh, I've met.
• 14:19
  Speaker 5: Someone who really likes me.
• 14:21
  Speaker 8: I see, can you guess?
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: No? Who is it?
• 14:25
  Speaker 7: Well, you know the dark haired young man who came
• 14:28
  Speaker 7: in yesterday with.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: Your friend Judson Wald.
• 14:32
  Speaker 7: We went down to the ship together and he well,
• 14:34
  Speaker 7: he asked a lot of questions about it, and then
• 14:37
  Speaker 7: we started to talk about us. He says he's wasted
• 14:40
  Speaker 7: his whole life flitting from one diversion to another. Really, now,
• 14:44
  Speaker 7: he says, he's looking for something.
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: With some meaning.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: You like him.
• 14:49
  Speaker 7: He isn't afraid of me. He doesn't see anything wrong
• 14:53
  Speaker 7: with my being different.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: I thought he was with Flower.
• 14:57
  Speaker 7: Oh, he says he and Flower travel together because of habit.
• 15:00
  Speaker 7: They're both bored and looking for something or someone.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: Well, as long as it makes you happy.
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: He he kissed me. Do you know that no man
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: has ever kissed me like that?
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: You enjoyed it?
• 15:17
  Speaker 8: Oh?
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: Yes?
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Did he say anything about going out into space with you?
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: He said he could think of no one he'd rather
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: go with.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: And when is he going to sign the certification?
• 15:30
  Speaker 7: Well, he felt we ought to get to know each
• 15:33
  Speaker 7: other better for a while. Anyway, He's right, don't you think?
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: Yes? I think it would be better.
• 15:41
  Speaker 6: Karen.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Yes, I I.
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: Love you very much.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: Why did you say that?
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: Because it's true?
• 15:49
  Speaker 7: I mean, there's something so kind and understanding about underneath.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: I'm the same as anybody else.
• 15:57
  Speaker 7: No, I don't believe it. Why they picked you for
• 16:00
  Speaker 7: this job because you have such compassion. You could never.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: Hate, could you?
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: I don't know. I never have, But now I don't know.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: That's because you're in love. You can't love really unless
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: you can hate.
• 16:18
  Speaker 7: I don't believe that.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: It doesn't invite it. The sounds if I knew the answer.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: Come on, I'll buy your drink to celebrate the big event.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: I watched her ship to drink, the tones of her
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: skin coming and going with a pulse of everyone. I
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: thought to myself, you're going to be h Tween, You're
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: going to be terribly, terribly hurt. And I wondered if
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: perhaps she didn't know it well. Tween another couple out
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: into space, Maria and planned when you recorded and have
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: another ship brought up to the launching Tween what.
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: Sorry? I was thinking of something else, So it have.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: How long has it been now?
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: Three months?
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: Long time?
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: Well, he wants to be sure, and you are you sure?
• 17:22
  Speaker 6: Oh?
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Yes, nothing to do. But wait, then I have to
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: go over to the whole division. Will you take over?
• 17:28
  Speaker 7: Yes, sometime I too will be speeding through space and
• 17:39
  Speaker 7: I'll be a tiny light on this board.
• 17:42
  Speaker 8: Hello, then you mind if I came in?
• 17:44
  Speaker 6: Not at all?
• 17:47
  Speaker 8: Where's fatso Karen?
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: He isn't that fat?
• 17:51
  Speaker 8: Fat enough?
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: He went over to the whole division.
• 17:55
  Speaker 8: This is a nice layout.
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: Would you come to see me or the layout?
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: You know?
• 17:59
  Speaker 8: I can't to see you.
• 18:01
  Speaker 9: As a matter of fact, I wanted to talk to
• 18:03
  Speaker 9: you about something. Well, the party tonight at the rec center?
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: Well, what about it? We're going, aren't we? I can't
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: make it something wrong.
• 18:13
  Speaker 8: I'm meeting somebody else. Oh Flower, I see. Oh come on,
• 18:19
  Speaker 8: I don't look so hurt. Flower and I have bummed
• 18:21
  Speaker 8: around together for years.
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: But I thought she and jetson.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Oh don't be ridiculous.
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: Well they spend all their time together.
• 18:27
  Speaker 9: Oh you don't know Flower. She likes to experience new things.
• 18:31
  Speaker 9: When they get to be old, she tosses them away.
• 18:35
  Speaker 8: All except me.
• 18:37
  Speaker 5: And you do like to experience new things and toss
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: them away.
• 18:41
  Speaker 8: Work. I'm sorry, Twin, but it's just the way I am.
• 18:44
  Speaker 6: Like Flower.
• 18:45
  Speaker 8: Like Flower.
• 18:46
  Speaker 7: We're two of a kind Would you do me a favor?
• 18:50
  Speaker 7: Why not make it a clean break. Don't try to
• 18:54
  Speaker 7: see me again or tell me any more lies, even
• 18:57
  Speaker 7: though I want to hear them.
• 19:00
  Speaker 8: Okay, and thanks, thanks for.
• 19:05
  Speaker 7: These three months, even though they've been Make believe at
• 19:09
  Speaker 7: least i've had them.
• 19:11
  Speaker 8: Well, I'll see you around.
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I'll see you around.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: Why just let him flow?
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: He doesn't care about me, he never has. He's going
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: back to Flower.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: I saw him leaving.
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: What will I do? He's the only one who ever
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: wanted me?
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: No, not the only one. Now there are two of us.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: The question that kept going through my mind was what next?
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: How long was all going to hang around Curbstone before
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: he decided to go back. I couldn't believe he'd have
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: the guts to go out into space, but I had
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: underestimated Flower.
• 20:08
  Speaker 6: Were well the prodigal returns.
• 20:10
  Speaker 8: Don't make funny remarks.
• 20:12
  Speaker 6: Tell me, darling, what brings you to my room at
• 20:13
  Speaker 6: this late hour? Could it be that you missed me
• 20:16
  Speaker 6: or had little miss Tweet given you the heaves?
• 20:18
  Speaker 8: Shut up and give me a drink, and don't act
• 20:22
  Speaker 8: so self righteous. You've been having your fling with as
• 20:24
  Speaker 8: Judson character.
• 20:25
  Speaker 6: Mama jealous too. I thought you and I agreed a
• 20:30
  Speaker 6: long time ago we'd never make any claims on each other.
• 20:33
  Speaker 8: That was a long time ago. Frankly, I'm getting bored
• 20:36
  Speaker 8: with a satellite. Let's go back to Earth.
• 20:39
  Speaker 6: I'm bored with Earth.
• 20:41
  Speaker 8: Well, we'll go someplace else then.
• 20:43
  Speaker 6: I am going someplace else where out space.
• 20:49
  Speaker 8: Oh, come on, I don't be ridiculous.
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: Oh, I am not being ridiculous.
• 20:52
  Speaker 8: So you know that only forty six percent arrive.
• 20:55
  Speaker 9: And if you get there, Heaven only knows what kind
• 20:57
  Speaker 9: of monsters or poison atmospheres get you.
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: I know, but there's a certain thrill in the risking.
• 21:03
  Speaker 8: Oh and when did you start feeling poetic.
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: Since I started talking to Judson.
• 21:08
  Speaker 8: Listen, Flower, don't try to trick me. I know you
• 21:11
  Speaker 8: too well. You're one hundred percent too selfish to risk
• 21:14
  Speaker 8: your pretty skin for some poetic feeling.
• 21:16
  Speaker 6: Well, listen to me. You and I have been together
• 21:19
  Speaker 6: for years. We're very much alike. Now I'm telling you
• 21:22
  Speaker 6: that I intend to go out. I want you to
• 21:25
  Speaker 6: sign my certification and come with me. Your man, No, No,
• 21:29
  Speaker 6: I think maybe if we get away from everything out there,
• 21:33
  Speaker 6: we'll find each other. Oh, we'll have a.
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: Chance to love and be decent like ordinary human beings.
• 21:39
  Speaker 6: Oh, Weld, I'm jes seeing. We've been destroying ourselves for years.
• 21:42
  Speaker 6: We're getting older now, please please try to see a
• 21:46
  Speaker 6: clean start, a new life.
• 21:47
  Speaker 5: Huh.
• 21:49
  Speaker 9: Well, this fellow Judson has really been filling your ear,
• 21:52
  Speaker 9: hasn't he.
• 21:54
  Speaker 6: He's a kind person. He doesn't think I'm a well worthless.
• 22:03
  Speaker 8: You kill me girl?
• 22:05
  Speaker 6: What would you come with me?
• 22:07
  Speaker 8: If you want to wreck yourself?
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: Go ahead?
• 22:10
  Speaker 9: And who prays hell thinks enough of a cheap character
• 22:12
  Speaker 9: like you to sign a certification?
• 22:15
  Speaker 6: Judgson? What he said he would go out with me,
• 22:20
  Speaker 6: and I intend to go.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: I said, if I had Judging on Flower that same evening,
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: are you going to leave at midnight? I was working late?
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: Come in? Whoa flower? I thought?
• 22:40
  Speaker 6: You and Judgeon we're not going at least? Oh, Judging
• 22:46
  Speaker 6: decided he didn't want me along.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: He did.
• 22:50
  Speaker 6: He left this note for me, the story of my life?
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: Nice girl, But who wants to marry anybody like that?
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: I'm going alone. Don't try to stop me. It wouldn't work.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: I'd always look down on you. Judson.
• 23:06
  Speaker 6: It doesn't sound like him, sounds like every man I've
• 23:09
  Speaker 6: ever known, except Wall doesn't.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: Judge me except w Where's Judson now?
• 23:17
  Speaker 6: Locked in the ship? He's leaving at midnight?
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: Three minutes? Listen you wait here?
• 23:22
  Speaker 6: Where are you going?
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: See if I can reach that ship before it's too late.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: A man of my size and age shouldn't run, especially
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: when he has a bad valve in his heart. But
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: I covered the distance of the takeoff ramp like a
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: track star. As I hit the edge of the ramp,
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: I heard Tween's voice screaming at me from the control car.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: I reached the door.
• 23:53
  Speaker 10: That's the rockets were beginning to warm up. Inside the ship.
• 23:56
  Speaker 10: There wasn't anywhere to get in except the blast. There's
• 24:03
  Speaker 10: only one way to stop the ship from taking you off.
• 24:05
  Speaker 10: Once the combust the chambers are operating.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: You have to get the.
• 24:08
  Speaker 10: Dampening rotch into the chambers and stop the chain reaction.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: It took a lot of beef, but I've got a lot.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: I looked around the control room this ship. Judgements strapped
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: into the pilot's chair. The controls were preset for automatic takeoff.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: I went over to him. He was dead, his head
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: cracked like an egg show Judd, I know you can't
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: hear me but I swear to you I'll get the
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: one who did this. Really, don't move.
• 25:03
  Speaker 8: I have a gun on you.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: Well, you're a pig, you're living a human pig.
• 25:11
  Speaker 8: Thanks for the company.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: Protect the life of a man who's only act against you.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: Why he wanted to help Flower.
• 25:16
  Speaker 8: I can't afford to lose Flower.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: Don't you think you've lost her already?
• 25:20
  Speaker 8: Not at all, she thinks Judson is going out into
• 25:22
  Speaker 8: space without.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: I knew he wasn't capable of writing a note like that.
• 25:26
  Speaker 8: It doesn't matter.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: How do you expect to get away with this?
• 25:28
  Speaker 8: Quite easily? Judson isn't going out alone after all, meaning
• 25:35
  Speaker 8: he's going to have a companion you.
• 25:41
  Speaker 9: Once the ship is headed for the stars, there won't
• 25:43
  Speaker 9: be a shred of evidence.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: Okay, you've got it off here.
• 25:48
  Speaker 8: That's right now, turn around.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: You have the gun. All I got is this fatman
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: can move emergingly fast. Walled, what are you going to do?
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: Nothing much. I'm just going to certify you WLD for
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: a flight into space. There are things you can do
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: to a man if you know in that physiology pressures
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: on the nerve system, they can immobilize them for ours.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: I did them to world then I set the controls
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: of the ship again, went out. I was breathing hard.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: It took me a long time to make it up
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: the steps of the control tower where Tween was waiting.
• 26:49
  Speaker 7: Karen, Oh, Karen, I was so worried. I thought you'd
• 26:53
  Speaker 7: be burned. And then when Walwick.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: Okay, that's something I said. Down a minute, what happened?
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: And he much had to stop Judgson from leaving alone.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: That's all. But why well, well decided to live with him.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: What that's right? He finally repented. He knew that a
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: be stayed around, he just make you unhappy again, and
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: so he asked me to stop Judgson until he could
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: join him. You mean he did any second? Now, now
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: go the engines.
• 27:31
  Speaker 7: He had a spark of decency in him, after all,
• 27:34
  Speaker 7: I knew it.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: Yes, in a way, he's a sort of hero.
• 27:41
  Speaker 5: The ship is trembling.
• 27:42
  Speaker 7: Now here did they go?
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: Maybe she knew maybe not. Anyways, she had loved a
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: man and now she could love another. She came over
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: to me and leaned over and kissed my mouth. Her
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: lips were cooled. Then I knew that I could live
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: with the viciousness of what I had done. One you're
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: old and fat as I am the kiss to the
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: young girl to make your human again. They call me Karen.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: They forget what it feels like to be denied two
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: worlds instead of one, and they forget something else too.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: Karen was more than a book. Back there was an executioner.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: You have just heard X.
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: Minus one, presented by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, which this month features a
• 29:05
  Speaker 4: story by Theodore Sturgeon, The other Man, which tells of
• 29:09
  Speaker 4: the hardest decision a man could face to do his
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: job well and thereby aid his bitterest enemy. Galaxy Magazine
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: on your new stand today the Night by transcription X
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: minus one has brought you The Stars Are the Sticks,
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: a story from the pages of Galaxy, written by H. L.
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: Gold and adapted for radio by Ernest Cannoy. Featured in
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: the cast were Craig McDonald, Patsy O'Shea, Dick Hamilton, Charlotte Manson,
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: and Bob Hastings. You're Announcer Fred Collins. X minus one
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: was directed by Bob Mauer and is an NBC Radio
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: Network production.
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: The music of Freddie Martin Live weekday morning starting Monday
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: on NBC Radio.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: X minus one has just presented Stars Are the Sticks.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Good night, and thank you for sharing this visit to
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: radio science Fiction Theater