Latest / X Minus One | Old Time Radio / X Minus One - "There Will Come Soft Rains - Zero Hour" (Old Time Radio, 1956)

Transcript

X Minus One - "There Will Come Soft Rains - Zero Hour" (Old Time Radio, 1956) · X Minus One | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Ray Bradbury's stories There Will Come Soft Rains and Zero
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hour were adapted for radio by George Lefferts. On December 5, 1956,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: NBC's X-1 brought the two tales together in Episode 78,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: with Norman Rose, Denise Alexander, Rita Lynn, and Roger DeKoven
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: among the cast. The first concerns a fully automated home
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: whose daily routines continue— The second moves to a peaceful
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: suburban earth in 1985, where children take up a game
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: called Invasion. Produced by William Welch and directed by Edward King,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: this is X-1. There will come soft rains, zero hour.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Here is the original broadcast.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Countdown for blastoff.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: X-5, 4, 3, 2... X.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Minus one, fire.
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: From the far horizons of the unknown come tales of
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: new dimensions in time and space. These are stories of
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: the future. Adventures in which you'll live in a million
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: could be years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, presents.
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: X minus 1.
• 2:12
  Speaker 6: Can you predict the future? Can you tell what will
• 2:16
  Speaker 6: come in 100 years? Or in 10? Or in the
• 2:20
  Speaker 6: next minute? Tonight we present two ventures into the unknown.
• 2:25
  Speaker 6: Two fantasies of a future chosen from the works of
• 2:28
  Speaker 6: one of our most brilliant young science fiction writers, Ray Bradbury. First,
• 2:33
  Speaker 6: his story entitled... There will come soft rains. The house
• 2:51
  Speaker 6: was a good house, planned and built to be lived
• 2:54
  Speaker 6: in in the year 1980.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: The real estate agent had told them all about it.
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: Now, this is the bedroom.
• 3:04
  Speaker 7: Of course, it contains all the latest devices, self-warming blankets,
• 3:08
  Speaker 7: and there's a brand new feature, beds which make themselves. Now,
• 3:15
  Speaker 7: if you just step this way through the library, we
• 3:19
  Speaker 7: can see the latest in talking book recorders, self-building fireplace,
• 3:23
  Speaker 7: self-cleaning robot dust disposal.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Oh, these little mouse-like.
• 3:27
  Speaker 7: Things come out of the wall and take away all
• 3:29
  Speaker 7: the dirt.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Now, over this way....
• 3:34
  Speaker 7: As a complete robot kitchen, of course. Just set the
• 3:37
  Speaker 7: menu for the week and the stove does the rest.
• 3:39
  Speaker 7: Then there's the automatic hydroponic garden.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Self-sprinkling fire protection. See, the house is fully automatic. Why,
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: you could go away for a year and it would
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: run itself.
• 3:59
  Speaker 6: And so the family took the house. The man and
• 4:02
  Speaker 6: the woman and the two children. A boy and a girl.
• 4:06
  Speaker 6: And they lived contentedly, enjoying music and poetry and the rich,
• 4:11
  Speaker 6: warm things in life. And the house fed them and
• 4:15
  Speaker 6: slept them and entertained them. It made a good life
• 4:18
  Speaker 6: for them. Until one day.
• 4:24
  Speaker 6: There were 10,000 explosions, and the world shook, and red
• 4:29
  Speaker 6: fire and ashes and radioactivity fell from the sky.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: The happy time was over.
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: Tick-tock, seven o'clock, time to rise, open your eyes. Tick-tock,
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: seven o'clock, time to rise, open your eyes.
• 4:53
  Speaker 6: But the house lay empty. The clock talked to the
• 4:56
  Speaker 6: empty morning. In the kitchen, the stove sighed and ejected
• 5:01
  Speaker 6: from its warm interior eight eggs, sunny side up, twelve
• 5:05
  Speaker 6: bacon slices, two coffees, and two cups of hot cocoa.
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: Seven-nine, breakfast time.
• 5:14
  Speaker 8: Come and dine, seven-nine. Today is April 28th, 1985. Today, remember,
• 5:20
  Speaker 8: is Mr. Featherstone's birthday. Insurance, gas, atom heat, and electricity
• 5:26
  Speaker 8: bills are due.
• 5:28
  Speaker 6: In the walls, relays click. Memory tapes glided under electric eyes.
• 5:33
  Speaker 6: Recorded voices move beneath steel needles.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: Egg, run, run, run. Off to school, off to work.
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: Run, run, tick, tock. Eight o'clock, eight o'clock.
• 5:46
  Speaker 6: But no door slammed. No carpet took the quick tread
• 5:50
  Speaker 6: of rubber heels. At 8.30, the eggs began to shrivel.
• 5:56
  Speaker 6: An aluminum wedge scraped them into the sink.
• 5:58
  Speaker 5: 9.15, time to clean. 9.15, time to clean.
• 6:05
  Speaker 6: Out of the wall, hundreds of tiny mechanical mice started.
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: The rooms were a crawl with small cleaning animals, all
• 6:14
  Speaker 6: rubber and metal. They sucked up the hidden dust and
• 6:17
  Speaker 6: dirt and popped back into their burrows.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: At 10 o'clock, the sun came out from behind the rain.
• 6:27
  Speaker 6: The house stood alone on a street where all the
• 6:30
  Speaker 6: other houses were rubble and ashes. At night, the ruined
• 6:33
  Speaker 6: town gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen
• 6:36
  Speaker 6: for miles. At 10.15, the garden sprinkler filled the soft
• 6:41
  Speaker 6: morning air with golden fountains.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: The water tinkled.
• 6:45
  Speaker 6: Over the charred west side of the house, the side
• 6:48
  Speaker 6: which had been facing the blast. It was black, except
• 6:53
  Speaker 6: in five places. One of the five places was a silhouette...
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: of a man mowing a lawn. Just as he'd been,
• 6:59
  Speaker 6: the instant the radioactivity burned his image into the side
• 7:03
  Speaker 6: of the house. Over there, a woman bent to pick flowers.
• 7:07
  Speaker 6: Still further over, their images burned into the wood where
• 7:11
  Speaker 6: a small boy, hands flung into the air, higher up
• 7:15
  Speaker 6: the image of a thrown ball, and opposite, a.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Girl, her hands raised to catch a ball which never
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: came down.
• 7:25
  Speaker 6: Five people. Five spots of paint. On the front porch,
• 7:35
  Speaker 6: the dog whined and shivered. The front door recognized the
• 7:38
  Speaker 6: dog's voice and opened. The dog padded in wearily, thin
• 7:45
  Speaker 6: to the bone, covered with sores. It ran to the
• 7:48
  Speaker 6: kitchen and pawed the kitchen door wildly. Behind the door,
• 7:53
  Speaker 6: the stove was making pancakes, which filled the house with
• 7:56
  Speaker 6: their odor, as prescribed by the automatic preset menu selector.
• 8:00
  Speaker 6: The dog frowned, ran insanely, spun in a circle, biting
• 8:04
  Speaker 6: its tail, and died.
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: One o'clock, one o'clock.
• 8:12
  Speaker 6: Delicately sensing decay, the regiments of mice hummed out of
• 8:16
  Speaker 6: the walls, soft as blown leaves, their electric eyes glowing.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: 1-15.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: The dog was gone.
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: 2-15. Bridge tables unfolded from the walls of the patio.
• 8:31
  Speaker 6: Playing cards fluttered onto pads. Martinis appeared on an oaken bench.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: But the tables were silent, the cards untouched.
• 8:41
  Speaker 5: Five o'clock, six o'clock, seven o'clock, eight o'clock, nine o'clock.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Dinner was made, ignored, flushed away. Dishes were washed.
• 8:52
  Speaker 6: In the study, the tobacco stand produced a cigar with
• 8:55
  Speaker 6: half an inch.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: Of gray ash upon it, smoking, waiting, waiting. That's it.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: The hearth fire bloomed out of nothing.
• 9:05
  Speaker 6: The beds began to warm their hidden circuits, and the
• 9:08
  Speaker 6: phonograph spoke from beside the fireplace.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: Mrs.
• 9:11
  Speaker 8: McClelland, what poem would you like to hear this evening?
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 9:17
  Speaker 8: McClelland, since you express no preference, I shall select at
• 9:23
  Speaker 8: random from among your favorites. Sarah Teasdale, There Will Come
• 9:29
  Speaker 8: Soft Rain.
• 9:32
  Speaker 9: There will come soft rains and the smell of the
• 9:35
  Speaker 9: ground and swallows circling with their shimmering sound and frogs
• 9:41
  Speaker 9: in the pools singing at night and wild plum trees
• 9:45
  Speaker 9: in tremulous white. Robins will wear their feathery fire whistling
• 9:49
  Speaker 9: their whims on a low fence wire and not one
• 9:53
  Speaker 9: will know of war. Not one will care at last
• 9:57
  Speaker 9: when it is done. Not one would mind. neither bird
• 10:01
  Speaker 9: nor tree if mankind perished utterly and spring herself when
• 10:09
  Speaker 9: she woke at dawn would.
• 10:11
  Speaker 10: Scarcely know that we were gone.
• 10:16
  Speaker 6: The phonograph finished the poem The empty chairs faced each
• 10:21
  Speaker 6: other between the silent walls. At ten o'clock that evening,
• 10:25
  Speaker 6: the house began to die. The wind blew the bough
• 10:31
  Speaker 6: of a falling tree into the kitchen window, smashing it.
• 10:34
  Speaker 6: A bottle of cleaning fluid crashed on the stove. Water
• 10:42
  Speaker 6: pumps shot down from the ceiling. But the solvent spread
• 10:45
  Speaker 6: under the doors, making fire as it went. Other voices
• 10:49
  Speaker 6: in other rooms taking up the alarm.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: The windows broke with the heat and the wind blew
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: in to help the fire.
• 10:58
  Speaker 6: The fire crackled upstairs as paintings lay hungrily on the beds,
• 11:03
  Speaker 6: devoured the rooms. The house began to shudder. The bared
• 11:07
  Speaker 6: skeleton began to cringe in the heat. The wires revealed
• 11:10
  Speaker 6: as if a surgeon had torn the skin off. Voices
• 11:13
  Speaker 6: screamed in every room.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Help! Help!
• 11:19
  Speaker 8: Help!
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: Help!
• 11:19
  Speaker 6: Help! Help!
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Help!
• 11:20
  Speaker 6: Help!
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Help! Help!
• 11:21
  Speaker 7: Help!
• 11:22
  Speaker 11: Help! Help!
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: Help!
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: Help!
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: Help!
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: Help!
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: Help!
• 11:33
  Speaker 6: A thousand things were happening at once, like the interior
• 11:36
  Speaker 6: of a clock shop at midnight. All the clocks were striking,
• 11:39
  Speaker 6: making a merry-go-round of squeaking, whispering, and rushing. In the kitchen,
• 11:44
  Speaker 6: the stove hissing hysterically was making.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: Breakfast to the psychopathic rate.
• 11:48
  Speaker 6: Ten dozen pancakes, six dozen loaves of toast. Then, there
• 11:58
  Speaker 6: was silence. The film spools were burned out. The wires
• 12:02
  Speaker 6: withered and the circuits cracked. Then the house began to
• 12:06
  Speaker 6: breathe its last. The beams began to give at the foundations.
• 12:11
  Speaker 6: Long cracks appeared in the concrete. The seams were burst
• 12:14
  Speaker 6: from the heat. And finally, with a huge rumble, it
• 12:18
  Speaker 6: crashed into dust and rubble. Dawn shone faintly in the east.
• 12:38
  Speaker 6: In the ruins of the house, only.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: One wall remained standing. And within the wall, even.
• 12:43
  Speaker 6: As the sun rose to shine upon the burning rubble,
• 12:47
  Speaker 6: a voice spoke again and again and again.
• 12:51
  Speaker 9: No one would mind, neither bird nor tree, if mankind
• 12:55
  Speaker 9: perished utterly. And spring herself, when she woke at dawn.
• 13:01
  Speaker 10: Would scarcely know that we were gone. That we were gone.
• 13:06
  Speaker 10: That we were gone.
• 13:07
  Speaker 11: That we were gone.
• 13:09
  Speaker 12: Today is April 29th, 1985. Today is April.
• 13:20
  Speaker 13: 29th, 1985.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Strange are the uses of providence.
• 13:31
  Speaker 6: Is this how the end will come for mankind, with 10,000
• 13:34
  Speaker 6: explosions and a flash of radioactive gas? Or will destruction
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: come more subtly, extended to us gently and innocently in, oh,
• 13:46
  Speaker 6: let's say, the hand of a child? Who knows in
• 13:50
  Speaker 6: what manner zero hour may arrest the world we know?
• 13:54
  Speaker 11: The End.
• 14:07
  Speaker 6: It was a perfect summer day in the year 1985.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: The streets were lined with green, peaceful trees.
• 14:15
  Speaker 6: Businessmen sat in their quiet offices, taping their voices or
• 14:19
  Speaker 6: watching televisions. Rockets hovered like darning needles in the blue sky.
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: There was the universal quiet conceit and easiness of men
• 14:27
  Speaker 6: accustomed to peace, quite certain that there would.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Never be war or trouble again.
• 14:33
  Speaker 6: There were no traitors among men, no unhappy ones, no
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: disgruntled ones. The world was upon stable ground. Sunlight illumined
• 14:41
  Speaker 6: the suburbs, and the town drowsed on a tide of warm,
• 14:45
  Speaker 6: sunlit air.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: On the lawns, the children played, catapulting this way and that.
• 14:50
  Speaker 6: Across the green grass, shouting at each other, holding hands,
• 14:53
  Speaker 6: flying in circles, climbing trees and laughing. And in the homes,
• 14:58
  Speaker 6: busy mothers prepared for the evening arrival of their husbands.
• 15:04
  Speaker 11: Excuse me, Mom.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: Good heavens, Mink.
• 15:06
  Speaker 11: What's all these sizes?
• 15:06
  Speaker 14: We're playing a game, Mommy. The most exciting game ever.
• 15:09
  Speaker 11: What are you doing in that cabinet?
• 15:11
  Speaker 14: I need some tools from Daddy's kit.
• 15:13
  Speaker 11: Your father may not like.
• 15:14
  Speaker 14: Oh, I'll take good care of them, Mom.
• 15:15
  Speaker 11: I promise. Very well. Don't you lose anything.
• 15:18
  Speaker 14: Oh, thank you, Mom.
• 15:19
  Speaker 11: You want a glass of milk?
• 15:21
  Speaker 14: Can't stop now, Mom.
• 15:22
  Speaker 11: What's the name of the.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: Game, Mink?
• 15:24
  Speaker 11: Invasion.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Invasion.
• 15:28
  Speaker 11: What will they think of next?
• 15:38
  Speaker 15: Now this and this and this and this. Now put
• 15:46
  Speaker 15: that there and bring that over here. Oh, no, you ninny.
• 15:51
  Speaker 14: Now get back while I fix this. Yeah, they want
• 15:54
  Speaker 14: it this way, see? Here, just let me fix it.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Hey, Mink.
• 15:57
  Speaker 14: Oh, Mink, it's that smarty-pants Joseph Connors. Don't let him play.
• 16:02
  Speaker 14: He's 12 years old.
• 16:03
  Speaker 11: Don't worry, I won't.
• 16:04
  Speaker 14: What you playing, Mink? None of your business, smarty-pants.
• 16:07
  Speaker 11: I want to play.
• 16:08
  Speaker 14: Can't.
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: Why not?
• 16:09
  Speaker 14: You're too old. Just because you're only eight. No, he'd
• 16:12
  Speaker 14: only laugh at us and spoil the invasion. Make him
• 16:15
  Speaker 14: go away, Mink. Go away? This is my backyard. Who
• 16:18
  Speaker 14: wants to play with you and your old fairies anyway?
• 16:21
  Speaker 14: They aren't fairies. And next to you, I don't want
• 16:25
  Speaker 14: to play anyway. Good riddance. I'm glad you didn't let
• 16:29
  Speaker 14: him play, Mink.
• 16:31
  Speaker 15: He'd only laugh. Now, we'd better talk to Drill and
• 16:33
  Speaker 15: get some more instructions, Art. Now, here's your pen and pencil.
• 16:37
  Speaker 11: Where is Drill?
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: Drill?
• 16:39
  Speaker 11: Here, Drill.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: Drill?
• 16:41
  Speaker 15: He's in the rosebush, I think. I'll talk to him
• 16:43
  Speaker 15: myself and you write it down in the pen.
• 16:45
  Speaker 11: Okay.
• 16:46
  Speaker 14: Drill? Drill? Okay. Drill wants you to write down triangles.
• 16:52
  Speaker 14: What's a triangle? Never mind.
• 16:54
  Speaker 15: Drill will tell us when he wants us to know.
• 16:57
  Speaker 15: It helps the invasion. How do you spell it? Well,
• 17:01
  Speaker 15: that's Drill.
• 17:02
  Speaker 14: Drill, how do you spell... Mink, here's your mother, looking
• 17:04
  Speaker 14: out the window. Mink? Yes, Mother? Who are you talking to?
• 17:08
  Speaker 14: The rosebush, Mom. Only it's not really a rosebush. That's Drill.
• 17:12
  Speaker 11: Who's Drill?
• 17:13
  Speaker 14: He's planning the invasion.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: Oh, I see.
• 17:16
  Speaker 11: Well, you better come in and clean up for supper.
• 17:18
  Speaker 11: Your daddy will be home soon.
• 17:19
  Speaker 14: In just a second, Mom. You got that, Art? Let's
• 17:22
  Speaker 14: see now, what? Four, nine, seven, and A, and B,
• 17:27
  Speaker 14: and X, and a fork, and some.
• 17:31
  Speaker 15: String, and a hexagonal droopy.
• 17:36
  Speaker 11: Come on, Nick.
• 17:37
  Speaker 14: Supper's in ten minutes.
• 17:39
  Speaker 11: Okay, Mom.
• 17:39
  Speaker 14: Just a minute. I have to tell Drill. I wish
• 17:42
  Speaker 14: we didn't have to eat, though. It holds up the invasions.
• 17:58
  Speaker 11: Mink, for heaven's sake, slow down. You'll choke on that tube.
• 18:02
  Speaker 14: I can't, Mom. It's a matter of life and death.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: What's a matter of life and death?
• 18:05
  Speaker 14: The invasions.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: What invasion is that?
• 18:08
  Speaker 11: Oh, just some silly game the children have been playing.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: Well, whatever it is, Mink, it'll wait until you've finished
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: your supper, I'm sure.
• 18:14
  Speaker 14: I don't want any more.
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: You've barely touched anything.
• 18:17
  Speaker 14: Oh, but Drill is waiting for me, Daddy.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Drill?
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: Who's Drill?
• 18:22
  Speaker 11: He lives in a rose bush in our backyard. Imagination, Henry.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: Such nonsense.
• 18:27
  Speaker 14: I've got to run now.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: You'll sit through dessert, young lady.
• 18:31
  Speaker 14: Oh, gee, Daddy.
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: And while you're at it, tell me more about this
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: new game.
• 18:36
  Speaker 14: It's Martians invading Earth, Daddy.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: What?
• 18:38
  Speaker 14: Well, we're not exactly Martians, Daddy. They're from, well, gee,
• 18:43
  Speaker 14: I don't know, from up.
• 18:45
  Speaker 11: And from inside that little head of yours.
• 18:47
  Speaker 14: You're laughing at me. Drill said you would. You'll kill
• 18:51
  Speaker 14: Drill and everybody.
• 18:53
  Speaker 11: Well, I didn't know you could kill a Martian.
• 18:56
  Speaker 14: But it's not really a Martian, Mom.
• 18:59
  Speaker 13: Maybe he's from.
• 19:00
  Speaker 14: Jupiter or Venus, even.
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: Imagine.
• 19:03
  Speaker 14: They couldn't figure out a way to attack the Earth.
• 19:06
  Speaker 14: We are impregnable.
• 19:07
  Speaker 11: Impregnable, dear.
• 19:09
  Speaker 14: Well, that's the word Drill said, impregnable. Well, anyway, that
• 19:12
  Speaker 14: was the word, Mom, the same word. Anyway, so we're
• 19:14
  Speaker 14: helping him.
• 19:16
  Speaker 11: Who's helping who?
• 19:16
  Speaker 14: Well, the kids are helping the Martians.
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: Well, fifth column, eh?
• 19:20
  Speaker 15: Well, Drill says in order to make a good fight,
• 19:22
  Speaker 15: you've got to have a new way of surprising the people.
• 19:25
  Speaker 14: That way you win. And he says, Walter, you've got
• 19:27
  Speaker 14: to have help from your enemy.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: Pretty slick, those Martians, using the kids for a fifth column, eh, Mary?
• 19:32
  Speaker 11: And hiding under rose bushes, too, Henry. Don't forget that.
• 19:35
  Speaker 14: That's because grown-ups never look under rose bushes. Only kids.
• 19:39
  Speaker 11: Oh, I see. Well, finish your fruit, darling. You can
• 19:42
  Speaker 11: play for an hour afterward.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Mary.
• 19:44
  Speaker 11: Oh, it's so nice out, Henry, and there's no school tomorrow.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: Very well. Till 8 o'clock.
• 19:50
  Speaker 14: Phil says after the invasion, we can stamp as late
• 19:53
  Speaker 14: as we want. No more bats, either.
• 19:56
  Speaker 11: Oh, is that so?
• 19:57
  Speaker 14: And we can watch all the grown-up televisor shows.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: I don't wonder. This invasion has caught on among the kids.
• 20:01
  Speaker 15: Well, some of the kids are giving us trouble, like
• 20:03
  Speaker 15: Dale Brits and Petey Jerricks. They're growing up so they
• 20:07
  Speaker 15: won't believe in the invasion. They make fun.
• 20:10
  Speaker 14: Worse than parents, even. I hate them worst. We'll kill
• 20:15
  Speaker 14: them first.
• 20:16
  Speaker 11: I hope you're saving your father and me for last.
• 20:18
  Speaker 14: But Drill says you're dangerous.
• 20:19
  Speaker 11: What?
• 20:20
  Speaker 14: But I think they'll let me keep you because I'm
• 20:23
  Speaker 14: helping so much. I'll talk to Drill. Maybe we won't
• 20:26
  Speaker 14: have to kill you.
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: Mary, I think this nonsense has gone far enough.
• 20:30
  Speaker 14: Can I go out now, please?
• 20:31
  Speaker 11: Run along, dear.
• 20:36
  Speaker 13: Don't worry, Dad.
• 20:37
  Speaker 14: I won't let them hurt you.
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: Mary, I think the child's taking this game entirely too seriously.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: Invasion.
• 20:44
  Speaker 16: Now, Henry, you know how Mink is. Besides, all children
• 20:47
  Speaker 16: have their aggressions. Better to get them out in the open,
• 20:50
  Speaker 16: I suppose.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: Maybe you're right. Um, I was wondering about Bridge with
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: the Jacksons tonight, Mary.
• 20:57
  Speaker 11: All right. You look tired, dear. Why don't you sit
• 21:02
  Speaker 11: in the relaxer for a while and get a massage?
• 21:05
  Speaker 11: I'll sew for a while until it's time to.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: Oh, I.
• 21:07
  Speaker 11: Wanted to call my sister Helen.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: Oh, good. Find out when her husband's going to return
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: my golf clubs.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: Televisor.
• 21:13
  Speaker 13: Would you please connect me with Mrs. Helen Rogerson on
• 21:16
  Speaker 13: Channel 7, 2Z, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• 21:33
  Speaker 8: What is your channel, please?
• 21:36
  Speaker 11: 817X, New Rochelle, New York.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Just a moment.
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: Go ahead. You can see your party now.
• 21:45
  Speaker 11: Hello, Mary.
• 21:46
  Speaker 9: How are things in New York?
• 21:47
  Speaker 11: Fine, Helen. How are things in Pittsburgh? You look tired.
• 21:51
  Speaker 17: Oh, I've been having a terrible time with the children.
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: Sick?
• 21:53
  Speaker 17: No, just underfoot. They've got a new game that's got
• 21:57
  Speaker 17: me just about crazy. It's called Invasion.
• 22:00
  Speaker 11: Did you say invasion? That's right. Well, isn't that strange?
• 22:04
  Speaker 11: My mink is playing it, too.
• 22:06
  Speaker 17: My boy Tim is all involved with some imaginary fellow
• 22:09
  Speaker 17: named Drill.
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: Who's running the invasion.
• 22:11
  Speaker 11: Must be a new password. Mink likes him, too. How
• 22:14
  Speaker 11: do you suppose these games start?
• 22:16
  Speaker 17: My backyard looks like a scrap drive. They've got every
• 22:19
  Speaker 17: conceivable kind of mechanical gadget arranged out there. I talked
• 22:23
  Speaker 17: to Josephine Schiller in Boston, and she said her kids
• 22:26
  Speaker 17: are wild about it, too.
• 22:27
  Speaker 9: It's sweeping the country.
• 22:28
  Speaker 11: Remember when it was the Roomba?
• 22:30
  Speaker 9: Please, dear, I'm not that old.
• 22:33
  Speaker 6: Mommy!
• 22:33
  Speaker 11: Oh, please, Mickey, I'm on the televisor. Come on, see
• 22:37
  Speaker 11: your Aunt Helen.
• 22:37
  Speaker 14: Hello, Ming. Hi, Aunt Helen. Look what I've got.
• 22:40
  Speaker 11: What is it, honey?
• 22:41
  Speaker 14: It's the yo-yo. Look what I enrolled in.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: See?
• 22:47
  Speaker 11: Helen, look, it vanished. Where did it go?
• 22:50
  Speaker 14: Into another dimension.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: Dim, dim.
• 22:53
  Speaker 9: She means dimension.
• 22:54
  Speaker 12: I say the darn thing.
• 22:56
  Speaker 17: My Timmy brought one home, too. I can't figure out
• 22:59
  Speaker 17: how they work.
• 23:00
  Speaker 11: Make it reappear, honey.
• 23:02
  Speaker 6: There.
• 23:03
  Speaker 14: It's easy.
• 23:04
  Speaker 11: Where'd you get it, dear?
• 23:05
  Speaker 14: Jill gave it to me, Mom.
• 23:06
  Speaker 10: Mink?
• 23:07
  Speaker 14: Bye, Aunt Helen. Gotta run now.
• 23:09
  Speaker 11: Mink, you come back here. I want to talk to you.
• 23:11
  Speaker 14: Parents, Mom, zero hours, five o'clock.
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: Mink.
• 23:14
  Speaker 11: Bye. Oh, I can't understand it. The child's never been
• 23:18
  Speaker 11: so unruly. Helen, do you suppose that... What?
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: Uh, nothing.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 23:25
  Speaker 11: Wilde's fault. Say, the reason I called, I want to
• 23:29
  Speaker 11: get that black and white cake recipe. And Henry wants
• 23:32
  Speaker 11: his golf clubs. I don't know what he'll.
• 23:34
  Speaker 14: Do if I.
• 23:36
  Speaker 17: What was that?
• 23:37
  Speaker 11: I don't know. One of the children must have been hurt.
• 23:40
  Speaker 11: I'll have to run and see. Call me back tonight,
• 23:42
  Speaker 11: will you?
• 23:42
  Speaker 9: All right, Mary.
• 23:43
  Speaker 11: Bye. Mink, come here.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, ma'am.
• 23:50
  Speaker 11: What is it? Who screamed?
• 23:53
  Speaker 14: Peggy Ann.
• 23:54
  Speaker 11: All right, what happened?
• 23:55
  Speaker 14: Well, she got scared and went home.
• 23:57
  Speaker 11: Did you hit her?
• 23:59
  Speaker 14: No, she just got scared. She's a scared baby anyway.
• 24:03
  Speaker 14: We won't let her play anymore. She's getting too old.
• 24:06
  Speaker 11: Now, Mink. Tell me why she cried.
• 24:08
  Speaker 14: No, I can't.
• 24:10
  Speaker 11: Mink, you'll answer me this instant or come inside. I've
• 24:13
  Speaker 11: had enough of this nonsense.
• 24:15
  Speaker 14: Gee, I can't quit now, Mom. It's almost zero hour.
• 24:18
  Speaker 11: Then tell me what frightened Peggy Ann. Okay, she saw Drill. Drill?
• 24:24
  Speaker 14: He almost came through. He was just testing.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: Through what?
• 24:28
  Speaker 14: Those pipes and things he set up. She looked into
• 24:30
  Speaker 14: one of the pipes and screamed.
• 24:33
  Speaker 11: I guess she saw Drill. And no one hit her?
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: Uh-uh.
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: Very well, Mink.
• 24:39
  Speaker 16: I'll call Peggy Ann's mother and see how she is.
• 24:42
  Speaker 16: And I'll call you for your bath in half an hour.
• 24:44
  Speaker 11: Your father and I want to go out tonight.
• 24:46
  Speaker 14: You won't be able to go out, Mom.
• 24:48
  Speaker 11: Why not?
• 24:49
  Speaker 14: Zero hours, five o'clock, Mom.
• 24:52
  Speaker 13: Hello, dear.
• 25:04
  Speaker 11: You home already, Henry?
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: Yes, I thought I'd relax a little before we went
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: to theater.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: Where's little one? Out back.
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: Same game?
• 25:13
  Speaker 11: Same game.
• 25:13
  Speaker 16: They've got a stag of pipes and hammers and spoons
• 25:17
  Speaker 16: a mile high out there.
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: Children, children, why do we have them?
• 25:20
  Speaker 11: They are strange little creatures, aren't they? Even Mink, Henry.
• 25:24
  Speaker 11: She's a part of us, and yet what do we
• 25:27
  Speaker 11: really know about how she thinks and feels?
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: I didn't mean to start a philosophic discussion.
• 25:31
  Speaker 11: Kids are such a queer mixture of love and hate, though.
• 25:35
  Speaker 11: Even normal, healthy kids.
• 25:37
  Speaker 16: They need you, and they're dependent on you, and yet
• 25:40
  Speaker 16: they resent that dependence.
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: You sound like a child psychology course I once took.
• 25:45
  Speaker 11: I wonder if.
• 25:45
  Speaker 16: They ever really forgive the whippings and the commands we
• 25:48
  Speaker 16: have to give them sometimes.
• 25:50
  Speaker 11: I wonder if we ever forgot them when we were children.
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: Look, I'd like to discuss this with you, dear, but
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: we do have a theater date, and it's almost 5
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: o'clock now. What's happened to the kids? They're so quiet.
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: When children are quiet, you know there's some mischief.
• 26:09
  Speaker 13: What's that sound?
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: I don't know. Those kids aren't playing with anything electrical,
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: are they?
• 26:15
  Speaker 11: I'm sure they aren't.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: At least I don't... Just the same.
• 26:18
  Speaker 5: I'd better go out and see.
• 26:19
  Speaker 11: Henry, tell them to put off the invasion.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: What?
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: Mary, don't get upset.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: It's just a game.
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: Good Lord, what's that? Look out the window, Mary.
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: What is it?
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: Where are the children? Mary, why are you shaking?
• 26:43
  Speaker 6: What did you see?
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: Henry, quick.
• 26:45
  Speaker 11: Up to the attic.
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: They aren't in the attic.
• 26:47
  Speaker 11: Yes, yes, the attic.
• 26:49
  Speaker 14: Quick.
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: Mary, come back here. Mary.
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: Mary, don't go up.
• 26:54
  Speaker 11: They aren't up there.
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: Mary, are you out of your mind? There's no one
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: up here.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: Quick, shut the door. Lock it.
• 27:04
  Speaker 11: Lock it. There's nothing up here.
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: What is wrong with you? Mary, come to your senses.
• 27:10
  Speaker 11: Henry, I've got to stay here and hide.
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: What are you talking about?
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: I saw it through the window, Henry.
• 27:16
  Speaker 13: It was horrible.
• 27:17
  Speaker 14: What?
• 27:19
  Speaker 6: It is an invasion.
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: For heaven's sake, let's get down out of this attic
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: and talk this over sensibly. I want to find out
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: if Mink is all right.
• 27:27
  Speaker 11: She's all right. I saw her.
• 27:29
  Speaker 6: She was leading them around the corner of the house,
• 27:31
  Speaker 6: leading home with the kids.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: Shh. Shh.
• 27:34
  Speaker 11: It's nothing. Listen. The front door. They're coming.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: Good Lord. Those kids sound like 50 men with boots on.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: Oh, no.
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: I don't understand.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: Who's there?
• 28:04
  Speaker 11: She's going down there.
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: Who's down there?
• 28:07
  Speaker 13: I demand that you answer me.
• 28:09
  Speaker 11: They're coming. The whole house is shaking.
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: Who?
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: Who's there?
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: Be quiet.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: It might go away.
• 28:17
  Speaker 11: Henry?
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: Henry?
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: Mom?
• 28:18
  Speaker 6: Dad?
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: Dad?
• 28:29
  Speaker 14: Are you in the attic?
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: Henry, listen.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: It's me. Think.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: We've got to save her.
• 28:37
  Speaker 11: We don't understand.
• 28:38
  Speaker 14: She's leading them.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: What?
• 28:40
  Speaker 14: She's leading them.
• 28:42
  Speaker 11: She's on their side.
• 28:43
  Speaker 14: Oh, my God.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: The children are on their side?
• 28:48
  Speaker 14: She told us, but we wouldn't believe her.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: Henry, they're coming out. Oh.
• 29:00
  Speaker 11: Mom?
• 29:02
  Speaker 14: Dad, we know you're in there. Well, I guess you
• 29:06
  Speaker 14: better melt the lock, dear. Heather, the lock!
• 29:13
  Speaker 11: No!
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: No!
• 29:14
  Speaker 14: Oh, dear God!
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: Mom?
• 29:16
  Speaker 10: Dad?
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: Oh, I see you now.
• 29:18
  Speaker 6: Peek-a-boo! Oh!
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: You have just heard There Will Come Soft Rains and
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: Zero Hour written by Ray Bradbury and adapted for radio
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: by George Lefferts. Featured in the first story as narrator
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: was Norman Rose. Zero Hour featured Denise Alexander as Mink
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: and Rita Lynn and Roger DeKoven as her mother and father.
• 30:05
  Speaker 4: Music by Albert Berman. This is Fred Collins speaking. X-1
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: was directed by Edward King and is an NBC Radio
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: Network production.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: You have heard X-1. There will come soft rains, zero hour.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: Follow X-1 for more classic broadcasts.