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X Minus One - "The Trap" (Old Time Radio, 1957) · X Minus One | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: February 13, 1957. NBC Radio's X-1 aired episode 88, The Trap.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: On the first day of a hunting vacation, Ed Daly
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and Thurston find an unfamiliar metal device outside their cabin
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: in the woods, a device marked as a trap. Target shooting,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: heavy drinking, and an attempt to put the contraption to
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: use bring increasingly strange results. Adapted for radio by Ernest
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Kenoy from Robert Sheckley's story, written under the name Finn O'Donovan,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: the cast includes Donald Buecher, Ralph Bell, and William Redfield.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: And now, our story begins. Countdown for blastoff. X minus 5, 4, 3, 2,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: X minus 1, fire. X minus 1.1. Tonight, The Trap
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: by Finn O'Donovan.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: Samish, I am in need of some assistance. The situation
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: is potentially dangerous, so come at once. It shows how
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: right you were, Samish, old friend. I never should have
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: trusted a Terran. What a sorry mess, Samish. And the
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: plot seems so foolproof.
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: Hey, Thurston. Thurston, get up. Get up. Come on.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Why?
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: What's the matter?
• 2:23
  Speaker 6: Why?
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: Come on.
• 2:24
  Speaker 5: It's daybreak. Now, there's good news. Let me alone. Oh,
• 2:28
  Speaker 5: come on.
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: You don't want to sleep through our vacation. The bird's
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: on the wing.
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: It's five o'clock in the morning.
• 2:34
  Speaker 7: Five o'clock in the morning in the Adirondacks is the
• 2:37
  Speaker 7: middle of the day.
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: What's the weather out?
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: Oh, it's raining.
• 2:41
  Speaker 6: But crying out loud.
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: Oh, don't go back to sleep.
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: You always raise it the first day of vacation. Rule
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: of nature.
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: Look, I got a little fly rod with a new
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: plastic reel, and I'm just dying to try it. You
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: know what the trouble with you is, Ed?
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: You're in love with sporting goods equipment.
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: Now, where do you see this rod?
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: Take that rifle, soldier.
• 3:00
  Speaker 6: You can shoot a rhinoceros with it, but you won't, because, Ed,
• 3:03
  Speaker 6: you're essentially a friendly man.
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: The trouble with you is you don't like the woods.
• 3:08
  Speaker 5: Well, how can you say that? Don't I come with
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: you on a hunting trip every year?
• 3:11
  Speaker 7: Sure, but you always manage to steer us over to
• 3:13
  Speaker 7: Lake Placid to the cocktail lounges.
• 3:16
  Speaker 6: Ah, now there's real hunting. Now, there are trophies to
• 3:20
  Speaker 6: bring back to the city. None of your paltry brown
• 3:23
  Speaker 6: bears or black bears.
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: Oh, come on.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: Now, Thurston, I came up here to the mountains to hunt.
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: Have a drink.
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: Well, it's awfully early in the morning.
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: Well, look upon it as an extension of last night.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Well, all right.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: Think it'll stop raining?
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: No, who cares?
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: Well, come on now. Get dressed. It's a perfect day
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: out there in the woods for bear.
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: It certainly is. That's why I want to stay right
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: here in the cabin.
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: Ed.
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: What? Pass the canteen?
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: It's empty.
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: Well, open up one of the bottles and pour it in.
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: Why don't you take it straight from the bottle?
• 4:13
  Speaker 5: What, on a camping trip? Pour it in the canteen. Okay. Okay. Now,
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: this is what I call a hunting trip.
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: Well, you haven't been outside the cabin. Oh, come on, Thurston.
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: Can't we go out just to hunt something, even if
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: it's just a little rabbit? Look. It stopped raining.
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: Now, close the door. Now, you let some of the
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: fumes out.
• 4:38
  Speaker 6: You feel like can't see it yet?
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: Hey, look at this. What? Right by the door.
• 4:45
  Speaker 6: How many times have I told you not to leave
• 4:47
  Speaker 6: your collapsible cook stove where I can step on it
• 4:50
  Speaker 6: in the night?
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: It isn't.
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: What is it?
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: I don't know. It's made out of metal. It's just
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: sitting here in the doorway. It says, uh, trap on
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: the top.
• 4:59
  Speaker 5: What?
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: Trap.
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: Where'd you buy that?
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: I didn't.
• 5:05
  Speaker 5: Well, I certainly didn't.
• 5:06
  Speaker 7: Hey, there's a tag on it. Dear friend, this is
• 5:11
  Speaker 7: a new and revolutionary design in a trap. To introduce
• 5:15
  Speaker 7: the trap to the general public, we are giving you
• 5:17
  Speaker 7: this model absolutely free. You will find it a unique
• 5:21
  Speaker 7: and valuable device for the capture of small game, provided
• 5:25
  Speaker 7: you follow precisely the directions on the other side.
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: Good luck and good hunting. Well, now, what do you
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: think of that?
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: Pass me the can, Sam.
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: If this isn't the strangest thing, do you suppose it
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: was left during the night?
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: Who cares?
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: Well, aren't you interested?
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: Not particularly. It's just another gadget. You can get a
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: hundred like it.
• 5:46
  Speaker 6: That bear trap from Abercrombie and the Fitch, the jaguar horn.
• 5:49
  Speaker 7: From Battler's, the crocodile... Well, I've never seen a trap
• 5:53
  Speaker 7: like this. It's pretty clever advertising to just leave it here.
• 5:59
  Speaker 5: I'll bill you for it eventually. You care for the canteen? Oh, thanks.
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: Hey, look at this thing, Thurston.
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: Do I have to?
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: Well, there are instructions on the other side. Uh, quote...
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: Take the trap to a clearing and anchor it to
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: any convenient tree with the attached chain. Here's the chain,
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: all right. Press button one on the base. This primes
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: the trap. Wait five seconds and press button two. This
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: activates the trap. Nothing more is required until a capture
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: has been effected. Then press button three to deactivate and
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: open the trap and remove the prey. Warning. Keep the
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: trap closed at all times except when removing the prey.
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: That's goofy.
• 6:48
  Speaker 7: No opening is required for the prey's ingress since the
• 6:53
  Speaker 7: trap works on the principle of osmotic suction and inducts
• 6:59
  Speaker 7: the prey directly into the trap.
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: Somebody's been at that canteen before us.
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: No, no, no. That's what it says. What won't they
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: think of next? Osmotic suction.
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: Pass the canteen back.
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: I'm going to set it.
• 7:13
  Speaker 5: What, the canteen?
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: No, the trap. Come on, help me.
• 7:18
  Speaker 6: Ah, now that's the trouble with you. You're always cluttering
• 7:20
  Speaker 6: up a hunting trip with hunting.
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: Come on, come on, take this in.
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: All right, all right. If it makes you any happier. Hey, boy,
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: it's cold.
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: Come on, we'll carry it over to that tree. It's heavy. Yeah. Here,
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: let's put it down here. Ahem.
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: You think we really ought to fall with it?
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: Of course.
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: Maybe we can catch a fox.
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: What will we do with a fox?
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: Turn it loose. The fun is in the catching. Here,
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: take the end of the chain.
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: Look out. You got your foot in it.
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I guess it snaps in here. Oh, there it is.
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: Let's get back to the cabin. The great outdoors depresses me.
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: Wait a minute.
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: I've got to press button one. Hey.
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: Hey.
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: It's glowing. Yeah. Three, four, five, now button two. Well? Well,
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: I guess we just leave it.
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: Well, come on back to the cabin.
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: All right. It is time for breakfast.
• 8:26
  Speaker 5: It certainly is. Pass it to me and don't spill it.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: Samish, where are you? You are my oldest friend. I
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: have already been through the beginning of my story. The
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: Terrans accepted my trap as a trap, nothing more. And
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: they began using it at once with no thought as
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: to the consequences. I had counted on this. The fantastic
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: curiosity of the species is well known. During this period,
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: my wife was crawling giddily around the planetoid, redecorating our
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: hutch and enjoying the change from city life. Everything was
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: going well.
• 9:05
  Speaker 5: And what? Good sign.
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: Okay, here we go. Ready on the right.
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: Ready on the left.
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: The flag is up.
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: The flag is waving.
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: Targets up.
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: You missed.
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: Oh, Thurston, couldn't we just pull a cork out instead
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: of trying to shoot off the neck?
• 9:23
  Speaker 6: Certainly not. This is a hunting trip. You can pull
• 9:26
  Speaker 6: a cork off in the city.
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: I have often corked off in the city.
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: Ed, why don't you shut your trap?
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: Trap? Trap? Thurston, the trap.
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: What about it?
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: Maybe we caught something. Come on.
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: Where are you going?
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: The trap. There, look, look. We got something. We've caught something.
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: Come on, look inside.
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: What is it, man?
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: It's a rabbit.
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: You sure?
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: Well, look at it.
• 9:57
  Speaker 6: That is not exactly a rabbit, is it?
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: It's the size of a rabbit.
• 10:02
  Speaker 5: But it's bright green. Ed, no more rum before breakfast.
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: No three.
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: Starting tomorrow. Hand me the canteen.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: What do you think it is?
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: Yeah. Could be a rabbit.
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: Green, with lobster claws, and eyes on stalks?
• 10:25
  Speaker 5: Well, then again, it might not be a rabbit.
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: I think it's a new species. We'll have to build
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: a cage and then find out what it eats.
• 10:33
  Speaker 5: As long as it doesn't drink. You don't suppose it drinks,
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: does it?
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: No, no, it doesn't look like a drinking type.
• 10:41
  Speaker 6: Now, I'm not going to share my vacation with a
• 10:44
  Speaker 6: green rabbit with lobster claws.
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: Probably has dirty habits. There's something very unnatural about that trap.
• 10:52
  Speaker 5: It's inhuman.
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: I'll bet they said that about Ford's electric light and
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: Edison's car and the telephone invented.
• 10:59
  Speaker 7: By Alexander's ragtime band.
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: Are you sure about that?
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: Oh, sure. I saw the movie. Come on. We'll build
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: a cage and then we'll set the trap again.
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: Okay, but we better go back to the cabin.
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: What for?
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: Better refill that canteen.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: Why haven't you come yet? Samish, don't you appreciate the
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: seriousness of my situation? Think of your old friend. Think
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: of the lustrous-skinned freegal for whose sake I got into
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: this mess. Communicate with me at least. The Terrans used
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: a trap, which of course was not a trap at all,
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: but a matter transmitter. I had the other end concealed
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: on the planetoid and fed into it three small animals
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: which I found in the garden. The Terrans removed them
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: from the transmitter each time. For what purpose, I couldn't guess,
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: but a Terran will keep anything. After the third beast
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: passed through and had not been returned, I knew that
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: was all and that everything was in readiness, so I
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: prepared for the fourth and final sending, the all-important one,
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: for which all else was mere preparation. Ouch.
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: Well, that finishes the cage.
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: You know what?
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: No. What?
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: Those things smell. All three of them.
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: Oh, I think they're very handsome. Well, here they are. One, two,
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: and three. First, our green rabbit. Next, our bird with
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: three sets of scaly wings. And this other thing. What
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: does it look like?
• 12:41
  Speaker 6: Well, it looks like a snake. Except it has a
• 12:45
  Speaker 6: head at each end. They eating anything yet?
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: No, I've tried milk, mincemeat, vegetables, caviar, potato chips. They
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: haven't touched a thing.
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: Maybe they're sick. Hey, what are you keeping them for?
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: Well, they might come in handy someday.
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: Well, what for?
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: Thirston, have you ever desired fame? What? Fame. The knowledge
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: that your name will go down through the ages.
• 13:15
  Speaker 5: I am a businessman. I've never considered the possibility. Never?
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: What do you have in mind?
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: These creatures are unique.
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: And they smell.
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: We'll present them to a museum. The Daily Thurston Exhibit
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: of Creatures Hitherto Unknown.
• 13:34
  Speaker 6: They might name them after us. Our names will go
• 13:37
  Speaker 6: down with Livingston, Audubon, Teddy Roosevelt, Walt Disney.
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: I was thinking of a wing on the Museum of
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: Natural History that would go right across Central Park West.
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: The Daly Thurston Wing.
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: Thurston Daly.
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: That's not alphabetical.
• 13:57
  Speaker 6: That's true, that's true. But, Ed, we only got three
• 14:01
  Speaker 6: of them. We can't equip a wing with three exhibits. Well,
• 14:04
  Speaker 6: there must be more where these came from. Let's examine
• 14:07
  Speaker 6: the trap.
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: Just a minute.
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: The canteen?
• 14:12
  Speaker 5: The canteen.
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: We've got something.
• 14:27
  Speaker 5: There it is.
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: Look, it's about three feet tall, a big one.
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: Uh-huh. A small green head and a forked tail.
• 14:37
  Speaker 7: Oh, look at him, waving something on top of his head.
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: Well, the rest were quiet. Maybe this one's dangerous.
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: We'll handle it with nuts.
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: Nuts?
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: Nets.
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: Oh, nuts.
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: All right. And then we'll have to get in touch
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: with the museum. Thurston, take a telegram.
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: Oh, Museum of Natural History. Dear sir.
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: Or madam.
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: Have discovered at least four animals, which I suspect to
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: be new species. Stop. Have you room for suitable exhibit? Stop. Signed,
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: your friend Ed.
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: Wasn't that signature pretty informal? You're right, you're right.
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: Make it your good friend, Ed.
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: We better go back and build a cage for this
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: latest one. It looks awfully exciting.
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: I think we'll make this one strong. Oh, this last
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: specimen is the cream of our collection. Look at it.
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: Its head is turning pink.
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: It looks mad, doesn't it?
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: Well, you'd be mad, too, if you were trapped by
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: osmotic suction.
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: Say that again.
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: Osmotic suction.
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: Here, you take the canteen. I'm way ahead of you.
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: What, Sammy?
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: The rest of the story? It's obvious enough.
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: After three animals had passed through the transmitter, I knew
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: I was ready. Now was the time to tell my wife. Accordingly,
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: I asked her to crawl into the garden with me.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: Tell me, dear, she said, has something been bothering you
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: of late? Have I displeased you? My dear, I said,
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: you have tried your best, but it just isn't good enough.
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: I'm going to take a new mate. She stood motionless.
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: Hercilia swaying in confusion. Then she exclaimed, Friegel! Yes, I
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: told her. The glorious Friegel has consented to share my hutch.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: And with a clever shove, I pushed her into the
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: matter transmitter. Samish, you should have seen her expression. Hercilia
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: wreathed and she screamed and was gone. I was free,
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: free at last. Free to meet with the splendid Friegel.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: Now you can appreciate the full perfection of the scheme...
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: it was necessary to secure the Terrans' cooperation, since a
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: matter transmitter must be manipulated at both ends. I had
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: disguised it as a trap, because Terrans would believe anything. And,
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: as a masterstroke, I sent them my way. Let them
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: try to live.
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: With her, I never could.
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: Foolproof.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: Absolutely foolproof. No one could prove a thing. And then, Samish,
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: then it happened.
• 17:31
  Speaker 5: Did you get the cage finished?
• 17:33
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: Our fourth animal is snug as a bug in a...
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: in a.
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: It doesn't matter.
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: Boy, it's a mad one, though. I couldn't help feeling
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: it was trying to tell me something.
• 17:46
  Speaker 5: Come on. Here's a trap. It's empty. Well, it is.
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: It's empty.
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: You suppose something's wrong with it?
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: Maybe there's nothing else to capture.
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: Oh, that's silly.
• 18:00
  Speaker 7: Why would it capture four animals and then stop? I've
• 18:04
  Speaker 7: pressed all the buttons in.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: The right way.
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: Maybe the battery's down.
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: Osmotic suction doesn't work on batteries.
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: How do you know?
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: Did you ever hear of osmotic suction working on batteries?
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: No.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: You see? There you are.
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: Well, you got something there.
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: Ah.
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: I know.
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: What?
• 18:30
  Speaker 6: Let's go to Lake Placid and forget the whole thing. No, no,
• 18:34
  Speaker 6: this thing's got to work. It's got to.
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: The first and daily wing of the American Museum of
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: Natural History is at stake. Would you want that vast
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: edifice across Central Park West? To remain empty?
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: No, no.
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: Would you want the Daily Thurston Wing to be rented
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: for a garage?
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: Or a roller skating rink? Oh, Horace, no.
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: It's got to work again. I'm going to open the top.
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: Yeah, look out.
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: Oh, let's just see what's inside here. Ah!
• 19:06
  Speaker 5: My hand.
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: It's gone. My hand.
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: No, no, no. It's right there on the end of
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: your arm.
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: Oh. But when I put it in the trap, my
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: hand disappeared.
• 19:19
  Speaker 6: You know what would do you a lot of good?
• 19:20
  Speaker 6: A little rest in Lake Placid. I know a fine
• 19:24
  Speaker 6: restful cocktail lounge.
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: No, no.
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: Look, look.
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: I'll try it again with both arms. Ah, look. No hands.
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: Very clever.
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: I see how it works. Thurston, those animals didn't come
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: from the Adirondacks at all.
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: You mean they're imposters?
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: They came from wherever my hand is.
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: Where's your hand?
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: I don't know. Do you realize there's a lot more
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: where they come from? Thurston, the future of the daily
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: Thurston wing is assured. Give me a hand up. Uh....
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: And what are you going to do?
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: I'm climbing into the trap.
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: Oh, don't do that. You don't know what's in there.
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: Here I go. There goes my feet.
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: Wait a minute, wait a minute. Here's a canteen. Let's
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: have one for the road.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: Wish me luck.
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: I still don't think you should do it.
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: I do it for science. I'm the Daily Thurston Wings.
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: Why do you hold your nose?
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: I got sinus. Here I go!
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: Samish, if you don't come immediately, it'll be too late.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: I must stop beaming you. The enormous Terran has completely
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: ransacked my little planetoid. He has shoved everything, living or dead,
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: through the transmitter. My home is in ruins, and now
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: he's tearing down my hutch. Samish, this monster means to
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: capture me as a specimen. There's no time to lose.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Samish!
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: Samish, what can be keeping you?
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: You, my oldest friend, you who.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: What's that?
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: Samish.
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: Samish, what are you saying?
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: You can't mean it.
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: No. Not you and Friegel.
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: Reconsider, my old friend.
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: Remember our friendship. Remember.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: Sam! You have just heard X-1 presented by the National
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine. which
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: this month features The Deep One by Neil P. Ruzick.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: A story which tells of a single mistake in the
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: plan for survival. The biggest possible mistake. Galaxy Magazine on
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: your newsstand today. Tonight by transcription, X-1 has brought you
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: The Trap, a story from the pages of Galaxy written
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: by Finn O'Donovan and adapted for radio by Ernest Canoy.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: Featured in our cast were Donald Buka as the voice...
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: Ralph Bell as Thurston, and William Redfield as Ed.
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: This is Fred Collins.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: X-1 was directed by Daniel Sutter and is an NBC
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: Radio Network production. The world on a new hotline. Listen
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: for news on the hour in the exciting hotline service
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: all day, every day on most of these stations.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: This has been X-1, The Trap, from 1957.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: Follow X-1 for more classic broadcasts.