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X Minus One - "Universe" (1955) · Old Time Sci-Fi Radio | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On May 15, 1955, NBC Radio Network presented the fourth
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: episode of X-1 Universe. Adapted by George Lefferts.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: From Robert A.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Heinlein's 1941 short story, it concerns Cadet Hugh Hoyland, born
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: aboard a vast multi-deck rocket ship whose people have.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Known no other home.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: With Alan Mahoney, Hugh ventures into the ship's neglected upper levels,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: where the feared mutants and a man named Gregory confront
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: him with questions his society has long set aside. Donald
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Bucca stars as Hugh Hoyland, with Peter Capel as Gregory
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: and Bill Griffiths as Alan Mahoney.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Here is the original broadcast. Countdown for blastoff.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: X minus 5, minus 4, minus 3, minus 2, X
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: minus 1, fire! From the far horizons of the unknown
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: come transcribed tales of new dimensions in time and space.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: These are stories of the future, adventures in which you'll
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: live in a million could-be years on a thousand would-be worlds.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: The National Broadcasting Company presents X minus 1.
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: Tonight, Universe.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: We are just beginning to discover how boundless our universe
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: really is. And yet as man reaches out to the stars,
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: out toward infinity... Ironically enough, he may be building himself
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: a new kind of prison.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: What would it be like to.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: Live all your life in a world no larger, say,
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: than a single gigantic rocket ship bound on endless mercy?
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: Hugh, look out!
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: You all right?
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Just missed me. What was it? A mutant with a slingshot,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: I think. dash down that passageway. Want to go after it?
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: No, we'd never catch it, Alan. Probably 12 decks above
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: us by now.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: I didn't think they ever came down this far.
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: Trolls usually get them before they reach this level.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: They get more daring each generation. This one looked like
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: a female. Male or female, it might have killed us.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: I told you this trip was pure.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: Foolishness, climbing 24 deck.
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: Levels to hear a crazy old man rave.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: All right, Alan, we're almost there now. Let me see.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Compartment X, 15, level 24. This is the place. This
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: area smells as if it hadn't been visited by a
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: sanitation crew for generations. This part of the ship is
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: almost deserted.
• 3:22
  Speaker 6: Yes?
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Is this the compartment of John the Witness? Who are you?
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: My name is Hugh Hoyland. Cadet from Scientist Barracks. This
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: is my friend Alan Mahoney.
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: What do you want of John the Witness?
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: Well, only to talk.
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: Are you a believer in Jordan?
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Naturally.
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: I have heard that there are those among the younger
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: scientists who doubt the word of Jordan.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: To doubt is death. We're not heretics.
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: Ah. Enter.
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: I've brought you a gift of tobacco. Grown on the
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: richest level.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: Oh. It smells good. I assure you it's of the best.
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: Wait here.
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: I'll get him.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: What a rat's nest. What the devil do you think
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: he can tell you? Alan, I'm not sure. I'm not sure.
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: Well?
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: Are you John the Witness?
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: I am.
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: Good eating to you. I'm Hugh Hoyland. This is my
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: friend Alan Mahoney.
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: What brings a gentleman of the scientist class to my
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: humble compartment?
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: I've heard that you and your parents before you have
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: been keepers of the legend of the ship.
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: Since Jordan gave the word.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: I'm anxious to hear the word as Jordan spoke it.
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: Why?
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: Because our young scientists, well, among them there have been
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: some who talk against the word.
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: There are regulations against such heresy.
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: Still, some of them say the ship has no purpose.
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: They say that we are here accidentally, that we have
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: no more grace in Jordan's eyes than the most deformed
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: mutant who dwells in.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: The highest level of the ship.
• 5:08
  Speaker 5: What shall I say to you?
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: I wish to hear the word from the mouth of
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: one who knows, in order that I may become more convinced.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: Sit.
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: You have a gift for the witness?
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: The finest tobacco.
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: Good. I will dim the lights. Now pay close attention,
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: for these are the words as my father's father's father
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: gave them to his son's son's son. This is how
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: the ship came into being, how our people were created.
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: In the beginning there was only Jordan, thinking his lonely thoughts.
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: Out of his thoughts came a vision. Out of the
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: vision came a planning, and out of the planning came decision.
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: Jordan's hand was lifted and the ship was born. Mile
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: after mile of good compartments, tank after tank for golden corn,
• 6:09
  Speaker 5: ladder and passage, door and locker fit for the needs
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: of the yet unborn. He looked on his work and
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: found it pleasing. Meet for a race that was yet
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: to be. He thought of man and man came into being.
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: Then Jordan checked his thoughts and searched for a key.
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: Man untamed would shame his maker. Man unruled would spoil
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: the plan. So Jordan made the regulations and order came
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: to the works of man. A crew he created to
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: work at their stations. Scientists to guide the plan. Over
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: them all he created captain. Made him judge of the
• 6:57
  Speaker 5: race of man. Thus it was in.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: The golden age. These are the true words?
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: As my father's father taught them.
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: But what of the strange beast-like people on the upper
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: levels of the ship? Surely Jordan did not create them.
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: Jordan is perfect. All below him lack perfection. You have
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: heard of the legend of Hoth?
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: I have heard that he mutinied against Jordan.
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: Darkness swallowed the ways of virtue. Sin prevailed upon the ship.
• 7:28
  Speaker 5: And before wisdom prevailed and the bodies of Huff and
• 7:30
  Speaker 5: his followers were fed into the converter, some of the
• 7:33
  Speaker 5: rebels escaped and lived to father the mutants. They are
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: tainted with the sins of their fathers.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Witness, one more question.
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: Speak.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: What is the ship?
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: The ship is a great sphere, 25 kilometers wide and
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: 100 levels deep.
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: I know that, but the upper levels.
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: Regulations forbid us to venture into the upper levels. But
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: it is said that beyond the levels of the mutants
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: lies the forbidden place where Jordan's spirit prevails.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: So I've heard, yet something troubles me.
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: Something which prompted my coming here.
• 8:09
  Speaker 5: Yes, my son.
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: What lies beyond the ship?
• 8:15
  Speaker 5: What?
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: What lies beyond the ship? This is heresy. Answer me.
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: I will not.
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: Permit such talk.
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: The ship is complete. The ship is universal. The ship
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: is everywhere.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: The ship is endless.
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: Your mutterings are those of a frightened old man. They
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: answer nothing.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: You question the world?
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: I think you lie.
• 8:32
  Speaker 5: Hear me, Mr. Hoyland. For what you have already said,
• 8:35
  Speaker 5: I can have your body fed into the converter. Your
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: soul launched on the endless trip.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: You threaten me. You, for Jordan's sake.
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: Do you think I fear this dried fig of a man?
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: You.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Sir, my friend is impetuously.
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: He does not understand.
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: I might be persuaded to forget a substantial gift.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Why, you... You! Alan, come on.
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: The sight of this so-called holy man offends me.
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: You shall not leave.
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: Don't try to frighten me with that gun, old man.
• 9:03
  Speaker 5: Remain where you are, heretic.
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: I warn you, put down that gun.
• 9:06
  Speaker 7: No, no, no.
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: No closer. Drop it.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Very well, then.
• 9:10
  Speaker 5: Death to the heretic.
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: Alan, get him.
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: Thank you.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Alan, he's not breathing. Is he dead? I don't know.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: Come on, Hugh, we've got to get out of here.
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 9:31
  Speaker 6: Nowhere.
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: We can't go back. They'd feed us into the converter before.
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: We could even.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: What's that?
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: An alarm.
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: That old woman must have turned it in. Come on, Alan,
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: the patrol will be here in no time. Where can
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: we go?
• 9:40
  Speaker 5: Yes, where, where.
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: The upper levels.
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: No, the mutants.
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: We'll have to take our chances. Come on, Alan, let's go. Listen,
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: that's the patrol.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Come on, we've got to climb.
• 9:49
  Speaker 5: There's a hatchway down the corridor.
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: Quickly, quickly.
• 9:53
  Speaker 8: Alan, up the ladder.
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: Come on, Alan, come.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: On.
• 10:09
  Speaker 5: Hugh, Hugh, wait.
• 10:11
  Speaker 6: Wait.
• 10:13
  Speaker 9: How far are we from the outside wall? Judging by
• 10:16
  Speaker 9: the slope of the deck, about two miles. Well, let's
• 10:22
  Speaker 9: try this passageway here.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: If you hadn't asked him that stupid question. Now, there's
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: no use going over that.
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: But why did you do it?
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: I've been thinking about it for a long time.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: He began to give me those stupid tight answers. And
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: I just saw red, I guess. Who are you to
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: question the ways of Jordan?
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: When you asked me to go with you to visit
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: the witness, I.
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: I thought you wanted spiritual help.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: I never dreamed.
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: I'm sorry, Alan.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry. I couldn't foresee this.
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: Wait.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: Wait a minute.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: What? I.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: I saw something move. Where? Near that bulkhead. I don't
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: see anything. Maybe my eyes are going bad.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: Still.
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: Listen!
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: You behind us!
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: Alan, look out!
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: Alan!
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: What are you?
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: Put away that knife. Keep away from me, you.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: All right, Bobo, don't kill him. Not yet. Who are you?
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: Forgive my friend Bobo.
• 11:44
  Speaker 6: Like so many of my people, he's rather impetuous where
• 11:47
  Speaker 6: members of the so-called.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Super race are confined.
• 11:49
  Speaker 5: Who are you?
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: What place is this?
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: I can guess from my leg. I'm a mutant.
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: Mutant?
• 11:58
  Speaker 9: Where.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: Where is Alan? Your friend is dead.
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: Dead?
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: I was not able to restrain my people in time
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: to save him. Why don't you destroy me and get
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: it over with? We do not kill for pleasure, Mr. Hoyland.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: Only when necessary. You know my name? I read your
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: identification tag. Who are you? Mutants can't read. My name
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: is Gregory. Gregory? I'm a leader of my people. You see,
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: although we are unfortunate in our heredity, Mr.
• 12:21
  Speaker 9: Hoyland.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: Many of us are quite intelligent. Why do you live
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: like animals?
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: We'd rather live like free animals than like regimented.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: Slaves, as you do. I've heard you practice cannibalism. Undoubtedly,
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: you hear many things about us. You turn your head. Why?
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: That monster. I've never seen a creature like him.
• 12:45
  Speaker 6: Bobo is an unfortunate. He was born without the power
• 12:49
  Speaker 6: of speech.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: How can you tolerate such a monstrosity? We've learned to
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: live with difference.
• 12:54
  Speaker 6: If we began to destroy our imperfects as you do
• 12:57
  Speaker 6: on the lower levels, there would soon be no one left.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: It violates the regulations. The word of Jordan states.
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: You know, Mr.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: Harland, your people are really quite Primitive and barbaric. You
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: dare say that to me?
• 13:07
  Speaker 6: I dare say a good deal more. Let us go
• 13:09
  Speaker 6: to my compartment and speak further. I'm always interested in
• 13:12
  Speaker 6: information on the lower levels.
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: I'll give you no information.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: Bobo. I want Mr. Hoyland in my cabin, please.
• 13:19
  Speaker 6: I advise you to go quietly, Mr.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Hoyland.
• 13:24
  Speaker 6: Bobo has a hatred of superior beings, which is unfortunate,
• 13:26
  Speaker 6: but quite understandable.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Proceed. Enter, Mr. Harland. This is where you live? Yes.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: But you have books. Stolen from your libraries, Mr. Harland.
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: Compton's astrophysics, philosophy of interstellar navigation, celestial mechanics.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: You've read these? Most of them. I had no idea
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: that you.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: Why did you bring me here? What do you intend
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: to do? Do you believe in Jordan, Mr.
• 14:05
  Speaker 6: Harland?
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: There is no other belief. And the trip.
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: I suppose you believe in the trip, too. What else
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: is there to believe? When you die, your remains are
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: fed to the converter and your soul makes the trip.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: And where does the trip take you?
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: By the Centaurus, of course.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Ah.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: And where or what is Centaurus? Centaurus is.
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: Mind you, I'm just telling you the orthodox answer. Centaurus
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: is where you arrive when you've made the trip. A
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: place where everybody is happy and where there's always good eating.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: And you believe this. Well, the.
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: Peasants believe it literally, but many of the younger scientists,
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: like myself, know it is figurative and symbolic.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: Why do you ask? Did it ever occur to you, Mr.
• 14:44
  Speaker 6: Hoyland, that the trip is exactly what your peasants believe
• 14:50
  Speaker 6: it is?
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: What? And that the ship and all the crew were
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: actually going somewhere?
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: Moving?
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: The ship can't go anywhere. It already is everywhere.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: Imagine a place bigger than the ship. Much bigger. With
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: a ship inside it. Moving inside it.
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: Can't be any place bigger than this ship. There just
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: wouldn't be any place for it to be.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: Oh, for half's sake, listen. You know the lowest level?
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: Of course.
• 15:12
  Speaker 6: If you started digging a hole in the lowest level,
• 15:15
  Speaker 6: where would that hole go?
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: It's forbidden to think such thoughts.
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: Where would it go? I can't think about it.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: Bobo, we're going to take Mr. Hoyland to the place. No.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Where are we going? To the top level.
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: But that's sudden death.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: Nonsense. I've been there a thousand times.
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: How long?
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: No, I won't.
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: I won't.
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: You can't make me.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: I think we can. No, no, please.
• 15:37
  Speaker 6: Now, shall we proceed peacefully, or shall I have Bobo
• 15:41
  Speaker 6: persuade you?
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: Open the door, Bobo. Inside. Oh. What place is this? This, Mr. Hoyland,
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: is the main control room.
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: Mr.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: Hoyland, you're trembling. It isn't true. No.
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: No, there's no such place except in mythology.
• 16:15
  Speaker 6: You younger men are so wise, Mr. Hoyland, except for
• 16:18
  Speaker 6: one thing. This happens to be the main control room
• 16:22
  Speaker 6: of the ship.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: Main control... But it's just a huge room with an
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: instrument panel. And what did you expect?
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: How do you know this is the main control room?
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: See these instruments?
• 16:34
  Speaker 6: Using them, the navigator, many hundreds of years ago, actually
• 16:36
  Speaker 6: steered the.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Ship on its voyage. I don't understand. I didn't suppose
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: you would. Sit down. Very well. Look up. What do
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: you see? A huge shield. Watch it for one moment, Mr.
• 16:50
  Speaker 6: Hoyland. You're going to see something that few of us
• 16:53
  Speaker 6: have ever been privileged to witness.
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: What are you doing?
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: Dimming the lights. Don't be frightened.
• 16:58
  Speaker 6: Keep your eyes focused on the shield above us.
• 17:00
  Speaker 9: Ready?
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Watch. It's sliding back. Ghost of Jordan.
• 17:12
  Speaker 6: Well?
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: What am I seeing? The universe, Mr.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Harland.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: The universe in all its beauty. The stars. planets the
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: suns and moons and constellations no.
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: No it can't be the ship is the universe there
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: is nothing but the ship.
• 17:35
  Speaker 6: But there it is you see it before your eyes
• 17:38
  Speaker 6: spread out like a canopy of glory you still deny
• 17:41
  Speaker 6: it answer me mr holland do you deny it no.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: No i can't deny it they've lied They lied to
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: all of us. Good.
• 17:58
  Speaker 6: I have showed this to others of your people whom
• 17:59
  Speaker 6: we captured, and though they saw it before their very eyes,
• 18:02
  Speaker 6: they would not believe it.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: Please. Please tell me all about it.
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: Tell me the truth about the ship and about the universe.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: What are these things? How did this come about?
• 18:14
  Speaker 6: Many thousands of years ago, on a planet like those
• 18:17
  Speaker 6: you have just seen, a planet called Earth, a scientist
• 18:21
  Speaker 6: named Jordan decided to build a ship that would carry
• 18:25
  Speaker 6: men from one planet to another. For many years, Jordan
• 18:29
  Speaker 6: and thousands of others studied and planned. And when they
• 18:32
  Speaker 6: were finished, they built the ship. A ship so large
• 18:37
  Speaker 6: that it had to be assembled in its own orbit
• 18:39
  Speaker 6: beyond a place called the moon. Sixty years it took
• 18:44
  Speaker 6: them to construct. And when it was finished, a whole
• 18:47
  Speaker 6: new science had been conceived. Then the trip was begun.
• 18:53
  Speaker 6: The trip that was to land a colony of Earthmen
• 18:56
  Speaker 6: on a far-off planet called Centaurus. Millions of light-years beyond
• 19:00
  Speaker 6: the furthest planet ever reached before.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: How do you know these things?
• 19:05
  Speaker 6: Among my books are the log which Jordan himself kept
• 19:09
  Speaker 6: and the records of the journey for the first 40 years.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: What happened? There was a mutiny.
• 19:15
  Speaker 6: A man named Hath led a rebellion of those who
• 19:17
  Speaker 6: wanted to turn back. In the struggle, the navigators were killed,
• 19:22
  Speaker 6: and the crew fell into a state of anarchy. In
• 19:26
  Speaker 6: the years to follow, small groups of men tried to
• 19:28
  Speaker 6: organize the ship for navigation, and each time, they failed. Finally,
• 19:34
  Speaker 6: the whole idea was abandoned. And so, for centuries, we
• 19:41
  Speaker 6: have swung in space, unmanned, undirected, living in a lost
• 19:47
  Speaker 6: world of our own making, with us.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: Purpose, without direction. Why have you told me this? Can't
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: you guess? You want to finish the trip. Yes. But
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: I can't. You can't.
• 20:07
  Speaker 6: Look at me, Mr.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Hoyland.
• 20:09
  Speaker 6: You see, a mutant, a man with a twisted leg.
• 20:13
  Speaker 6: My people are outcasts, condemned to death if we so
• 20:16
  Speaker 6: much as set foot in the lower levels of the ship.
• 20:19
  Speaker 6: The main drive is in the lower levels where my
• 20:21
  Speaker 6: people are forbidden to go. Oh, it would mean that
• 20:26
  Speaker 6: both our people would have to work together. Our differences
• 20:31
  Speaker 6: encouraged rather than denied.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: All right. I'll see the captain himself.
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: I have an uncle on the central board.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: I'll tell him what I've seen here. And do you
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: think he'll believe you?
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: Send one of your people with me.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: That's asking a good deal. I'm risking a good deal
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: by going back. Very well. Bobo will go with you. Bobo?
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: He can't talk. There will be no need for talk.
• 20:59
  Speaker 6: I will write a message guaranteeing safe conduct for a
• 21:02
  Speaker 6: group of unarmed scientists to visit the main control room.
• 21:06
  Speaker 6: Bobo will take you safely through our territory. What happens
• 21:10
  Speaker 6: when you reach your own level.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: Is up to you. One moment.
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: Yes, what.
• 21:27
  Speaker 7: You!
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: Quick, Uncle, let us in.
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: But this mutant.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: He's harmless. Please, Uncle, please. Now. What is this? You're
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: wanted for.
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: I know all about that.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: Uncle, listen. I must see the captain. The captain? Are
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: you mad? Uncle, you're a council member. You can get
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: me to see him. He'll kill you. You're wanted for Harrison.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: I don't care.
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: I must speak with the captain. Now, uncle, you're close
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: to him. You can arrange it.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: I don't understand.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: Listen to me.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: The ship is moving. I can prove it. Do you understand?
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: There is a purpose in the ship.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: I don't understand what you're babbling about. Never mind.
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: Just talk to the captain. Tell him I have information
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: of tremendous importance. Tell him I've arranged a truce with
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: the mutants.
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: Truce?
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: Here. Show him this paper.
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: Signed by their leader. Do it, uncle, for my sake.
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: I don't know what.
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: Uncle, please, if I'm.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: To die, let this be my last request to you.
• 22:15
  Speaker 8: Very well.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: I'll speak to the captain. The End And you say, Mr.
• 22:26
  Speaker 8: Hoyland, that you saw this with your own eyes?
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: I swear it, Captain. I swear it on the word
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: of Jordan.
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: Hmm.
• 22:34
  Speaker 8: Let me see the paper again. Commander Hearst, what do
• 22:39
  Speaker 8: you think? I don't know, sir. It might be a trick.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: I guarantee you safe conduct.
• 22:45
  Speaker 8: If these things are as Mr. Hoyland reports them, it
• 22:49
  Speaker 8: would pay to risk a few lives. The man is
• 22:52
  Speaker 8: a convicted heretic. Still, we must not discount his word.
• 22:56
  Speaker 8: He has a safe conduct, and the mutant risked its
• 23:00
  Speaker 8: life coming with him. I think we might investigate.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: Captain, you mean you will do it?
• 23:07
  Speaker 8: I will have an expedition outfitted.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: Dismissed, Mr. Hoyland. Thank you, sir. Captain Dean.
• 23:19
  Speaker 8: Commander Ernst, sir. You will make the necessary arrangements for
• 23:23
  Speaker 8: an expedition. And I trust you understand?
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: Perfectly, sir.
• 23:32
  Speaker 9: Perfectly.
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: Lieutenant.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: Mr. Harlem.
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: You better halt your men here. This is the spot.
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: At all. Halt. Well, I see no welcoming party of mutants.
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: There'll be none. Their leader will meet you inside the
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: main control room.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: You don't say. Just where is this main control room?
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: Beyond that door. I see. All right, men. Ready arms. Lieutenant,
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: why do you ready arms? In case of ambush. Ambush?
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: Wait a minute, Lieutenant.
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: Lieutenant. What are those men doing with that ray gun?
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: Just aiming it at the door. Are you mad? No, Mr. Hoyland,
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: but most certainly you are to think that we could
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: be lured up here to be slotted with a fantastic
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: story about some mythical control room.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: Gun's ready, sir.
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: Lieutenant, I warn you, these people have acted in good faith.
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: You can't break that thing. Oh, mutant!
• 24:37
  Speaker 8: Come out!
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: For Jordan's sake, Lieutenant!
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: Mutant!
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: Open the door.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: Please, Jordan. Don't let anything happen. Don't let.
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: It's opening.
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: Ready, men.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: Someone's coming out. Steady.
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: Gregory, stay back!
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: Fire!
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: You fools! You've killed him!
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: Here come the rest of them.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: Fire!
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: Fire!
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: You fools!
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: That should teach them a lesson they won't forget. All right, men,
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: inside the room. Hello, Hardin.
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: You're under arrest for the conspirator in this ambush.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: Ambush, you fool.
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: You blind, stupid fool.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: All right, that'll be enough. You've been inside this place before? Yes.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: What's this machinery?
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: These are the controls he would have used to steer
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: the ship.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: Got out of his mind, Lieutenant.
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: Steer the ship? Who? The leader, the one you killed.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: This ugly mutant?
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: This ugly mutant happened to be a man of true genius.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: Are you mad.
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: Am I? Lieutenant, this man had a vision which would
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: have saved you, but you chose to kill him because
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: you couldn't stand the sight of his difference from you.
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: Shut up, Hyland. Don't listen to a man. You can't
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: shut your eyes and you can't shut your minds and
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: you can't shut your ears to this.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: Yes, look.
• 26:13
  Speaker 10: Let the vision of this confound your ignorance and blind
• 26:16
  Speaker 10: your eyes.
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: This is the heritage of.
• 26:19
  Speaker 10: Stars and open skies for which men have yearned for centuries.
• 26:24
  Speaker 10: Try to destroy this and you will only destroy yourselves.
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: Death to the heritage.
• 26:32
  Speaker 10: But I say to you that you can't keep this
• 26:38
  Speaker 10: from our people.
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: They will seek it out. The ship will be manned,
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: and the ship will be steered, and there will be freedom, purpose,
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: and respect for ourselves. This is your heritage. Look, look
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: upon the universe!
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: Kill him!
• 26:59
  Speaker 5: Kill him!
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: Kill him!
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: X-1 has just brought you Universe, a story written by
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: Robert Heinlein and adapted for radio by George Lefferts. Heard
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: in the cast were Donald Buca as Hugh, Peter Capel
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: as Gregory, Bill Griffiths as Alan, Abby Lewis as the woman,
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: Edgar Staley as the witness, Jason Johnson as the uncle,
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: John Seymour as the captain, and Ian Martin as the lieutenant.
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: Your announcer is Fred Collins.
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: X-1 is directed by Fred Way and is a transcribed
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: NBC Radio Network production. And now, next week. Next week,
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: we have a strange story to tell. A sweet, blood-curdling
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: little story that is really only two sentences long. The
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: last man on earth sat alone in a room. And then,
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: there was a knock on the door. What knocked on
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: that door? You'll find out next week on.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: Act.
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: Minus.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: One.
• 28:39
  Speaker 7: When you buy United States Savings Bonds, you help to
• 28:41
  Speaker 7: build your own future security. Here is an opportunity to
• 28:44
  Speaker 7: save systematically for long-range personal objectives.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: So invest in United States savings bonds.
• 28:51
  Speaker 7: Now follow the avids to mystery and adventure over most
• 28:54
  Speaker 7: NBC radio stations.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Our presentation of X-1, Episode 4, Universe, has reached its close.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Good night, and keep the dial tuned to Science Fiction Radio.