Latest / X Minus One | Old Time Radio / The Last Martian [episode 63], Broadcast 8/7/1956

Transcript

The Last Martian [episode 63], Broadcast 8/7/1956 · X Minus One | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: In just a moment X minus one.
• 0:02
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• 0:14
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• 0:18
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  Speaker 2: by Guy Lombardo.
• 0:21
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  Speaker 2: Bert Parks and Johnny Mercer. It's wonderful live music weekday
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• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I'll stay tuned for X minus one on NBC.
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  Speaker 2: Cont down for Blast Off X.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Minus five, four three.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Two X minus one Fire.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed tales
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: of new dimensions in time and space. These are stories
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: of the future adventures in which you'll live in a million,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: could be years, on a thousand, maybe worlds. The National
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, presents
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: HE minus one Tonight The Last Martian by Frederick Brown.
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: It was like any evening, but duller than most. I
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: was back in the city room. I just covered a
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: boring banquet and the food had been so bad that
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: I felt cheated, even though it cost me nothing.
• 2:17
  Speaker 5: Now just for.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: Laughs and my job. I was riding a long glowing
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: account of it.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: So it has cargan Yeah he what?
• 2:36
  Speaker 6: Yeah?
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Sure?
• 2:36
  Speaker 6: Why not?
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Okay? Bonnie? Yeah?
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Uh?
• 2:41
  Speaker 6: Bill?
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah? Finished tiving that banquet story yet? Uh huh finish it?
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Eh thirty?
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: Okay?
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: You know Bonnie Witch, don't you?
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: Barney's bar chrisseno him.
• 2:57
  Speaker 6: I know you know him.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: He's just a rhetorical question. What about him? He's just phoned.
• 3:02
  Speaker 7: So he's got a guy down there who claims to
• 3:05
  Speaker 7: be from Mars.
• 3:06
  Speaker 5: What is he drunk or raving her boat?
• 3:08
  Speaker 7: Donnie doesn't know, but he said there might be a
• 3:10
  Speaker 7: gag store if you want.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: To come over and talk to the guy. Drinks on
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: the expense account.
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you got a deal.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: There wasn't a trip reporter who didn't know Barney well
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: enough to borrow money from him. I made for the
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: barn like a sink or not makes for a fallen traveler,
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: and ordered a quick one with water on the sign.
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: Keep the bottle handy, Bonnie? Which one is the Martian?
• 3:37
  Speaker 8: You see the tall, digital looking guy sitting alone there
• 3:41
  Speaker 8: in the.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Booth over there. What's the story?
• 3:45
  Speaker 8: He says, he just come in from Marge two hours
• 3:47
  Speaker 8: ago and he's trying to figure it out. He claims
• 3:51
  Speaker 8: he's the last living Martian. Does he know I'm a repponent,
• 3:56
  Speaker 8: but he talk to anybody who listened to him.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: What's his name?
• 3:59
  Speaker 8: He says, it's Yang and Dow.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: I'll talk to him.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: Don't get him.
• 4:06
  Speaker 8: Violent or anything.
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: I don't want to know trouble in my Oh, and
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: I don't worry. Bonnie, look, dish up two beers for us,
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: and I'll take him over with me. Bonnie drew two
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: beers and cut off the heads. He rang up sixty sins,
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: gave me my change, and I went over to the Martian.
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: Mister doll, yes you mind if I said, don help yourself.
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: It's a free country. I brought you beer, Bonnie. The
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: bartender told me something about your problem. Oh, thanks for
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: the beer.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Drink up.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: Well, I suppose you think I'm out of my mind,
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: but well maybe you'll be right. The bartender probably thinks
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: I've flipped my led listener, you're a doctor, Nope? Do
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: you think I'm insane?
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: I'm not a doctor, and I haven't even heard you
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: story yet. How can I tell?
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: Okay, I'll tell you. I'll tell you everything that happened.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: Then you tell me if you think I'm all right.
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: Two hours ago, I was on Mars two hours.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: How did you get here?
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: I don't know, that's the horrible thing. All I know
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: is that the others were dead, all of them.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: How do you know?
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: I saw them. I saw their bodies in the street.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: It was awful.
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: Now, wait a minute, you mean you're the last one,
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: the last Martians. Yes, that's uh, it's a little hard
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: to believe. Listen, I was there.
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: I was in this room in the city of scar
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: I don't know why I was there, but I was.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: I was locked in. Then I got hungry and there
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: was nobody to bring me food. So I worked a
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: stone out of the floor and started digging. It took
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: three days. When I got out and reached the street,
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: everyone everyone was dead, lying in the open.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: What did you do?
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: I took a targan An energy plane and flew it
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: to Zandar. Zandar is the biggest city, the capital. Every
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: place it was the same, hundreds of thousands of bodies
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: lying in the fields the streets, as if as if
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: everyone had died at the exact same instant at Zandar
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: in the stadium.
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: I'm listening in the stadium.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: There were one hundred thousand of them, as if as
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: if they'd come there specially to die together. I landed
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: my ship there in the stadium. Yes, I see. Well,
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: there in the stadium they had built some sort of platform.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: On it was a column made of copper. Copper is
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: a rare metal on Mars. And there was a push
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: button where in the copper column. Oh, and there was
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: a Martian in a blue robe, a priest, right under
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: the button. It was as though he pushed the button
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: and died, and everybody else had died.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: With him except you, Yes, all except me. And then and.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: Then I was on a Madison Avenue bus riding to
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: work here in New York. Oh no, wait a minute, listen.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: I know you don't believe me. I know it sounds
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: as if I was stark raving that.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: You know what I think.
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: But you've had some sort of terrible shock.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: Of course I have. There were three million of us,
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: all dead.
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: I don't mean that kind of shock.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: Of course, it was a dying world anyway, We didn't
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: have more than two generations left.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: It was the krill.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: What was the krill? The disease? It reduced us to
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: one thirtieth of our population in two centuries. These three
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: million then they died of the krill. No, the krill
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: kills slowly. These people died like that with a push.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Of a button. Why didn't they escape?
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: We tried to develop space travel, but we couldn't. We
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: couldn't even reach Demos or Phobos.
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: Where are they are?
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: Moons? Oh? I don't know too much about this time.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: It was horrible.
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: Can I ask you a question, mister down anything you like? Well,
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: if the Martians didn't develop space travel, how do you
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: think you got here in New York City?
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: I don't know. It's driving me wild. I'm Yang and Dal,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: a Martian, and I'm here in the body of an
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: earth man, the body of an earth man. Of course,
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: you don't think Martians look exactly like humans, do you.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: I'm three feet tall, weigh what would be twenty pounds
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: here on Earth. I have forearms and six fingers on
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: each hand.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Barnie, two more beers, not with whiskey chases, go on,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: go on, mister don I don't mean to winter rub.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: It frightens me. Oh, I can understand that you drink.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: He wants your help.
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: Thanks, Bunny, I drink up, mister Dal.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: By the way, Who is this earth man whose body
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: you've got? Its name is Howard Wilcox. Howard Wilcox. I'll
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: just write that down address. It's in the wallet, forty
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: five Amber Court. This Howard Wilcox whose body you are in.
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: Does he have a family? It is married to a
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: female of this species. Yes, well have you been home? No?
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Then, how do you know?
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: I have all of its memories. I can do everything
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: it could do. I know everything it knows. I see
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: I even have its tastes beer, for instance. Yes, you
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: have a job at the Humber Lamp Company, thirty fourth Street. Well,
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: maybe you ought to call you wife. No, it frightens me.
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: Why this body it loves its wife. Let me buy
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: us around. There's money in these pockets. Okay, it's very
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: good of you to listen to my story. Barkeep another round.
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: Please tell me, mister Dal, did you ever suspect before
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: that you were.
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: A martian suspect? I am a Martian.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: Don't you understand?
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: How did you get in here.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: I told you I was. I mean, this body was
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: on its way to work on a Madison Avenue bus
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: and then I was inside it. It was thirsty, so
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: it stopped for a drink, and I thought maybe the
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: bartender could give me some advice, so I started talking.
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: Don't you believe me? Listen, Howard, you should be due
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: home for dinner by now. Are you making your wife worry?
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: Why not phone her? I'm afraid what's there to worry about,
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: whether you're young and doll or Howard Wilcox is a
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: woman sitting home worrying.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: I suppose you're right. I'm right, you're very understanding, not
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: at all. You wouldn't want to come with me, would you?
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: I mean, I'm I'm sort of afraid it would look funny.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: I could tell her you're an old school friend. We
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: could have dinner, and then maybe I could get to
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: know her.
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: You really want me to come? Would you let me
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: make a phone call first? Okay?
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Fine?
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: I rang up the Tribune and got Cargan at the
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: city desk, said he as Hi, Bill Everett.
• 12:15
  Speaker 6: Did you find him?
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: Uh huh, Well, there's something strange about this guy.
• 12:20
  Speaker 6: Do you think he's insane?
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: I don't know.
• 12:22
  Speaker 6: What do you mean you don't know? Whiz he or
• 12:24
  Speaker 6: isn't he?
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: Well, he's got the whole story so perfectly organized. He
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: might even convince somebody it's true. He remembers every detail.
• 12:29
  Speaker 6: What do you think you're going to do?
• 12:31
  Speaker 5: But I'm going home with him. I'm gonna meet his
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: wife and observe them.
• 12:33
  Speaker 6: How many drinks have you?
• 12:34
  Speaker 5: Oh, I'm sober.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Don't worry.
• 12:36
  Speaker 6: We worried. Look, maybe you better come back here and
• 12:39
  Speaker 6: I let Vincent handle this.
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: No, that isn't necessary. Just let me tag along a while.
• 12:43
  Speaker 6: Okay, but if you want to help, Yell Moles and
• 12:45
  Speaker 6: Vincent I will.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Don't worry.
• 12:46
  Speaker 6: What's this guy's name? Young?
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: And I mean Howard Wilcox as forty five Ambercourt?
• 12:52
  Speaker 6: Okay? Oh? And Bill, yes, just remember one thing.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: What's that?
• 12:58
  Speaker 6: You could be playing with dynamite?
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: Watch your step.
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: Number forty five Ambercourt was an apartment down in the village.
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: We were met at the door by a pretty woman
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: in dungarees with a black hair and a ponytail with
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: a red ribbon.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: Let me handle it, okay, I wish.
• 13:25
  Speaker 9: You would, Howard, I was so worried.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: This is Bill Everett.
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: I'm an old boyhood chum of your husband, Missus Wilcox.
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: We met and I asked Howard to have a few drinks.
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: And I'm afraid it's all my fault. Bill is having
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: dinner with us. If it isn't too much trouble.
• 13:42
  Speaker 9: Well, no, no, of course, Now it's very generous of you. Well,
• 13:47
  Speaker 9: if you'll excuse me, i'd better start dinner. Howard, Yes,
• 13:53
  Speaker 9: are you all right?
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: Why?
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: Yes, fine?
• 13:58
  Speaker 9: He didn't kiss me.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Oh, oh, well.
• 14:04
  Speaker 9: That's better. That's the first time in eleven years Howard
• 14:07
  Speaker 9: hasn't kissed me when he came home.
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: Well, we stopped and had a few drinks. It was
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: all my fault.
• 14:10
  Speaker 9: Really, Just make yourself comfortable. I won't be long.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: Do you think she suspects? Of course not.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: I'll have to tell her. You want to wind up
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: in an institution. No, but I can't keep up this pretense.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: Just set your mind to it now. After a while,
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: it'll become natural. You'll forget that you ever were a martian.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: You do believe me then about being a martian? Of course,
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: that's good to know. And look, whatever you do, don't
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: tell your wife. It would ruin her life. I'll try
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: not to tell her. Try very hard. Now, don't tell
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: anybody here and the bartender. Now, of course, we'll keep
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: it quiet.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: Don't worry.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: Good Do you think you can carry it on?
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: I'll try, good boy.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: I'll tell you what if you get into any kind
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: of trouble, I mean, if you just have to talk
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: to somebody about it, give me a card here at
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: this number. If I'm not in, you leave a message
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: with my boss. His name is Cargan. You promise, I promise. Fine,
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: You're very kind, this body. I mean I I've never
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: met anybody so kind here on earth.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Forget it.
• 15:11
  Speaker 9: Well, be discussing so secretly.
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: Just business.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: I'm sorry about being laid there.
• 15:17
  Speaker 9: Well, you might have phoned after ared you were only
• 15:19
  Speaker 9: a few blocks from the house business, if you were
• 15:22
  Speaker 9: on Mars or someplace.
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: Dinner went pretty well, and Elaine Wilcox turned out to
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: be an expert at Chishkeabob, which is one of my favorites.
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: After dinner, I still had a couple of hours to
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: put in at the papers, so I went back.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: Cargan came over to me right away. Well, well is.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: He here, isn't he?
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: He's a Martian?
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: All right?
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: No, question about that.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: You're very fu me.
• 15:56
  Speaker 5: I have my moments.
• 15:57
  Speaker 7: Would you mind telling me exactly where you've been for
• 15:59
  Speaker 7: three hours and what you.
• 16:00
  Speaker 6: Have been doing.
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: I talked to Yangan Dal that's his Martian name. Then
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: we had dinner at his home. Very nice. Shush kebab.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: What about the story?
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: Oh yeah, the story, Well, it seems that he was
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: locked in a room in the city of scar He.
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: Got out and saw all the dead bodies of the
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: entire Martian population. Then he flew to the capitol and
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: saw a button that a priest had pressed, and the
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: next thing he knew he was inside an earth man
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: named Howard Wilcox riding a Madison Avenue bus.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Want me to write it up? Is that all you've
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: got to tell me?
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: That's all.
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: Listen, this guy is going to be perfectly all right
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: as soon as he gets used to the idea that
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: he is Howard Wilcox.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: He is eh.
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: I suppose you're a qualified psychiatrist and I'm qualified to
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: judge this.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: I had better send Benson over there.
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: There's no need for that.
• 16:41
  Speaker 7: I have a distinct feeling you've let your emotions get
• 16:43
  Speaker 7: into the app.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Well, what's wrong with emotion? They don't belong in this business.
• 16:46
  Speaker 5: Lor Cargan, this is a decent enough guy.
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: He's a little bewildered maybe now, why not let him
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: live out his life in peace?
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: He may be dangerous.
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: Don't you trust my judgment.
• 16:54
  Speaker 7: We can't afford to pass up anything important. You're exaggerating, maybe, Benson, Yes,
• 17:01
  Speaker 7: I want you to do a follow up on the
• 17:03
  Speaker 7: story that Bill has started. Man named Howard Wilcox. He
• 17:06
  Speaker 7: thinks he's a martian. Oh, Bill has the address.
• 17:09
  Speaker 9: Now.
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: If anything happens to this guy, they litablity, questions and accusations.
• 17:13
  Speaker 7: Ansent can handle that out of it. You want the
• 17:15
  Speaker 7: full treatment on the story of mister Cargan.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: If you think the man is a menace, give him
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: the full treatment.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Okay, mister Cargan.
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: I gave Vincent the address feeling like a murderer, and
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: then I beat it to the nearest phone booth and
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: called Howard Wilcox's home. His wife Elaine answered, yes, well,
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: missus Wilcox, this is Bill Everett again.
• 17:56
  Speaker 10: Oh did you forget something? No?
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: I have something to tell you, and it may sound
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: a little weird, but bear with me.
• 18:03
  Speaker 10: Oh what is it?
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: A man from my newspaper is coming over. His name
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: is Vincent and he's a big, ugly man with a
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: scar on his lip.
• 18:10
  Speaker 10: He's coming over here.
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: He's on his way. Now what for, Well, that's the
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: part you are going to believe, Missus Wilcox.
• 18:17
  Speaker 10: Will try me and see.
• 18:20
  Speaker 5: He's going to murder your husband.
• 18:23
  Speaker 10: I'm afraid I didn't hear you.
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: I said he's coming over to murder your husband.
• 18:27
  Speaker 10: You and Howard did do quite a bit of drinking.
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: I'm trying to do you a favor, and I listen
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: to me.
• 18:32
  Speaker 10: I'm listening.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: Send him away, tell him Howard had to leave town.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: Do you hear me?
• 18:37
  Speaker 10: I hear you.
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: But please, missus Wilcox, if your husband means anything to you,
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: of course.
• 18:42
  Speaker 10: He does, why not call the police all.
• 18:44
  Speaker 5: Laugh at you.
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: I'm coming right over. I'll explain when I get there.
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: And remember, your husband's life depends on this. I don't
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: know whether I convinced her or not. It all sounded
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: so terribly dramatic. Anyway, I hopped into a cab and
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: told him to use a heavy foot on the gas pedal,
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: and about fifteen minutes later I arrived at forty five
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: Amber Court.
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: Oh it's you was Vincent.
• 19:12
  Speaker 9: Here, there was a man here from the Tribune years.
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: Did you do as I told you?
• 19:17
  Speaker 9: I got Howard out of the house. I sent him
• 19:19
  Speaker 9: out with some mozzarella cheese and gave him a couple
• 19:21
  Speaker 9: of places that don't carry it.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: What Vincent say?
• 19:24
  Speaker 9: I told him Howard wouldn't be back in town until tomorrow.
• 19:27
  Speaker 9: He said he'd be back.
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: Did he say what he wanted?
• 19:29
  Speaker 9: Just that he had some good news for my husband?
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: Some good news?
• 19:33
  Speaker 10: Then?
• 19:34
  Speaker 9: I wish you would I want to know what this
• 19:36
  Speaker 9: is all about. Sit down now?
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: Would you mind explaining you won't believe me?
• 19:46
  Speaker 9: You keep saying that?
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Okay, missus Wilkins, Your husband, Howard is a Martian.
• 19:55
  Speaker 9: A Martian, that's right? I see? And when did you
• 20:00
  Speaker 9: discover this about my husband?
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: This morning?
• 20:03
  Speaker 9: Would you mind telling me just when he arrived from Mars,
• 20:06
  Speaker 9: that is this morning? You don't say told you wouldn't
• 20:10
  Speaker 9: believe me? Oh, I hadn't said that yet. You're sure
• 20:13
  Speaker 9: Howard is a Martian?
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Yep?
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: He claims to be the last Martian. Looks see if
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: I can make it clear? There was a plague sweeping Mars.
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: They devised the means of transporting their intellects through space
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: to Earth. Their dead bodies remained behind. Howard, your husband
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: was confined in an institution, so he didn't get to
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: go with the other Martian souls. He dug his way
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: out and went to the capital city, where the energy
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: machine was located. I guess there was enough left to
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: send his intelligence down here, where it landed in the
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: body of one Howard Wilcox.
• 20:42
  Speaker 9: How did you find this out? He told me, mister Everett,
• 20:47
  Speaker 9: If you don't mind, I'm rather tired. First you tell
• 20:50
  Speaker 9: me someone's going to murder Howard, then you tell me
• 20:52
  Speaker 9: he's the man from Mars, and I'd like to get
• 20:54
  Speaker 9: some rest.
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: If you don't mind, I'm trying to convince you your
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: husband is in danger.
• 20:58
  Speaker 9: If Howard is a Martian, just why does your mister
• 21:02
  Speaker 9: Vincent want to kill him?
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: Because mister Vincent is a Martian too.
• 21:08
  Speaker 9: I suppose the editor of the Tribune is also a Martian.
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: No, not the editor, just the editor of the city disk.
• 21:13
  Speaker 9: And you, mister Everett, are you a Martian too?
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Matter of fact?
• 21:18
  Speaker 5: Yes, good night, just won't see.
• 21:21
  Speaker 10: It with you.
• 21:22
  Speaker 9: Good night, mister Everett.
• 21:24
  Speaker 5: Okay, I tried my best.
• 21:26
  Speaker 9: Martians Indeed, Howard.
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: Thank heavens, I couldn't get the mazzarella.
• 21:40
  Speaker 9: It doesn't matter. Tell me, Howard, are you a Martian? What?
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: Yes?
• 21:48
  Speaker 9: How did you know woman's intuition? It's terribly late, dear,
• 21:52
  Speaker 9: let's turn in.
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: No, not yet. I want to know how you knew
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: I was a Martian?
• 21:57
  Speaker 9: Howard. Please, I've had just about enough of this nonsense today.
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: It isn't nonsense to me. Only this morning I was
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: yang Gandala Marsham. Now I'm in the body of your husband.
• 22:07
  Speaker 9: Is this a joke you and your friend mister Everett
• 22:09
  Speaker 9: invented to torture me? Because if it is, it isn't
• 22:12
  Speaker 9: a joke.
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: It's the truth.
• 22:14
  Speaker 9: Howard. I just can't stand much more of this. I'm
• 22:17
  Speaker 9: again to wonder if if it's me, who could that
• 22:20
  Speaker 9: be at this hour?
• 22:21
  Speaker 7: I'll answered, Yes, you are, mister Howard Wilcox. Yes, my
• 22:29
  Speaker 7: name is Vincent. I'm a reporter from the trip. Yes,
• 22:35
  Speaker 7: may I come man?
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Yes?
• 22:39
  Speaker 9: Who is oh mister Vincent?
• 22:42
  Speaker 7: I see your husband has unexpectedly returned from out of town.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Missus Wilcox. Now look here, do you mind telling me
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: why you lied to me?
• 22:51
  Speaker 10: Yes?
• 22:51
  Speaker 7: I would Does it have anything to do with the
• 22:54
  Speaker 7: fact that you know your husband's secret, what secret that
• 22:59
  Speaker 7: he is?
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: Young Dow a Martian.
• 23:03
  Speaker 9: I don't know what you're talking about.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: I think you'd do.
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: Why is there such concern? I am Yang and Dow.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: I am a Martian, the last Martian as far as
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: I know.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: That is where you're wrong, mister Wilcox. Wrong.
• 23:18
  Speaker 7: You see, there are many of us, many like me,
• 23:24
  Speaker 7: hundreds of thousands. We were teleported Earth during the Great
• 23:27
  Speaker 7: Migration and found ourselves, like you, inside human beings.
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: But then I'm not alone.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: You do understand my position perfectly.
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: I can establish contact, we can remember our old home.
• 23:41
  Speaker 7: Unfortunately, no, I don't understand. Sadly enough, Yang and Doll.
• 23:48
  Speaker 7: You were considered mentally ill on Mars, ill enough so
• 23:52
  Speaker 7: that you were institutionalized. But here on Earth a person
• 23:56
  Speaker 7: like you represents a distinct threat to us.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: How do I threaten you?
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: You're unstable. You may give us away. That would spoil it.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: Spoil what.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: Our plan?
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: Plan?
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: You You have not heard of the plan?
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: I heard of, no plan. I was in an institution.
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: Yes you are certain now, of course what plan?
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: If you know? I would have.
• 24:35
  Speaker 7: Been forced to destroy you. You just saved your own life,
• 24:40
  Speaker 7: young and Dull, and that of Howard Wilcox as well.
• 24:44
  Speaker 9: What are you going to do?
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Nothing? Nothing at all?
• 24:49
  Speaker 9: Aren't you afraid that I'll do something such as tell
• 24:54
  Speaker 9: people my husband is a marshan?
• 24:57
  Speaker 7: Really, missus Wilcox, you know better you'd be laughed at
• 25:01
  Speaker 7: or sent to the nearest psychiatric clinic. No, we aren't
• 25:05
  Speaker 7: at all concerned with the fact that people will betray
• 25:08
  Speaker 7: our presence here on Earth. I'm sure you can appreciate
• 25:11
  Speaker 7: the reaction if you would have phoned the police and
• 25:13
  Speaker 7: tell them that the trip reporters are all Martians, not.
• 25:17
  Speaker 9: All just the city editor and yourself And mister Eyrett,
• 25:25
  Speaker 9: how did you know that? Perhaps I'm one myself?
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: Mister Vincent, it is impossible.
• 25:35
  Speaker 9: Why not?
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Are you tell me where you were born? What today?
• 25:41
  Speaker 9: I was born in Undanell, near the dead Canal of Krilla.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Your name is that?
• 25:45
  Speaker 9: Not Cree?
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: You are? You are party of the plan, the.
• 25:51
  Speaker 9: Plan to take over the earth.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: Of course, your husband young and dull? Why did you
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: not inform him?
• 25:58
  Speaker 9: For the same reason you did not? He is unstable,
• 26:03
  Speaker 9: but there is no need to worry. I will care
• 26:06
  Speaker 9: for him.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Amazing.
• 26:10
  Speaker 9: Now would you mind leaving us alone. We have many
• 26:14
  Speaker 9: things to discuss, of.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Course, amazing, positively amazing.
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: I was standing in Bonnie's bar, having a double scotch
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: in the rocks when Vincent came in, looking like a
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: man who spent the last three hours in a kitchen
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: aid mixer with the dial on fluffy.
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: He came over and ordered without so much as a
• 26:44
  Speaker 5: look at me, here it.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Is mister Vincent. Thanks, you're okay? Sure sure?
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: By the way, did you.
• 26:55
  Speaker 8: Follows take care of that cracked party was in here
• 26:58
  Speaker 8: this afternoon, the one who thought he was a m hm.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Oh ah, sure yes to drunk. Uh yeah, that's right,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: wouldn't you say so? Bill?
• 27:08
  Speaker 10: Oh?
• 27:09
  Speaker 7: Definitely what he's to your Bonnie. Sometimes you can't tell
• 27:16
  Speaker 7: the Martians from the earth man, you know.
• 27:19
  Speaker 8: It's getting to be that way, mister Vincent, Right, Bill,
• 27:22
  Speaker 8: that's right, Bonnie.
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: Integration, that's what it is.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: I gave Bonnie a sly wink and lifted my glass
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: along with Vincent. Of course, Bonnie understood. You see, he's
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: one of us two.
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: You have just heard X minus one presented by the
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction magazine,
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: which this month features Alan Cogan's story Nothing but the Best,
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: which tells about a strange mix up in time and
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: place Galaxy Magazine on your new stand today Tonight by transcription,
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: X minus one has brought you The Last Martian, a
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: story from the pages of Galaxy, written by Frederick Brown
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: and adapted for radio by George Lefferts. Featured in the
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: cast were Mandel Kramer, Elliott Reid, Santos Ortega, Ralph Bell,
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: John McGovern, and Patricia Whew.
• 28:24
  Speaker 5: Your announcer, Fred Collins.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: X minus one was directed by Daniel Sutter and is
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: an NBC Radio Network production.
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: Go to the Conventions with the NBC Radio beginning Monday,
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: August thirteenth,