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X Minus One - "Hallucination Orbit" (Old Time Radio, 1956) · X Minus One | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: William Redfield heads a cast that includes John Larkin, Vera Allen,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: and Terry Keane in X minus one Hallucination Orbit, originally
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: heard on NBC Radio Network on May fifteenth, nineteen fifty six.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: This is episode fifty one, adapted for radio by Ernest
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Kinnoy from a story by J. T. McIntosh and directed
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: by Daniel Sutter. A relief ship approaches Pluto Station three
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to bring home Colin ord, an officer left alone for
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: years after a space beam failure. The rescuers know that
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: prolonged isolation, known as soltosis, can alter a station officer's
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: sense of reality. And now we return to the original broadcast.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: In just a moment X minus one.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: But first, some of the funniest situations you've ever witnessed
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: occur every Wednesday night when the devilish imagination of mc
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: Jack Bailey sets to work on NBC's Truth or Consequences.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: You won't believe it until you hear it, so listen
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: in tomorrow. Then another laugh session is in store later
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: on with the wise and witty Graucho Marx as he
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: and contestants play You Bet Your Life while for the
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: melodic note on your Wednesday evening schedule. It's music and
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: fun on airtime with Josel McKenzie. And now stay tuned
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: for X minus one on NBC. Contdown for blast Off
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: X minus five four three two X minus one. Fire
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: from the far horizons of the Unknown come transcribed tales
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: of new dimensions in time and space. These are stories
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: of the future adventures in which you'll live in a million,
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: could be years, on a thousand, maybe worlds. The National
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, resents
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: heck he minus minus minus minus.
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: Minus one.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: Tonight Hallucination Orbit by J. T. Macintosh's Chaka.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Sir, stand by the release pickup rocket. Yes, sir, we'll
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: break orbit in eight hours. Have damage control pull the
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: rods on the number three pile. Check leakage, yes, sir,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: try and have the locks cleared of all unessential personnel
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: when that pickup rocket comes back. There's no point in
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: making trouble. I understand your pick up rocket awatter very well.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Take over, mister chalker. I will be in my quarters
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: if I wanted well now then mister Dan Barry, make yourself.
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: Comfortable all I thank you, Captain.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: You care for a drink Scotch and that bowl bourbon
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: in the other.
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: No, thank you. I can't get quite used at squitting
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: liquor from a rubber bubble as if I were oil.
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: I'm daring, and you'd have a devil of a time
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: pouring from a bottle in free fall.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Well, how are you enjoying your trip?
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: Very interesting, Very nice of you to give me a lift.
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: You know, it would have been eight months before another
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: ship came along.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: A lot more than that with the main Pluto beam
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: station out, probably eight years.
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: Really that long. I thought the whole round to Pluto
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: was under eighteen months.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Yes, it is when the beam is running. To see
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: mister Danberry. We left Earth twenty seven days after the
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: beam broadcast from Pluto station broke. We've been spaceborne close
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: to six years.
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: I suppose that's why you're in orbit around this planet
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: picking up supplies or something.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: Oh oh, this is a standard pick up for the
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: Space Beam service. We sent a rocket down to take
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: off a man who's been the only inhabitant of this
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: planet for a little over two years.
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: Well, and I expect he'll be glad to see you.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Well, there's no telling. I know I would after two
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: years of duty mister Danberry, you might not know anything. Oh,
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: psychiatric turples, solatosis, it's from the Latin solace alone?
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: Is that much of a problem only in space?
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: Here?
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: Look look through that port seems empty.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: It is. It's empty of horizon, sky, sunlight, ground, it's
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: empty of time, it's empty of people. You can't live
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: in it too long without something happening.
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: I see. But surely people have been alone before space flying.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Yes, but they have been on the same world with
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: other people, and that seems to make a difference. You
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: take a hermit on Earth. He may spend his life
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: trying to escape civilization. Put him on a deserted world.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: He turned psychotic? Is there a cure and torture? Put
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: him back with people? At least about forty people? That
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: seems to be the critical number. See, I have forty
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: eight in this ship's complement. I could run her with
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: about eighteen, but if I tried to, I'd have psychos
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: on my hands. Six months. Have to blast off with.
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: Then every one of these men in the beam stations.
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: They are all alone, aren't they. That's right, Well, then
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: they must get it they do.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: It wouldn't pay to leave more than forty men on
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: the space station forty is too dangerous. Solatosis can be homicidal.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: So they leave one man how he gets it all right,
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: But you can snap him out of it just by
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: taking him back to Earth. That's why I like to
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: have as few people as possible around When the pickup
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: ship comes back. It can be pretty unpleasant.
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: And what are they like? How does defect?
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: Well?
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: So far I have picked up about twenty eight space
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: station officers.
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: I've seen twenty eight different sets of symptoms.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't want the job of getting those guys out
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: of their stations and into that pickup rocket. Captain here,
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: pickup rocket, all right, mister Chalker prepared to receive the
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: pickup well like the psychiatric staff, and I'll be right there.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: Would you care to see them? Bring them in to
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Dan Barry. You're welcome if you have a strong stomach.
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: I don't think so, Thank you, all right.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Mister Chalker. As soon as the rocket is secured, make
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: a trajectory for the next station that Pluto Station three.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: Carry on Pludo Station three. That will be a hommy
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: of a job. He has been on that lump of
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: rock all by himself for close to six and a
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: half years.
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: Pluto Station three Daily report, Colin ord Space Officer. Everything
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: is in fine shape. Through my port I can see Mars, Earth, Saturn, Mercury.
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: That little devil he's hiding behind the sun. He's been
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: quite furtive lately. Why I'm required to record this report
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: every day escapes me, because it's quite obvious to any
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: empty headed brass hat at the Central office that not
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: a word of this has been worth the tape it's
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: been recorded on for the last five and a half years.
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: But if it amuses you, gentlemen to hear me, wander.
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: After all, you are paying for the tape. Oh, which
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: gives me a fine thought. I'm going to set the
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: pickups through the whole station and leave the tape running.
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: That'll give you a daily report all day, So keep
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: on listening. Right now, I have the distinct impression that
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: Earth is winking at me, rather suggestive, lewd wink.
• 8:25
  Speaker 6: It helps to see the planets, doesn't it.
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: M Oh, I thought you were reading. I was.
• 8:31
  Speaker 6: You know, if you hadn't been able to see the planets,
• 8:32
  Speaker 6: you would have been a stray jacket case long ago.
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: Who knows, I'm not one now you don't anyway?
• 8:37
  Speaker 6: Well, I think that so long as you talk sanely
• 8:40
  Speaker 6: about madness, you can't be so far gone. It's out
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: there somewhere, isn't it.
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: The rescue ship somewhere?
• 8:51
  Speaker 6: How long now, Colin? Where could they be now if
• 8:54
  Speaker 6: they started whenever the beam failed.
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: I haven't worked it out since the last time you
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: asked that they could be very close.
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: If the beam hadn't failed, they would have been here
• 9:03
  Speaker 6: long ago, wouldn't they. Oh?
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: Sure, eleven months with the beam over six years without it. Well, anyway,
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: that triple time six years pay adds up to quite
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: a pile.
• 9:12
  Speaker 6: You'll be set up for life when you get back
• 9:14
  Speaker 6: to earth, won't you.
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: And at twenty nine I'll be rotten with money.
• 9:20
  Speaker 6: Oh well, it's been nice knowing you.
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: That's because of the others before you. I've learned a lot.
• 9:27
  Speaker 6: I'll never talk of the others, and above all, I'll
• 9:29
  Speaker 6: never talk of any others to come.
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: I'm sorry.
• 9:34
  Speaker 6: Would you like to play chess? It's a long time.
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: Since we did.
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: I don't think so, not anymore. I'm a little tired
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: of chess.
• 9:41
  Speaker 6: Oh, I know, I know, I understand. I won't bother you.
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: I'll go to my room Colin, Well, don't get upset.
• 9:49
  Speaker 6: I'm not. I understand you're just tired of chess.
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: You're still listening, gentlemen, that last few minutes might have
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: been a little confusing. You'd like to know who I
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: was talking to, wouldn't you. I'm afraid you can't hear
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: her on the tape. That's Una. Now I'll tell you
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: what she looks like. You might find it interesting. She's
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: beautiful but rather cool. She always wears a white shirt
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: and sharp creased green slack. She's got a good figure,
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: but in a calm sort of way. She plays a
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: good game of chess, although I beat her two out
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: of three times. Of course, you know why you can't
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: hear her on the tape. But I still know too.
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: That's point in my favor, isn't it? That brings up
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: an interesting question, gentlemen? Because I'm tired of Una, I'm
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: beginning to find her a long, cool, slightly unappealing bore.
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: My problem is how to get rid of her. I
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: can't just tell her to vanish. She's a little too
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: real for that. I dreamed up a ship to bring her.
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: I'll have to find another to take her away. Well,
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: I might as well get to it. Oh no, no,
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: I'm not going to bother about the ship. It's too
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: much mental effort. I'd have to think of everything I saw,
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: and frankly, gentlemen, I'm too tired. Maybe she'll take the
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: hint A lot of them did, Susie did? And Alice? Oh,
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: I remember Margie. There was a girl. A load of
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: bricks had to fall on her head. Took me four
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: weeks to get rid of her. No, let Una figure
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: her own way to get off the station. Well she's gone,
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: I thought she might. A ship's gone too. Well, all
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: in all, I don't think Una was really very satisfactory.
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: One of these days I'll start believing in them and
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: I'll be really gone. Well, if I activate the main
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: screens now, i'll see a ship coming into land pretty soon.
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: Every once in a while I have a thought that
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: when the ship really comes, I'll think it's make believe. Yes,
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: there it is a small ship curving in for landing.
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: I suppose I could check on the detectors. I know
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: they register anybody within a hundred thousand miles. But I
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: don't bother checking them anymore, because some day the moment
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: will come when I check the detectors, and I'll see
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: just what I want to see. All the ship's coming
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: in for a landing. Now I'll go out to meet it.
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: I'm rather interested to find out what the explanation will
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: be for the girl. Naturally, it will be a girl.
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: It's all right, you can take your helmet off. The
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: air's all right in here.
• 13:33
  Speaker 6: You must be Baker.
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: Oh good, heavens, No Baker was before me here. You
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: can't be one of his dreams seven years late. I'm ORed,
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: Colin Ord.
• 13:43
  Speaker 6: Before we go any further, just how does solitosis affect you?
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: Well, that's new. None of them ever asked that before.
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: It makes me see things that aren't.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: There, and you know there's nothing there.
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: Sometimes do you know I'm here? I'm making a point
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: of not wondering about it.
• 14:04
  Speaker 6: Well, one thing you can be sure of this. Do
• 14:08
  Speaker 6: you see this?
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: This is a gun.
• 14:11
  Speaker 6: I just want you to know I'm not Heaven's little
• 14:13
  Speaker 6: gift to lonely space station officers.
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: Is that clear? Oh? Yeah, yeah? What's your name?
• 14:22
  Speaker 6: Elsa cutterline? You want to know why I'm here?
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: Of course, not particularly what Well, that's always the weakest
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: part of the story. I don't like to press it.
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: Why don't you uh take off your space suit?
• 14:34
  Speaker 6: I'll tell you why, just the same I killed the man.
• 14:39
  Speaker 6: Why and how? It doesn't matter. I had access to
• 14:40
  Speaker 6: an experimental ship. I thought if I disappeared for about.
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: Two years, So please don't labor over it. I'm not
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: asking questions.
• 14:47
  Speaker 6: Why not?
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: Well, when we get around to it, I would be
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: interested in the story you can concoct. For being dressed
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: like the cover of a magazine story and rather minimal clothing.
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: It's been years since I thought of that anything like that.
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: You must be a throwback.
• 15:02
  Speaker 6: What are you talking about?
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: You know you're going to have a tough time with
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: that gun when you get tired of holding it. It's
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: a heavy gun. How long do you think it'll be
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: before I take it from you? After all, you have
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: to sleep. There's no door in the station you can
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: lock that I can't get in.
• 15:19
  Speaker 6: I know. I just wanted to make sure you weren't violent.
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: I think I can get on with you or yes, yes,
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: I see. The question is, my dear, whether you're real
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: or not?
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Oh?
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: Yes, but that doesn't prove anything. As a matter of fact,
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: the realer you look, the worse off I might be.
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: But then there still is the remote possibility that you
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: might actually have killed someone and decided to hide out
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: on a space station. Shall I tell you something else, Elsa,
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: What I'm suddenly tired of the whole business breathed there
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: a man with soul so dead. I'm sure you know
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: the rest of it. I would suddenly like to have
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: enough people around me so that I could be safe.
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: I would like to find women as part of life
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: instead of having them pop up here from the depths
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: of my rather pornographic subconscious. Ah, but you've shaken me, Elsa.
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: Twenty four hours ago, I was congratulating myself that solatosis
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: hadn't really gotten me. But now I don't know.
• 16:25
  Speaker 7: Just don't try anything funny, or you'll find out whether
• 16:28
  Speaker 7: I'm real.
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: The hard way, anyway, is the hard way. First, I'll
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: go out and have a look at your ship. Fourteen
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: pounds per square inch air heat. Now I take a
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: gasoline lighter. There the flame lights. But on the other hand,
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: if there was no lighter and I see it, I
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: could also see it burn when there isn't any air.
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: As a matter of fact, how do I know that
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: I can read a meter for air pressure and Now
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: that I look again quickly, I find I haven't got
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: a lighter in my hand. And as a matter of fact,
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: the pressure meter reads zero. There's no air on this ship.
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: As a matter of fact, there isn't any ship. I'll say,
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: there's no more real than una. All right, colin, old boys,
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: sit here and concentrate for about fifteen minutes and you'll
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: be able to walk through the walls of the ship.
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: Well, what did you find out there?
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: You'd better leave. It was a mistake. You're coming here.
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: I'm sorry.
• 17:54
  Speaker 6: No, don't come any closer to me.
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: Put down the gun back in morning, you keep back
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: you see, it's no use. Oh you're a good shot.
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: You got me right between the eyes. But I couldn't
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: feel a thing. I can't let myself be shot. Now,
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: can I give that to me here?
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Now?
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: Remember, if you shoot me, nothing happens. But if I
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: shoot you, you die.
• 18:18
  Speaker 6: Do you know that?
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: Yes?
• 18:20
  Speaker 6: I know that.
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: I'll give you about twenty minutes to get that overstuffed
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: figure back into that spacesuit and get off my planet. Frankly,
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: I'm getting tired of Hallucination's tired. Give me gun, No, no, no,
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: I'll keep that. After a while I'll put it in
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: a drawer. It'll stay there until I forget it, and
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: there won't be any gun anymore. From now on, my
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: overblown figment, there will be no more Else's, or Susi's
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: or Margie's. I am not going to give in to salatosis.
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: Maybe maybe I'll bring Una back. At least she could
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: play chess. Pluto Station three Daily Report, Colin Ord Space Officer, Gentlemen,
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: I have successfully fought off salatosis for two days, and
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: I have been alone. However, I'm afraid I'll lose. As
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: I watch my main scope. Now I see a ship
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: coming in again. I wonder what this one will be like.
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: It's a launch from a larger spaceship, maybe a lifeboat.
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: Dorothy came in a lifeboat. I wonder what this one
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: will be like. I've got to find out when she
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: comes whether she's real. That's the key. As long as
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: I know if she's real, when I don't care anymore,
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: that's when it's really got me. The ship's down. Now
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: there she comes out of the airlock. I've got to
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: find out whether she's real. Colin Oud, that's right.
• 20:18
  Speaker 7: I'm doctor Lynna. Fourth Star Line Marilyn Lynna.
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: Oh very pretty. Are you're going to tell me your
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: story now? Or do I have to wait?
• 20:27
  Speaker 7: I'm not going to tell you anything till I've found
• 20:29
  Speaker 7: out a little.
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: More about you. Well, you're an improvement on the last one.
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: At least you're young and beautiful, and you're not fantastic,
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: and you look intelligent. What do you mean, don't worry
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: about me? I see things that aren't there, particularly people.
• 20:47
  Speaker 7: Oh so you don't believe I'm here?
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: Would you if you were me?
• 20:52
  Speaker 7: Do you know I'm not here?
• 20:55
  Speaker 6: No?
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: That comes with time, at least it always has so far.
• 21:00
  Speaker 7: Mean, you've always proved to yourself that your visitors were
• 21:02
  Speaker 7: mere fantasy with a struggle interesting controlled solutosis. I never
• 21:11
  Speaker 7: heard of it before. It's a pleasure to meet you,
• 21:14
  Speaker 7: mister Rohud.
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: No, No, that doesn't make you real. They all say that.
• 21:18
  Speaker 7: Why should I want to make you accept me as real?
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: I don't know, but they all do.
• 21:25
  Speaker 7: When will you know?
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: I can't say. Maybe in five minutes, maybe not for hours.
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: How do you do it?
• 21:33
  Speaker 7: You don't shoot me to see if I die or
• 21:35
  Speaker 7: anything like that?
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: Do you?
• 21:36
  Speaker 6: No?
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: Nothing like that? If I shoot you, you do die?
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: Like the witches in history. They'd die if they were,
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: and they die if they weren't.
• 21:47
  Speaker 7: Your mind has remained agile.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: Enough, naturally. I never heard of solatosis inhibiting intelligence. Would
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: you like some coffee?
• 21:56
  Speaker 7: Is that part of the test, whether more coffee is
• 21:59
  Speaker 7: actually drunk than you drink yourself?
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: That doesn't help. It would be very easy for me
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: to make half what I thought I made, to fill
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: a cup with nothing and pass it back. You look afraid?
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: Why should I be? What am I doing? Am I
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: doing something I don't know I'm doing?
• 22:17
  Speaker 7: Would you like me to wash the cups for you
• 22:19
  Speaker 7: when we're done?
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: It won't prove anything. Next time they were used, I
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: could just imagine they were washed, couldn't I? Where are
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: you going to find out? If you're real? My ship?
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: Go ahead? Good luck? What's she afraid about it? Something
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: I said? None of the others were really afraid of me.
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: I can't tell yet. Nothing's happened. The meters all read
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: fifteen pounds to the square in chair pressure. But that's
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: no good. I can't tell if I'm reading them at all.
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: Oh well, the walls saw not. My hand hurts. That
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: doesn't prove anything. Supposing I open my face plate, if
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: there's no ship and no air, All right, my face
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: plate's open. I'm breathing air. And then again, on the
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: other hand, my face plate may still be closed. Maybe
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: I only think it's open. I can't tell. I can't
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: tell that she isn't real. That means it's finally gotten me,
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: it gets everyone. I don't really know if anything's real,
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: if I'm real, if this space station is real, the planet,
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: the universe, the galaxy. Maybe all life is in my mind.
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: I think therefore I am Yes, I remember that from school.
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: I'm tired. I got to get back to the station,
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: very tired. Close my face plate if I ever opened
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: it to get back to the station. Got a headache,
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: terrible headache. I'm very tired. Are you all right now here?
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: Drink this? What happened?
• 24:29
  Speaker 7: You came in the station locked and passed out?
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: How How long have I been out?
• 24:34
  Speaker 7: About twenty four hours? You're a very sick man, mister rowd.
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: Reality very important thing, isn't it. It's the most important
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: thing there is to learn.
• 24:47
  Speaker 5: Merely to you.
• 24:49
  Speaker 7: Solaitosis naturally affects what matters most to the individual.
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: But we needn't talk about that. But I know now
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: you're not real. You can't be, even though I fear
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: you are. How did you decide that I couldn't prove
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: you weren't not on your ship. I'm too far gone
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: to figure out any test that'll work. But if you
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: are real, then how did you avoid solatosis?
• 25:16
  Speaker 7: The only way there is. There are forty eight men
• 25:18
  Speaker 7: and women in the reliefship that's in orbit around your
• 25:21
  Speaker 7: planet right now. I came down in the pickup rocket.
• 25:24
  Speaker 7: We have well above the critical number of people. I
• 25:27
  Speaker 7: keep rational by knowing they're up there in the orbit.
• 25:29
  Speaker 7: And as soon as I'm ready, I'll take you back
• 25:31
  Speaker 7: up there.
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: I suppose I can wait. I don't really care if
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: you're real or not anymore.
• 25:38
  Speaker 7: I know it'll take a long while before you care.
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: You sound sad. What's the matter. It's the way you
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: look at me. What do you mean? What do you
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: see when you look at me? But you're strong, sort
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: of quietly beautiful. But my abe, you're wearing a tunic
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: and slacks, and you don't have a wedding ring. I
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: noticed that.
• 26:08
  Speaker 7: That's what I thought you saw. I'm real, but not
• 26:12
  Speaker 7: your picture of me. I'm a doctor, mister Rhard, all
• 26:17
  Speaker 7: first contacts with station officers are made by chained psychiatrists.
• 26:22
  Speaker 7: I'm a doctor and I was a girl one, but
• 26:26
  Speaker 7: that was forty years ago.
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: I'm sixty six. You can't be Oh.
• 26:34
  Speaker 7: Yes, it was very nice to be a girl again.
• 26:38
  Speaker 7: I could see myself in your eyes and I almost
• 26:41
  Speaker 7: felt young again as I grow old. In the next
• 26:46
  Speaker 7: few weeks, mister Rhard, you will be recovering. That will
• 26:51
  Speaker 7: show you how your case is progressing. When you see
• 26:55
  Speaker 7: me as I really am, you will be all right.
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: Assuming you're real Maryland. It really must take something to
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: come down alone to see one of us. I think
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: I see you now as you really are. Captain.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: Yes, it's a Joco pick up rocket, all secured from
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: Pluto number three. How is the poor fellow? Goodness can
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: be expected? And he came on board with doctor Lynne.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: I'm telling you these guys throw me there. He was
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: holding her hand, looking in her eyes like he was
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: in love with her. And you know what a dried
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: up old bat she is. Yes, I know, to Charkin
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: compared a brass off.
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: You have just heard X minus one presented by the
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Galaxy science fiction magazine,
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: which this month features the Willie Leigh column Mutant of
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: the Iron Horse describing minor rail railroads of the past
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: and future. Galaxy Magazine on your new stand today. Tonight
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: by transcription X minus one has brought you Hallucination Orbit,
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: a story from the pages of Galaxy, written by J. T.
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: McIntosh and adapted for radio by Ernest Cannoy. Featured in
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: the cast were William Redfield, John Larkin, Vera Allen, John Moore,
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: Terry Keane, Dick Hamilton, and Hope Risman. You're announcer Fred Collins.
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: X minus one was directed by Daniel Sutter and is
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: an NBC Radio Network production National Radio Week recollections at
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: thirty Salutes Radio Tonight on NBC.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: That was X minus one with Hallucination Orbit. Follow X
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: minus one for more classic broadcasts.