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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: An estranged wife boards her rocket pilot husband's interplanetary flight
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: under another passenger's clearance. Once the ship is underway, the
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: rules governing space travel place their hoped-for reunion in the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: middle of an operational crisis. From NBC, this is X-1,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Jay Walker, episode 47, first heard April 17, 1956. George
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Lefferts adapted Ross Rocklin's story, first published in Galaxy Science
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Fiction in 1950. Daniel Sutter directed a cast including Bob Hastings,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Raymond Edward Johnson, Terry Keene, Connie Lemke, and Eugene Francis. Now,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: back to the golden age of radio.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: In just a moment, X minus one, but first, after
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: a hard day's work, there's nothing more welcome than an
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: evening of variety entertainment. And that's just the tonic provided
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: tomorrow night by NBC Radio. You'll laugh your cares away
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: when good-natured contestants carry out the rib-tickling stunts dreamed up
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: by MC Jack Bailey.
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: On NBC's Truth or Consequences.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: And later on, Groucho Marx peps things up with lots
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: of spontaneous good fun and more of the friendly insults
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: at which he's so accomplished. For a brighter, livelier evening
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: tomorrow night, it's Groucho Marx and Truth or Consequences on
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: this station. Now, stay tuned for X-1 on NBC.
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: Have a nice trip. The seat number is 15. Next, please.
• 1:24
  Speaker 5: Countdown for blastoff.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: X minus 5, 4, 3, 2, X minus 1, fire.
• 2:02
  Speaker 6: From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed tales
• 2:05
  Speaker 6: of new dimensions in time and space.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: These are stories of the future.
• 2:11
  Speaker 6: Adventures in which you'll live in a million could be
• 2:13
  Speaker 6: years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company,
• 2:18
  Speaker 6: in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, presents.
• 2:22
  Speaker 5: X minus 1.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: Tonight's story, Jay Walker by Ross Rocklin.
• 2:52
  Speaker 6: Intergalactic flight number 14 now loading at ramp 10. Intergalactic
• 2:57
  Speaker 6: flight number 14 now loading at ramp 10.
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: Please have your flight loaded.
• 3:03
  Speaker 7: You walk from the waiting room down the long ramp
• 3:05
  Speaker 7: numbered 10. The flight pack is in one hand, the
• 3:08
  Speaker 7: validation papers in the other. Other passengers chatter behind you.
• 3:13
  Speaker 7: You turn a corner, and there's the ship. The cylinder
• 3:17
  Speaker 7: of glistening silver aimed at the moon. You feel yourself
• 3:20
  Speaker 7: carried up the moving stair to the gaping entrance lock.
• 3:24
  Speaker 7: A pretty stewardess in a blue uniform smiles at you.
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: Validation papers, please?
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: Your papers, madam.
• 3:30
  Speaker 7: Oh, papers? Oh, yes, here they are.
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: Mm-hmm.
• 3:34
  Speaker 8: Mrs.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: Marsha Foster. You feeling well, Miss Foster?
• 3:37
  Speaker 7: Yes, quite well, thank you.
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: We have to make sure. Once in a while, somebody
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: slips aboard with another person's validation papers.
• 3:45
  Speaker 7: What difference would it make if I felt well or not?
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: Great deal, I'm afraid.
• 3:49
  Speaker 9: You see, the effect of a free fall in space
• 3:51
  Speaker 9: without gravity can do quite a bit of damage in
• 3:54
  Speaker 9: certain glandular conditions.
• 3:56
  Speaker 7: I see you've passed your physical. Yes, I'm quite all right. Fine.
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: Have a nice trip. Your seat number is 15.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: Next, please.
• 4:05
  Speaker 7: You walk down the carpeted aisle to the plastic on
• 4:07
  Speaker 7: the seat. Her words make a ringing pattern in your brain.
• 4:12
  Speaker 7: Are you feeling well, Mrs. Foster? Mrs. Foster's feeling quite well,
• 4:16
  Speaker 7: thank you.
• 4:17
  Speaker 9: Mrs.
• 4:17
  Speaker 7: Foster has passed her physical examination. There's only one thing
• 4:21
  Speaker 7: wrong with the picture. You are not Mrs. Foster.
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: Attention, please.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: Attention.
• 4:28
  Speaker 8: In one minute, the flash walls will be raised around
• 4:31
  Speaker 8: the ship. If for any reason the passenger is not
• 4:33
  Speaker 8: feeling well or does not wish to make the trip,
• 4:36
  Speaker 8: please speak up.
• 4:39
  Speaker 7: One minute. You begin to wonder if you ought to
• 4:42
  Speaker 7: go after all. You begin to think of how it happened.
• 4:46
  Speaker 7: Why you're here sitting in this silver vessel waiting to
• 4:49
  Speaker 7: blast off for the moon. What happened between you and Jack?
• 4:54
  Speaker 7: What happened?
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: Honey, honey, I'm back.
• 5:02
  Speaker 7: Jack, oh, darling.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: Did you miss me?
• 5:06
  Speaker 7: Did I miss you?
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: I brought you a little present from the moon.
• 5:11
  Speaker 7: What is it?
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: Open it and see.
• 5:13
  Speaker 7: All right, I will.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: Try it on.
• 5:17
  Speaker 7: Oh, it's beautiful.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: Took us two hours to pick it out. Us? Oh,
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: me and Sue. Sue Egan.
• 5:27
  Speaker 7: Who's she?
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: The stewardess on the ship.
• 5:30
  Speaker 8: Oh?
• 5:32
  Speaker 7: How long has she been on the Earth moon run?
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: I guess it's about a year now.
• 5:37
  Speaker 7: Funny you never mentioned it.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: Oh, haven't I? Well, what's the difference?
• 5:42
  Speaker 7: It just seems odd.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: Hey.
• 5:45
  Speaker 7: What?
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: Well, you're not jealous, are you?
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: Is she pretty?
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: Oh, monstrous. Four feet high and three feet around. And
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: she has a big blue eye right in the middle
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: of her forehead.
• 5:54
  Speaker 7: Oh, you're insane.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: Come on, how about a kiss?
• 5:56
  Speaker 7: No.
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: Lady, I've been away for four months.
• 6:00
  Speaker 7: Sorry.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: I guess I'll just have to go back to Sue
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: Egan and her three blue eyes.
• 6:04
  Speaker 7: In that case, here.
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: I have been away a long time.
• 6:15
  Speaker 7: Jack, I want to talk to you about that.
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: Okay, but could it wait till tonight? I am taking
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: you to dinner, Mrs. McClain.
• 6:23
  Speaker 7: I'd rather talk about it now.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 6:25
  Speaker 8: Okay.
• 6:27
  Speaker 7: Jack, we've been married for six years now.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: Is it that long?
• 6:30
  Speaker 7: Seven in July. For the last two, you've been skippering
• 6:33
  Speaker 7: that rocket to the moon.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: I know.
• 6:35
  Speaker 7: Three weeks at a time, with only a week in between.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: Well, I do get a month vacation besides.
• 6:39
  Speaker 7: Jack, that is no kind of life.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: Marsha, I don't know what I can do about it.
• 6:43
  Speaker 7: You haven't tried to do anything about it.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: I guess you're right.
• 6:47
  Speaker 7: Do you intend to try?
• 6:49
  Speaker 5: Marsha.
• 6:50
  Speaker 7: Look, I need to know.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: Marsha, flying is my whole life.
• 6:53
  Speaker 7: But it isn't mine. I'm not going to spend three
• 6:56
  Speaker 7: weeks out of four sitting here wondering if you'll come
• 6:58
  Speaker 7: back alive.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: Oh, now that's ridiculous.
• 7:00
  Speaker 8: Is it?
• 7:01
  Speaker 7: What about my father who died on the Elsinore when
• 7:03
  Speaker 7: it missed Mars?
• 7:03
  Speaker 10: Your father died as the result of a space maneuver
• 7:06
  Speaker 10: that no pilot in his right mind would try.
• 7:08
  Speaker 7: They missed the planet. That could happen to anybody.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: They missed it because they tried to warp the ship around.
• 7:14
  Speaker 7: I'm afraid I don't understand.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: Well, it isn't very hard to understand.
• 7:18
  Speaker 10: A spaceship takes off with everything calculated to the last
• 7:21
  Speaker 10: decimal point. It has exactly enough fuel to take it
• 7:24
  Speaker 10: to a planet if it follows an exact course.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: An ironclad mathematical orbit.
• 7:30
  Speaker 7: Well?
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: Well, there was a jaywalker aboard the Elsinore.
• 7:34
  Speaker 7: A jaywalker?
• 7:35
  Speaker 10: Well, that's what we call somebody who boards a ship
• 7:37
  Speaker 10: knowing that he has no business doing so. In this
• 7:39
  Speaker 10: particular case, it was a senator going to a convention
• 7:42
  Speaker 10: on the moon. He had been taking endocrine treatments and
• 7:45
  Speaker 10: kept it secret on his validation papers. He felt he
• 7:48
  Speaker 10: had to attend this convention to muster some votes for
• 7:50
  Speaker 10: his campaigns.
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: He didn't consider that he was jeopardizing his life.
• 7:54
  Speaker 7: I still don't see how they missed the planet.
• 7:57
  Speaker 10: Six hours out, the senator began to die. The effect
• 8:00
  Speaker 10: of the free fall on his glands was catching up
• 8:03
  Speaker 10: with him. And the only way to reverse that effect
• 8:05
  Speaker 10: is to reverse the spin of the ship.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: Turn it end over end.
• 8:09
  Speaker 10: That creates artificial gravity, reverses the.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: Stress on the glands. The pilot took a chance. He
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: did just that.
• 8:15
  Speaker 7: Is that why they missed the planet?
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: They lost their trajectory.
• 8:19
  Speaker 10: By the time they recalculated their course, they'd passed Mars.
• 8:22
  Speaker 10: They ran out of fuel and kept going until, well,
• 8:26
  Speaker 10: until they fell into the gravity of the sun.
• 8:29
  Speaker 7: And that couldn't happen today?
• 8:30
  Speaker 10: A pilot would have to be out of his mind
• 8:32
  Speaker 10: to try a maneuver like that.
• 8:33
  Speaker 7: You wouldn't try it.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: Risk an entire ship to save the life of one fool?
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: You wouldn't.
• 8:39
  Speaker 10: Oh, Marsha, I can't say I definitely wouldn't. Right now,
• 8:43
  Speaker 10: it's inconceivable.
• 8:44
  Speaker 7: Just as inconceivable for you to give up space flight
• 8:46
  Speaker 7: for myself.
• 8:48
  Speaker 10: Isn't it equally inconceivable for you to put up with
• 8:50
  Speaker 10: it for my sake?
• 8:51
  Speaker 7: I've put up with it for two years. Jack, this
• 8:55
  Speaker 7: is the end of it.
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: Now, what exactly do you mean by that?
• 8:58
  Speaker 7: I mean you have to decide whether you want a
• 9:00
  Speaker 7: marriage and a family or a career as a space jockey.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: Then why do I have to decide? Why can't I
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: have both?
• 9:05
  Speaker 7: Because I won't live this way. Nobody else does except
• 9:09
  Speaker 7: a handful of wives whose husbands are crazy enough to
• 9:10
  Speaker 7: have picked a profession like this.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: Well, you knew this was my profession when you married me.
• 9:14
  Speaker 7: I didn't know it was like this.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: Marsha, what you're.
• 9:16
  Speaker 10: Asking me to do, I simply can't do.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: Wouldn't make you happy if I did. I'd just be
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: walking around resenting you. Now, come on. Let's have dinner
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: and forget this for a while.
• 9:28
  Speaker 7: No. We're not having dinner.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: Would you rather stay home tonight?
• 9:34
  Speaker 8: No.
• 9:35
  Speaker 7: I'm going to Los Angeles to my mother's house.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: What?
• 9:38
  Speaker 7: I have tickets on the six o'clock flight.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: Tonight?
• 9:40
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 9:41
  Speaker 7: Jack, I'm quite determined. I've made up my mind that
• 9:43
  Speaker 7: I'd put it to you squarely, and if you refused,
• 9:45
  Speaker 7: I was leaving.
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: Just like that?
• 9:47
  Speaker 7: Yes. I've had all I can take.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: Mosh, for heaven's sake, can't we talk this over and
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: make some kind of a compromise?
• 9:52
  Speaker 7: There is no compromise, Jack. It's all very exciting for you,
• 9:56
  Speaker 7: tearing back and forth to the moon with glamorous stewardesses
• 9:58
  Speaker 7: and all sorts of celebrities. but sitting here waiting isn't
• 10:01
  Speaker 7: much fun for me well.
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: You could get a job you could develop some interest that.
• 10:04
  Speaker 7: Isn't why i married you i want a home and
• 10:07
  Speaker 7: a family and a man who comes home every night
• 10:09
  Speaker 7: and talks to me about little unimportant things and i'm
• 10:13
  Speaker 7: not that man no no you're not okay what are
• 10:18
  Speaker 7: you doing.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: I don't like people walking out on me, so I'm
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: leaving first.
• 10:22
  Speaker 7: Would you mind telling me where you'll be?
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 10:26
  Speaker 10: You can reach me through Intergalactic if you change your mind. Marsha,
• 10:31
  Speaker 10: maybe we'll both be better off. We didn't have much
• 10:33
  Speaker 10: of a home life anyway, just the two of us.
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: Oh, I'm sorry.
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: I didn't mean that.
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: I know how you feel about not having children. Goodbye, Marsha.
• 10:45
  Speaker 8: Goodbye.
• 10:49
  Speaker 7: Thank you. There it was. You learned when you came
• 11:02
  Speaker 7: back from Los Angeles two months later that he'd been
• 11:04
  Speaker 7: seen in the company of one Susan Egan, stewardess for
• 11:08
  Speaker 7: Intergalactic on numerous occasions. You learned, too, that he'd applied
• 11:11
  Speaker 7: for the Earth-Venus run, the newest and most difficult run
• 11:14
  Speaker 7: in the galaxy. And you learned something else, something that
• 11:18
  Speaker 7: was going to change the whole course of your life.
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: Come in, Mrs. McLean. Sit down.
• 11:26
  Speaker 7: Thank you, Doctor.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: I have some good news for you.
• 11:28
  Speaker 7: Yes?
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: You're going to have a child. Well, I... I thought
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: you'd be happy about that.
• 11:35
  Speaker 7: Happy?
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: Oh, yes.
• 11:38
  Speaker 7: Yes, I am. Naturally. You debated for a long time,
• 11:50
  Speaker 7: and then you called the intergalactic office.
• 11:53
  Speaker 6: Mr.
• 11:53
  Speaker 7: McLean was out on the Earth-Moon run. He'd be back
• 11:55
  Speaker 7: on the 12th, but only for an afternoon. He was
• 11:58
  Speaker 7: taking off again immediately. They were so sorry. You were
• 12:03
  Speaker 7: sorry yourself. It seemed as if life would not be
• 12:06
  Speaker 7: worth living without Jack, especially now with a child on
• 12:09
  Speaker 7: the way. You had to talk to him, to be
• 12:11
  Speaker 7: with him. That was when you first began to formulate
• 12:14
  Speaker 7: the idea of going to the moon with him on
• 12:16
  Speaker 7: this run.
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: Attention please, attention!
• 12:21
  Speaker 8: We're about to count down for blast off. Fasten your
• 12:23
  Speaker 8: seat belts and recline back as far as possible. The
• 12:26
  Speaker 8: next sound will be that of the first stage rockets
• 12:29
  Speaker 8: heating up. Do not be alarmed by the vibration of
• 12:32
  Speaker 8: the ship.
• 12:34
  Speaker 7: From the bulkheads overhead everywhere comes the deep rumbling sound.
• 12:39
  Speaker 7: Some of the passengers look anxious, some excited, some leap
• 12:43
  Speaker 7: casually through magazines as they lie on their backs in
• 12:45
  Speaker 7: the reclining seats.
• 12:48
  Speaker 8: Those of you who've never been in rockets will find
• 12:50
  Speaker 8: it an experience that will make you proud to belong to.
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: The human race.
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: Countdown for blastoff. X minus five. Minus four. Minus three.
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: Minus two. Minus one. Zero.
• 13:11
  Speaker 7: The rumble heightens. All emotion leaves you. A cold, ravening
• 13:15
  Speaker 7: fear takes over. You try to close your eyes, your
• 13:18
  Speaker 7: ears against it, but your mind won't respond. You look
• 13:20
  Speaker 7: out the port, and the scene is suddenly splashed with
• 13:22
  Speaker 7: a rushing sheet of flame that darkens the sky and
• 13:24
  Speaker 7: is torn from your vision. Snatched away, the buildings, the trees,
• 13:31
  Speaker 7: the roads vanish. A great, soft, uniform weight presses down
• 13:35
  Speaker 7: on you. You push with all your might, but it
• 13:36
  Speaker 7: smothers you, presses you back, drives your blood down, down
• 13:39
  Speaker 7: inside of you. And then, quiet.
• 13:46
  Speaker 8: We are now 102 miles over New York City. You
• 13:49
  Speaker 8: may unfasten your safety belt. The pull of gravity will
• 13:53
  Speaker 8: no longer trouble you.
• 13:58
  Speaker 7: You unfasten the safety belt and sit in the seat,
• 14:01
  Speaker 7: wondering what to do next.
• 14:03
  Speaker 8: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to intergalactic flight number 14 out
• 14:07
  Speaker 8: of New York Rocketport, destination Moon. I'm your hostess, Miss
• 14:11
  Speaker 8: Susan Egan. Your pilot for this flight is Captain Jack McLean.
• 14:15
  Speaker 8: Our position at the moment is approximately 550 miles above Earth,
• 14:19
  Speaker 8: and in less than one half hour, we'll be in
• 14:22
  Speaker 8: free fall, completely without gravity. Our speed is currently 29,000
• 14:26
  Speaker 8: miles per hour. We should arrive at Moonport at exactly
• 14:29
  Speaker 8: 6 p.m. tomorrow Earth time. I wish you a pleasant voyage.
• 14:33
  Speaker 8: If there's anything you need, Intergalactic is at your service.
• 14:45
  Speaker 7: Well, you think to yourself, everybody's here. Your husband, your
• 14:52
  Speaker 7: loved one, and his wife. You watch her as she
• 14:56
  Speaker 7: walks back along the rows of seats with an armful
• 14:58
  Speaker 7: of the latest magazine recordings. A tall girl, about 29
• 15:02
  Speaker 7: or 30, dark brown hair, dark eyes, and not very pretty.
• 15:08
  Speaker 7: The sort who would be able to talk to him
• 15:10
  Speaker 7: about steam tubes and beautiful landings and solar storms.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: Mrs.
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: Foster, would you like something to read?
• 15:17
  Speaker 7: Oh, uh, thank you, no.
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: First time no rocket ship?
• 15:23
  Speaker 7: Yes, could you tell?
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: You look a little green.
• 15:26
  Speaker 7: You feeling well? I'm quite, I'm quite all right.
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: Just a touch of space sickness. Come along to the
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: ship's hospital and we'll fix you up in a jiffy.
• 15:34
  Speaker 7: No, I'd rather just sit here a minute.
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: Of course.
• 15:38
  Speaker 7: I just, oh, come on.
• 15:41
  Speaker 8: Come on.
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: Let me help you into the ship's hospital.
• 15:44
  Speaker 7: That's it.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: Come on. Take it easy.
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: Now, come.
• 15:51
  Speaker 7: On. Now, you just lie down there.
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: How are you feeling?
• 16:03
  Speaker 7: I'm scared.
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: There's nothing to be afraid of.
• 16:07
  Speaker 7: I think there is. What is it? I'm pregnant.
• 16:12
  Speaker 6: What?
• 16:13
  Speaker 7: I faked my validation papers.
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: Do you know what you've done to yourself?
• 16:17
  Speaker 7: I hoped it wouldn't affect me.
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: There's not much I can say, Mrs.
• 16:20
  Speaker 5: Foster.
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: I'll have to tell the captain, naturally.
• 16:22
  Speaker 7: But would it be... I mean, could I tell him myself?
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: You'd rather? I'll call him. Stewardess to Captain.
• 16:29
  Speaker 5: McLean, what is it, doll?
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: Jack, there's a passenger in the ship's hospital.
• 16:33
  Speaker 5: What's up?
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: You'd better come down here.
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: Look, Susie, I've got my course correction.
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: I think you'd better come right down. Okay.
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: Charlie, take it, will you? I'll be right back.
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: He'll be here in a minute or two. Here, let
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: me put this pillow under your head.
• 16:46
  Speaker 7: Thank you. Now, what made you do it? You wouldn't understand.
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: You loved him and he stationed on the moon and
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: you wanted to be near him. Is that it?
• 16:59
  Speaker 7: Could you understand that?
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: You mean not being able to have the man you love? Yes.
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: I think I could understand.
• 17:17
  Speaker 7: He wanted to scream at her, to claw at her face.
• 17:21
  Speaker 7: She was going to live and you were going to die.
• 17:24
  Speaker 7: She was going to share a life with Jack when
• 17:26
  Speaker 7: you were only a dim sort of memory in his mind.
• 17:28
  Speaker 7: He came in moving fast with that kind of schoolboy
• 17:32
  Speaker 7: gait of his. His dark face was frowning but handsome
• 17:36
  Speaker 7: as ever.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: Now just why did you... Marsha... Marcia, honey.
• 17:44
  Speaker 7: Hello, Jack.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: What are you doing aboard? Sue, this is my wife. Marcia,
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: this is Sue Egan.
• 17:52
  Speaker 8: Oh, hello.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: I'll be getting out.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: Excuse me. What's going on?
• 17:58
  Speaker 7: Jack, sit down. I want to tell you something.
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: I'd like to say something first, Marcia.
• 18:04
  Speaker 10: I've had a chance to do a lot of thinking lately.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: And if you think we could work it out, I'd
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: like to try again.
• 18:10
  Speaker 7: You mean that?
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: Yes, I do.
• 18:14
  Speaker 7: What about Miss Egan? Sue?
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: What about her?
• 18:18
  Speaker 7: Well, I... I thought... I mean, I heard.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: I'm very fond of Sue.
• 18:26
  Speaker 7: Yes, I thought you were.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: But she isn't my wife.
• 18:30
  Speaker 8: You are.
• 18:32
  Speaker 7: Was.
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: What do you mean?
• 18:35
  Speaker 7: I'm going to die, Jack.
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: Marsha, what are you talking about?
• 18:38
  Speaker 9: Jack.
• 18:38
  Speaker 7: I'm pregnant. I'm pregnant. You see, we're a little too late.
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: Did you know this when you came aboard?
• 18:49
  Speaker 7: Yes.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: But weren't you aware that... What about the physical?
• 18:52
  Speaker 7: I used another woman's validation papers. I paid her for it. Why, Melissa?
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: How could you do a thing like that?
• 18:58
  Speaker 7: I don't know. I don't know. All I knew was
• 19:00
  Speaker 7: that I had to see you. I had to be
• 19:02
  Speaker 7: with you.
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: If you'd only told me.
• 19:03
  Speaker 7: I couldn't reach you.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: Didn't you know what would happen if you took a
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: rocket flight?
• 19:07
  Speaker 7: I thought somehow it wouldn't happen to me. I... I
• 19:10
  Speaker 7: didn't know that pregnancy was affected.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: And if you had?
• 19:13
  Speaker 7: I would have come along anyway.
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: I suppose in the way I'm to blame. I'm the
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: one who walked out.
• 19:19
  Speaker 7: Don't take the blame on yourself. I'm over 21.
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: Marsha, what did you hope to accomplish by this?
• 19:25
  Speaker 7: I'm not sure.
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: There's only one possibility.
• 19:29
  Speaker 7: Possibility?
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: Yes, excuse me.
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: Miss Egan.
• 19:32
  Speaker 9: Yes.
• 19:33
  Speaker 10: Come into the ship's hospital, please. Bring Petrocelli for maintenance.
• 19:37
  Speaker 10: Tell him to come up.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: Here with a crescent wrench.
• 19:41
  Speaker 7: What are you going to do?
• 19:43
  Speaker 8: Do?
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: Nothing much. I'm going to warp the ship around, that's all.
• 19:47
  Speaker 8: No!
• 19:53
  Speaker 7: Petrocelli was a big, easygoing man. Jack left me alone
• 19:57
  Speaker 7: with him and Miss Egan while he went back to
• 19:58
  Speaker 7: the control room. Petrocelli started to bolt a metal bed
• 20:02
  Speaker 7: to the side wall of the cabin.
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: Why are you.
• 20:07
  Speaker 7: Putting the bed on the wall.
• 20:08
  Speaker 6: Because, lady, when he starts to spin the ship, that
• 20:11
  Speaker 6: outside bulk is going to be down, not sideways.
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: Centrifugal force, see?
• 20:16
  Speaker 7: I'm afraid I don't.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: Well, that's too bad, because I got other things to
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: do besides explain.
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: Okay, Susie, it's all yours.
• 20:25
  Speaker 7: Is he always that rude?
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: Doesn't it occur to you that maybe he's under a
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: slight strain?
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: Strain?
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: Look, Mrs.
• 20:31
  Speaker 9: McClain, your husband's going to warp the ship around. The
• 20:34
  Speaker 9: chances of his pulling off a maneuver like that without
• 20:37
  Speaker 9: piling us up in the sun or in deep space
• 20:39
  Speaker 9: are about a thousand to one. I appreciate that you
• 20:43
  Speaker 9: wanted to see him and show him that he ought
• 20:45
  Speaker 9: to be ashamed of himself for leaving you, but does
• 20:48
  Speaker 9: it occur to you that.
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: All of us may lose our lives because of it?
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: Including Petruccelli?
• 20:54
  Speaker 7: No, I hadn't thought about it. Let's go.
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: I've got to strap you into that bed.
• 20:57
  Speaker 7: No, wait. What will happen to me if the ship
• 21:00
  Speaker 7: isn't warped?
• 21:01
  Speaker 8: Sudden floods of the adrenal glands, convulsions, panic, spastic secretions,
• 21:05
  Speaker 8: and eventually, death.
• 21:08
  Speaker 7: What causes it?
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: Lack of gravity. We aren't sure just how.
• 21:11
  Speaker 9: The purpose of spinning the ship is to press you
• 21:13
  Speaker 9: up against the outer wall and create the effect of
• 21:15
  Speaker 9: gravity through centrifugal force.
• 21:17
  Speaker 7: Do you... Do you think he can do it?
• 21:21
  Speaker 9: I think he's the best skipper in the intergalactic fleet.
• 21:25
  Speaker 7: That isn't the answer to my question. Can he spin
• 21:29
  Speaker 7: the ship without killing everyone? I have faith in you.
• 21:44
  Speaker 7: She loved him. She had faith in him. And you,
• 21:50
  Speaker 7: you to whom he was married, you who carried his
• 21:52
  Speaker 7: child inside you, did you have faith in him?
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: Everything set in here?
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 22:00
  Speaker 8: Good.
• 22:00
  Speaker 7: Jack, could we talk alone for a minute?
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: Only a minute. We have to get the new data
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: into the computer. Susie, will you excuse us, please? Yes. Well?
• 22:11
  Speaker 7: Jack, don't do it.
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: Marsha.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: I mean it.
• 22:13
  Speaker 7: You've no right to risk all those lives just for me.
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: Marsha, I'm captain of this ship. I do as I
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: see fit, and I can't do otherwise.
• 22:20
  Speaker 7: But it isn't fair to them. It isn't fair to you.
• 22:22
  Speaker 10: When we're born into this life, we don't make any
• 22:24
  Speaker 10: agreement that says everything is going to be fair and equitable.
• 22:27
  Speaker 7: I refuse to let you do it.
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: You can't stop me.
• 22:29
  Speaker 7: I'll take my life.
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: I'm going to ask Sue to stay with you.
• 22:32
  Speaker 7: What about her? Don't you love her?
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: Well?
• 22:36
  Speaker 10: Marsha, whether I love Sue Egan is not the point
• 22:38
  Speaker 10: just now. I've decided to spin ship to save you
• 22:41
  Speaker 10: and my son.
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: Or daughter. If it means risking the lives of others,
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: I have to take that risk.
• 22:48
  Speaker 7: Jack.
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: Yes?
• 22:50
  Speaker 7: Why are you doing it?
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: Because... I love you.
• 23:07
  Speaker 7: It seemed to me during the next hour through the
• 23:09
  Speaker 7: haze of the drug they gave me that I could
• 23:12
  Speaker 7: see him. There was the curved silver board before it
• 23:15
  Speaker 7: that Jack hunched like a harried bookkeeper on the last
• 23:18
  Speaker 7: day of the month.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: Okay, Charlie.
• 23:21
  Speaker 10: We'll come to the moon obliquely at 0.307. We pass it, stop,
• 23:25
  Speaker 10: spin the ship over once to check speed. Then put
• 23:28
  Speaker 10: the tail down when we feel gravity at 7.035. And
• 23:31
  Speaker 10: if we can do it with the fuel we've got,
• 23:33
  Speaker 10: it'll be a miracle.
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: All right, start the calculators. Engine room, reverse tubes.
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: Reverse tubes.
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: Wait for new course vector 7073. Ready for new.
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: Course vector 7073.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: Set firing formula 2635726.
• 23:51
  Speaker 10: Firing formula ready.
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: Coming into cost vector. Counting down. 7077. 76.
• 23:59
  Speaker 10: 76.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: 75.
• 24:00
  Speaker 9: 75.
• 24:00
  Speaker 6: 74.
• 24:00
  Speaker 10: 74.
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: 73.
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: Fire.
• 24:26
  Speaker 7: You don't recall much after that. There's the bulkhead pressing
• 24:29
  Speaker 7: against you like a magnet pressing harder and harder. Then
• 24:33
  Speaker 7: there's the needle, and then sudden relaxation. Through it all,
• 24:38
  Speaker 7: the stars and the moon and Jack and Sue Egan
• 24:41
  Speaker 7: dance in a pattern of mist, and the words come
• 24:43
  Speaker 7: back to you from long ago. The things he said
• 24:46
  Speaker 7: to you when you were both in love many years ago.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: When I fly the ship, it seems that all Earth
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: watches me through your eyes.
• 24:55
  Speaker 7: The man comes to love her because he has to
• 24:57
  Speaker 7: fight for her.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: I guess.
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: How is she?
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: Hold tight, Marsha. Hold tight to me.
• 25:03
  Speaker 7: She calls you Marsha. This woman who hates you, who
• 25:07
  Speaker 7: loves your husband, she calls you Marsha.
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: Marsha. Marsha.
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: Marsha.
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: Marsha.
• 25:19
  Speaker 9: Marsha.
• 25:24
  Speaker 7: The curved ceiling, but a new curve. And soft rose
• 25:28
  Speaker 7: instead of chrome metal. A new feeling, unlike Earth or
• 25:34
  Speaker 7: the ship.
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: Honey, wake up.
• 25:39
  Speaker 7: Jack?
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: It's all right, honey. We made it. We're on the moon.
• 25:44
  Speaker 7: Moon? Yes.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: You're in the new Lunar City, husband.
• 25:49
  Speaker 7: You did it. You really did it.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: Well, I've been telling you for years that I was
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: the best pilot in the fleet.
• 25:56
  Speaker 7: Oh, you don't have to pretend. I know how you
• 25:59
  Speaker 7: must feel about what I did.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: I'm not pretending.
• 26:02
  Speaker 7: I was a selfish coward. I wasn't concerned about anything
• 26:06
  Speaker 7: but my own happiness.
• 26:08
  Speaker 10: Marsha, there isn't any absolute scale for courage or kindness
• 26:11
  Speaker 10: or goodness. I couldn't pretend to judge you or anybody else.
• 26:17
  Speaker 10: I only know that I believe you're a good person.
• 26:20
  Speaker 10: And I love you.
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: With your faults and your good points.
• 26:25
  Speaker 7: I just wanted to be with you, Jack. That's all
• 26:28
  Speaker 7: I ever wanted. I'm sorry I'm not brave and strong
• 26:32
  Speaker 7: like Susan or you or the others.
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: Oh, honey, nobody expects you to be. Come on. You've
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: got to save your strength. We've got to take good
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: care of you.
• 26:50
  Speaker 7: He reaches down and touches your lips with his fingers.
• 26:55
  Speaker 7: It's like a benediction. You know that you'll never again
• 26:58
  Speaker 7: question his right to do the things that fulfill him.
• 27:02
  Speaker 7: To take a silver ship above the earth and guide
• 27:04
  Speaker 7: it to new planets. Our child will be born on
• 27:08
  Speaker 7: the moon, we whisper to him. And our grandchildren in
• 27:13
  Speaker 7: the stars.
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: You have just heard X-1 presented by the National Broadcasting
• 27:23
  Speaker 6: Company in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, which this
• 27:28
  Speaker 6: month features the Arthur Sellings tale entitled One Across. The
• 27:33
  Speaker 6: story of a man who thought that doing puzzles was
• 27:35
  Speaker 6: an escape until he suddenly found himself completely boxed in.
• 27:41
  Speaker 6: Galaxy Magazine on your newsstand today. Tonight by transcription, X-1
• 27:46
  Speaker 6: has brought you Jay Walker. A story from the pages
• 27:49
  Speaker 6: of Galaxy written by Ross Rocklin and adapted for radio
• 27:52
  Speaker 6: by George Lefferts. Featured in the cast were Bob Hastings,
• 27:56
  Speaker 6: Terry Keene, Raymond Edward Johnson, Connie Lemke, and Eugene Francis.
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: Your announcer, Fred Collins.
• 28:04
  Speaker 6: X-1 was directed by Daniel Sutter and is an NBC
• 28:08
  Speaker 6: Radio Network production. Next week, the story of the journey
• 28:23
  Speaker 6: that had no end, of a ship that had traveled
• 28:26
  Speaker 6: so long through space that none aboard her could remember
• 28:28
  Speaker 6: their destination or even wonder where they were going. Listen
• 28:32
  Speaker 6: for The Sense of Wonder next week on X-1. The
• 28:39
  Speaker 6: big news tomorrow centers around the tiny principality of Monaco,
• 28:42
  Speaker 6: where one of the century's most fabulous weddings will take place.
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: And NBC Radio is on the spot to cover it
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: for you.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: In the daytime, NBC's Weekday reports the civil wedding ceremony
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: as it happens with simultaneous English translation.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: Our time with X-1's Jay Walker is complete. This is
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Victor Sterling. Until next time, good night. Follow X-1 for
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: more classic broadcasts.