Latest / X Minus One | Old Time Radio / X Minus One - "Courtesy" (Old Time Radio, 1955)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: On the planet Landro, a second Earth expedition is being
- 0:03Speaker 1: overtaken by a deadly plague. Its medical protection has failed,
- 0:08Speaker 1: and the survivors must turn to the planet's elusive inhabitants
- 0:11Speaker 1: for help before time runs out. From NBC's X-1 comes Courtesy,
- 0:17Speaker 1: episode 14, first broadcast August 18, 1955. George Lefferts adapted
- 0:25Speaker 1: Clifford D. Simak's story for radio with Arnold Robertson, Brett Morrison,
- 0:31Speaker 1: Edwin Jerome, and William Griffiths in the cast. Kenneth McGregor
- 0:35Speaker 1: directed and William Welch produced.
- 0:37Speaker 2: And now, the original broadcast. Countdown for blastoff.
- 0:45Speaker 3: X minus 5, 4, 3, 2, X minus.
- 0:51Speaker 4: 1, fire.
- 1:18Speaker 5: From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed tales
- 1:21Speaker 5: of new dimensions in time and space. These are stories
- 1:25Speaker 5: of the future, adventures in which you'll live in a
- 1:27Speaker 5: million could-be years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National
- 1:31Speaker 5: Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Street & Smith, publishers of
- 1:34Speaker 5: astounding science fiction, presents X-Minus-One.
- 1:51Speaker 4: Tonight's story, Courtesy.
- 1:54Speaker 6: This is the story of the second expedition to the
- 1:57Speaker 6: planet of Landau. I'm recording it for any future expeditions
- 2:02Speaker 6: which might land on this godforsaken sphere, in the hope
- 2:06Speaker 6: that they may learn from our tragic example. As I write,
- 2:11Speaker 6: there are two of us left. Two, out of an
- 2:17Speaker 6: original complement of 180 men. One of us, myself, will
- 2:24Speaker 6: be dead in less than 23 minutes. As for the other,
- 2:28Speaker 6: heaven have mercy on him, I do not know. On
- 2:38Speaker 6: June 3rd, 1997, less than two months ago, the last
- 2:42Speaker 6: of our supply ships blasted off from Lando for their
- 2:45Speaker 6: return to Earth. After it had gone, I remember looking
- 2:49Speaker 6: out across the plain at the dead city, one of
- 2:52Speaker 6: thousands that dotted this planet. It had tall, graceful buildings,
- 2:56Speaker 6: atomic power systems, vacuum conveyors, all perfect, all deserted, all ominous.
- 3:04Speaker 4: How had it happened?
- 3:06Speaker 6: The best guess was that the plague had frightened the
- 3:09Speaker 6: original inhabitants of the planet so that they'd piled into
- 3:12Speaker 6: rocket ships and headed for some distant planet. I often
- 3:16Speaker 6: wondered why a civilization so advanced as Landreau could not
- 3:19Speaker 6: find a serum to beat the plague. It had taken
- 3:22Speaker 6: our Earth doctors less than six months to develop an
- 3:25Speaker 6: immunization method. Well, maybe those Aborigines back in the hills
- 3:30Speaker 6: knew the answer. That strange, ugly little people who had
- 3:34Speaker 6: taken to the caves the day we landed. I was
- 3:38Speaker 6: thinking these things when something happened that gave me the
- 3:41Speaker 6: shock of my life.
- 3:45Speaker 4: Good evening, Captain.
- 3:47Speaker 6: Oh, what brings you here, Doctor? It's the matter of
- 3:50Speaker 6: the serum, sir. Oh, what about the serum?
- 3:53Speaker 4: It's no good. No good? It's too old. Ten years
- 3:58Speaker 4: too old.
- 3:59Speaker 6: Didn't you examine it?
- 4:01Speaker 4: Yes, I did, but... Well, my eyesight has been failing lately.
- 4:05Speaker 6: Are you aware, Doctor, that the last supply ship has
- 4:08Speaker 6: returned to Earth? Do you know we'll have no more
- 4:09Speaker 6: contact for two years? I....
- 4:13Speaker 4: Just, uh.
- 4:14Speaker 6: How long do you give us? Well, the present immunity
- 4:18Speaker 6: will last a week or so. Then, without booster shots,
- 4:21Speaker 6: it's just a question of time until someone picks up
- 4:23Speaker 6: the plague.
- 4:25Speaker 4: After that....
- 4:27Speaker 6: What about the natives? They don't die from the plague?
- 4:31Speaker 6: The accepted theory is that they have developed an immunity. Well,
- 4:34Speaker 6: suppose they haven't developed an immunity. Doctor, suppose they get
- 4:37Speaker 6: the disease. Then they must have a treatment for it.
- 4:40Speaker 6: If they don't, there would be no natives. Would you
- 4:44Speaker 6: be willing to go on an expedition to the hills
- 4:46Speaker 6: to find out? At this point, Captain, I'd be willing
- 4:49Speaker 6: to do anything. Absolutely anything. I... I am truly sorry.
- 4:55Speaker 4: You're sorry? Dr.
- 4:58Speaker 6: Morgan, sometime when you aren't too busy, when you have
- 5:00Speaker 6: a moment, I'd hate to inconvenience you. Would you mind
- 5:05Speaker 6: telling me how it feels to murder 180 men? 181,
- 5:07Speaker 6: including yourself. I did a lot of thinking after Dr.
- 5:20Speaker 6: Morgan left my hut. It was still unreal for me.
- 5:25Speaker 6: After all, the planning of an expedition was no simple thing.
- 5:28Speaker 6: You put into it the result of years of training
- 5:31Speaker 6: and experience, years of study at the academy, years of
- 5:34Speaker 6: learning how to handle men and natives. Every man on
- 5:38Speaker 6: my crew was handpicked for his skin. And yet, A
- 5:42Speaker 6: simple thing like a myopic surgeon misreading a label could
- 5:46Speaker 6: blast the whole thing. Yes, it was a shame. And
- 5:52Speaker 6: I did the only thing I could think of. I
- 5:54Speaker 6: yelled for Bat Ears Brady.
- 5:56Speaker 2: Brady!
- 5:57Speaker 6: Get your carcass in here. Take the lead off.
- 6:00Speaker 2: Okay, okay. What's up?
- 6:05Speaker 4: Sit down, Bat Ears.
- 6:06Speaker 2: You got trouble, Kev?
- 6:10Speaker 4: We got trouble.
- 6:11Speaker 2: What?
- 6:13Speaker 6: The serum's no good.
- 6:15Speaker 4: What?
- 6:16Speaker 6: Morgan forgot to check it. It's ten years too old.
- 6:19Speaker 2: Holy jumping snails. You're gonna court-martial it?
- 6:21Speaker 6: It wouldn't do much good. We'll all be dead pretty
- 6:24Speaker 6: soon unless somebody figures something out.
- 6:26Speaker 2: Well, what are you gonna do, Kev?
- 6:27Speaker 6: Well, there's only one chance. One chance in ten million.
- 6:33Speaker 2: What? The natives. Them cave rats. What good can they
- 6:37Speaker 2: do us?
- 6:38Speaker 6: They don't get the plague, so maybe they know a cure.
- 6:41Speaker 2: Okay. Let's get a few of them and beat it
- 6:44Speaker 2: out of them.
- 6:45Speaker 4: That's why you're here. Shoot.
- 6:47Speaker 6: How'd you like to come along on a little expedition
- 6:50Speaker 6: up to the cave country? You, me, the doctor, and Faulkner.
- 6:53Speaker 2: Faulkner? Now, listen, Cap, he's worse than the doctor.
- 6:56Speaker 6: Yes, but he knows more about the native culture than
- 6:58Speaker 6: anybody here. He's the only one who's completely familiar with
- 7:02Speaker 6: the records of the first expedition.
- 7:04Speaker 2: Okay, so it's me, you, the doc, and Faulkner. When
- 7:07Speaker 2: do we start?
- 7:08Speaker 6: Tonight, in half an hour. We should reach the cave
- 7:11Speaker 6: country by tomorrow. But luck will be able to find
- 7:14Speaker 6: natives before night. Benny Faulkner was the expedition anthropologist. One
- 7:26Speaker 6: of the most unfortunate-looking individuals I've ever met. An ugly
- 7:30Speaker 6: man with large ears and a big nose. His body
- 7:35Speaker 6: was small and consumptive. But he had a good brain.
- 7:39Speaker 4: He was the best.
- 7:40Speaker 6: Anthropologist the Interplanet Institute could recommend.
- 7:44Speaker 4: He and Dr.
- 7:45Speaker 6: Morgan were the only two civilians on the expedition. We
- 7:49Speaker 6: set out, and after several hours hard walking.
- 7:56Speaker 4: Cap? Yeah, what is it?
- 7:59Speaker 2: Don't look now, but very slowly turn your eyes to
- 8:02Speaker 2: the right and look behind that big yellow rock. Okay.
- 8:10Speaker 2: See anything?
- 8:13Speaker 4: No.
- 8:15Speaker 2: Keep looking. Don't stop walking.
- 8:17Speaker 6: Okay.
- 8:17Speaker 2: There. Does it.
- 8:25Speaker 4: Look like a shadow or something?
- 8:27Speaker 2: It's one of them gimpos. He's been following us now
- 8:30Speaker 2: for almost an hour, dodging in and out behind the rocks.
- 8:33Speaker 2: Shall I bring him in?
- 8:34Speaker 4: No, not yet.
- 8:36Speaker 6: Just pretend you don't see him. Tell the others, if
- 8:39Speaker 6: they notice, to show no fear, as nothing will start
- 8:42Speaker 6: these simple-minded cavemen like fear. The manual said, under no
- 8:53Speaker 6: circumstances shall a member of the patrol display fear before
- 8:56Speaker 6: a native. The dignity of the Earthman must be preserved
- 9:00Speaker 6: at all costs. Just before dawn, we reached the cave country.
- 9:07Speaker 6: We were tired and hungry, and we stopped to cook
- 9:08Speaker 6: some food and rest. Everything was quiet. There was no
- 9:13Speaker 6: sign of the gimpo which had been failing us until....
- 9:17Speaker 2: Okay, get in there, you sneaking little monkey man. Come on,
- 9:20Speaker 2: come on, before I break this shovel on your star.
- 9:23Speaker 6: What's the trouble?
- 9:24Speaker 2: Cap, I caught me one of these gimpos sneaking around
- 9:26Speaker 2: outside the tent.
- 9:27Speaker 6: Bring him in the light of the fire. We can
- 9:28Speaker 6: get a look at him.
- 9:29Speaker 2: Faulkner? Yes, sir?
- 9:31Speaker 6: Keep an eye on him. Try to establish some communication.
- 9:33Speaker 2: All right, get in.
- 9:35Speaker 4: Look out.
- 9:35Speaker 6: No need to knock him down, Batty.
- 9:37Speaker 2: Oh, that's the only language they understand.
- 9:39Speaker 6: See if you can reach him, Faulkner.
- 9:41Speaker 4: Okay, Captain. I'll need a drum of some sort.
- 9:44Speaker 2: A what?
- 9:45Speaker 7: Well, they have no language as we know it, and
- 9:47Speaker 7: they have a very rudimentary sense of hearing. I find
- 9:51Speaker 7: they communicate with one another through a very primitive kind
- 9:53Speaker 7: of vibration of the tongue. The closest I can come
- 9:57Speaker 7: is a series of drumbeats, a sort of Morse code.
- 10:01Speaker 7: The psychologist on the first expedition had it worked out
- 10:04Speaker 7: before he was killed by the plague.
- 10:07Speaker 4: I've studied his notes, and I think it'll work.
- 10:09Speaker 2: You mean these little critters can talk to one another?
- 10:12Speaker 7: I believe they can. At any rate, we'll have a
- 10:15Speaker 7: chance to find out. Uh, Do we have something I
- 10:19Speaker 7: can use for a drum?
- 10:20Speaker 2: Here.
- 10:21Speaker 4: Take my water bottle. Thank you, Doctor.
- 10:24Speaker 8: Now, I'll tap it three times. That's a greeting of
- 10:27Speaker 8: some sort.
- 10:28Speaker 4: Just a moment. Yes, sir.
- 10:30Speaker 6: I don't want you treating this fellow like an equal.
- 10:32Speaker 6: Don't give him the idea that we're desperate. Once they
- 10:34Speaker 6: sense that, you're lost. I have to communicate with him, sir. Now,
- 10:38Speaker 6: just bear in mind what I said. Dignity.
- 10:42Speaker 4: Yes, sir.
- 10:43Speaker 2: I'll do my best, sir. It was a strange sight.
- 10:51Speaker 6: On one side of the water bottle crouched little Benny
- 10:53Speaker 6: Faulkner looking for all the world like a human spider.
- 10:57Speaker 6: Across from him crouched the Landry, a humpbacked, grey little
- 11:01Speaker 6: creature with an enormous head and those huge, soft, lavender eyes.
- 11:06Speaker 6: Every few moments, one would stop the strange tattoo of
- 11:09Speaker 6: communication and the other would take it up. I'm setting
- 11:12Speaker 6: forth in this narrative the most vital part of their conversation.
- 11:16Speaker 6: as Benny Faulkner later transcribed it from the best of
- 11:18Speaker 6: his memory. Benny asked, Why were your cities abandoned? Was
- 11:24Speaker 6: it the plague? The native said yes. Benny said, Do
- 11:29Speaker 6: you still fear the plague? The native answered yes.
- 11:33Speaker 4: Do any of your people become afflicted?
- 11:35Speaker 6: The answer was some. How do you treat them?
- 11:40Speaker 4: Silence. How can we find a cure for the plague?
- 11:45Speaker 4: More silence.
- 11:47Speaker 6: Then the native said, go among my people. Then he asked,
- 11:52Speaker 6: will we find the answer among your people? The native replied,
- 11:55Speaker 6: my people have the answer. Then he said, will you
- 11:58Speaker 6: tell me the answer? The native repeated, go among my people.
- 12:05Speaker 6: As far as the land ring was concerned, the conversation
- 12:07Speaker 6: was ended. He rose to go and Faulkner stepped from
- 12:10Speaker 6: his path. But Brady was there to ensure the bet.
- 12:13Speaker 6: Hold on there, bucko. You ain't going no place. Don't
- 12:15Speaker 6: maltreat him, Brady.
- 12:17Speaker 2: What did he say, Penny?
- 12:18Speaker 4: He says his people have the answer. What do you think?
- 12:22Speaker 4: There may be some truth in it. He says some
- 12:25Speaker 4: of his people still get the plague. That must mean
- 12:27Speaker 4: it isn't a question of immunity. They must have a cure. Well,
- 12:30Speaker 4: he wasn't clear on that. Then they must have a
- 12:32Speaker 4: vaccine to keep it from spreading.
- 12:34Speaker 2: Does he know?
- 12:36Speaker 8: His answer is for us to go among his people.
- 12:40Speaker 6: Well, that leaves it up to us. The first level
- 12:44Speaker 6: of caves is on top of that cliff about a
- 12:46Speaker 6: mile ahead.
- 12:47Speaker 4: It's a trap.
- 12:47Speaker 2: I'll bet my last dollar on it.
- 12:49Speaker 6: Well, maybe not.
- 12:50Speaker 4: We'll have to risk it.
- 12:51Speaker 2: Wait.
- 12:53Speaker 4: Well, let me go. I got you all into this.
- 12:56Speaker 4: But how will you talk?
- 12:58Speaker 6: Benny here can give me enough of the code so
- 13:00Speaker 6: I can ask the big question. You understand that they
- 13:03Speaker 6: might just decide to cut your throat. I'm fully aware
- 13:07Speaker 6: of the risk. All right, Doctor. You go ahead.
- 13:11Speaker 4: We'll wait at the foot of the cliff. If you
- 13:14Speaker 4: aren't back down in three hours, we'll come up after you.
- 13:16Speaker 2: What about the gimpo here?
- 13:18Speaker 6: We'll hold him as a hostage to ensure the doctor's safety.
- 13:21Speaker 6: If the doc comes back, all right, we'll let him go.
- 13:24Speaker 6: If not, well, that's your job, Brady.
- 13:27Speaker 2: A pleasure.
- 13:34Speaker 4: It took Dr.
- 13:35Speaker 6: Morgan about an hour to pick his way up the
- 13:37Speaker 6: side of the cliff to the first of the openings
- 13:39Speaker 6: where the Landrians lived. He waved to us before he
- 13:42Speaker 6: entered the mouth of the cave, and we waved back.
- 13:45Speaker 6: Then we settled down to wait.
- 13:47Speaker 2: It was a long, long wait.
- 13:59Speaker 4: Eight o'clock.
- 14:01Speaker 2: He's been up there more than three hours, Cap. We'll
- 14:03Speaker 2: give him a little more time.
- 14:06Speaker 4: It's getting colder.
- 14:07Speaker 2: Let's keep that fire going. How much longer are you
- 14:10Speaker 2: going to wait, Cap?
- 14:12Speaker 4: We've got lots of time.
- 14:13Speaker 2: You'd think we'd have heard of something by now if
- 14:15Speaker 2: they was going to knock him off on me. Not necessarily.
- 14:19Speaker 6: Wait.
- 14:20Speaker 4: Look, up on the cliff.
- 14:22Speaker 2: That's him, all right. What's he running for?
- 14:24Speaker 6: I don't know.
- 14:24Speaker 4: He looks scared.
- 14:25Speaker 2: That crazy fool, if he don't look out... Doctor!
- 14:27Speaker 6: Dr.
- 14:28Speaker 2: Morgan, look out! Look out!
- 14:39Speaker 6: We found the doctor at the foot of the cliff,
- 14:42Speaker 6: crumpled and broken. There were no marks on his body,
- 14:45Speaker 6: nothing except a twisted, mocking grin on his face. Oh, yes,
- 14:50Speaker 6: and one other thing.
- 14:52Speaker 4: Scrawled across the pad he had.
- 14:53Speaker 6: Taken with him on which to make notes concerning the
- 14:56Speaker 6: answer was a single word. The word was courtesy. We
- 15:03Speaker 6: threw the paper away. The expedition was a failure. Though
- 15:08Speaker 6: Bat Ears claimed he'd get it out of the gimple
- 15:11Speaker 6: if I'd let him. I nodded in agreement. Bad Ears
- 15:15Speaker 6: took the little native off behind an outcropping of rock.
- 15:18Speaker 6: He was back in 15 minutes, dripping with sweat.
- 15:22Speaker 4: Well? Let's go, Cap. Nothing, huh?
- 15:27Speaker 2: But nothing. You see... They ain't made very good, these
- 15:31Speaker 2: little gray people. They come apart too easy, so... Let's go, huh, Cap?
- 15:36Speaker 2: All right.
- 15:37Speaker 4: Now, Benny... Benny, what is it? I... I feel kind
- 15:43Speaker 4: of sick.
- 15:44Speaker 8: All of a sudden, in the back of my head,
- 15:48Speaker 8: a dull.
- 15:50Speaker 4: Kind of pain. Let me see your tongue. Come on,
- 15:55Speaker 4: give him a hand, Bat ears. We've got to get
- 15:56Speaker 4: him back to camp. What is it?
- 15:58Speaker 6: I'm not sure, but that blackness on the tongue and
- 16:00Speaker 6: the headache, it could be the plague. By the time
- 16:09Speaker 6: we got Benny Faulkner back to camp, He had the
- 16:12Speaker 6: red spots on his body, and then the fever began
- 16:14Speaker 6: to rage. It was the plague, no mistake about it.
- 16:18Speaker 6: Before morning, Collins, the supply sergeant, had it. Then it
- 16:21Speaker 6: was Peabody. After that, the men went down like ten peas.
- 16:26Speaker 6: Then one morning, Bat Ears Brady dragged himself into my
- 16:29Speaker 6: tent and sat down. The lines in his face told
- 16:32Speaker 6: me the end was coming pretty fast.
- 16:36Speaker 4: Sit down, Brady. Well, what's the count?
- 16:40Speaker 2: Six left. We buried a chaplain today. Got anything to drink? Sorry,
- 16:47Speaker 2: I'm all out. How about a cigarette, then? You got
- 16:50Speaker 2: a cigarette?
- 16:51Speaker 4: Yeah, sure.
- 16:52Speaker 2: Here. How's Faulkner? I don't get it. He's still alive.
- 17:02Speaker 4: Still alive?
- 17:03Speaker 6: Yep.
- 17:03Speaker 2: In fact, he's getting better. He's sitting up. Holy mackerel.
- 17:09Speaker 2: It's a good cigarette. It's like any other. No, no, no.
- 17:15Speaker 2: This one's different, Gabby. This is my last. What do
- 17:19Speaker 2: you mean, Brady? Take a look at my tongue. See?
- 17:26Speaker 2: Little black spots.
- 17:32Speaker 6: Somehow I managed to get him into bed. He was
- 17:35Speaker 6: already raving when I gave him the last of the morphine.
- 17:39Speaker 2: It was incredible.
- 17:41Speaker 6: Big, brawling bat ears, Brady. A tower of strength lying
- 17:45Speaker 6: sick and whimpering in a cot. When he died, I
- 17:51Speaker 6: went out on the moors to think. The sun was
- 17:54Speaker 6: a dull red glow. Cold breeze whipped on me.
- 18:00Speaker 4: Somehow I couldn't forget Faulkner.
- 18:03Speaker 6: Why should Faulkner recover from a plague from which no
- 18:06Speaker 6: man has ever recovered? Surely there must be a reason
- 18:10Speaker 6: Nothing happened without a reason. I turned and went back
- 18:14Speaker 6: to see Benny Faulkner.
- 18:18Speaker 4: Hello, Captain.
- 18:18Speaker 2: Hello, Benny. How are you?
- 18:21Speaker 4: Pretty good. I got up and walked a couple of
- 18:23Speaker 4: steps today.
- 18:24Speaker 8: How goes it?
- 18:28Speaker 2: Brady's gone. I just buried him.
- 18:35Speaker 4: Listen, Benny.
- 18:37Speaker 2: There must be some reason why.
- 18:39Speaker 8: nothing strange about me, nothing different from any other man?
- 18:42Speaker 4: There must be.
- 18:44Speaker 6: You survived the virus. Benny, I want you to tell
- 18:47Speaker 6: me everything you know about yourself, everything you can remember.
- 18:50Speaker 6: Because somewhere in your makeup is some little thing that
- 18:52Speaker 6: makes the difference. If I can find that thing, then
- 18:56Speaker 6: maybe I can do something to save myself and the rest.
- 18:59Speaker 6: Even if I can't, at least I can leave a
- 19:01Speaker 6: record for any future expedition that.
- 19:03Speaker 4: Comes to Landrum. Okay?
- 19:05Speaker 2: Okay, Captain.
- 19:07Speaker 4: Where should I start? At the beginning.
- 19:10Speaker 6: I'm going to take notes.
- 19:11Speaker 7: Well, I was born on the 2nd of July in 1971.
- 19:17Speaker 4: My parents were ordinary people. My father was.
- 19:31Speaker 7: Look, Captain, I've told you everything I can remember. Three
- 19:35Speaker 7: days now you've gone over me, pawed me, questioned me,
- 19:39Speaker 7: What else can I tell you?
- 19:41Speaker 6: Benny, let's go over that last part once again. Where
- 19:45Speaker 6: should I start? Take it from where the native started
- 19:49Speaker 6: to walk away. You stepped out of his path and
- 19:53Speaker 6: Brady grabbed you.
- 19:54Speaker 4: Okay, so I stepped out of his path.
- 19:57Speaker 6: Why?
- 19:59Speaker 4: What do you mean, why?
- 20:01Speaker 6: Why did you step out of his path?
- 20:03Speaker 8: Why not?
- 20:05Speaker 4: Courtesy, I guess. What's the matter? Courtesy.
- 20:13Speaker 6: That's the word that Dr. Morgan had scrawled in his notebook.
- 20:17Speaker 6: I don't see that.
- 20:19Speaker 2: I don't either.
- 20:22Speaker 6: Tell me, Benny, why should you want to be courteous
- 20:25Speaker 6: to a native?
- 20:26Speaker 8: Why not?
- 20:28Speaker 6: What about maintaining your own dignity?
- 20:31Speaker 8: Are you talking about dignity or arrogance?
- 20:38Speaker 4: I don't know.
- 20:40Speaker 6: Benny, listen, maybe we were all wet in our deductions.
- 20:45Speaker 6: Maybe these cities here on Landro weren't deserted centuries ago.
- 20:48Speaker 6: Maybe these little people up in the caves are the
- 20:49Speaker 6: same people who used to live.
- 20:50Speaker 4: In those big cities. Why would they leave?
- 20:54Speaker 6: Maybe they found out the big cities weren't the answer.
- 20:57Speaker 6: Maybe they found out that civilization doesn't necessarily bring happiness.
- 21:00Speaker 6: So they just packed up and left, returned to the simple.
- 21:03Speaker 8: No, it doesn't make sense. You're forgetting the plague.
- 21:05Speaker 2: What is the plague, Benny?
- 21:07Speaker 4: Well, I don't know. Is it a virus? I don't
- 21:10Speaker 4: think they ever found out. You know what I think? What?
- 21:15Speaker 6: I think the plague is nothing more than what we
- 21:18Speaker 6: know as greed and arrogance. Captain, you're going off your rocker.
- 21:21Speaker 6: I think maybe we're in line to die. Serum was good.
- 21:26Speaker 6: In fact, I don't think the serum had anything to
- 21:27Speaker 6: do with it.
- 21:28Speaker 8: I never heard anything as crazy, fantastic in my life.
- 21:32Speaker 2: No?
- 21:37Speaker 6: I think I'll go back to my tent and finish
- 21:39Speaker 6: writing the report. I'm beginning to sweat a little.
- 21:45Speaker 4: Captain, maybe it isn't the plague. It is.
- 21:50Speaker 6: I've seen it too many times to kid myself about it.
- 21:53Speaker 4: Maybe hot compresses or something. No, Benny.
- 21:55Speaker 7: Listen, Captain, you don't believe that junk about courtesy, do you?
- 21:58Speaker 7: I mean, that's a lot of nonsense. You must know that.
- 22:02Speaker 4: Macro, Captain. You do believe it, don't you? Good night, Benny.
- 22:10Speaker 2: Good night.
- 22:12Speaker 6: I think I'd like to be alone for a while.
- 22:16Speaker 2: Okay.
- 22:18Speaker 4: Good night, Captain.
- 22:20Speaker 6: Maybe the supply ship will be early. You can probably
- 22:24Speaker 6: stick it out.
- 22:26Speaker 4: Sure. Good night, Captain.
- 22:44Speaker 6: And this concludes my report. I'm turning it over to
- 22:48Speaker 6: Benny Faulkner in the hopes that he will be able
- 22:50Speaker 6: to transmit it to any other expedition commander who contemplates
- 22:53Speaker 6: exploring the planet of Landry. The fever is beginning to
- 22:58Speaker 6: mount now. My hands tremble as I write. The end
- 23:04Speaker 6: should not be far off. There's little question in my
- 23:08Speaker 6: mind as to what it will be. You see, I
- 23:12Speaker 6: didn't have a chance I stepped out of no paths.
- 23:18Speaker 6: I showed no courtesy.
- 23:30Speaker 3: You have just heard X-1 presented by the National Broadcasting
- 23:33Speaker 3: Company in cooperation with Street and Smith, publishers of astounding
- 23:37Speaker 3: science fictions. Tonight by transcription, X-1 has brought you Courtesy,
- 23:42Speaker 3: adapted for radio by George Lefferts, from the story by
- 23:45Speaker 3: Clifford Simad. Featured in the cast were Brett Morrison as
- 23:49Speaker 3: Captain Ira Warren, Arnold Robertson as Bat ears Brady, Edwin
- 23:53Speaker 3: Jerome as Dr.
- 23:54Speaker 6: Morgan, and Bill Griffiths as Benny Faulkner. Your announcer, Fred Collins.
- 23:58Speaker 3: X-1 was directed by Ken McGregor and is an NBC
- 24:02Speaker 3: Radio Network production. And now, next week, the frontier is
- 24:15Speaker 3: a strange place. And a frontier is not always easy
- 24:19Speaker 3: to recognize. It may lie on the other side of
- 24:21Speaker 3: a simple door marked no admittance. But it is always
- 24:25Speaker 3: deadly dangerous. What happens when an innocent girl ignores a
- 24:29Speaker 3: single regulation? You will find out next week at X
- 24:35Speaker 3: minus 1.
- 24:39Speaker 9: When you buy United States savings bonds, you help to
- 24:42Speaker 9: build your own future security. Here is an opportunity to
- 24:45Speaker 9: save systematically for long-range personal objectives. And with their increased
- 24:49Speaker 9: yield and other improvements, U.S. savings bonds are a better
- 24:52Speaker 9: investment than ever before.
- 24:54Speaker 8: We close with X-1's August 18, 1955 broadcast, Courtesy. Follow
- 24:56Speaker 8: X-1 for more classic broadcasts.