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X Minus One - "The Martian Death March" (Old Time Radio, 1955) · The 50 Greatest Old Time Radio Shows | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: In 1997, thousands of Martians leave an Earth-imposed reservation and
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: set out across the desert for their ancestral northern mountains.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Their trek is seen through Al, an Earthman who recalls
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: meeting John, an advocate for Martian freedom, and Kantalkar, one
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: of the displaced Highlanders. From NBC's X-1, this is episode 17,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: The Martian Death March, first broadcast September 8th, 1955. Norman
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Rose narrates an original radio play by Ernest Canoy, first
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: produced on NBC's Dimension X on January 14th, 1951. The
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: cast also includes Matt Crowley, David Pfeffer, Edwin Jerome, Lawrence Kerr,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: John Thomas, Ralph Camargo, and Stan Farley. Across the Red
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Martian sands, the journey is underway. Here is the original broadcast.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Countdown for blastoff.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: X minus 5, 4, 3, 2, X minus 1, fire.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed tales
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: of new dimensions in time and space. These are stories
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: of the future, adventures in which you'll live in a
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: million could-be years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Street & Smith, publishers of
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: astounding science fiction, presents X.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: Minus 1. X minus 1.
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: The Martian Death March.
• 2:21
  Speaker 5: I've always been interested in lost causes. The revolt of
• 2:24
  Speaker 5: the Scottish Jacobites against England. The last stand of the
• 2:28
  Speaker 5: Cherokee and Sioux Indians. And the death march of the
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: Martian Highlanders in 1997. There's been a lot written about
• 2:36
  Speaker 5: that march... The UN Commission report covers four volumes, but
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: the whole story isn't down on paper yet. I know
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: it because I was on that march from the beginning
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: to the end. There's one part of the story that
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: no one ever mentions. The Martian Death March of 97
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: was led by an Earthman. Maybe you've been over the
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: route of the march. There wasn't any highway there 30
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: years ago in 97. There was desert, hot, burning desert.
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: I lived at the edge of the Kalmak Canal then
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: with my father. He was a prospector searching the surrounding
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: desert with sonar probe and Geiger counter, scratching just enough
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: ore from under the Martian sands to pay for our
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: grub stake the next year. I remember he was in
• 3:27
  Speaker 5: the Adamson Digger in the North Quadrant when I came
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: running out that day.
• 3:33
  Speaker 6: Dad!
• 3:34
  Speaker 7: Dad!
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Dad!
• 3:37
  Speaker 8: There's somebody coming, Dad. Across the desert.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: You sure?
• 3:40
  Speaker 8: I saw them. They're a couple of miles out.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: How many cars?
• 3:44
  Speaker 8: They're on foot.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: On foot across the desert?
• 3:47
  Speaker 8: Honest, Dad. I saw them.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: You're sure it wasn't a light reflection off the canal?
• 3:51
  Speaker 6: No.
• 3:52
  Speaker 8: It was dark against the sand.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: I don't like that. You run back and get the
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: rifles out. I've got to pull the digger into the shed.
• 3:59
  Speaker 8: Is there going to be fighting, Dad?
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: I don't know. with a whole year's ore piled out
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: back in the bins. And I ain't gonna lose it
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: to no claim jumpers. You go back to the shack
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: and break out those rifles and see they're loaded, you hear?
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: And jump!
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: Dad had three surplus army rifles and a couple of
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: homemade grenades made out of ore cans stuffed with Adamson
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: A explosives. We crouched inside the shack, waiting. The shadow
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: of the water tower in the doorway grew longer as
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: the quick Martian dusk settled down over the desert.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: And there they come, Al. There's two of them.
• 4:41
  Speaker 8: What's that on the first one's back?
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Why, I haven't seen one of those in 20 years.
• 4:46
  Speaker 8: What is it?
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: A one-man desert tank. They used to carry water that
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: way before Adamson put out the air-steal units.
• 4:53
  Speaker 8: There's something funny about that second one. Look, he's all
• 4:58
  Speaker 8: spindly and his head's funny.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: He's funny, all right. Al, that's a Martian.
• 5:03
  Speaker 8: I never saw one off the reservation before.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: There hasn't been one out in ten years. I don't
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: like this.
• 5:09
  Speaker 8: Here they come into the dooryard.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: You remember what I told you. Line up the sights
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: and just squeeze the trigger. Hello! Hello, Dad! Now, Dad? Hello!
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: Wait a minute. What do you want?
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: Water!
• 5:24
  Speaker 8: I need water!
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: Who are you?
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: My name is John.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: John, huh? What are you doing with that spider?
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: His name is Cantalcar.
• 5:35
  Speaker 6: I don't care what his name is. What's a human
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: doing with a Martian? I found him in the dry
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: bed of Kalmak Canal. Nearly dead at 13.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: Probably ran off on the reservation.
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: When our brothers are caged, they seek freedom. Brothers?
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Those spiders?
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: All living creatures are our brothers. On Mars as on Earth.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Hey, wait a minute.
• 5:58
  Speaker 6: Bert Ostrom at False Wells told me there was a
• 6:00
  Speaker 6: screwball hedge preacher over there hollering about letting the spiders
• 6:03
  Speaker 6: loose off the reservations. Let no man call his own.
• 6:07
  Speaker 6: No man, no tribe, no nation. I guess that's you,
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: all right. Bert told me they called you Crazy John.
• 6:14
  Speaker 6: I don't suppose there's any harm in you. Fill your
• 6:16
  Speaker 6: tank up with the air still. And you can even have.
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: Supper with us. We would be happy to.
• 6:20
  Speaker 6: We?
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: What do you mean, we?
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: Cantalcar and myself.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: That spider? Oh, no, I ain't having a Martian sitting
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: down to eat with me. You come on, though.
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: Thank you, sir. No.
• 6:32
  Speaker 6: Where my brother is not welcome, I cannot go.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Well, suit yourself. Al, get the key to the water tower.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: Come out here.
• 6:40
  Speaker 8: All right, Dad.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: And put away the guns. We won't have any trouble
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: from these two. The End.
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: The old man filled his tank at the air-still tower,
• 6:57
  Speaker 5: and the Martian went through the ash pile for half-burned
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: fuel brick. When we went in the house for supper,
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: I could see them silhouetted against the fire. The old
• 7:06
  Speaker 5: man with his wild hair and beard, and the thin,
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: spidery arms and legs.
• 7:10
  Speaker 9: Of the Martian.
• 7:12
  Speaker 8: Dad?
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: What?
• 7:13
  Speaker 8: Are all the Martians on the reservation?
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, all but a couple of wild ones in the
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: mountains up north. The patrol catches a couple every year. Why? Well,
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: they murder people.
• 7:24
  Speaker 8: No, I mean, why are they on the reservation?
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Because it's the safest place to keep them, that pestisaur.
• 7:29
  Speaker 8: How many are there?
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: Oh, I don't know.
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: A few thousand.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: They keep dying off.
• 7:34
  Speaker 8: Why?
• 7:35
  Speaker 6: Well, they catch earth diseases. Chickenpox almost wiped out the
• 7:39
  Speaker 6: whole gang of them two years ago.
• 7:40
  Speaker 8: Chickenpox? I had that. It didn't wipe me out.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: You ain't a Martian.
• 7:45
  Speaker 8: I was born on Mars.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean you ain't one of those spiders. Now,
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: eat your food or it'll get cold.
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 7:51
  Speaker 8: Dad?
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Oh, what now?
• 7:53
  Speaker 8: Were the Martians always on the reservation?
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: Well, since the Outpost 3 massacre, they have been.
• 7:59
  Speaker 8: What was that?
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Oh, back before you were born, they lived wild in
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: the mountains up north.
• 8:03
  Speaker 8: Were they fierce?
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: Fierce enough. Only place for them spiders, behind wire.
• 8:09
  Speaker 8: Yeah, it sure is.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: The End.
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: Out in the dooryard, the campfire flickered at the base
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: of the water tower. The first of the Martian moons
• 8:28
  Speaker 5: had set. The other wouldn't rise for several hours.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: I could hear the sand peepers out in the desert
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: as I stood there.
• 8:35
  Speaker 5: The old man and the Martian were sitting on the
• 8:37
  Speaker 5: ground huddled close to the fire. It gets cold fast
• 8:41
  Speaker 5: on the desert when the sun goes down.
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: Is that you, boy? You can come up to the fire.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: If you like.
• 8:48
  Speaker 8: My dad wouldn't like it.
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 8:52
  Speaker 8: But I'm not afraid of no spider.
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: No, there is nothing to be afraid of.
• 8:56
  Speaker 8: How come his arms are all skinny?
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: Ask him.
• 9:01
  Speaker 8: Does he talk?
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: Yes, his name is Cantalcar.
• 9:05
  Speaker 8: It is, huh?
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: Hello.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Hello, boy.
• 9:10
  Speaker 8: He talks funny.
• 9:11
  Speaker 10: It is not my language.
• 9:14
  Speaker 8: Why isn't he on the reservation? You can get in
• 9:17
  Speaker 8: trouble helping spiders to escape.
• 9:19
  Speaker 6: No man has the right to imprison the innocent. They
• 9:22
  Speaker 6: that are enslaved will be freed. They that are in
• 9:26
  Speaker 6: sickness and misery will be comforted.
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: They that are exiled in a strange place will be restored.
• 9:33
  Speaker 8: My dad says the spiders are treacherous, cowardly, murdering savages.
• 9:38
  Speaker 8: That's what he says.
• 9:40
  Speaker 10: Boy, there was a time on this world when there
• 9:45
  Speaker 10: were no earthmen. When the ships and the machinery of
• 9:49
  Speaker 10: earth were unknown. Then the people of the highlands lived
• 9:54
  Speaker 10: in peace. But today they are a handful, starving, dying.
• 10:00
  Speaker 10: behind the wire.
• 10:02
  Speaker 8: But the reservation isn't so bad.
• 10:04
  Speaker 10: Our home is in the mountains of the north, not
• 10:08
  Speaker 10: the desert.
• 10:09
  Speaker 6: I heard a voice which cried out to me in
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: the desert, go to your brothers.
• 10:14
  Speaker 8: Do they really call you crazy, John?
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: I have been called many things.
• 10:20
  Speaker 8: You really think we ought to let those old spiders
• 10:22
  Speaker 8: off the reservation?
• 10:24
  Speaker 10: Why, we die here in the desert. We die in
• 10:27
  Speaker 10: the sun and of the sicknesses you have brought from Earth.
• 10:32
  Speaker 8: That's because Martians are just weak. I'll bet I could
• 10:35
  Speaker 8: knock you down myself.
• 10:37
  Speaker 10: You could. We are a different people. We have not
• 10:41
  Speaker 10: the strength of muscle of Earthmen. But we will not
• 10:46
  Speaker 10: stay here to die.
• 10:49
  Speaker 8: You won't get off the reservation. The patrol takes care
• 10:52
  Speaker 8: of all that. They won't let any stinking old spiders out.
• 10:57
  Speaker 6: Ah, even in the minds of children is planted the
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: poison of evil.
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: How long?
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: That night through the window, I could see the flicker
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: of the old man's campfire. He was walking up and
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: down now, shouting. singing hymns verse after verse, his white
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: beard catching the light as he passed behind the fire.
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: The Martian sat slumped over, his thin spindly arms folded
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: across the huge barrel chest that had developed over the
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: centuries as the air of Mars thinned and escaped into space.
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: In the morning I looked out, and they were gone.
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: Looking back now, we wonder how they did it.
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: The high-voltage wire around the reservation carried a fatal charge.
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: The patrolmen in the tower had. 50 caliber machine guns.
• 11:54
  Speaker 5: The desert around the camp was mined heavily. Yet, at dawn,
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: August 7th, 1997, they broke out. I was down at
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: the dried-up canal bed hunting sand peepers when my father
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: came running after me. Al!
• 12:12
  Speaker 6: Al!
• 12:12
  Speaker 8: Here I am.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: Come on, back to the house.
• 12:15
  Speaker 8: What's the matter, Dad?
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: You shut up and run!
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: What is it?
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: The spiders busted loose. Bert Oldstrom radioed in.
• 12:21
  Speaker 8: They coming here?
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: They're headed this way, the murdering devils.
• 12:24
  Speaker 8: They kill anybody?
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: Six patrolmen when they busted through the wire.
• 12:28
  Speaker 8: What are you gonna do, Dad?
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: Wire a keg of Adamson A across the gate. You
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: get in there and get the guns out.
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: I got the rifles and shoved a full clip in
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: each one. Then I slipped a primer fuse on the
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: homemade grenades and lugged them out to the porch. Dad
• 12:45
  Speaker 5: was running lead wires back to a detonator from a
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: half keg of Adamson.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: A he'd set across the gate.
• 12:50
  Speaker 10: There.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: And that's it. Now give me one of those rifles.
• 12:55
  Speaker 8: Will they be here soon?
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: You can see the dust over the rise. Murdering spiders.
• 13:00
  Speaker 8: What'll they do?
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: I don't know. Now make sure you get a good sight, Al.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: Don't waste any bullets.
• 13:05
  Speaker 8: There they are, Dad.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: There they come.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Wait a minute. Hold up now. I want to get
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: a good shot. Let him get closer.
• 13:13
  Speaker 8: Dad, that's Crazy John up in front.
• 13:17
  Speaker 7: There.
• 13:17
  Speaker 8: He's taller than the spiders. You can see his beard.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: You're right. That renegade rat. He probably helped him break
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: out of the reservation.
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: Listen, Al.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: If anything happens to me, you ride out back to
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: the shed. You can hide out in the empty ore
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: bins till they go away. You got that?
• 13:35
  Speaker 8: All right, Dad.
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: We're going to come in.
• 13:39
  Speaker 8: The spider's shouting something, Dad.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Probably a trick. Get down a little, Al. You're in
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: the way. I got him clear now. Right in the head.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: Up a little now. Got him. Got him, Al.
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: Dad, look out.
• 13:54
  Speaker 8: They've got guns.
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: Down.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: Get down. Get out, Al. Get out to the shed.
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: Dad, you're hit.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: Go on. Those spiders are going to rush. Now get going.
• 14:07
  Speaker 8: No, no, I can't let you.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: Shut up and get out of here. You hear?
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: Get out of.
• 14:17
  Speaker 8: Here.
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: I ran back through the house to the shed. Behind me,
• 14:25
  Speaker 5: I could hear the Martians sweeping up to the dooryard.
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: Then suddenly the ground shook, and I could feel the
• 14:31
  Speaker 5: dull concussion waves hit my ears as the Adamson A exploded.
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: I could hear the high whispered screams of the Martians
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: and the rattle of fragments on the metal roof of
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: the shed. I dived into the empty ore bin and
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: slammed the hatch almost shut. I sat there waiting. Then
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: suddenly a shadow fell across the edge of light, and
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: the hatch slid open.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: On top of.
• 14:54
  Speaker 8: You leave me alone. I'll kill you.
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: Boy, I've been looking for you.
• 14:58
  Speaker 8: Where's my dad? What did you do to my dad?
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: He's dead.
• 15:03
  Speaker 8: You killed him. You and those spiders. I'll kill you.
• 15:07
  Speaker 8: I'll kill all those stinking murdering spiders.
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: They are our brothers, boy.
• 15:12
  Speaker 6: Your father shot without warning and the fire was returned
• 15:16
  Speaker 6: against my orders.
• 15:17
  Speaker 8: You mean you weren't going to attack us?
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: Our brothers came in peace.
• 15:21
  Speaker 6: They are going home to their mountains We came to
• 15:24
  Speaker 6: get water for the journey.
• 15:26
  Speaker 8: You mean you just wanted water?
• 15:28
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Dad! Dad!
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: John.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: John.
• 15:35
  Speaker 10: The Earth Patrol will be following us soon.
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: We must go.
• 15:40
  Speaker 10: And the boy?
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: We'll have to leave him here with water and supplies.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: No.
• 15:44
  Speaker 10: The Earth Patrol would question him. We need the time.
• 15:49
  Speaker 10: He goes with us.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: No.
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: They tore the Adamson air still from the tower and
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: mounted it on poles. They piled our supplies in the
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: yard and loaded them on their backs. And then they started.
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: I marched with the old man at the head, and
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: the column stretched out behind us on the desert. I
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: turned to look back at our house. But the sun
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: was behind it, blinding red. The old man pulled me
• 16:19
  Speaker 5: around as he marched, his eyes fixed on the horizon.
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: where far to the north rose the cool mountains that
• 16:24
  Speaker 5: were the ancient home of the Highlanders. Fourteen of the
• 16:29
  Speaker 5: Martians died the first day. They dropped to the side
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: of the column where they could go no farther and died.
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: But the march went on. On the fifth day, we
• 16:38
  Speaker 5: swung wide to avoid a mining settlement, but not wide enough.
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: The miners were in ambush behind a pile of rocks.
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: I shall lead them home.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: Home to the promised rest.
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: Home to the mountains.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: March forward. March forward.
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: And the march went on. We wound across the desert
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: in wild zigzags, following the paths the old man had
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: traveled through the years. Only once a patrol plane hovered
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: on the horizon and then shot away. The days went on,
• 17:27
  Speaker 5: the weeks, and the Martians died.
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: They died of exhaustion.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: They died of the diseases we had given.
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: And they died of thirst. The Adamson still could produce
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: 27 units of water an hour, no more. And on that,
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: they died of thirst. Here, boy, here's your water.
• 17:46
  Speaker 8: But that's more than the others got.
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: Take it. It's yours.
• 17:50
  Speaker 8: You're giving me your water.
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: It will be provided to me.
• 17:54
  Speaker 6: He that brings justice to his brothers will drink deep
• 17:57
  Speaker 6: of the water of righteousness.
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: He that... Drink. Drink your water, boy.
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: Across the desert from the Kalmak Canal to Fever Dip,
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: past the towering mesas of the Higgins Badlands, Across the
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: dry sea bottoms, they marched. On the 54th day of
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: the march, we halted at evening. The air was thinner,
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: colder now. The rations had long since been exhausted. I
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: lay down to sleep, wrapped in the old man's coat.
• 18:37
  Speaker 5: Early in the morning, before sunrise, I woke suddenly. The
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: ground mist that had covered the desert the night before
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: was lifting slowly. I saw the old man standing by
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: the burned-out fire, the vapor swirling around his legs in
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: the cold light of the false dawn edging his wild beard.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: Go back to sleep, boy.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: I can't.
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: The end is near.
• 19:01
  Speaker 6: I have led them through the wilderness, dry shud across
• 19:05
  Speaker 6: the seas, and before us lie the mountain.
• 19:09
  Speaker 8: You mean we're almost there?
• 19:11
  Speaker 6: When the mist is taken from the eyes of man,
• 19:14
  Speaker 6: the place of refuge can be seen.
• 19:17
  Speaker 8: You mean the mountains? It's over. We're there.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: I have led them to their home, and I must
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: go back to the desert.
• 19:28
  Speaker 8: You mean alone?
• 19:30
  Speaker 6: Now. Now, even now, I hear a voice in the wind.
• 19:34
  Speaker 6: Carry the message to the men of Earth. Bring to
• 19:37
  Speaker 6: this new world the message of the old. All beings
• 19:42
  Speaker 6: created in the universe are my brothers. And he that
• 19:46
  Speaker 6: harms my brother harms me.
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: Goodbye.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Goodbye, boy. You'll be safe now.
• 19:58
  Speaker 8: Goodbye, John. Goodbye.
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: The Martians found him 500 yards from the camp, dead.
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: Now the mist rose, and before us towered the highlands,
• 20:19
  Speaker 5: the tall green mountains and the cool sky. The march
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: was over. Of the 7,000 Martians who started, 900 were alive.
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: They gathered now on the rise of ground and faced
• 20:31
  Speaker 5: the hills. Their thin bodies wavered as they stood, and
• 20:35
  Speaker 5: some dropped to the ground as they stood there, but
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: there was a light of hope in their large, staring eyes.
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: Most of them had died, but they had died on
• 20:45
  Speaker 5: the way home, and now the march was over. Then
• 20:54
  Speaker 5: the patrol planes were spotted on the horizon, and within
• 20:57
  Speaker 5: ten minutes they had landed. The Martians stood silently, as
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: the squads piled out and set up the. 50 caliber
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: machine guns and the petroleum gel flamethrower.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: All right, you spiders. Hands up and stay together. Gather
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: in a bunch and don't try anything.
• 21:15
  Speaker 6: Sergeant?
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: Yes, sir.
• 21:17
  Speaker 6: Shoot the first spider that moves and shoot to kill.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: All right, where's that boy?
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: There was a boy reported.
• 21:27
  Speaker 8: Here I am.
• 21:28
  Speaker 6: Oh.
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: Are you all right, kid?
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: They hurt you?
• 21:31
  Speaker 8: No, I'm all right. John gave me his water ration.
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: Oh, the leader, huh? Well, I've got a warrant for him.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: Where is he?
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: There.
• 21:39
  Speaker 8: He's dead.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: Huh?
• 21:42
  Speaker 6: Oh.
• 21:43
  Speaker 11: Well, just as well. Might hate to be him in
• 21:46
  Speaker 11: front of a settler's jury.
• 21:48
  Speaker 8: What are you going to do to them?
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: The spiders? See those transport planes coming in?
• 21:54
  Speaker 11: We're going to ship them all back to the reservation
• 21:56
  Speaker 11: where they belong.
• 21:57
  Speaker 8: You can't. You can't do that.
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: What are you talking about, kid?
• 22:01
  Speaker 8: You can't take them back.
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: They're home.
• 22:04
  Speaker 8: John said they were home. You can't take them back.
• 22:07
  Speaker 8: It isn't fair.
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: I won't let you. I won't let you. I won't
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: let you.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: Sergeant.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Yes, sir.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Peel this crazy kid off me.
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: All right, now, kid, take it easy.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: I must be shocked. Can't believe he's safe.
• 22:20
  Speaker 11: Yeah, I guess that's it.
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: All right, you spiders, step it up. Move along to
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: those transport planes.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: It's all over now.
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: You're headed right back to the reservation.
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: They separated them in groups of 50 and loaded them
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: on the planes.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: 900 out of 7,000.
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: And soon the first big-bellied ships waddled out on the
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: hard sands and lifted slowly into the air, headed back
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: to the south, flying over the trail of dead and
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: dying who started on the march to the highlands, the
• 22:59
  Speaker 5: march to home.
• 23:01
  Speaker 11: Don't worry about them spiders, kid. We'll take care of them.
• 23:06
  Speaker 11: Come on now, kid. You'll feel better as soon as
• 23:09
  Speaker 11: you get back A civilization.
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: I looked once more at the green mountains towering through
• 23:18
  Speaker 5: the mist. And then, just before the motor raced, I
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: saw John. Crazy John propped up against a dog-knot bush
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: where the Martians had placed him. The wind from the
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: south gave the wild hare and beard a rippling life.
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: He faced the hills, the home and rest he had
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: promised his brothers.
• 23:38
  Speaker 9: As he led them through the wilderness of Mars.
• 23:55
  Speaker 7: You have just heard X-1, presented by the National Broadcasting Company,
• 24:00
  Speaker 7: in cooperation with Street & Smith, publishers of astounding science fiction.
• 24:05
  Speaker 7: X-1 was an NBC Radio Network production.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: X-1's The Martian Death March. This is Victor Sterling. Until
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: next time, good night. Follow the 50 greatest old-time radio
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: shows for more classic broadcasts.