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X Minus One - "The Cave of Night" (1956) · Old Time Sci-Fi Radio | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: An experimental rocket is stranded in orbit, its fuel exhausted,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: and Lieutenant Reverdy, Rev McMillan, can reach Earth only by radio.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: The crisis is reported through the recordings of journalist Harry
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Anders as amateur operators catch the signals and Goddard Rocket
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Base confronts the problem of bringing the pilot home. From
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: NBC's X-Minus One, this is episode 36, The Cave of Night,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: adapted by Ernest Canoy from James E. Gunn's galaxy science
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: fiction story. Alexander Scowerby, Joe DeSantis, Grant Richards, Luis Van Rooten,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Charles Carroll, John Moore, and Bob Hastings are heard in
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: the cast. Originally broadcast February 1st, 1956, under the direction
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: of Daniel Sutter. We now take you back to the
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: original broadcast.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: In just a moment, X-1.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: But first, how does one man get himself into so
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: many impossible situations? This is a question you'll probably ask
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: yourself tomorrow night when you follow another hilarious adventure of
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: Throckmorton P.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Gildersleeve.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: Yes, Gildy's eye for the ladies and his pulsive temperament
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: managed to entangle him in a web of riotous circumstances.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: Join the romantic water commissioner, his neighbors, Judge Hooker, Mr. Peavy,
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: and all the loyal Gildersleeve household as they romp through
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: another episode of The Great Gildersleeve tomorrow night. Now stay
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: tuned for X-1 on NBC.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Calm down for blast-off.
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: X-5 for.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Three, two, X minus one, fire.
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed tales
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: of new dimensions in time and space. These are stories
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: of the future, adventures in which you'll live in a
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: million could-be years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, presents X-Minus-One.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Tonight's story, The Cave of Night by James E. Gunn.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: You want a little joy?
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: Though yet of Hamlet, our dear brothers... Death, the memory... Anyway,
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: how's it, okay?
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Okay. Check recording. I may go over a half hour.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Make sure they've got another reel of tape ready.
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: Okay?
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: All right, uh... Look, Bill, I've just put the segments
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: of tape together for the next week's show. I'm going
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: to record my narrations, and we'll listen to it together tomorrow.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: I know this is unusual, but you're the producer, and
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: I don't want you out on a limb that may
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: be sawed off behind us. This week's show is liable
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: to either win us every award from the Peabody to
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: the Pulitzer Prize, or maybe put the network out of business. Okay,
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: we start with the standard opening. Behind the world, et cetera,
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: in 40 seconds. This is Harry Anders, your editor. At
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: 8 o'clock, after the sun has set and the sky
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: is darkening, look up. There's a man up there where
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: no man has ever been. He is lost in the
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: cave of night.
• 4:00
  Speaker 6: And the fuel tank's empty. The saver broken. Transmitting and clear.
• 4:06
  Speaker 6: Anyone picking this up, anyone. This is Rev McMillan calling.
• 4:11
  Speaker 6: Notify Goddard Rock, New Mexico. No way to get back.
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: There's a man up there where no man has ever been.
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: He is lost in the cave of night. We all
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: know that phrase now, the cave of night. It was
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: written by a poet disguised in the cynical hide of
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: a newspaper rewrite man.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: But it stuck.
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: It caught the world and held it like a butterfly
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: pinned to a board. It started with a ham, an
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: amateur radio operator in Davenport, Iowa. All right, Eddie, roll
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: the first tape in here.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: It's marked.
• 4:45
  Speaker 7: Start.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: Am I too close?
• 4:49
  Speaker 8: I was up in the attic. I usually have a
• 4:51
  Speaker 8: talk with WG73. He's in Buenos Aires. We play chess. Well,
• 4:57
  Speaker 8: there was some kind of interference, and then all of
• 4:59
  Speaker 8: a sudden I heard this voice. I record most of
• 5:03
  Speaker 8: my listening anyway, so I had the tape machine running.
• 5:07
  Speaker 8: After I heard it, I called civil defense. That's what
• 5:09
  Speaker 8: we're supposed to.
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: Look, Bill, I haven't done the final editing on these tapes,
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: so don't worry.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: They're a little rough.
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: Down out of the night, flung from the darkness, came
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: these words, the first of so many that electrified the world.
• 5:28
  Speaker 6: Notify Goddard Rock, New Mexico. No way to get back.
• 5:33
  Speaker 6: No way to get back. I'm stuck up here. No
• 5:35
  Speaker 6: way to get down.
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: What does it take to catch the pity of the world?
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: A man wedged underground in Kentucky. A little girl in
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: the bottom of a well. Somebody alive, waiting for rescue,
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: with the days of his life numbered. Somebody, somewhere, waiting
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: for us to get him out. The story broke in
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: this morning's papers. Orbiting 1,000 miles above our heads was
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: a man, an officer of the United States Air Force
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: in a fuel-less spaceship. We're recording at the desk of
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: Mike Bayless, senior night editor of the Continental Press National Wire.
• 6:17
  Speaker 7: Hey, you always get a reaction like this. I remember
• 6:21
  Speaker 7: the Floyd Collins story in the 20s. Fellow trapped in
• 6:24
  Speaker 7: that cave in Kentucky, remember?
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Oh, sure.
• 6:27
  Speaker 7: And the whole country hanging on to see if we
• 6:28
  Speaker 7: could get out. Then there was that little girl stuck
• 6:32
  Speaker 7: in the well. Kathy Fiskers?
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 6:36
  Speaker 7: We pulled all those stories out and put them on
• 6:38
  Speaker 7: the wire for background. But this hit bigger. We got
• 6:43
  Speaker 7: the first lead from an Air Force handout in New Mexico.
• 6:46
  Speaker 7: They just said an experimental rocket failed to return to base.
• 6:49
  Speaker 7: But by that time, the cat was out of the bag.
• 6:51
  Speaker 7: Ham operators picked up those messages from Boston to Fairbanks, Alaska.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: Mr. Bayliss, you first used the phrase, the cave of night,
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: didn't you? Yeah, I guess so.
• 7:02
  Speaker 7: I mean, you know, you got to get a little
• 7:04
  Speaker 7: purple on a thing like this.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: People eat it up.
• 7:06
  Speaker 7: You can't spread it on too thick. Anyway, I was
• 7:11
  Speaker 7: lost in a cave once when I was a kid
• 7:12
  Speaker 7: in upstate New York. I waited around for a couple
• 7:15
  Speaker 7: of hours in the dark until they came for me.
• 7:18
  Speaker 7: It kind of reminded me of that.
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: It reminded the world of terrors at night, of struggling
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: awake through nightmares, the fears of loneliness, darkness, falling, suffocation, thirst.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: It reminded me of Rev McMillan.
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: Perhaps I have an advantage over all the other reporters
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: for newspapers and radio and television because I knew Rev McMillan.
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: I knew him in college and in the Air Force.
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: I knew that he was testing rocket-powered craft at Goddard,
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: but I didn't know they were so close to space.
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: No one knew, till those messages of desperation crackled down
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: through the atmosphere. I remembered Rev when I saw those
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: headlines that morning. Straight black hair, Clark Gable ears, reckless grins.
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: He ate well, reveled in expert jazz and Mozart opera,
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: and he talked incessantly. His southern speech was no draw.
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: There was too much to say. And now he was alone,
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: and soon all that might be extinguished. The men from
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: the radio newsrooms rushed to Goddard Rocket Base armed with
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: miniature tape recorders.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: Gentlemen, I'm Colonel Arthur J. Hannigan.
• 8:36
  Speaker 9: Information officer for Goddard Rocket Base, and I'm authorized to
• 8:40
  Speaker 9: issue the following statement.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: First Lieutenant Reverty L.
• 8:43
  Speaker 9: McMillan, United States Air Force pilot, Experimental Rocket Division, took
• 8:49
  Speaker 9: off from Goddard Base at 2234 Rocky Mountain Time. His craft,
• 8:55
  Speaker 9: the XR-37 Mark II, a hydrazine nitric three-stage rocket. I'm
• 9:02
  Speaker 9: sorry I can't describe it, boys.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Classified.
• 9:06
  Speaker 9: Well, in order to maintain orbit, the motors were pulsed
• 9:09
  Speaker 9: for one second every 15 seconds elapsed time. After three minutes,
• 9:14
  Speaker 9: the exhaust was seen by ground spectroscope observation to flare
• 9:18
  Speaker 9: for half a minute. As fuel supply is exhausted, the
• 9:22
  Speaker 9: craft has reached sustaining orbital speed.
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: What does that mean, Colonel?
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: He's out of gas. He can't get down.
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: The first mobilization was of the scientific brains massed at Goddard.
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: Few of them knew Rev. Brains at a research project
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: are usually carefully sorted out and sorted away from the
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: distractions of the outside world. They designed, they invented, they
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: calibrated and theorized. But they didn't know the short, stocky
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: man with a lopsided grin who rode the fruit of
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: their labor up and out, and now circled the world
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: of his birth with time ticking out. I covered the
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: hearings in Washington for the network newsroom. I flew down
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: from New York, and the stewardess came out every few
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: minutes to tell the passengers the latest news. She called
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: him Rev, although she never knew him. And once I
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: thought I saw a tear. The hearing was before the
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs. Presiding, Senator
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: Alan J. Hagister of Kentucky.
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: All right, General Finch.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: You've made the technical situation fairly comprehensive... even to an
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: old cane-brake, redneck hillbilly like myself.
• 10:38
  Speaker 10: I have tried to make the gravity of the situation apparent, sir.
• 10:43
  Speaker 8: It appears to me, General, that the sacred life of
• 10:46
  Speaker 8: a human being.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: created in the.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Image of his maker is in danger.
• 10:50
  Speaker 11: There's no light thing to be thrown away like some
• 10:53
  Speaker 11: guinea pig.
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: If that ship wasn't safe.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: if that poor man up there in the cave of
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: night is to die... Somebody is responsible.
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: Isn't that right, General?
• 11:04
  Speaker 10: Sir, a manned rocket was sent up because of one
• 11:08
  Speaker 10: simple fact. It takes a computer of tremendous versatility and
• 11:13
  Speaker 10: capacity to operate a Harrison Munch reactor engine.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: A computer of infinite complexity.
• 11:19
  Speaker 11: And I ask you, General, I put the question to you,
• 11:21
  Speaker 11: why was such a computer not designed?
• 11:24
  Speaker 10: It has been designed, sir. It was designed a half
• 11:27
  Speaker 10: a million years ago. There is only one mechanism competent
• 11:32
  Speaker 10: to handle those controls, sir.
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: That is the human brain.
• 11:37
  Speaker 7: All right.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: I turn now to my second question, General.
• 11:40
  Speaker 11: And I ask it not only for myself and my
• 11:43
  Speaker 11: colleagues on this committee, but for 170 million Americans listening
• 11:47
  Speaker 11: on the radio, watching on television. With that man out
• 11:51
  Speaker 11: there living out his last days, why was it not
• 11:54
  Speaker 11: possible to send a ship up after him? Why was
• 11:56
  Speaker 11: there no second ship built?
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: For one reason, Senator. Money.
• 12:02
  Speaker 10: The appropriation for rocket research fell short by 12% of
• 12:07
  Speaker 10: the amount needed even to build one vessel. Frankly, gentlemen,
• 12:12
  Speaker 10: the deficiency was made up by cutting corners and diverting
• 12:16
  Speaker 10: funds from other projects.
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: That is not the point, General.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: There's a man up there who's going to die.
• 12:21
  Speaker 10: With the limited funds you gave us, we've done what
• 12:23
  Speaker 10: we set out to do. We've demonstrated that space flight
• 12:28
  Speaker 10: is possible, that a space platform is feasible. If there
• 12:34
  Speaker 10: is any inefficiency, if there is any blame for what
• 12:38
  Speaker 10: has happened, it lies at the door of those who
• 12:42
  Speaker 10: lack the confidence and the courage and ability of their
• 12:46
  Speaker 10: countrymen to fight free of Earth to their greatest glory.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: Senators, How did you vote on that?
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: This is Harry Anders in the gallery of the Washington
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: National Cathedral. This is a special prayer service called by
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: the Dean of the people for the safety of Lieutenant
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: McMillan and for the success of the recently announced rescue plan.
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: The church is filled. There's a sprinkling of high Navy, Army,
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: and Air Force uniforms. I see General Finch in the
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: second row next to the Secretary of the Air Force
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: and the newly appointed Undersecretary of Defense, Mr.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Winokur.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: Prominently displayed in the center aisle, below the ornate railing
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: separating the pews from the altar, is the small model
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: of Macmillan's ship. One by one now, the congregation is
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: filing past, dropping checks, bills. I saw one child drop
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: in 12 pennies one by one. All contributions are to
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: be used to defray the cost of the rescue effort.
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: The congregation is now kneeling to pray. A moment of
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: silent prayer will follow for the safety and rescue of
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: Lieutenant McMillan. One billion dollars was raised in one week
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: from voluntary contributions. Another billion and a half was appropriated
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: unanimously by Congress. The race began. Would the rescue party
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: reach the ship in time? Of course, we didn't know then.
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: And daily we listened to the voice of the man
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: we hoped to buy back from death. Now, look, Bill,
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: on these Macmillan broadcast tapes, don't let some ignorant engineering
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: vice president holler because it's not broadcast quality.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: Believe me, I knew Macmillan.
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: More of that wild Texan in these tapes than in
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: any hi-fi super frequency response studio recordings.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: Just listen. You'll see what I mean.
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: I've been staring out the portholes. I never tire of it.
• 14:54
  Speaker 12: Through the window at the right, I see a black
• 14:55
  Speaker 12: velvet curtain with a strong light behind it. There are
• 14:59
  Speaker 12: pinpoint holes in the curtain, and the light shines through,
• 15:02
  Speaker 12: not winking the way stars do, but steady.
• 15:06
  Speaker 5: There's no air up here. That's the reason.
• 15:10
  Speaker 12: My oxygen is holding out better than I expected. By
• 15:13
  Speaker 12: my figures, it should last 27 days more. I should
• 15:17
  Speaker 12: use so much of it talking all the time, but
• 15:19
  Speaker 12: it's hard to stop. Talking, I feel as if I
• 15:32
  Speaker 12: was still in touch with the Earth. Still one of you.
• 15:35
  Speaker 12: Even though I am way up here. Too bad the
• 15:40
  Speaker 12: receiver is broken, but if it had to be one
• 15:42
  Speaker 12: or the other, I'm glad it was the transmitter that
• 15:44
  Speaker 12: came through all right. There's only one of me. There
• 15:48
  Speaker 12: are billions of you to talk to. You can't see
• 15:53
  Speaker 12: me now. You'll have to wait hours for the dog.
• 15:56
  Speaker 12: I'll have mine in a few minutes.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: That's the way he talked.
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: And as we listened to the lonely voice from the night,
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: the engineers, the scientists, the construction men worked round the clock.
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: General Finch presented the problem in the pool interview. I
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: asked the questions for the combined networks that afternoon. Most
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: of you heard the complete broadcast live as he briefed
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: the world with the clip laconic delivery of a soldier.
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: There are two basic problems. We've recovered the first and
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: second stages of the rocket. We've only to construct the
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: third stage. The second problem is more difficult.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: The pilot.
• 16:36
  Speaker 10: Lieutenant McMillan was the only man physically and psychologically qualified.
• 16:41
  Speaker 10: We discovered that in our first program. His training and
• 16:44
  Speaker 10: orientation took 18 months. We have now to duplicate this
• 16:49
  Speaker 10: in 27 days.
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: Do you think it's possible, General? I don't know.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: That's all, Mr. Anders. Stevenson, get me some coffee, will you?
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: Black and some kind of sandwich. No butter, no mayonnaise.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: And then the voice from the cave asked a question
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: and expected no answer.
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: Do you hear me down there?
• 17:10
  Speaker 12: Sometimes I wonder.
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: I wish there was some way I could be sure
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: you were hearing me.
• 17:16
  Speaker 12: Just that one thing might keep me from going crazy.
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: I was there the night we answered that question. I
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: was there in a helicopter over Kansas City. This is
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: Harry Anders speaking to you from a helicopter over Kansas City.
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: There are 15 seconds till midnight. The plan was developed
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: by General Finch. At precisely midnight, every light in the
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: city will be out and then flashed on in two-second intervals.
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: This will be the exact moment that McMillan's ship is
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: calculated to pass overhead.
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: It's almost time now.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: Five, four, three, two, one.
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: There they go.
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: Off.
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: On. Off. On.
• 18:10
  Speaker 13: Off.
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: On. I see it. I see it. Kansas City winking
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: at me. Yes, I can see it. Thanks. Thanks. You're listening.
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: I know that.
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: Now.
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: I'm not alone. I'll never forget. I'm waiting for you.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: We're recording in the press gallery of the Goddard Rocket
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: Base main construction hangar. The vast third stage component stands
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: before us. Men swarming up and down the gantry cranes.
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: The Mark III is being built to carry five men
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: instead of one. The pilot selection has been kept a
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: top secret to avoid unnecessary strain on the men selected.
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: The latest progress report gives a possible margin of six
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: hours between the launching of the rescue ship and the
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: estimated exhaustion supply of oxygen to Lieutenant McMillan.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: The shift is changing now.
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: The expert construction workers recruited from across the country by
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: the combined efforts of the Air Force Personnel Service, the
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: Atomic Energy Commission, and the International United Electrical Workers and
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: United Auto Workers of the AFL-CIO.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: The margin is six hours.
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: Six hours between life and death for Lieutenant Reverty L.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: McMillan.
• 19:37
  Speaker 12: An hour ago, I saw the sunrise over Russia. Looks
• 19:42
  Speaker 12: like any other land from here. The green where it
• 19:45
  Speaker 12: should be green. Farther north, a sort of mud color.
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: And then white. where the snow is still deep. Up
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: here you wonder why we're so different when the land
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: is the same.
• 19:58
  Speaker 12: You think we're all the same children of the same
• 20:01
  Speaker 12: mother planet.
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: Who says we're different?
• 20:06
  Speaker 12: Can you hear me in the back?
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: How about this?
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: That's better.
• 20:17
  Speaker 14: All right, gentlemen, I have exactly five minutes for the
• 20:20
  Speaker 14: press conference. Therefore, I'm not going to answer any questions.
• 20:23
  Speaker 14: Progress report is as follows. As a safety factor, we're
• 20:27
  Speaker 14: constructing two complete three-stage rockets and six additional third-stage components.
• 20:33
  Speaker 14: The telemeted reports from McMillan's ship have added important additional information.
• 20:38
  Speaker 14: And the first of the rescue vessels should be ready
• 20:39
  Speaker 14: to be launched at the estimated time, weather permitting.
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: Now, don't ask a question.
• 20:45
  Speaker 14: Within certain limitations of air turbulence, the rocket will be
• 20:48
  Speaker 14: ready to lift in time to save Lieutenant McMillan.
• 20:55
  Speaker 6: 21 days.
• 20:57
  Speaker 5: The air is bad tonight. I can't seem to get
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: a full breath. It seems to stick in the lungs.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: It doesn't matter, though.
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: But I wish you could see what I've seen.
• 21:07
  Speaker 12: A vast, spreading universe around Earth like a bride in
• 21:12
  Speaker 12: a soft veil.
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: You'd know then that we belong out here. Come out, mankind.
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: Come out and see what I have seen.
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: This is Harry Anders at Goddard Rocket Base. The Harrison
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: Munch reactor engine for the first third stage rescue is
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: being tested here at Goddard. You can hear the roaring
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: of the gases in the test chamber behind me. The
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: work has been stepped up as a new calculation based
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: on the increased temperature reading from McMillan's ship indicates that
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: the exhaustion time will be some six hours earlier than
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: originally estimated. The margin of rescue will be in minutes.
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: Air very bad, but a hurry. It can't last much longer. Sully,
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: of course you'll hurry. But I don't want anyone feeling
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: sorry for me.
• 22:11
  Speaker 12: I've seen the stars clearly. But more than this, I've
• 22:16
  Speaker 12: seen the earth. There where I have lived and loved.
• 22:22
  Speaker 12: I have known it better than any man.
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: And loved it better.
• 22:28
  Speaker 12: And known its children.
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: Goodbye.
• 22:34
  Speaker 12: I have a better tomb than the greatest conqueror Earth
• 22:37
  Speaker 12: ever bore. Do not disturb.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: Countdown for blastoff.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Five.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: Four.
• 22:52
  Speaker 5: Three.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: Two... One.
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: Anders, tape 323. We're in the press operation room of
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: Goddard Field. The rescue rocket has been aloft 53 minutes plus.
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: Its calculated time of arrival is 54 minutes. You will
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: hear the voice of General Beauregard Finch on a direct
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: pickup from the rescue vessel, which has been named unofficially
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: the Lifesaver. Silent crowds have collected at the outer perimeter
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: of the rocket base, as if by their presence they
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: might help.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: Quiet, quiet. The next voice you hear will be General
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: Finch aloft in the rescue ship. The voice quality may
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: not be good. He's speaking over a throat mic in
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: his pressure suit.
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: Mark three to base. This is Finch. I'm going to
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: secure that.
• 23:55
  Speaker 13: We have just secured to the airlock of McMillan's ship.
• 23:59
  Speaker 13: I'm now entering the lock. The inner door is closed.
• 24:06
  Speaker 13: I have closed the outer door. The inner door is cycling.
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: Now it is open. The bulkheads of the control room
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: is open.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: Is he all right?
• 24:28
  Speaker 7: Come on, what's happening?
• 24:32
  Speaker 13: Lieutenant McMillan is dead. He died heroically, waiting till all
• 24:38
  Speaker 13: hope was gone. until every oxygen gauge stood at zero.
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: And then, well, the airlock was open when we arrived.
• 24:49
  Speaker 13: In accordance with his own wish, his body will be
• 24:52
  Speaker 13: left here in its eternal orbit.
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: I'm going to leave now. My feet will be the
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: last to touch this deck.
• 25:01
  Speaker 13: Lieutenant McMillan is in his control chair, staring out towards
• 25:05
  Speaker 13: the stars.
• 25:07
  Speaker 5: I'll leave the airlock doors open behind me.
• 25:11
  Speaker 13: Let the airless, frigid arms of space protect and preserve
• 25:16
  Speaker 13: for all eternity. This man they would not let go.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Well, that's the show, Bill.
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: Bill, you remember at the conference we hadn't made up
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: our mind whether to pick anything up from the celebration
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: last night after the news of the Mars landing? I
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: said it was the right end for Rev McMillan's story.
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: You said it was old stuff. Every kid knew the sequence.
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: The ships built to rescue Rev used to set up
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: the satellite base from the base to.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: The moon and now to Mars.
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: Well, I went out with a mini tape last night
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: and I've got the end of the story.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: Here it is.
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: This is Harry Anders in Times Square. The neon rocket
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: ship at the top of the Times building has.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: Just flashed into brilliant light.
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: The signal that the landing signal has been received from
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: the rocket Rev. Macmillan III. Man has landed on Mars.
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: And a holiday crowd here in Times Square is celebrating
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: like a thousand New Years rolled into one.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: I'm being tossed and pushed.
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: And clapped on the back all at once. Let's see
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: what the man on the street thinks about man on Mars.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: Hey, you, sir.
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: I'm broadcasting... No, no. How do you feel about it, sir?
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: How do you feel tonight about man's conquest of space,
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: of the planet?
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Leave me alone.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: I'm in a hurry. Just a few words of the... Look,
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: get your hands off me.
• 26:32
  Speaker 6: Let go of me.
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: I'm not in for... Wait a minute, sir. Wait a... Wait. Rev!
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: Rev, come back here!
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: Rev!
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: You think I could listen to that voice over and
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: over in a tape editing room and not know every vowel,
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: every consonant?
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: I'm telling you, Bill, I saw him. Rev McMillan.
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: The black hair was gray and those Clark Abel ears
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: were pinned back, but that's a simple operation. I played
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: that piece of tape over and over. It was Rev.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: I know it. He isn't up there.
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: He's alive. We've got it, Bill. We've got it on
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: our show. We'll break it. Rev McMillan is alive. I
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: haven't written it yet, but we finish it off with this,
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: with a question. Why did they announce he was dead?
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: I'm in the tape editing room now. I've got the
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: reel ready to record the answer.
• 27:15
  Speaker 5: Excuse me, Mr.
• 27:16
  Speaker 8: Andrews.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: I'm... Hey, hey, hey. Just a minute. I'm recording. You
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: better see the page outside.
• 27:20
  Speaker 5: Mr.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: Andrews, I'd like to.
• 27:21
  Speaker 5: Talk to you for a moment, if I may.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: I have a letter of authorization.
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: Oh, just a minute. I'll be through in a minute. Look, Bill,
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: I've got the answer now. Last night, they landed on Mars.
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: But that first ship, the one that circles up there now,
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: there isn't anybody on it. There never was, except a
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: 30 days recording and a transmitter.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: That's all.
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: He was never up there. They didn't have the money
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: for a manned rocket. They wanted a crash program all out,
• 27:46
  Speaker 4: so they sent a decoy up. And we all broke
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: our hearts to rescue the man who wasn't there. Oh,
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: he must be laughing, General Finch and the rest of them,
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: the ones that knew. You know, I guess they had
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: a problem. What to do with Rev? I wonder if
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: he slipped away from whatever guards they have around him
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: to see the celebration.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: He looked a little sad.
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: I think sometimes he must wish he was really up
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: there in the cave of night, seated in the icy
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: control room 1,075 miles above the earth, staring out at
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: the stars.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: Anders, I must insist.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: What? Oh, uh... Oh, Bill.
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: Looks as if I won't have to worry about editing
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: this tape. My friends are from Washington.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: I'd like to call your attention to the last paragraph. What? Oh, no, no, no, no.
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: It's very simple. You won't have to burn it. It's
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: easy to destroy recording tape. I throw this switch. When
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: the tape goes through the erasing head, it's gone forever.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: Oh, too bad.
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: Would have made one fine show.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: Okay. So long, Rev.
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: You have just heard X-Minus One, presented by the National
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, which
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: this month features an exciting serial, Slave Ship, by Frederick Paul.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: That was X-Minus One, episode 36, The Cave of Night.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Good night, and thank you for joining us. Follow old-time
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: sci-fi radio for more classic science fiction broadcasts.