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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: April 10th, 1956 marked the NBC broadcast of X-1, episode 46,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Star Bright. Adapted by George Lefferts from Mark Clifton's galaxy
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: science fiction story, Star Bright, it brings science fiction into
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: a mid-century family home. A father faces the implications of
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: his young daughter's extraordinary intellect and abilities as her perceptions
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: reach beyond ordinary human limits. Sarah Fussell, Lawson Zerbe, William Quinn,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Billy Harris, Kate Wilkinson, and Ralph Bell are heard in
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: the cast under Daniel Sutter's direction. From the everyday surroundings
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: of home come questions of time, thought, other dimensions, and
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: what it may mean when a child is far ahead
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: of those around her. Now, back to the golden age
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: of radio.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: In just a moment, X minus one.
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: But first, some of the funniest situations you've ever witnessed
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: occur every Wednesday night when the devilish imagination of MC
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: Jack Bailey gets to work on NBC's Truth or Consequences.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: You won't believe it until you hear it, so listen
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: in tomorrow. Then another laugh session is in store later
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: on with the wise and witty Groucho Marx as he
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: and contestants play You Bet Your Life.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: While the melodic note in your Wednesday evening schedule.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: There's music and fun on airtime with Giselle McKenzie.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Countdown for blastoff. X minus 5, 4, 3, 2, X
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: minus 1, fire.
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed tales
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: of new dimensions in time and space.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: These are stories of the future.
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: Adventures in which you'll live in a million could-be years
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: on a thousand maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company, in
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, presents.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: X minus 1.
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: Tonight, the Mark Clifton story, Star Bright.
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: Well, it's finally happened. I've known it would for a
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: long time now. That's why I'm writing this, in the
• 3:06
  Speaker 5: hopes that you'll understand and not think me mad. Whatever
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: the outcome, I hope you will not judge me too
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: harshly for what I've done or failed to do.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Mr. Holmes. Mr. Holmes. Come in. Oh, hello, Chief.
• 3:26
  Speaker 6: I just wanted to let you know, sir, that we're
• 3:28
  Speaker 6: doing everything we can to find the children.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Yes, I'm sure you are.
• 3:32
  Speaker 6: We've got 300 men out combing the woods for them.
• 3:34
  Speaker 6: The Army base has volunteered another 100 men, and we've
• 3:36
  Speaker 6: sent an all-points bulletin to every police unit in the country.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Fine, fine.
• 3:40
  Speaker 6: I just wanted to check and make certain our description
• 3:42
  Speaker 6: is accurate. Your little girl, Star, was wearing a blue
• 3:46
  Speaker 6: dress and white sandals. Is that right?
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: That's right. And she is how old? Six, six years old.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: And the little Howell boy, how old is he? Seven,
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: I believe, yes, seven. Uh-huh, thank you. Well, I'll be
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: in touch with you. Oh, that's very good of you, Chief. Oh,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: by the way, Mr.
• 4:02
  Speaker 7: And Mrs.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Howell, how are they taking it? Well, they're pretty upset, naturally. Mr. Howell,
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: he's out with a man searching. Yes, yes, I know.
• 4:08
  Speaker 6: Mrs.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Howell's in the car outside. Ruth is outside? Why didn't
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: she come in? Well, she said she'd rather not. Oh,
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: I see. Do you, please?
• 4:17
  Speaker 6: Well, Mrs.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Howell, I thought.
• 4:18
  Speaker 7: I decided to come in. I'm not going to sit
• 4:20
  Speaker 7: on my feelings any longer.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Now, Mrs.
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: Howell.
• 4:22
  Speaker 7: No, I have to say this. Pete, Bill and I
• 4:26
  Speaker 7: have been your neighbors for almost a year now. Our
• 4:28
  Speaker 7: children have been almost inseparable.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: I know that.
• 4:31
  Speaker 7: Then how can you just sit here writing letters when
• 4:33
  Speaker 7: they may be lost somewhere or in trouble? Why aren't
• 4:36
  Speaker 7: you out with Bill and the rest of them searching?
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: I can't.
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: Ruth, I know how you feel. Please try to understand.
• 4:41
  Speaker 5: I intend to help find Bobby and Star, but I
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: must do this first.
• 4:45
  Speaker 7: Why? What's so important about it?
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: Ruth, I'm sorry. Sorry?
• 4:48
  Speaker 7: Then why don't you act like a man?
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: You're inhuman. Please.
• 4:52
  Speaker 7: I don't ever want to see you or speak to
• 4:54
  Speaker 7: you again. Ever.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Perhaps you won't.
• 4:59
  Speaker 6: What was that, Mr.
• 5:00
  Speaker 7: Holmes?
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Nothing. Chief, if you don't mind, I'd like to be
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: alone for a moment. Okay, Mr. Holmes. I'll keep in touch.
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: How can I tell them? How can I make them understand?
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: I write this to you because they must be made
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: to understand somehow, but I have to begin at the beginning.
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: I think I first noticed it one evening when Star
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: was three years old. I was in my reading chair
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: going over some work. Star was sitting on the floor
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: in the circle of light with her blunt-nosed scissors and
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: scraps of paper. Her long silence made me glance down.
• 5:45
  Speaker 8: And then we glue this together. Put a line here
• 5:51
  Speaker 8: and there.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Star.
• 5:53
  Speaker 8: Like that.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Star. Hmm?
• 5:55
  Speaker 8: What is it, Daddy?
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Can I see what you've made? Uh-huh.
• 6:00
  Speaker 8: Well, well.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: It's quite a coincidence. What? You know what they call
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: a piece of paper joined together with a half twist
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: like this?
• 6:08
  Speaker 7: Nope.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: It's called a Mobius strip.
• 6:11
  Speaker 8: You mean somebody already made one?
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: A man named Mobius. Mathematician. Long time ago.
• 6:17
  Speaker 8: Did he know you can put a line on it
• 6:18
  Speaker 8: like that? So it has one side all joined?
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, he did. Someday I'll tell you what it means.
• 6:24
  Speaker 8: Now do it.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: What?
• 6:26
  Speaker 8: Tell me about a Mobius strip.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Very complicated.
• 6:31
  Speaker 8: Then read me about it.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: Oh, you wouldn't understand, honey.
• 6:34
  Speaker 8: Read me anyway.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Okay, young lady. But I warn you, it'll be like
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: one of those nonsense rhymes. At least, I hope it will.
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: At three years, a child shouldn't have enough functioning intelligence
• 6:55
  Speaker 5: to put together a Mobius strip. I'd known for some
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: time now that Star was an exceptionally bright child. Just
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: how bright, I had no idea. Not until I began
• 7:06
  Speaker 5: to read to her from an advanced physics book, The
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: Theory of the Mobius Strip.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: To the power of infinity. Now then, are you sufficiently
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: mixed up, young lady?
• 7:18
  Speaker 8: Daddy, you know what?
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: What?
• 7:20
  Speaker 8: You read too slow. You say a word, then I
• 7:24
  Speaker 8: think a long time, then you say another word.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Oh, I see. Just, uh, what would you have me
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: do about it?
• 7:30
  Speaker 8: Well, teach me to read. Then I can think as
• 7:33
  Speaker 8: quick as I want.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: The word is quickly. It's an adverb.
• 7:36
  Speaker 8: Oh, Daddy, really? You pick on such unimportant things. I
• 7:39
  Speaker 8: want to learn to read.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Okay. When would you like to begin?
• 7:43
  Speaker 8: Right now.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Tonight. Okay.
• 7:56
  Speaker 5: Before she went to bed that evening, my daughter was
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: able to read.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: In the months that followed, a great deal happened.
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: Some of our friends, like Jim Petrie, have dropped in
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: and been amused to see her on the floor, rapidly
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: turning the pages of an encyclopedia as big as she is.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Sit down, Jim. Oh, thanks. Star, aren't you going to
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: say hello to Uncle Jim? Hello.
• 8:19
  Speaker 8: Hello.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: I see she's taken to looking at the pictures in
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: the encyclopedia, huh? Oh, yeah, yes. Come on in the library, Jim.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: I'd like to talk to you proudly. Yeah, sure thing.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: Bring your drink, huh? Okay. I'll shut the door here.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Why all the secrecy? Sit down. Jim, we've been friends,
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: you and I, ever since engineering school. So? So. Neither
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: of us have ever mentioned it, but one of the
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: reasons we were drawn.
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: Together is because both of us have IQ somewhere up
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: in the genius ratings.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: Oh, I think it was more than that. Well, that
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: played a part.
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: It isn't easy to be exceptional in a world which
• 9:01
  Speaker 5: regards mediocrity as the only behavior above suspicion.
• 9:04
  Speaker 9: Well, we all have to live with our afflictions. Yours
• 9:08
  Speaker 9: and mine is a quick mind in a dull environment.
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: What would you do, Jim, if you were a parent
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: as I am whose wife had died as Eleanor did,
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: And you discovered that your only child was, well, afflicted
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: with a fantastically brilliant mind.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Star? Oh, come on, Pete. Any little girl who's content
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: just to look at the pictures in the encyclopedia. I mean,
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: after all. What? She wasn't looking at the pictures.
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: Huh?
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: She was reading the pages. What? But she was turning
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: them as fast as humanly possible. She was reading them. What?
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: I know. I've tested her.
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: She not only remembers everything, she understands the concepts. She
• 9:52
  Speaker 5: even gets impatient with them.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Well, have you measured them?
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: Well, I've given her IQ tests, aptitude tests, reaction tables,
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: all the paraphernalia. for measuring something we know nothing about.
• 10:02
  Speaker 6: And?
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: Tests don't work. How do you mean? Well, either the
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: tables are screwy or stars beyond all measurement.
• 10:11
  Speaker 9: Pete, are you sure you're not projecting this? I mean,
• 10:13
  Speaker 9: isn't it possible that a few accidental... Daddy!
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Yes, honey?
• 10:19
  Speaker 8: I got lonely.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Okay. Come on in.
• 10:24
  Speaker 8: Uncle Jim, would you read me a story?
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: Why don't you read your own story?
• 10:31
  Speaker 8: Because I'm only three. And three-year-olds can't read.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: And so she had found the answer to her affliction
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: by herself. Conformity.
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: She had already learned to conceal her intelligence. So many
• 10:49
  Speaker 5: of us break our hearts before we learn that. When
• 10:53
  Speaker 5: Star was four years old, according to state law, her
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: mind had developed enough so she could attend nursery school.
• 11:00
  Speaker 7: Hi, Daddy.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: Hi, honey. Did you, uh, like nursery school?
• 11:05
  Speaker 8: Oh, yes, it was fun.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: What'd you learn today?
• 11:08
  Speaker 8: Not much. I tried to cut out paper dolls, but
• 11:12
  Speaker 8: the scissors kept slipping.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Now, look, Star, don't overdo it. That's as bad as
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: being too quick.
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: The idea is that everybody has to be just about
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: standard average.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: That's the only thing people will tolerate.
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: It's expected that a little girl of four should know
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: how to cut out paper dolls properly.
• 11:31
  Speaker 8: Oh. I guess that's the hard part, isn't it, Daddy?
• 11:36
  Speaker 8: To know how much you ought to know.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah. That's the part I always found hard when I
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: was young.
• 11:42
  Speaker 8: It's really all right. I let one little girl show
• 11:44
  Speaker 8: me how to cut them out, so now she likes me.
• 11:47
  Speaker 8: She just took charge of me and told the other
• 11:50
  Speaker 8: kids they should like me, too. So they did because
• 11:52
  Speaker 8: she's the leader, even if she is one of the stupids.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: What?
• 11:56
  Speaker 8: The stupids. That's the trouble with you, Daddy. You don't
• 12:00
  Speaker 8: grasp things right away. That's because you're only a tween.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: A tween? I assume that means an in-between?
• 12:08
  Speaker 8: That's right. You're in between a stupid and a bright.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: And you're a bright? Yes.
• 12:15
  Speaker 8: I made those names up when I was very little.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: How little?
• 12:21
  Speaker 8: Oh, about six months old.
• 12:24
  Speaker 10: The thoughts began to whirl around in my head after
• 12:34
  Speaker 10: that one.
• 12:35
  Speaker 5: A small fear kept growing inside me. How profound was
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: this little.
• 12:41
  Speaker 9: Imp that was staring up at me?
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: How much did she understand already? Even as the thought formed,
• 12:48
  Speaker 5: I learned the final horrifying fact about my little girl.
• 12:51
  Speaker 8: It's all right, Daddy. Don't be afraid of me.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: Well, how did you know that I was thinking anything
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: like that?
• 12:57
  Speaker 8: Well, I just figured it out.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Star.
• 13:01
  Speaker 8: Yes, Daddy?
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: Now, I want you to answer me honestly when I
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: ask you this next question, will you? Yes. Star. Can
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: you read people's minds? Are you a telepath? Well... Yes, Daddy.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: I thought so. You read my mind just now, didn't you?
• 13:24
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: Now, I'd like to know something else. All right. Can
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: you teach me to do it?
• 13:32
  Speaker 8: You're already learning it, Daddy. The trouble is you're so slow,
• 13:35
  Speaker 8: you didn't even know you were learning.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Oh, I see.
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: Daddy?
• 13:39
  Speaker 9: Yeah?
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I wish... What do you wish?
• 13:41
  Speaker 8: Well, nothing.
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: All the same, I knew exactly what she was wishing.
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: She was wishing for a companion whose mind would match
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: her own. You see, I was becoming telepathic.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Just a minute. Well, hello.
• 14:06
  Speaker 8: Is your little girl home?
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: Yes, she's upstairs. Who are you? I'm Robert. Robert who?
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Robert Howell.
• 14:13
  Speaker 8: My mother and father moved next door yesterday.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: Oh, well, come in, Robert.
• 14:17
  Speaker 8: I'd like to play with your little girl.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: How'd you know I had a little girl?
• 14:22
  Speaker 8: Oh, I just know.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: I see. And how old are you?
• 14:25
  Speaker 8: I'm six.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: Well, I'll ask Star to come downstairs. I'm sure she'll
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: be glad to see you.
• 14:30
  Speaker 8: Yes, she will.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: Tell me, Robert, are you a tween or a bride? Oh,
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: I'm a.
• 14:40
  Speaker 8: What did you say, Mr.
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: Holmes?
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: Nothing. I didn't have to say it. I could read
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: his thought.
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: He was a bright, and it was no accident that
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: he and his parents had moved next door. Somehow, Star
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: had managed to make contact with him, and they had
• 15:00
  Speaker 5: arranged the whole thing. A father is prepared to lose
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: his daughter eventually, but not so soon, not so terribly soon.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: Coming.
• 15:11
  Speaker 7: Oh, hello, Ruth.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Something wrong?
• 15:13
  Speaker 7: No, I was just looking for Bobby. I thought he
• 15:15
  Speaker 7: was over here playing with Star. Well, I thought they
• 15:17
  Speaker 7: were over at your place. I don't understand it.
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: I had noticed that they've been disappearing for a couple
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: of hours almost every afternoon.
• 15:25
  Speaker 7: Well, I suppose they'll turn up again. They know better
• 15:28
  Speaker 7: than to cross the street by themselves. They're too little
• 15:30
  Speaker 7: for that. If they come here first, tell them to
• 15:33
  Speaker 7: come over and have some milk and cookies.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll do that.
• 15:35
  Speaker 7: Oh, oh, by the way, this must belong to your star.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: Oh, what's that?
• 15:39
  Speaker 7: Oh, some sort of coin or metal or something. I
• 15:42
  Speaker 7: found it out in the backyard after Star and Bobby
• 15:44
  Speaker 7: were playing. It looks brand new.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: Let's have a look.
• 15:49
  Speaker 7: Oh, is something wrong?
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: Did you say you found this in your backyard? Yes.
• 15:54
  Speaker 7: What is it?
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 15:58
  Speaker 7: Well, I've got to get back. Bill will be getting
• 16:01
  Speaker 7: home for dinner soon, so see you later.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 16:16
  Speaker 8: Hello?
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: Jim?
• 16:17
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: Do you have a portable spectrophotometer? Well, sure. We've got
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: a dozen here at the lab. Pack one up and
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: get over here right away, will you? Well, Pete, I
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: don't quit till five. Look, do as I say, huh?
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: It's important. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Well, let me check the amount
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: of radioactivity again. You've checked it four times. That's about it. Okay.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: What's your opinion of this coin? Well, first of all,
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: let me say this. It's the real McCoy. And? Also,
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: it doesn't exist. Makes sense. Look, Pete, that coin is pre-Egyptian.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: It's hand-cast.
• 17:01
  Speaker 9: It's made out of one of the oldest bronze alloys,
• 17:03
  Speaker 9: one that was lost 4,000 years ago.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: So it's 4,000 years old. It is and it isn't.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: What do you mean?
• 17:10
  Speaker 9: Listen, Pete, old coins show wear. The edges get rounded
• 17:14
  Speaker 9: with handling. The surface oxidizes. The molecular structure changes, crystallizes. Pete,
• 17:20
  Speaker 9: this coin is authentic and yet it's brand new. It
• 17:25
  Speaker 9: might have been struck off yesterday. You realize, of course,
• 17:28
  Speaker 9: that that's impossible.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: Where'd you get it, Pete? I don't know. I think
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: the kid's got it. Star? Yes. How? I don't know.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: I'm almost afraid to think. Why not ask her? She
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: isn't around. She and Robert are off playing somewhere. Do
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: you know where?
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: No, I.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: Oh, Jim, it's just too fantastic. It isn't possible. I
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: haven't said a word. I know what you're thinking.
• 17:50
  Speaker 9: As a matter of fact, I was thinking something fantastic.
• 17:53
  Speaker 9: How did you guess?
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: I just guessed. Jim, let's find those kids right now. Okay. Star? Robert?
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: Let's try the playroom. Star? Robert? Not in here. Let's
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: try back here. I hear something. Pete, it's coming from
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: the room we were just in. That's impossible. There's no
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: place they could have hidden. I'm going to open that door.
• 18:24
  Speaker 8: Peek-a-boo, Uncle Jim!
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: There they were, in the middle of the playroom, holding hands,
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: a little shame-faced, a little defiant.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Star, Robert, where have you been?
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: Now, I know you weren't in this room a few
• 18:44
  Speaker 5: seconds ago, and there are no windows you could get through.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: Well?
• 18:48
  Speaker 8: It's nothing, Daddy. We just went a little way.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: That is not answering me. Where did you go? You see, Star,
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: we've found this coin. Come on.
• 18:57
  Speaker 8: I shouldn't have to tell. You're both just tweens.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: Star, I'm still your daddy.
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: Even brights have feelings about their parents.
• 19:04
  Speaker 6: Now.
• 19:05
  Speaker 8: I tried to ESP you, Daddy.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: Does she mean extrasensory perception?
• 19:10
  Speaker 8: You just don't ESP good, Daddy. Robert does it very nicely.
• 19:14
  Speaker 8: He can always find me when I hide. That's because
• 19:17
  Speaker 8: you don't have much imagination.
• 19:19
  Speaker 7: I do, too.
• 19:20
  Speaker 8: Yeah, but you always have to look at a book
• 19:23
  Speaker 8: to ESP what's in it so you leave an ESP smudge.
• 19:26
  Speaker 8: I just look at where you left the smudge, and
• 19:29
  Speaker 8: I go to that place, and that time, and there
• 19:31
  Speaker 8: you are. Oh, but that's cheating.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: It isn't.
• 19:36
  Speaker 8: You just haven't got imagination. You can't teleport yourself to
• 19:39
  Speaker 8: a place that hasn't been. I can, too. What about
• 19:43
  Speaker 8: the moon people? They haven't been yet. Oh, Star, they have,
• 19:47
  Speaker 8: to not for your daddy they haven't but for the
• 19:51
  Speaker 8: things from our tourists moon people were about 10 million
• 19:54
  Speaker 8: light years ago.
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: Now wait a minute kids hold on jim have you
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: been listening to this i think i heard it now
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: look kids you're either playing a big joke on us
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: older folks or you've actually figured out a way to
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: travel to places.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: In the past right And in the future, too, Daddy. Star,
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: could you tell us how you do it?
• 20:14
  Speaker 8: It would be easier if I could ESP it to you.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: Well, just pretend we're stupids and tell us in words.
• 20:19
  Speaker 8: Well, you remember the Mobius strip?
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: I remember. She made it about a year ago, Jim.
• 20:25
  Speaker 8: Well, you join the ends of a strip of paper
• 20:28
  Speaker 8: with a half twist to make one surface. Then you
• 20:32
  Speaker 8: take a sheet and give it a half twist so
• 20:34
  Speaker 8: you can join the edges together all over.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: That's Klein's bottle.
• 20:39
  Speaker 8: All about that.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: Yes, we know that. Go on.
• 20:42
  Speaker 8: Well, then you take a cube, you imagine a cube,
• 20:46
  Speaker 8: and you twist it.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: Tesseract? Shh, go on, Star.
• 20:49
  Speaker 8: And you ESP the twisted cube all together the same
• 20:52
  Speaker 8: way you did Klein's bottle. Now, if you do that
• 20:56
  Speaker 8: big enough all around you so you're sort of folded
• 21:00
  Speaker 8: into it, you can teleport yourself any place you want
• 21:03
  Speaker 8: to go. And that's all there is to it.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Jim, what do you think? I need another drink, Pete.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: A big one.
• 21:19
  Speaker 5: That's all there was to it. The line, the plane,
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: the cube, those were Euclidean physics. The Mobius strip, the
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: Klein bottle, the twisted cube, those were Einsteinian physics. Well,
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: I was pretty advanced in both, but I'd have to
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: do some heavy thinking to really grasp it. Meanwhile, the
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: two little kids stood there staring at Star, Robert, can
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: you tell us some of the places you've been?
• 21:42
  Speaker 8: All over, Uncle Jim. The Romans and the Egyptians and
• 21:45
  Speaker 8: places like that.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: Is that how you got the coin?
• 21:47
  Speaker 8: Uh-huh, I found it. It wasn't stealing, was it, Daddy?
• 21:51
  Speaker 8: I just found it in the dirt.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: We'll skip that for a minute. What about going to
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: the future?
• 21:56
  Speaker 7: There isn't any future, Mr.
• 21:58
  Speaker 5: Holmes.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: What's that?
• 22:00
  Speaker 8: It's kind of hard to explain.
• 22:02
  Speaker 7: Even Star doesn't get it.
• 22:03
  Speaker 10: Oh.
• 22:04
  Speaker 8: Well, when she gets to be six, like I am...
• 22:06
  Speaker 8: She'll probably understand.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: Well, try to explain it to me.
• 22:10
  Speaker 8: Well, it's all connected. Just like the Mobius strip. If
• 22:14
  Speaker 8: you go far enough, you'll get back to where it
• 22:16
  Speaker 8: starts again. You start with the cavemen, then us men,
• 22:19
  Speaker 8: then atomic men, the moon men, planet men, star.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: Men, then brights. Only somehow... What?
• 22:26
  Speaker 8: The brights got off the strip. We haven't been able
• 22:28
  Speaker 8: to find them any place in time. I'd sure like
• 22:31
  Speaker 8: to know how they got off and where they are.
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: Now look, kids, this kind of thing can be dangerous.
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: You might be eaten by a dinosaur or something.
• 22:39
  Speaker 8: Or we'd just ESP ourselves right out of there.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: Well, anyway, I don't want you leaving this part of
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: the time strip. Not again.
• 22:46
  Speaker 8: Daddy.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: Now, I may be just a tween, but I'm your father.
• 22:48
  Speaker 8: I always mind you, Daddy.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah? What about going off the block?
• 22:53
  Speaker 8: But, Daddy, we didn't cross a single strip.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: Nevertheless... Pete, think of what you're doing. Pictures, specimens, recordings.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: Not only from the past, but from the future. Pete,
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: I beg you. Jim, this is my daughter. But what
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: a contribution. We could be ages ahead of ourselves.
• 23:08
  Speaker 10: No.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: Star.
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: Robert, I'd like your promise you won't leave present time again.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: Well?
• 23:19
  Speaker 8: Okay.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: Okay. All right. Now run along. Robert's mother has some
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: cookies and milk for you.
• 23:26
  Speaker 8: Okay. See you later, Daddy. Teacher there.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: Back with the movement. Jim, I'm sorry. Well, I suppose
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: if I had a daughter... Are you going to report this?
• 23:39
  Speaker 9: And have everybody give me the horse laugh? I may
• 23:42
  Speaker 9: be just a tween, Pete, but I'm not another fool.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: It took me almost six months to do it.
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: I don't know how many times I visualized a cube
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: and ESP'd it a half-twist and tried to seal the
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: edges around me. And then once there was a flash.
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: Just for an instant, I was concentrating on Caesar's triumphant
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: march into Rome. And for the briefest instant, there it was.
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: I was standing on a roadway watching, and then it vanished.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: Hey.
• 24:13
  Speaker 8: Hi, Daddy.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: What are you two characters plotting?
• 24:17
  Speaker 8: Nothing, Daddy.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm going to my study for a while. Dara?
• 24:22
  Speaker 8: Yes, Daddy?
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: You remember your promise about not leaving present time.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Don't you?
• 24:27
  Speaker 8: Yes, Daddy.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: You're going to keep it?
• 24:29
  Speaker 8: Yes, Daddy.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: Okay. I'm holding you to it. Hello?
• 24:45
  Speaker 7: Hello, Pete, this is Ruth Howell.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 24:48
  Speaker 7: Are the kids there?
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: No.
• 24:50
  Speaker 7: When did you see them last?
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: What time is it? Oh, about ten this morning, six
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: or seven hours ago. Why?
• 24:58
  Speaker 8: Pete, I'm worried.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: What's up?
• 25:00
  Speaker 7: Well, they were upstairs in Bobby's room. I was in
• 25:03
  Speaker 7: the living room. Now, I could swear they didn't come downstairs,
• 25:06
  Speaker 7: and yet, when I went up there, they were gone.
• 25:10
  Speaker 7: That was over five hours ago.
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: Ruth, are you sure they didn't come down downstairs? Now, Ruth, Ruth,
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: don't get panicky. I'm coming right over. Just don't get panicky.
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: There wasn't a trace of them. Well, that isn't exactly true.
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: Remember what Robert had said about Star leaving an ESP smudge? Well,
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: I was able to catch it in Robert's room. It
• 25:39
  Speaker 5: had something to do with where the Brights went when
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: they got off the time strip.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: That's it, of course.
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: They wouldn't disobey by leaving present time. But isn't it
• 25:49
  Speaker 5: possible that there is more than one present time? Isn't
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: it possible that another now coexists with ours?
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: That's the clue, of course.
• 26:00
  Speaker 7: I'm going to call the police, Pete.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: I don't think it'll do any good.
• 26:02
  Speaker 7: But we've got to find them. They'd have come back
• 26:04
  Speaker 7: by now.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: Yes, if they could.
• 26:06
  Speaker 7: What do you mean?
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: Nothing.
• 26:09
  Speaker 7: Well, what are you going to do?
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: I'm going back to my study to think. To think? Yes.
• 26:13
  Speaker 7: Aren't you going to look for them?
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: I have to figure out where to look.
• 26:16
  Speaker 7: Well, I'm not going to sit around doing nothing. I'm
• 26:18
  Speaker 7: calling the police.
• 26:27
  Speaker 5: That was this morning. I've been doing some desperate concentrating
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: since then, Jim. I'm writing this down so you'll know.
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: I've already managed to go back to the time of
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: Cheops and ahead to the time when men were navigating
• 26:39
  Speaker 5: to distant planets in a matter of days.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: But the big job remains.
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: How to get into a dimension parallel with our own
• 26:46
  Speaker 5: at the same time. I figured out that to get
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: the equivalent of a Mobius strip with depth, you must
• 26:52
  Speaker 5: use the supercube, the tesseract. That's what I'm working on
• 26:56
  Speaker 5: at the moment. If I succeed, there is a possibility
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: I may not be able to get back. I hope
• 27:02
  Speaker 5: you will be able to make Bill and Ruth Howell understand. Okay,
• 27:07
  Speaker 5: now if I take six cubes and fold them in
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: one another so that every angle is a right angle.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: All right, I've got that.
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: And now I've been folding. I ESP the tesseract. I
• 27:21
  Speaker 5: half twist around myself.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: Holmes.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: Mr. Holmes, are you in there? Mr.
• 27:30
  Speaker 10: Holmes.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: We'll have to break in. It's locked from the inside.
• 27:36
  Speaker 5: Mr.
• 27:36
  Speaker 10: Holmes. Pete.
• 27:38
  Speaker 8: Pete, where are you?
• 27:39
  Speaker 5: Pete.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: That's funny.
• 27:42
  Speaker 5: Pete.
• 27:43
  Speaker 6: The door was locked from the inside, but here's his
• 27:46
  Speaker 6: fountain pen with the ink still wet.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: But he's gone.
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: You have just heard X-1 presented by the National Broadcasting
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: Company in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, which this
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: month features the final installment of Frederick Pohl's novel.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: Slave Ship.
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: Story of a world engaged in the wildest of all
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: possible non-wars, where the order of the day was even
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: wilder still. Spare every animal and throw the men to
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: the wolves. Galaxy Magazine, on your newsstand today. Tonight by transcription,
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: X-1 has brought you Star Bright, a story from the
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: pages of Galaxy written by Mark Clifton and adapted for
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: radio by George Lefferts. Featured in the cast were Sarah Fussell,
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: Lawson Zerbe, Bill Quinn, Billy Harris, Ralph Bell, and Kate Wilkinson.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: Your announcer, Fred Collins.
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: X-1 was directed by Daniel Sutter and is an NBC
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: Radio Network production.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: That concludes X-1's Star Bright, first heard April 10th, 1956.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Follow X-1 for more classic broadcasts.