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X Minus One - "The Moon Is Green" (1957) · Old Time Sci-Fi Radio | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: After an atomic war, Effie and her husband Hank live
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: behind the sealed walls of a protective shelter, certain that
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the dust outside is fatal. Then Effie opens a window
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and meets Patrick, a wanderer apparently living in the open air.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: From NBC's X-1 comes The Moon is Green, episode 82,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: first broadcast January 2nd, 1957. Fritz Lieber's galaxy science fiction
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: story was adapted for radio by George Lefferts, with Joyce Gordon,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Bill Lipton, and Ian Martin in the cast. And now,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: our story begins.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Countdown for blastoff.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: X minus 5, 4, 3, 2, X minus 1, fire.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: From the far horizons of the unknown come tales of
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: new dimensions in time and space. These are stories of
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: the future. Adventures in which you'll live in a million
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: could be years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, presents X-Minus-One. Tonight,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: the time after the next atomic war. The place somewhere
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: in the United States. The story, The Moon is Green
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: by Fritz Leiber.
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: The moon is green. Green as emeralds. Green as leaves.
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: Green as grass. I reached my arms toward it and
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: let it bathe me. I closed my eyes and let
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: it kiss me.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: Effie? Effie, where are you?
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: Oh, dear Lord, he mustn't see it. It's so beautiful
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: and he always kills beauty. Effie! In the bedroom, Hank.
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: I've got to close the shutters before he comes. He mustn't.
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: Effie!
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: What the devil are you doing? Close those shutters, you fool!
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: Come away from there. You're trying to destroy yourself and me, too.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: You know those shutters are not safe to open for
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: another five years.
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: I only wanted to look at the moon.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: The moon? Here, count yourself for radiation. You know what
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: the Central Committee would do to you for breaking the
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: lead shield?
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: Kill me? I wouldn't mind.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: Don't talk like that.
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: Would it be so different from being shut up in
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: a lead coffin the way we are now? It would
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: be worse than the eternal thought of the air conditioners
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: and the radiation filters.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: Be still and count yourself. Good Lord. We're past the
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: danger zone. Wait a minute. Did you take off your watch?
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: No.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: Well, give it to me. You fool. You little fool.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: What am I going to do with you? Can't you
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: understand what kind of a world you're living in? Can't you?
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: Oh, yes, husband. I can understand only too well. It's
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: the world that can't seem to understand. The world that
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: went on stockpiling hydrogen bombs. The world that started testing
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: those bombs. telling itself it hadn't really exploded enough to
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: make the air dangerous. Men began to throw them across continents,
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: one nation against another. It lasted about two months, and
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: after that, the fury, the fury of doomed men who
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: thought only of taking with them as many of the
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: enemy as possible. After the fury, In a time of terror,
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: men and women with deaths sifting into their bones and
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: through their nostrils, fighting for bare survival under a dust-hazed
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: sky that played fantastic tricks with the light of the
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: sun and the green light of the moon. The only
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: chance for existence was to claim one of those underground
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: radiation-shielded places. They went to the strong. And afterward, the
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: waiting behind the lead shields. The endless, interminable waiting.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: You understand, I suppose, that we were allowed to reclaim
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: this ground-level apartment only because the committee believed us to
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: be responsible people? And because I've been making a darn
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: good showing lately....
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: Yes, Hank, I understand.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: It's a privilege to have some privacy, you know. I
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: could send you back to the basement tenements. Would you
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: like that?
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Oh, no.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: Oh, no.
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: Anything rather than that embedded huddling and that shameless communal sprawl.
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: And is this really so much better? Being on the
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: surface is meaningless. It only tantalizes. And yet.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: Well?
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: No, no, Hank. I don't want to go back underneath.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: Well, then try to behave yourself. Coming up through the
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: tunnel just now, I decided I'd better talk to you. Frankly, Effie,
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: the committee's beginning to be a little concerned about our
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: lack of children. Oh. Charlie Baker asked me this morning
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: if I'd like my name put on the list for
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: a free woman.
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: You needn't bother.
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: What do you mean?
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: I mean.
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: We're going to have a baby.
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: We... What? Heffy, Heffy, are you sure?
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: Heffy, that's wonderful. It's magnificent. Do you realize what this
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: means to my rating with the committee? You know how
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: important it is to the community to raise healthy members
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: for the day when we can resume the surface war.
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: Yes, I've heard the broadcast.
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: We'll announce it at the meeting of the junior committee tonight.
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: Tonight?
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: What? Well, you hadn't forgotten about it, had you? It's
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: the annual banquet. You brighten yourself up and put on
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: your best dress. I want the other juniors to see
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: what a handsome wife the new member has got. What's
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: the trouble now?
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: I'm terribly sorry, Hank, but you'll have to go alone.
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: I'm really not well.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: There you go again. First the infantile, inexcusable business of
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: opening the lead shutter, and now this. Don't you know
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: what this could mean to my reputation, Effie?
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: I'm sorry.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: You're coming, Effie. This is just neurotic pampering.
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: Hank, I'll just be sick and you wouldn't be proud
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: of me at all.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: Now, listen, Effie. Tonight's too important. It'll cause a lot
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: of bad comment if a new member's wife isn't present.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: You know how just a hint of sickness starts all
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: kinds of rumors about radiation disease. Now, what do you say? No. Effie,
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: you're going... There's nothing wrong with you if I have to.
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: You're hurting my arm. It isn't good for the baby.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: The baby? I'd almost forgotten. Oh, no, we have to
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: be very careful. I suppose if I explain to them
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: you aren't there because of the baby, it will make
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: a difference.
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: Yes, I'll just stay here alone till you come back.
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: When will you be back?
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: Well, those things usually go on pretty late. So if
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: you're expecting company, you needn't worry.
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: Hank?
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: Yes, Effie?
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: Do you remember when we were first married?
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: Of course I remember.
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: You liked to go skiing, remember? You said it was
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: like feeding a hunger for beauty, being up on a
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: mountain covered with snow.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: What are you talking about?
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: You've forgotten.
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: I haven't forgotten. I've just as much desire to get
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: outside as you do, but I know there's no chance
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: for me. I've got to see that my children and
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: their children survive to see the sun again. We've got
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: to behave like adults, to make sacrifices. We've got to
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: keep the strain pure.
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: Hank, what do you suppose it's like for them?
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: For whom?
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: The freaks and the mutants, the outsiders.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: What do you know about them?
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: I remember some of the pariahs. They were careless, cringing
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: creatures with radiation welts all over their bodies. Begging to
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: be taken in during the last months of the terror.
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: The committee ordered them to be shot down, just like dogs.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: We don't like to talk about that.
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: Hank, are they still out there?
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: Effie, this is the sort of talk that's just morbid.
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: Are they?
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: Yes. There are still humans out there. At least they
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: were humans. They know better than to come near the
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: shelters now.
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: Poor creature.
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: I can't stand here discussing this nonsense all night. I
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: have to get going. For the last time, are you
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: sure you won't come down with me?
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: No. I'll wait here.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: Don't you get lonely? No. I was talking to Jim
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: Barnes today. He told me... He wasn't going to be
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: able to make it to the banquet either. Touch of
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: the old flu, he said. That isn't like him, is it? Effie,
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: are you listening? What? You remember Jim Barnes, don't you?
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: He used to be sweet on you. Said you had
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: the soul of a poet.
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: Well, yes, I remember him. Why?
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: Never mind. Well, I guess I got a bit sharp
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: with you. I'm sorry about that. I... I was excited
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: about being made a junior and the baby and all.
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: Selfish of me, I apologize. As you get to bed early,
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: I'll probably go over to the men's dorm for a
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: while after the meeting. You'll be completely alone for the
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: next four hours. Do you mind? But.
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: Oh, but no, no.
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: Good night, Effie.
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: He looked at me strangely, and then his features returned
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: to their usual harder, more calculating expression. Was it possible
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: that he had sensed my very dream? Had it been
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: a dream? Oh, it must have been. It wasn't possible
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: that it had really happened. It had just been an illusion,
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: a silly projection out of my starved romantic imagination. I
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: waited until Hank's footsteps vanished down in the tunnel. And
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: then I waited until I heard it. No, it isn't possible.
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: There's nothing out there. Nothing but deformed monsters.
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: Meow.
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: And open the shutters. I must know. Dear Lord, I've
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: got to know. I've got to know. I've got to know.
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: Well, now, so you haven't forgotten our meeting after all. You.
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: And what are you expecting someone else?
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: It wasn't a dream. You really were out there last night.
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: Oh, yes, on the night before.
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: I was afraid I dreamed it. I still think it's
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: a dream.
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: Lean out into the moonlight a moment. Is this a dream?
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: Or was it a flesh and blood kiss?
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: And your name is Patrick? I? Patrick. Well, now, did
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: you open the window to find God's own breath, the
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: fresh evening air, or did you open it to invite
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: me in?
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: Oh, of course. Come in. Come in.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: Come, George Lewis. Ah, here, now, let me help you.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: Being a cat with 12 toes on each foot and
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: ears like boxing gloves is a bit cumbersome. I have
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: to help you a bit, you see. Come on, now,
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: let me... There, now. Is, uh... Is your husband about?
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: No. No, he won't be home for a while.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: Still, I'd better close the door. Oh, no.
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: Leave them open.
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: The radiation?
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: I don't care. I want to see the moonlight. I.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: Would you have a bit of food? Joe Lewis and
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: I are starved for a bite to eat. Oh, yes.
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: Yes, I'll get it.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: Oh, Effie. Yes? Oh, but you're a fair creature.
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: Thank you. His face wasn't horrible at all. Only thin
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: and sensitive and terribly sad. And there were no radiation
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: welts or scars on his skin. He looked just as
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: he had looked that first night when I opened the
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: ledge shutter and saw him crouched at the window. And
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: now I knew it had been no dream. He was
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: an outsider. A pariah. He was my love. Here's some
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: canned meat and a food pill, and I put on
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: some water for coffee.
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: Bless your own. Come on now, Joe. Here, here's a
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: bit of meat for your black soul to feed on.
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: He's hungry, poor creature. Well, then. Sit down, girl, where
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: I can look at you.
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: All right, Joe.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: Have you missed me?
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: Oh, yes.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: Oh, I've had some thoughts of you, I dare say.
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: Talk to me. Of what? Tell me again about outside,
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: what it's like.
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: Again?
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: Again and again.
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: Well, now, outside... You say the coffee's eaten?
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: Well, then, it is a wonderland for sure. More amazing
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: than you and your entombed folk could ever imagine a
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: veritable fairy land.
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: Tell me the truth about it.
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: The truth, I am telling you the truth, my love.
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: But the bombs and the dust made only ugliness.
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: At first, at first.
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: But then they changed the life in the seed of
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: them that were brave enough to stay. Wonders beyond wondering
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: bloomed and walked.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: Well, have none of you been outside?
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: Well, the radiation teams go up into the ruined buildings
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: once or twice a year to find canned food and batteries.
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: They can only work for a few minutes at a time.
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: Ah, sure, those blind-souled slugs could never see anything but
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: food and batteries anyway.
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: Tell me what you see beyond the city.
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: I mean.
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: Ah, there are gardens there. Gardens where a dozen buds
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: blossom for every one before. And the flowers have petals
• 16:51
  Speaker 5: a yard across.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: Oh. And there are stingless bees as big as sparrows
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: soap in their nectar.
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: But did the radiation make all the cats like this one?
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: Like this runt? Why, no, girl.
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: They are grown, spotted, and huge as leopards. But they're
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: gentle beasts, for the dust has burned all the murder
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: out of every living thing.
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: Hank says the dust kills.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: Would you like to hear a poem I made? Yes.
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: I'd say it.
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: Fire can hurt me, or water, or the weight of earth.
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: But by some curious coincidence, The dust is my friend.
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: Oh, more.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: Well, then.
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: There are robins like cockatoos and squirrels like a prince's ermine,
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: all under a treasure chest of sun and moon and
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: stars that the dust changes from ruby to emerald and sapphire.
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: And there are.
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: What is it, love? What's that look for?
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: There's one thing you've never told me about.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: And what is that?
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: The children. The new children.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: Ah, now, the children.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: The truth.
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: The truth? Promise. I swear on the skin of my
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: cat here. The children, is it, huh? Well, now, if
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: you'd ever catch a glimpse of one of them, you'd
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: never doubt me again. They have long limbs and smiling,
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: delicate faces and white teeth and the finest hair. They're
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: so nimble that... Well, that even I, a sprightly man
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: and somewhat enlivened by the dust, feel crippled beside them,
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: and their thoughts dance like flames.
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: But what's wrong with them, Patrick?
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: Wrong? Nay, love, there's nothing wrong. Different, perhaps, anew, but
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: not wrong.
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: Tell me, tell me.
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: Well, then, they do have.
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: Seven fingers on each hand and eight toes on either foot.
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: But they're much more beautiful for it. And they have large,
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: beautiful ears that the sun shines through. So lovely and
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: delicate to behold.
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: How do they behave? They're mine.
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: Not as you and I, perhaps.
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: They play happily in the gardens all day long, laughing
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: and finding joy in the simplest beauty.
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: Are they defective?
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: Well, no. By the standards out there, you're the defective
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: one shut up here all the while, hating and crawling
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: in ugliness and feeling dirty. No, they're quite lovely. And
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: they're quite perfect for the new children.
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: Oh, you're telling the truth. You're not making it up.
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: It is true every word of it. Oh, I'll admit
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: you have to look a bit hard to find these
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: things I've been telling you. But find them you may.
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: Do you believe me?
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: Oh, yes. Yes, I believe.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: You.
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: But I'm afraid.
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: Give me your hand. Here. Now listen to me. You
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: must not be afraid to do as your heart tells you.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: That's why I'm here.
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: Oh, Patrick.
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: Patrick. Don't either of you move. Oh, Hank, I... Stay
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: there or I'll blast both of you.
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: Hank, but.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: You're carrying on like this and not even with a
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: man in the community with an outcast of pariah. No, man,
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: I know what you're thinking, but you're wrong. I just
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: happened to be coming by hungry, a lonely tramp. And
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: I knocked at the shutter and your wife was a
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: bit foolish and let her kind heart get the best
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: of me. Do you think you can sell me that?
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: Hank, please.
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: So you're going to have a child, my dear. My child?
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: Yes, your child.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: I should pull this trigger right now. I should shoot
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: him down in cold blood. Man, you're mad I never
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: touched your wife. You contaminated pariah. You're going to die.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: Don't you know that?
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: Hank.
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: Hank, if you kill him, you kill the bringer of
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: the best news we've ever had. Put aside your jealousy
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: for just a minute and listen to me. Patrick has
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: something wonderful to tell us, all of us. What do
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: you mean? I mean that we need no longer fear
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: the dust. Oh, Hank, remember how it was with me.
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: All the exposure I had, and yet there were no burns. Hank,
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: those who were brave enough to stay outside have adapted.
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: They've become a beautiful people.
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: Did he tell you that?
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: Everything that grew or moved was purified.
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: He filled you with lies so he could take you... True.
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: The radioactivity is almost gone, burned out. Effie, I've been
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: out there.
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: It's horrid.
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: No, no, no. You've been blinded. Blinded to beauty. Blinded
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: to living.
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: Good Lord, you believe it. It's true.
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: It must be true. Look at Patrick. He's living proof.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: He's been outside for a year and there isn't a
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: mark on him, not a scar. It's because he's brave.
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: And the dust can't hurt the brave.
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: Oh, you think that's it, huh? All right, Effie, I'm
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: going to prove something to you. You, Patrick, take this
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: radiation counter. Take it. Very well. Press the button and
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: count yourself.
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: Go on.
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: As you say. Read it again.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Read it!
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: 1,700.
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you hear that? 1,700 radioactives. Enough to kill a
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: thousand men. He's like raw radium. If you turn out
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: the light, he'll glow green in the dark. A week's
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: exposure to him will destroy you.
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: Are you proving anything?
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: That he's a freak. A freak! Get away from him.
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: He's destroying you right now. May I shut this thing
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: off now? Patrick.
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: Is it true?
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: Yes, I'm afraid it is true. Oh, you do well
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: to cringe, both of you. I'm living death. I'm death itself.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: As your husband so wisely said, I'm a freak. Just
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: like the man who ate nails and walked on fire.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: Only my oddity is that for some unknown reason, the
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: dust can't harm me. I'm the only one. Step right up,
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: ladies and gentlemen. Not too close now. And examine the
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: man who couldn't die. And now, if you don't mind,
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: I'll go back to my dead world and leave you
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: to your.
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: Wait.
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: All of those.
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: those beautiful things.
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: It gets so lonely out there. And I was starved
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: for beauty. And so were you.
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: There's no garden out there.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: Garden? Listen to me, the both of you. What is
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: out there is more terrible than either of you can imagine.
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: You're worse than Hank, even. He only killed beauty once.
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: But you brought it to life. So you could kill
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: it again. You're afraid. Afraid of the loneliness out there. Well,
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: I'm not afraid.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: Ethel, keep away from the window.
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: No, I'm not afraid. Maybe there is no garden out there.
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: And no beautiful, strange children to play happily. It can
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: be if we're brave enough.
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: Effie. I'm going.
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: I'm going.
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: Effie, come back. Effie. It's no use trying to keep her, man.
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: Effie, come back. I love you.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: Come back. It is no use, man. There's still time.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: She stood the dust better than most.
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: There's still time. You.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: The dust won't hurt you. Find her.
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: Bring her back.
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: I'll reward you. I'll give you food. If you want her,
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: you'll have to go yourself. She'll die. Maybe she won't.
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: How can you say such a thing? Because... perhaps she's
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: like me. I... Perhaps the two of us together could
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: be the first of a race that'll live in sunlight again.
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: Get against the wall where I can kill you easier.
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: Why would you kill me? Is killing all the answer
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: you have to life's riddles? Is the smell of blood
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: better than compassion? Is it more joy to own her
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: than to be loved by her? Move! Man, you'll not
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: kill me, shall I tell you why. Because my flesh
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: will not die. I live a thousand years. Not your brain, Patrick.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: And that's where this gun is aimed. Well, then you
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: leave me no choice. You get him! Hey!
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: Call him up!
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: Cut my arm!
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: No! Stop!
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: Well, then I have your weapon now. Out there, you see,
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: we freaks have learned to live together and to cooperate.
• 26:23
  Speaker 5: It's the only way we can stay alive. Oh, I'll...
• 26:30
  Speaker 5: I'll give half of your love. Come on, Joe. Oh, you'd...
• 26:41
  Speaker 5: You'd better close the shutters as soon as we're gone.
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: The moon is beautiful. But it's deadly.
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: I was waiting for him at the end of the
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: ruined street. When we looked back, we saw Hank closing
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: the lead shutters on himself. We were alone in the world.
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: Above us, the moon was green. I bent and picked
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: up a handful of the dust and let it trickle
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: through my fingers. And I remembered the words of Patrick's poems.
• 27:36
  Speaker 4: Fire can hurt me, or water, or the weight of
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: the earth. But by some strange coincidence, the dust is
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: my friend.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: You have just heard X-1 presented by the National Broadcasting
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: Company in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, which this
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: month features Advance Agent by Christopher Anvil. The story of
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: a spy who had the worst possible break. The disguise
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: he had assumed was that of a famous man. Galaxy Magazine,
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: on your newsstand today. Tonight by transcription, X-1 has brought
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: you The Moon is Green, a story from the pages
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: of Galaxy written by Fritz Leiber and adapted for radio
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: by George Lefferts. Featured in the cast were Joyce Gordon
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: as Effie, Bill Lipton as Hank, Ian Martin as Patrick,
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: and Frank Milano as the cat.
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: This is Fred Collins.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: X-1 was directed by Fred Way and is an NBC
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: Radio Network production.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: You have heard X-1 and The Moon is Green. Good
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: evening and thank you for joining us. Follow old-time sci-fi
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: radio for more classic science fiction broadcasts.