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X Minus One - "Project Trojan" (Old Time Radio, 1956) · X Minus One | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Ernest Canoy wrote this original radio story for NBC's X-1,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: directed by Daniel Sutter. First heard June 19, 1956, episode 56,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Project Trojan takes us to Britain during the Second World War.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: British intelligence calls upon a science fiction writer to help
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: create the impression of an overwhelming new weapon, hoping to
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: draw Nazi scientific talent away from Germany's rocket program and
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: toward an impossible countermeasure. The underlying idea came from an
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: editorial by Galaxy magazine editor H.L.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Gold.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Burford Hampton, Alistair Duncan, Ivor Francis, Alfred Shirley, and William
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: Quinn are heard in the cast, with Alfred Isliff narrating.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: And now, the original broadcast.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: In just a moment, X-1.
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: But first, a quiz program does not always improve your IQ,
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: but what's an NBC radio quiz program? Well, you can
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: be sure it'll improve your dispositions. Yes, NBC offers listeners
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: a laugh lesson every Wednesday night with two fun-filled question-and-answer shows.
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: One is Truth or Consequences, and though you may never
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: learn why a chicken crosses the road, you'll howl as
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: contestants perform the stunts dreamed up by MC Jack Bailey.
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: The other is You Bet Your Life, and with a
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: quiz master like Groucho Marx, your good time is always guaranteed.
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: Hear Truth or Consequences and You Bet Your Life with
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: Groucho Marx tomorrow. Now stay tuned for X-1 on NBC.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Countdown for blastoff. X minus 5, 4, 3, 2, X
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: minus 1, fire.
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: Fire. From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: tales of new dimensions in time and space.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: These are stories of the future.
• 2:16
  Speaker 5: Adventures in which you'll live in a million could be
• 2:18
  Speaker 5: years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company,
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, presents.
• 2:27
  Speaker 6: X minus 1.
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: Tonight, Project Trojan by Ernest Canoy. Most of the greatest
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: contributions and biggest messes in history have been made by
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: two kinds of brains, the devious and the literal. We
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: quote from the monthly column written for Galaxy by its editor, H.L.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Gold.
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: For our story tonight has been inspired by one of
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: his recent columns, discussing the exceedingly thin line that sometimes
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: lies between science fiction and science fact, and of the
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: strange use that both Allied and German intelligence made of
• 3:21
  Speaker 5: science fiction during the recent World War II. Our report,
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: of course, is entirely fictional, but similar schemes are known
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: to have been attempted by both sides. And now, here
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: is Project Trojan.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: Project Trojan.
• 3:45
  Speaker 7: The idea of Project Trojan was originally conceived in February
• 3:49
  Speaker 7: of 1943. The Intelligence Plans Commission, an adjunct to Joint
• 3:54
  Speaker 7: Army and Naval Intelligence, was under the command of Colonel
• 3:56
  Speaker 7: Sir Harold Bostwick. The first antecedent of Project Trojan occurred
• 4:00
  Speaker 7: on an afternoon in February.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Corporal Arthur Muggeridge was.
• 4:04
  Speaker 7: Serving tea to Lieutenant Maurice Withering and Captain Amos McKenzie.
• 4:10
  Speaker 8: There you are, sir. That's real butter on the bread.
• 4:14
  Speaker 8: I won five pounds of it from one of those
• 4:16
  Speaker 8: Yankmas sergeants over at the Crown of Land.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Oh, butter, eh?
• 4:20
  Speaker 6: Aye, sir.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: Mackenzie.
• 4:22
  Speaker 6: Hmm?
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Well, confided man, you might show some interest. Here, Muggeridge
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: tangles with the Eighth Air Force to improve your tea,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: and you sit there reading. What the devil is so engrossing? No,
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: never mind.
• 4:32
  Speaker 6: If it's me you're worrying about, you needn't, sir.
• 4:35
  Speaker 8: I was cleared for most confidential and top secret before
• 4:37
  Speaker 8: I set foot in the pantry.
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: What is it, Mackenzie? Well, I was reading about a
• 4:41
  Speaker 5: fascinating notion. It's a machine, you see. Dreadfully ingenious. It's
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: a method of setting up a reverse polarization field about
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: a given metallic surface. Say, the plates on a submarine
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: or a tank. Makes them five times as strong. A
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: little more cream, Mugridge.
• 4:56
  Speaker 6: It's powdered milk, sir.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Hush, leave me to my illusions. But, Mackenzie, how can
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: you be so calm? Don't you realize what this means?
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Tanks five times as strong? Is it in production? I mean,
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: when are the first models going to combat? It's certainly
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: been a well-kept secret. I wouldn't say that.
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: There's about 50,000 people who know all about it here
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: in England. And, of course, a great many more in America.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's impossible.
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: But I doubt if it will ever be used in combat.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: But your stark raving crackers are secret like it. Where
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: did you find this? Now, let me see that. There
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: you are. Incredible science fiction. It's an American magazine. You
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: mean this is a story, one of those Jules Verne
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: things you've been pulling my leg? Aye. Well, I... I mean,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: after all... Captain McKenzie, I hardly think that... Well... Now,
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: don't get stuffy, man. After all, do... Chaff me before
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: the ranks.
• 5:47
  Speaker 6: Oh, I don't mind, sir.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: But it did have you going, didn't it? Well, it
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: sounded plausible. I don't know a confounded thing about electrical fields.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Even if you did, it might take you in, huh?
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: You see, the trick these science fiction lads do is
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: to take something that's solid as a rock and then
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: to push it just a wee bit forward till you
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: simply can't tell where the science ends and the fiction begins.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: Still, I wish you'd exercise your ingenuity in deceiving Jerry
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: rather than me. Good Lord. That's a fine idea. What is?
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: If an intelligent, brilliant officer and gentleman like yourself might
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: be taken in by a wild tale like this, whom
• 6:25
  Speaker 5: else's leg might we pull? A muggeridge, another bread and
• 6:28
  Speaker 5: butter sandwich, if you please, and take one yourself.
• 6:38
  Speaker 7: Lieutenant Withering and Captain McKenzie worked out preliminary plans for
• 6:42
  Speaker 7: Project Trojan and presented them at an appropriate time to
• 6:45
  Speaker 7: Colonel Sir Harold Bostwick.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Well, sir, sit down, Withering, McKenzie. Thank you, sir. Have
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: you had breakfast? I understand Corporal McGregor has been playing
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: darts with the Yanks again. There are fresh eggs for breakfast.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: We've had breakfast, sir. Oh, well, then. We have a plan, sir. Capital, capitals.
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: You remember, sir, our intelligence reports indicated a concentration of
• 7:03
  Speaker 5: German research scientists working near Hanau.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: Certainly, I recall. They've got the whole lot of them
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: inside a mountain. We tried bombing. I doubt if they
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: even noticed.
• 7:11
  Speaker 5: They're supplying the basic research for the German guided missile program.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Yes, we know that. The reaction motor for the V-1s
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: came out of the Hanau lab. Oh, Magritte! You see, sir,
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: if a considerable number of those research scientists were diverted
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: to another project, The rocket program would be crippled. Yes, well,
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: of course it would. What are you going to do?
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Advertise in the Times and offer them higher wages? Aye, sir. Oh, motherage,
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: this coffee.
• 7:32
  Speaker 6: Ah, no, sir.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: Next time you go to the Crown and Lance, keep
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: coffee in mind, will you?
• 7:37
  Speaker 6: Aye, sir. Only the Yanks are getting fair dives at darts.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: It was touch and go with the Yanks. We can
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: only expect you to do your best.
• 7:43
  Speaker 6: I'll try, sir.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: Well, now, come to the point, gentlemen.
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: Suppose the Germans got hold of one of our top
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: new development weapons. Something so completely overwhelming that they'd have
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: to pull almost every man off rockets to work on it.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: Now, look here, McKenzie. Those jelly scientists are not exactly
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: playing about with small boys' chemistry sets. They're a cut
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: above our own chaps in several fields. What makes you
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: think you could plant something on them? Science fiction, sir.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: I beg your pardon? You see this magazine? Yes. Incredible
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: science fiction. Oh, what's that chasing that girl? That's a Martian, sir.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: You can tell by his tentacles. Mackenzie, are you stringing
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: this along preliminary to applying for compassionate leave on the
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: grounds that you're overworked? No, sir. It's a good plan.
• 8:26
  Speaker 5: We invent a weapon. A weapon that might exist, but doesn't.
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: And we leave it lying about where the Germans.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: Can snaffle it. And then they take most of the
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: scientist fellows off the rocket program to work on our weapon.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: That's the most preposterous nonsense I've ever heard. But, sir...
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: I don't want to hear anything more about it.
• 8:43
  Speaker 6: Yes, sir.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: I suppose she was right. Who was right? This Wren.
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: I met her going up to London. Rather proper little type,
• 8:52
  Speaker 5: till you got to know her. Then she's rather a firebrand.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Captain McKenzie, please spare us the sordid details of your
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: off-duty peculation. Sorry, sir.
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: You see, she's the secretary to Admiral Sir Alan Grummins.
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: They're talking of dropping this unit. They feel that other
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: intelligence groups are quite competent to handle the routine, unimaginative
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: work that we've been doing.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: Oh. Oh, I see.
• 9:16
  Speaker 5: Of course, they'd... reassign personnel.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Would you say this science fiction scheme of yours
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: was imaginative? Oh, it's practically visionary. Well, suppose you do
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: some preliminary work. Thank you, sir. Routine, eh? And imaginative, eh? Bah!
• 9:42
  Speaker 7: On the 14th of February, preliminary work was begun on
• 9:45
  Speaker 7: Project Trojans. At first, Lieutenant Withering and Captain McKenzie worked alone,
• 9:50
  Speaker 7: researching the source material of the project.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Slamming the firing keys, Brick blasted down on the Crow warship.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: of crisp destruction lanced out from the giant dreadnought and
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: licked along the plates of Brick's one-man scout. Hmm, nothing
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: of that one. What have you got? It's a story
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: about two robots who fall in love. What's the name
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: of that Johnny who came closest? Herman. Jad Herman.
• 10:18
  Speaker 9: Hmm.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: He got half a dozen ideas that are close. Where
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: do you suppose he is? Somewhere in the States, I suppose.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: That's no use, then. Why?
• 10:27
  Speaker 5: Oh, look, man, perhaps we can put a query through
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: central shape intelligence. The Yanks ought to be able to
• 10:33
  Speaker 5: dig up this Herman Chap for us.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's worth a try.
• 10:43
  Speaker 7: It took seven days for a report to reach IPC
• 10:46
  Speaker 7: that one Jacob David Herman, a private first class in
• 10:49
  Speaker 7: the American Air Force, was based on a field north
• 10:52
  Speaker 7: of Cheltenham in the Gloucestershire area. Lieutenant Withering and Captain
• 10:56
  Speaker 7: McKenzie requisitioned transport and visited Herman at his place of duty.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: You don't mind if I go ahead with my job,
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: do you?
• 11:04
  Speaker 9: I've got to have this place ready for inspection by 1300.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: Go right ahead. Hand me the cleaning powder, will you please?
• 11:09
  Speaker 6: Oh, yes.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: What do they put in porcelain in England? You break
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: your arm trying to get it clean. Private Herman, you
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: are Jad Herman, a writer?
• 11:20
  Speaker 9: Yeah, that's a pen name, Jad. I use it for
• 11:23
  Speaker 9: SF stuff. I used to write for the Confessions under
• 11:26
  Speaker 9: the name of Cynthia Herman. I remember one article. I
• 11:31
  Speaker 9: was saved by the YWCA from a life of shame.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: We're interested in your science fiction articles at the moment. Oh, yeah?
• 11:42
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Well, I know we had some sci-fi fans in England.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: We're not exactly sci-fi fans. We're from... Anybody else here? Well,
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: look for yourself. There's no hiding place down here. Well,
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: we are from Intelligence Plans Commission. Uh-huh. We need your assistance, Mr. Herman.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: No kidding. We have a project that calls for your
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: particular talents. You got a latrine needs cleaning? We're quite serious, Mr. Herman.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: Will you kindly pack your things and be ready to
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: come with us within one hour? Oh, I'm sorry, gentlemen.
• 12:19
  Speaker 9: I couldn't possibly leave until after inspection. I've got too
• 12:22
  Speaker 9: much of myself invested in this latrine. But after that,
• 12:27
  Speaker 9: I'm at your service.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: Private First Class Jacob D.
• 12:37
  Speaker 7: Herman, 32962126, was transferred on special detached duty to Project
• 12:44
  Speaker 7: Trojan and after briefing was set to.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: Work on basic plans.
• 12:48
  Speaker 9: Oh, look, Mac, here's the way I see it. If
• 12:51
  Speaker 9: you want to con a scientist, you've got to be
• 12:53
  Speaker 9: pretty straight all the way. You can't get away with
• 12:55
  Speaker 9: more than one phony step in the process.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: Precisely.
• 12:59
  Speaker 9: Now, here's the way I see it. It's a focusing
• 13:01
  Speaker 9: beam weapon. The electronics on that are square. I used
• 13:05
  Speaker 9: it in a story about two years ago. Feinschreiber at
• 13:08
  Speaker 9: MIT and Temple and Westover at the Bell Telephone Laboratories
• 13:11
  Speaker 9: worked out the basic field formulas.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: What do you mean it's real? Well, up to a point.
• 13:17
  Speaker 9: Everything's on the level till you get to the catalytic
• 13:19
  Speaker 9: action on the grid. Now, that just won't work. It's
• 13:24
  Speaker 9: a basic problem in physics and it makes the whole
• 13:28
  Speaker 9: thing impossible.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: But don't the Germans know that? Oh, sure, sure. You see.
• 13:34
  Speaker 9: You make up plans for the weapon, call it a
• 13:37
  Speaker 9: death ray. You let the Germans steal everything but the
• 13:40
  Speaker 9: catalyst formula. They'll think we've got it licked, and they'll
• 13:44
  Speaker 9: break their necks trying to duplicate it before we put
• 13:46
  Speaker 9: the weapon in production.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: I see. But we can't call it a death ray.
• 13:51
  Speaker 9: Well, how about, uh, projector, electronic grid deflecting, type 3?
• 13:57
  Speaker 6: Hmm.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: That has a brawl ring to it, my lad. I've
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: got the.
• 14:01
  Speaker 9: Basic idea of the thing, but, uh, You'll have to
• 14:04
  Speaker 9: get some of your science boys to work it out.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: Oh, we'll put a requisition into the manpower commission in
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: the morning.
• 14:16
  Speaker 7: Doctors Montague, Felder, Harrison, Sisonby and Pilsudski were assigned to
• 14:20
  Speaker 7: Project Trojan, and under the direction of Private First Class Jacobs,
• 14:24
  Speaker 7: complete specifications and plans for Projector Electronic Grid Deflecting Type
• 14:28
  Speaker 7: 3 were drawn up.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: Project Trojan was ready for Phase 2. Have we got everything? Blueprints. Check. Specifications. Check.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: Machine tool inventories. Check. Letter rejecting the plans from the
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: War Office. Check.
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: Endorsement from Supreme Headquarters rejecting plans.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: Check.
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: Note from 10 Downing Street overriding rejections.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: Handwritten postscript, build the confounded thing, WC. Check. Don't you
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: think that's going a little too far, the rejections? Not
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: at all.
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: That's the master touch. A rejection of an idea by
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: the War Office makes it appear most genuine.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: Private Herman, if this thing were real, if it could
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: be built.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: What would it do? Oh, don't ask.
• 15:06
  Speaker 9: It could blow a hole in a mountain ten miles away.
• 15:08
  Speaker 9: Or it could knock down a whole wing of bombers
• 15:11
  Speaker 9: without even aiming.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: Oh, dear. Lucky it won't work. I should say so. Oh, well.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: Now to get this lovely thing into Jerry's hands.
• 15:20
  Speaker 7: Phase three of Project Trojan was commenced on the 15th
• 15:29
  Speaker 7: of March, 1943... Central Counterintelligence Agency had discovered the infiltration
• 15:35
  Speaker 7: of a German agent, a Belfast Irishman named Gogerty, into
• 15:39
  Speaker 7: the blueprint division of Clark and Portister, a printing firm
• 15:42
  Speaker 7: doing some subcontract work for the Air Ministry. Gogerty, the
• 15:46
  Speaker 7: German agent, presumably micro-filmed the plans, because shortly thereafter he
• 15:51
  Speaker 7: received word that his sister, living in the Irish Free State,
• 15:54
  Speaker 7: was to be married to a bus conductor. British agents
• 15:57
  Speaker 7: attending the wedding disguised as farm labourers lost track of
• 16:00
  Speaker 7: Gogarty for several hours due to circumstances beyond their control.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: Then we have no way of knowing whether Gogarty delivered
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: her Project Trojan plans.
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: Well, sir, there was a submarine sighted a day before
• 16:11
  Speaker 5: off the coast. It's likely he made contact. Well, keep
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: me informed. That's all we need now. Another disaster.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: Did something else go wrong? Jolly well, right. Muggeridge has
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: been playing darts with the Yanks again.
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: Oh?
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: What have we got this time? Butter or beefsteak? Nothing.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: The blight has lost my whole month's whiskey ration.
• 16:37
  Speaker 7: Now the cover operation supporting Project Trojan was undertaken. A
• 16:42
  Speaker 7: battalion of the Royal Engineers was detailed to practice at
• 16:45
  Speaker 7: secret installations with wooden mock-ups of the projector. A lance
• 16:49
  Speaker 7: corporal in this detachment, a volunteer afterwards awarded the George Medal,
• 16:53
  Speaker 7: was court-martialed and sentenced to seven years hard labour for
• 16:56
  Speaker 7: revealing information about the project while drunk on a three-day
• 17:00
  Speaker 7: leave to Tynecastle. This particular aspect of Project Trojan has
• 17:04
  Speaker 7: been in the news recently, inasmuch as several backbench Labour
• 17:08
  Speaker 7: members of Parliament have asked questions in the House as
• 17:11
  Speaker 7: it came out that the corporal served the full seven
• 17:13
  Speaker 7: years and wasn't released until 1951. The Home Secretary explained
• 17:18
  Speaker 7: that this was an unfortunate oversight, and there were jeers from.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: The opposition, with Mr.
• 17:23
  Speaker 7: O'Neill in Devon taking the occasion to call for the
• 17:26
  Speaker 7: resignation of the government. At the time, March and April 1943,
• 17:31
  Speaker 7: the Intelligence Plans Commission awaited reports from British operatives. Sir,
• 17:37
  Speaker 7: there's been a shift in assignment at the research laboratories
• 17:39
  Speaker 7: at Hanau. Professor Schlickmann and Drs.
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: Hirsch, Van Sulao, and Grischmann have been transferred from rocket
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: research to another project.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: Trojan? We must assume so. But that's only four men.
• 17:50
  Speaker 5: But they're the top experts in electronics, chemistry, and metallurgy.
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: If they're really working on Trojan, we've set the German
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: rocket program back a year, while their scientists go yelping
• 17:59
  Speaker 5: off after a red herring.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Let's hope so. Bring me any further reports as soon
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: as received.
• 18:11
  Speaker 7: British intelligence reports filtering back through occupied Norway and neutral
• 18:14
  Speaker 7: Sweden continued to indicate the success of Project Croton. Four
• 18:19
  Speaker 7: more top scientists were known to be transferred from the
• 18:21
  Speaker 7: rocket research base at Peeneminde to the Hanau Laboratories. Definite
• 18:25
  Speaker 7: knowledge was obtained that the new assignment was a startling
• 18:29
  Speaker 7: new weapon, agreeing in detail with Project Trojan.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: What a sale, McKenzie. What a stunt. Yes, sir. We
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: shall have to have a little party to celebrate. We'll
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: have that Herman chap in for a drink. I've been
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: sending Muggeridge off to play darts with some of the
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: free French over at Germain Manor. He ought to be
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: back soon with the champagne. Poor all round. Private Herman?
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: Thank you. All right now, to the projector, electronic grid
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: deflecting type three. The biggest fraud since the South Sea bubble.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Colonel Bostwick. Oh, take a glass. We're just drinking to Trojan. Well,
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: I think I'd rather not, sir. What do you mean?
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: There's a dispatch from Germany. What about it? A section
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: of the mountain overlooking Hanau has disappeared. What? It's true.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: It was on the reconnaissance maps yesterday, and it was
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: gone this morning. A 10-mile slice of mountain. That's impossible. No,
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: it isn't. It works. Trojan works. But it can't. There's
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: no catalyst.
• 19:36
  Speaker 6: It's impossible.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: All our scientists said so. Well, I guess they were wrong.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: It works.
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: They must have found the catalyst. I suppose we should
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: have foreseen that, all those scientists working on it.
• 19:43
  Speaker 9: They must have built a model and tried it out.
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: It won't take them more than three months to put
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: it into production.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: Well, here go the war. Muggeridge.
• 19:51
  Speaker 6: Aye, sir.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Fill the glasses up again.
• 20:02
  Speaker 7: Intelligence Plans Commission now waited for additional dispatches concerning the
• 20:06
  Speaker 7: reaction to Project Trojan in Germany. It was decided as
• 20:10
  Speaker 7: a matter of policy to confine knowledge of these latest
• 20:13
  Speaker 7: developments to the personnel of the project.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: Anything new, McKenzie?
• 20:17
  Speaker 5: No, sir, except that aerial reconnaissance confirmed the damage to
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: the mountain at Hanau. It's not quite as extensive as
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: the first dispatch, but it is a bit of a hole. Oh,
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: what do they think caused it? The Air Ministry seems
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: to feel that an ammunition dump must have blown up.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: Couldn't that be it? I'm afraid not, sir.
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: We have an intelligence report about several captured British and
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: American tanks being brought to Hanau for testing.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: They were spotted the next day, completely destroyed. Trojan? Trojan.
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: There's been an alert at factories producing parts for V-1
• 20:45
  Speaker 5: and V-2 rockets.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: To prepare for retooling. They're going to make the projector?
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: It would seem so, sir. Well, I suppose I'd better
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: go up to London tomorrow and make a clean breast
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: of it. I'm afraid so, sir. Well, that's the end.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Seems rather unsporting, doesn't it? Just handing the war over
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: to them. I hate to think what the War Office
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: will say. Not to mention the Prime Minister.
• 21:15
  Speaker 7: Project Trojan was nearing its closing phase. At precisely 0600,
• 21:20
  Speaker 7: the next morning, Colonel Sir Harold Boswick ordered his staff
• 21:23
  Speaker 7: car and, taking a thermos of tea, proceeded to leave
• 21:26
  Speaker 7: his office. Just before the staff car got underway, Lieutenant
• 21:30
  Speaker 7: Withering appeared with another dispatch, accompanied by Captain McKenzie and
• 21:34
  Speaker 7: Private Herman.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: Colonel Bostwick, sir. Wait. So what is it withering? Another dispatch. No,
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: don't please. It's bad enough. There's been another disaster at Hanar.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: They knocked another mountain with our little present to them? No, sir.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: They've knocked themselves out. What? The laboratory under the mountain.
• 21:49
  Speaker 6: It's exploded.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: It has? Went up like a Roman candle. We've got pictures.
• 21:53
  Speaker 6: There was a flight of mosquito bombers over at the time.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: What happened? The projector. It backfired. How do you know?
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: It had to.
• 21:59
  Speaker 9: That's why the catalyst is impossible. You see, the metal
• 22:02
  Speaker 9: fatigue on the grid is a function of.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: Never mind, never mind. Are you sure?
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: Yes, sir.
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: We have a reliable agent's report. The Germans are completely confused.
• 22:09
  Speaker 5: They were operating the projector under a top-secret designation. Nobody
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: knew any of the details except the dozen scientists working
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: on it. And they were inside the laboratory when it blew.
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: Our man was in the rescue squad. There isn't a
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: thing left, sir. Plans, models, or scientists. Sir, do you
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: realize that Project Trojan was a success?
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: We've diverted a dozen top scientists from the rocket program permanently... Well,
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: do you think we'll be decorated? Lieutenant Withering, inasmuch as
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: we came particularly close to handing the whole war to
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: the Germans on a silver platter, I suggest we forget
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: Project Trojan.
• 22:42
  Speaker 6: Oh, yes.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: Yes, I see, of course. You're very canny, sir. I
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: think we had all better return to precisely what we
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: were doing before the whole nasty mess started.
• 23:00
  Speaker 7: The final phase of Project Trojan was completed on the
• 23:03
  Speaker 7: 22nd of March, 1943. The file, through some inadvertent error,
• 23:09
  Speaker 7: was lost before the Intelligence Plans Commission had a chance
• 23:12
  Speaker 7: to report to the War Office. All personnel returned to
• 23:16
  Speaker 7: their previous assignment.
• 23:19
  Speaker 9: All right, all right, no splashing on the floor. I
• 23:22
  Speaker 9: gotta get this latrine ready for inspection by 1300.
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: You have just heard X-Minus One, presented by the National
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, which
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: this month features the William Tenn novelette, Time in Advance,
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: the story of a man who made a strange bargain
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: and endured the worst the galaxy had to offer, so
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: that someday he could make the Earth sweat. Galaxy Magazine,
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: on your newsstand today. Tonight, by transcription, X-Minus One has
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: brought you Project Trojan. An original story by Ernest Canoy
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: based on an idea contained in an editorial in Galaxy
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: written by H.L.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: Gold.
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: Featured in the cast were Burford Hampton, Alistair Duncan, Ivor Francis,
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: Alfred Shirley, Bill Quinn, and your narrator was Alfred Hislip.
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: Your announcer, Fred Collins. X-1 was directed by Daniel Sutter
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: and is an NBC Radio Network production.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: That concludes X-1, Project Trojan.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: First heard on June 19th, 1956.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: Good night.