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

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