Dimension X's "The Outer Limit"...old time radio offering #4

The premier episode of Dimension X.

Wikipedia...

Dimension X was an NBC radio program broadcast on an unsponsored, sustaining basis from April 8, 1950 to September 29, 1951. The first 13 episodes were broadcast live, and the remainder were pre-recorded. Fred Wiehe and Edward King were the directors, and Norman Rose was heard as both announcer and narrator (his famous opening: "Adventures in time and space- told in future tense...").

Preceded by Mutual's 2000 Plus (1950-52), Dimension X was not the first adult science fiction series on radio, but the acquisition of previously published stories immediately gave it a strong standing with the science fiction community, as did the choice of well established, respected writers in the field: Isaac Asimov, Robert Bloch, Ray Bradbury, Fredric Brown, Robert A. Heinlein, Murray Leinster, H. Beam Piper, Frank M. Robinson, Clifford D. Simak, William Tenn, Jack Vance, Kurt Vonnegut, Jack Williamson and Donald A. Wollheim. Ernest Kinoy and George Lefferts adapted most of the stories and also provided original scripts.

The series opened with "The Outer Limit," an Ernest Kinoy adaptation of Graham Doar's short story from The Saturday Evening Post (December 24, 1949), about alien contact. A week later (April 15, 1950), the program presented Jack Williamson's most famous story, "With Folded Hands," first published in the July 1947 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.

With a five-month hiatus from January 1951 to June 1951, the series spanned 17 months. Later, NBC's X Minus One (1955-58) utilized many of the same actors and scripts.

This offering...

"The Outer Limit"

A test pilot on an experimental high altitude aircraft with only ten minutes worth of fuel disappears from radar for ten hours, yet returns safely. Of course, it is impossible, as is his story of contact with aliens and the dire warning they have for Mankind. Story by Robert Heinlein.

Original radio broadcast

Script...

Dimension X

"The Outer Limit"

April 8th. 1950

MUSIC:

LOW RUMBLE UNDER

ANNCR:

Stories in time and space ... told in future tense!

MUSIC:

RUMBLE BECOMES ROAR AND CRASH

ANNCR:

Dimension X (ECHO "X" OUT)

MUSIC:

FOUR SLOW DRUMBEATS, THEN UNDER

ANNCR:

Can you predict what will come in one hundred years? Or in ten? Or in the next minute?

MUSIC:

DRUMBEATS OUT

ANNCR:

Some people think they can. Nuclear scientists. Mathematicians. Astronomers. Biologists. They'll predict the shape of the future. Why? Because they MAKE the future. Because they see beyond the known dimensions of time and space - into the unknown: Dimension X.

MUSIC:

THEREMIN & ORGAN . ESTABLISH, THEN UNDER ANNCR

ANNCR:

We go ahead in time now to 1965. We're on a vast concrete runway, set in the desert of the southwest. A giant metal ship stands before us - prow pointed for the stars - and in five minutes the signal will flash and it will tear up through the atmosphere...to the Outer Limit!

MUSIC:

THEREMIN BACK UP. OUT UNDER VOICE

SOUND:

AIR RAID SIREN CONTUNUES UNDER VOICE

VOICE ON SPEAKER:

Attention! Attention! Clear field for takeoff (VOICE GOES UNDER DIALOGUE) Clear field for takeoff!

HANK:

Five minutes, Steve.

STEVE:

Right.

HANK:

(SHOUTING) Warm 'er up, Charlie!

CHARLIE:

(SHOUTS BACK) Turn 'er over!

SOUND:

JET ENGINES START TO WHINE

HANK:

I want to go over procedure again, Steve.

STEVE:

Don't worry, I've got it straight.

HANK:

Just make sure.

STEVE:

Okay. I take 'er up on jets to fifty-thousand, and then I cut in the rockets.

HANK:

No lower, or your tail blast will blow out three counties.

STEVE:

I climb four minutes on rockets, and then start maneuver tests.

HANK:

Remember that. No more than four minutes.

STEVE:

Right.

HANK:

This ship isn't like those strato-rockets you've been testing. She's the first one built for outer space. If she works, we can go clear to the moon.

STEVE:

If I'd have known that, I'd have brought my toothbrush.

HANK:

Well, not this trip. Now get this, Steve, you've got power there to clear the Earth's gravitational field. But remember - after you cut in the rockets, you've only got ten minutes' fuel. If you go beyond the Outer Limit, and don't save fuel for the return --

STEVE:

I know. I won't get down again.

HANK:

That's right, Steve. You'll drift off into space. Get that, now. Ten minutes' fuel!

STEVE:

Gotcha.

HANK:

Now as far as I'm concerned, this project is a lot more important than that cosmic ray bomb they're testing out in the Pacific tonight.

STEVE:

Well, Security Commission brass doesn't think so -- I don't see any Under Secretaries under anything.

HANK:

Don't worry. In the long run, our ship will make the CR bomb back-page stuff. But in the meantime, it's just as dangerous. Remember, half the principles on this ship are pure theory, Steve; slide rule stuff. If anything goes wrong, we may have to scrape you off the landscape with a soup spoon.

STEVE:

You have a charming sense of humor.

HANK:

Now here's what I'm getting at-- We're risking your neck on this test. If anything blows, we don't want the next man pull the same boner.

STEVE:

I know, Hank.

HANK:

So keep your mike open and keep talking. If anything goes wrong, we want to know exactly why. And we won't be able to ask YOU. Let us know before you pull every switch - before you do anything. You got that?

STEVE:

Yeah.

HANK:

Even if you only have to blow your nose.

CHARLIE:

(SHOUTS OFF) All right! Get those fuel lines away!

TECH:

Okay, Mr. Pearl!

HANK:

Well, I guess that's about all, Steve.

STEVE:

That reminds me-- Look, if Mary calls, I'm just up on a milk run. I didn't tell her today was it.

HANK:

How is she?

STEVE:

She's okay, but she's due about now, and I don't want her to be nervous.

HANK:

Hey, I didn't know the baby was that close.

STEVE:

Yeah.

HANK:

Steve, I really ought to be sending a single man on this job ...

STEVE:

What, and cut me out of a soft paycheck? Forget it, Hank. You know you can't get anybody else who can take fifteen gees acceleration when those rockets cut in.

HANK:

Yeah, I know. (BEAT) It's time, Steve.

STEVE:

Yeah. (BEAT) Well, see ya later. Don't worry Hank, I'll sweat for both of us. (SHOUTS) Button 'er up, Charlie!

CHARLIE:

Yeah.

STEVE:

So long, Hank.

HANK:

So long. We'll give you the light from control!

SOUND:

DOOR ON SHIP SLAMS SHUT

MUSIC:

TRANSITION

SOUND:

STEADY BEEP OF RADAR ESTABLISH THEN UNDER THROUGH SCENE

STEVE:

(FILTER) X2R to Control...X2R to Control, are you there yet, Hank?

HANK:

Okay, Steve. Got you on the speaker. I'm ready to go.

ELSIE:

Mr. Hansen.

HANK:

Ready on radar, sergeant?

SARGE:

(OFF) Check

ELSIE:

Mr. Hansen, you'd better see this.

HANK:

What is it, Elsie?

ELSIE:

Message sent in for Steve. Mrs. Weston just left for the hospital.

HANK:

What? Hello, Steve.

STEVE:

(FILTER) What?

HANK:

Stand by a minute.

ELSIE:

Shall we hold the takeoff, Mr. Hansen?

HANK:

What? Oh, yes - no, wait just a minute, it's, uh, it's too late, now.

ELSIE:

Aren't you going to tell him?

HANK:

Maybe he's got enough to worry about.

STEVE:

(FILTER) Hey, what's holding us up, Hank? Something on your mind?

HANK:

No, no. it's nothing, Steve. I just wanted to say... good luck. (LOUDER) Clear for takeoff, Charlie?

CHARLIE:

(OFF) Right.

HANK:

Okay -- give him the light.

SOUND:

EFFECT AS ROCKET BLASTS OFF

MUSIC:

THERAMIN SWOOP UP

SOUND:

STEADY BEEP OF RADAR CONTINUES UNDER

HANK:

All right, Steve, I'm reading you clear.

STEVE:

(FILTER) I'm at forty thousand. Air speed six hundred -- she's running fine. The soundproofing works. There's a third degree waver in the AGY pressure.

HANK:

Got that, Charlie?

CHARLIE:

(OFF) Check.

SARGE:

(OFF) Dead center on radar, Mr. Hansen.

STEVE:

(FILTER) Fifty thousand now ... cutting out the port jet. Now the starboard. I'm off jets ... airspeed dropping ... Opening the rocket selects. The switch sticks a little, Charlie. Actually out the hull, pressure is three-fifty ... All right now, I'm advancing the ignition key ... Here goes rocket one ...

SOUND:

(FILTER) ROCKET FIRES)

SOUND:

BEEPS FASTER THEN UNDER

HANK:

Steve, you all right?

STEVE:

(FILTER) Yeah. Feels like somebody slugged me with a sledgehammer. Airspeed now at twelve hundred. Here goes number two.

SOUND:

(FILTER) ROCKET FIRES. THERAMIN. PAUSE WE SWITCH POV TO ROCKET. ENGINES CLEARLY IN BG.

HANK:

(FILTER) Hello, Steve. Elapsed rocket time is now four minutes. What's your altitude? Over to you.

STEVE:

Speed forty-four hundred. Still climbing ... Altitude ... two hundred and ninety-seven miles.

HANK:

(FILTER) All right, you're at the Outer Limit. Level off for maneuver test. You've got exactly six minutes' fuel left.

STEVE:

Okay. Starting a three-degree left bank. It's a little sluggish ... there, it's all right, now ... There's a low vibration someplace ... maybe the cockpit hatch ... Now I'm straightening out.

HANK:

(FILTER) Five minutes' fuel left.

STEVE:

Now I'm starting a three degree right --- Hey!

HANK:

(FILTER) What's the matter? What's wrong?

STEVE:

There's something up here - something shiny.

HANK:

(FILTER) What are you talking about?

STEVE:

There's something above me, Hank. I'm gonna chase it.

HANK:

(FILTER) Steve - Steve, you're at the Outer Limit, now.

STEVE:

I can see it plain, now.

HANK:

(FILTER) Steve, don't go any higher! You've only got four minutes left.

SOUND:

HIGH PITCHED WHINE OF RADIO CUTTING OUT BEGINS

HANK:

(FILTER) You've only got --

SOUND:

WHINE DROWNS HIM OUT AND CONTINUES IN BG

STEVE:

There's too much static, I can't hear ya, Hank. It's dead ahead, now. I'm gonna make a pass at it, and get a good look. (BEAT) Hey, it's swerving to meet me! It's dead ahead, now! It's dead ahead!

SOUND:

ROAR OF ENGINES. THERAMIN SWOOP. BACK TO GROUND POV. BEEPS CONTINUE.

HANK:

Hello? Hello, Steve? Steve, come in!

ELSIE:

Nine minutes' fuel gone.

CHARLIE:

Still no sign on radar.

HANK:

Hello! Hello, Steve? Steve, what's happened? Charlie, get out the crash squad. Tell the Army squadron to alert their search planes.

CHARLIE:

Right.

ELSIE:

Nine and a-half minutes.

CHARLIE (THIS GOES ON IN BG UNDER DIALOGUE) Crash squad. Crash squadron! Hello? Charlie Clapper for Mr. Hansen. We need a search squadron. No, Mr. Hansen's busy.

HANK:

Hello? Hello, Steve! What's happened, where the Devil is he? Hello! Come in, Steve! Come in! Hello! Hello, Steve! Hello, Steve!

SOUND:

AIR RAID SIRENS BEGIN TO BUILD IN BG

ELSIE:

Ten minutes, Mr. Hansen. That's the end of his fuel.

MUSIC:

TRANSITION (8:00)

SOUND:

STEADY BEEP

HANK:

How long has it been, now?

CHARLIE:

Ten hours, Mr. Hansen.

HANK:

Nothing more on radar, Sergeant?

SARGE:

Screen's blank.

ELSIE:

Colonel Corelli called in. Search planes are back. They didn't find anything.

HANK:

There should be some trace...

ELSIE:

He couldn't have bailed out, could he?

HANK:

You don't hit the silk at forty four hundred miles an hour. He either went past the Outer Limit and ran out of fuel, or something blew and we'll find the pieces scattered from here to the coast. (BANGS FIST ON DESK) Why does it have to be the best man? Always the best man?

SOUND:

BUZZ OF PHONE

ELSIE:

I'll get it. (HER CONVERSATION CONTINUES UNDER STEVE AND CHARLIE) Control? Yes, I'll take it. Is that so? All right, I'll tell him. Alright

HANK:

Charlie, Charlie, you know, we've got to figure out what was wrong.

CHARLIE:

Mmmm...yes.

HANK:

Something - something must have blown.

ELSIE:

Mr. Hansen?

HANK:

Yes?

ELSIE:

There's a message from Northside hospital for... for Steve. Mrs. Weston's fine. It's a boy.

HANK:

Thank you, Elsie. It's a boy, Charlie.

CHARLIE:

Oh.

HANK:

Fine, fine, it's a boy. He didn't even know she went to the hospital. How am I gonna tell Mary that?

CHARLIE:

It wasn't your fault, Mr. Hansen. The ship had to be tested.

HANK:

Yeah, yeah, and we'll build another one and some flying fool will shoot past the Outer Limit into space. (SIGHS) Oh, I'm getting old, Charlie. You can remember when I used to take 'em up myself. Now I've got to send other men.

SOUND:

BEEPS BEGIN TO GET CLOSER TOGETHER. ALMOST IMPERCEPTABLY AT FIRST

CHARLIE:

It's a job, Mr. Hansen.

HANK:

Now I'm afraid. Every time I hear a jet go off, I jump. Every time I have to send someone up in a new model, I start to sweat.

SARGE:

(OFF) Mr. Hansen!

HANK:

Yeah?

SARGE:

(OFF) I think there's something on the radar!

HANK:

No flights scheduled in, are there, Elsie?

ELSIE:

We have the whole day cleared.

SARGE:

(OFF) It's coming in behind us--

SOUND:

BEEPS GET CLOSER TOGETHER, JET ROAR BEGINS

SARGE:

(OFF) - Here it comes over the building!

SOUND:

WHOOSH OF ROCKET ENGINE

HANK:

What crazy jockey is buzzing the field like that? Is that an Army plane, Charlie?

CHARLIE:

Uh, I can't say...

SARGE:

(OFF) It's turning!

HANK:

Charlie, alert the field! (BEAT) I know that engine ... Steve!

CHARLIE:

That's impossible!

SOUND:

ENGINE GETS LOUDER

CHARLIE:

That's his ship!

HANK:

It can't be!

CHARLIE:

Well there's no other model like that! It's Steve, all right!

SOUND:

BEEPS STILL GOING. SOUND OF SHIP LANDING

CHARLIE:

He's coming in.

HANK:

Thank God. (BEAT) Thank God...

MUSIC:

TRANSITION (10:15)

SOUND:

DOORS OPEN, SHUFFLE OF CHAIRS

HANK:

All right. Sit down, Steve. The quicker we get this done, the quicker you get over to see Mary and the baby.

STEVE:

Hank--

HANK:

Elsie, give the order to check and refuel the rockets. I don't want anybody in here until I get Steve's reports. Bury any calls. (TO STEVE) All right, let's have it. What the devil happened to you?

STEVE:

Hank, does that cosmic ray bomb still go off tonight?

HANK:

What are you talking about? Straighten out, Steve! Where have you been for the last ten hours?

STEVE:

Listen, Hank, there's something more I've got --

HANK:

Come on, now! I've got to get a report on the screen to Washington, so let's have it. I've got to know how you stretched ten minutes' fuel to keep you in the air for ten hours.

STEVE:

Now one thing before I talk --

HANK:

Look, Steve --

STEVE:

Have the Geiger men run over the ship before they refuel.

HANK:

What'd you run into?

STEVE:

So help me, Hank, I don't know. We better check and make sure it isn't radioactive.

SOUND:

CLICK OF INTERCOM

HANK:

Elsie, add a Geiger report on the standard check.

SOUND:

CLICK OF INTERCOM

HANK:

Steve, maybe we'd better have the doc look YOU over, too.

STEVE:

No, no. I'll be all right. They said I'd be all right.

HANK:

They? Look son, I know you've had a tough time, but we've had this field on alert for ten hours. One of the Army boys cracked up looking for you, and he's hurt bad. So let's have the story. Let's have it straight.

STEVE:

I don't know how to tell you. Hank, I saw something up there -

HANK:

At three hundred miles -

STEVE:

I CHASED something up there, Hank. And I CAUGHT it.

HANK:

Now don't hand me that -

STEVE:

Listen to me! I was cruising along, just starting the right bank when I spotted something. Must have been going about half my speed. It was - egg-shaped and smooth. I made a pass at it, and I was coming back for another and then there was a humming sound.

HANK:

Humming?

STEVE:

Sort of vibration. And I blacked out. I was headed straight for it at forty-four hundred miles an hour. I thought it was gonna be the biggest smash since Hiroshima, and - Hank, is there a drink in that bottle?

HANK:

Never mind that, Steve, what happened?

STEVE:

I came to - inside their ship.

HANK:

Uh-huh. (BEAT) Steve, this whole thing's been a devil of a strain on you. I'm gonna to call Major Donaldson from the Army base, ask him to sit in.

STEVE:

Psychiatrist? (BEAT) Yeah, yeah. That's a good idea. Let him run his tests, they'll tell you I'm not kidding. 'Cause Hank, unless I miss my guess, I've just been tipped off to the way the world ends.

MUSIC:

TRANSITION (12:30)

DONALDSON:

All right, Mr. Winston, suppose you continue your story.

HANK:

Yes, let's have it, Steve. You woke up inside this ship?

STEVE:

Yes. And uh, the place was jammed with machinery - dials, blinkers - I couldn't recognize anything.

DONALDSON:

And you were surrounded by these - men from Mars?

STEVE:

I didn't say anything about men from Mars. I didn't even say they were men. I - couldn't see them clearly - they were just - there.

DONALDSON:

Where did they come from, then?

STEVE:

Another galaxy! Millions of miles outside of our solar system. That's all I know! YOU figure out where they came from.

DONALDSON:

And they came all that distance to find the Earth?

STEVE:

Yes.

DONALDSON:

They tell you that?

STEVE:

Yes.

DONALDSON:

(BEAT) You mean they spoke English to you?

STEVE:

No, no, they didn't. (BEAT) That's funny, I hadn't thought - they didn't really speak to me at all, they just - planted the thoughts in my mind.

DONALDSON:

You mean thought transference? Telepathy?

STEVE:

That's right.

HANK:

Well Steve, what brought them here?

STEVE:

We did, Hank! We rang their bell, we brought them in.

DONALDSON:

Well, how?

STEVE:

With our atomic explosions! Hank, that's why you've gotta stop that bomb test tonight!

HANK:

(SIGH) Oh, I give up.

STEVE:

Look, you've gotta believe me, Hank! Oh, how can I make you understand?

DONALDSON:

Would you submit to... narco-psychometry?

STEVE:

What's that?

DONALDSON:

Under proper drugs I can put you back in this, uh, ship - by suggestion. Then we can get a playback record of your memory pattern on the audio circuit.

STEVE:

How long will that take?

DONALDSON:

Half an hour. We'll have to go up to the lab.

STEVE:

Would you believe me if it checks?

DONALDSON:

It will give us an accurate memory picture of what your mind reports.

STEVE:

All right, let's go. Hank, you've gotta believe me, we haven't got much time!

MUSIC:

TRANSITION (14.20)

DONALDSON:

You should be getting drowsy, now...Count backwards from ten.

STEVE:

Ten... nine.... eight..... seven...... siix...... siiix... (PREGNANT PAUSE, THEN HEAVY, RYTHMIC BREATHING)

DONALDSON:

He's under. Now we attach the headplate electrodes...

SOUND:

CLICKS AS ELCTRODES ARE ATTACHED TO HEAD

DONALDSON:

...the cortical pickup...look out for that wire, Mr. Hansen. Three-Oh setting, thirty-one point three. Now throw that switch, Mr. Hansen.

SOUND:

CLICK OF SWITCH. STATIC.

DONALDSON:

I have to start him off by suggestion. All right, Steve. You're in your ship, now. You're in the rocket...

STEVE:

(DREAMILY) Rocket...

DONALDSON:

You're in the rocket. You're in the rocket, and you've just sighted something strange.

STEVE:

(FILTER: AS IF HE'S TALKING INTO RADIO) Now I'm starting a three degree right...

HANK:

What's that?

STEVE:

Hey! There's something up here! Something shiny!

DONALDSON:

(TO HANK) His memory pattern. We're picking it up electronically.

STEVE:

Something above me, Hank! I'm gonna chase it!

DONALDSON:

It's piped through the audio circuits.

STEVE:

I'm getting static, I can't hear you, Hank!

HANK:

This is where we lost contact with him.

STEVE:

I'm gonna make a pass at it, and - hey! It's swerving to meet me! It's dead ahead now - it's dead ahead! (PAUSE)

HANK:

Now what?

DONALDSON:

This is where he blacked out. There's no telling how long - minutes or hours.

SOUND:

THERAMIN BEGINS UNDER

HANK:

What's that noise?

DONALDSON:

I don't know -- quiet.

STEVE:

Where? - How did I get in here? -Wha - Who are you?

DONALDSON:

Is he seeing them?

STEVE:

Intergalactic Patrol? What's that?

DONALDSON:

What are they saying, Steve? What are they saying?

STEVE:

It's about nuclear fission - they KNOW about it. They know the danger of it. Long ago they had wars that almost destroyed them. And finally they learned. Now they've outlawed war.

DONALDSON:

Go on, Steve.

STEVE:

They patrol space. When their detector picks up an atomic explosion, they send a patrol.

HANK:

What are they going to do?

STEVE:

They've quarantined us!

DONALDSON:

Quarantined!?

STEVE:

They've isolated the Earth, 'cause we don't know how to control ourselves yet. Until we learn, we'll be a menace to the whole universe!

HANK:

What is this nonsense?

DONALDSON:

Quiet. (TO STEVE) How are they going to do it, Steve?

STEVE:

They've spread a layer out here of - I don't know how to call it. All around the Earth - it's miles deep. When there's an atomic explosion on Earth, the radioactive particles will drift up to this layer and set off a chain reaction. It'll go around the world in microseconds. And that's the end.

DONALDSON:

The end? What's he--

DONALDSON:

Wait, wait!

STEVE:

(TALKING TO SOMEONE ELSE) Yes? Yes. I understand. I've got to bring back the warning. You're going to put me back in my ship - to bring the warning.

SOUND:

THERAMIN UP AND OUT, REPLACED BY BUZZING STATIC

HANK:

Now what?

DONALDSON:

He's blacked out again. I guess that's all.

SOUND:

SWITCH FLICKS OFF

HANK:

What does all that mean?

DONALDSON:

It's what he remembers.

HANK:

You don't think that really happened?

DONALDSON:

No, no. The narcopsychometry circuits produce what he remembers. It just means that Steve BELIEVES this happened.

STEVE:

(MOANS AS HE COMES OUT)

HANK:

I don't like to see this. I've seen too many good test pilots snap. Steve is the best I've known. How bad do you think he is?

DONALDSON:

Frankly, outside of the presence of this well-organized hallucination, there's no sign of unbalance. It may not be too serious. If he had a more plausible story, I'd be inclined to believe him.

STEVE:

(GROGGY) What - why- Hank??

HANK:

It's all right, boy.

STEVE:

Did you hear it, Hank? Ya understand?

HANK:

Sure, sure, we've been quarantined.

DONALDSON:

Let me give you something that to make you sleep, Steve.

STEVE:

But, don't ya understand? They fixed it so that if we set off one more nuclear explosion - that'll be IT!

DONALDSON:

Of course. Don't roll you're sleeve down--

STEVE:

You don't believe me!

DONALDSON:

Now take it easy, Steve.

STEVE:

That test tonight - they're setting off the CR bomb. Hank, what time is it?

HANK:

Eleven-twenty.

STEVE:

Well, it's scheduled for midnight! Hank, we've gotta stop that bomb!

HANK:

Steve, let Donaldson give you the hypo.

STEVE:

Hank, you've gotta believe me, I saw them! I got the warning! If we touch off that bomb tonight - It'll be the biggest galactic Fourth of July of all time! The whole Earth'll go up like a Roman candle! April tenth, nineteen sixty-five - The End!

HANK:

Now look, Steve, you'd better calm down. Don't you want to see Mary and the baby? You've got a new son, remember?

STEVE:

Well, that's just it - I want to see my son - I want him to live! If that bomb goes off - Hank, we've got to stop them!

DONALDSON:

Mr. Hansen, I think we'd better get over to the base hospital.

STEVE:

Hank, you've gotta believe me.

HANK:

Yeah, sure, Steve. Maybe there is something to it -- look, it's out of your hands. I'll put it in a report and shuttle it into Washington in the morning.

STEVE:

In the morning? There isn't going to be any morning, Hank! Don't you understand? You've gotta call Washington now! Get the head of the Security Commission and postpone that test!

HANK:

Now, you know I can't do that, Steve. My neck'd be out a mile! Besides, this is nineteen sixty-five, not forty-five. Twenty countries have atomic bombs now. What's the use of stopping just this one? The rest will keep right on popping them off.

STEVE:

(AGITATED) Well, we'll have to call an international conference! Can'tcha understand, Hank? The first one that goes off finishes us - it's the end! They've given us the Quarantine Warning!

HANK:

Steve, I think you'd better go with us to the base hospital.

STEVE:

But--

DONALDSON:

Look, Steve, we can call up for a detail if we have to.

STEVE:

(CRYING NOW) All right. All right. I'll go with ya. I don't need a strait jacket.

DONALDSON:

That's the way, Steve. You'll probably feel better by morning. Let's go...

SOUND:

FOOTSTEPS. DOOR OPENS. FOOTSTPES. DOOR CLOSES. FOOTSTEPS CONTINUE. THEY ARE OUTDOORS. THE WIND PICKS UP BG.

HANK:

Well, Steve, tomorrow I'll drive you over to the hospital to see Mary and the kid.

STEVE:

(VERY CALM) Sure.

HANK:

Look at the ship under the floodlights. Pretty, huh? You'll be flying her again soon, don't you worry.

STEVE:

Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. Uh, what's she doin' out on the line? They refuel her?

HANK:

Yeah. We got Clausowitz coming in tomorrow from Denver for another test. Figure we give you a day off.

STEVE:

That's good. That's (PUSHES HANK AWAY) FINE!

SOUND:

RUNNING FOOTSTEPS. CONTINE UNDER.

HANK:

Steve! Steve! Come back! Come on, Donaldson! Steve! Steve, wait!

HANK:

He's heading for the rocket! Look, there he goes up!

DONALDSON:

That crazy fool!

SOUND:

STEVE CLIMBS INTO ROCKET AND SLIDES THE COVER

HANK:

We can't get at him now. That cover's armored glass!

DONALDSON:

He's waving!

HANK:

Yeah, towards Control! It's the radio -- He means the radio! Come on!

SOUND:

RUNNING FOOTSTEPS

DONALDSON:

I should have gotten help!

SOUND:

THE STEPS SKID TO A STOP. DOOR OPENS

HANK:

Good thing the radio's still hooked up here. Hello. Hello, Steve?

STEVE:

(FILTER) Listen to me, Hank. Ya gotta call Washington, now!

HANK:

Come on out of that rocket, Steve!

DONALDSON:

I'll call my medics.

STEVE:

(FILTER) Don't try anything, Hank! They've refueled the rocket for tomorrow.

HANK:

Take it easy, Steve.

STEVE:

(FILTER) You know what'll happen when I fire the rocket tubes down here?

HANK:

Steve, don't!

STEVE:

(FILTER) It'll burn out every building for five miles! All of us in one big flash!

HANK:

Steve, what do you want?

STEVE:

(FILTER) You've gotta stop that bomb! Ya gotta call Washington, right now!

HANK:

They won't believe me!

STEVE:

(FILTER) You make that call or I cut in the rocket. Now I mean it, Hank! Now hook my screen to yours in parallel - I want to see exactly what you're doing.

HANK:

All right, all right. Now just don't fire those rockets!

STEVE:

(FILTER) Get going, Hank! You've got twelve minutes to make that call and stop that bomb.

HANK:

All right, I'm making the parallel hookup right now.

SOUND:

CLICK

HANK:

Donaldson, do you think he'll really blast?

DONALDSON:

I don't know. Up to now I'd almost say he was normal, but now, he's liable to do anything, Hansen.

HANK:

Steve. Steve, there! Are you getting it on your screen?

STEVE:

(FILTER) Yeah. Now put that call through.

HANK:

All right.

SOUND:

CLICK

OPERATOR:

(FILTER) Operator.

HANK:

Visiscreen to Washington.

OPERATOR:

(FILTER) The visiscreen circuits are busy, sir. If you'll try again in half an hour --

HANK:

This is Security Commission priority. Break in and get me a line.

OPERATOR 1:

(FILTER) Yes, sir! Just a moment, please!

STEVE:

(FILTER) Ten minutes, Hank.

HANK:

Listen, Steve, I'm trying.

OPERATOR:

(FILTER) They're ready to take your call, sir!

HANK:

Washington - Security Commission three, this is urgent! I want undersecretary Herbert Ames!

OPERATOR:

(FILTER) Washington thuh-ree, one moment, please.

HANK:

Hurry, will you?

OPERATOR:

(FILTER) One moment, please.

SOUND:

BEEPS AS CALL CONNECTS

HANK:

What time is it, Donaldson?

DONALDSON:

Eleven fifty-one.

HANK:

Do you think he'll fire those rockets?

DONALDSON:

He might.

FEMALE OPR:

(FILTER) Washington.

HANK:

Visiscreen three. Mr. Herbert Ames, please!

FEMALE OPR:

(FILTER) That is a coded exchange, I cannot accept your call without clearance.

STEVE:

(FILTER) Get it through, Hank!

HANK:

Listen, Washington, put it through! This is Mr. Hansen at San Marco Air Base. This is a priority call. I'm coded!

FEMALE OPR:

(FILTER) One moment, please, I'll check your code number.

STEVE:

(FILTER) Get that through, Hank! That bomb goes off at twelve!

HANK:

Be reasonable, Steve, I--

FEMALE OPR:

(FILTER) Your call has cleared, San Marco. Washington visiscreen thu-ree. Herbert Ames, please.

SOUND:

A BUZZ AND CLICK ON THE LINE

AMES:

(FILTER) Security Commission, Ames.

HANK:

Listen, Ames.

AMES:

(FILTER) Oh, hello Hansen.

HANK:

Ames, you've gotta get me to the chief.

AMES:

(FILTER) Are you kidding? He's at the test control room!

HANK:

Yes, I know, but get him for me!

DONALDSON:

(FILTER) What's up? You look lousy. Or is it a bad circuit?

HANK:

There's no time, I've got to get him before the test! It's about the CR bomb!

AMES:

(FILTER) I can't take that responsibility.

STEVE:

(FILTER) Get that through, Hank, or I blast!

AMES:

(FILTER) What's going on there?

HANK:

Ames, my project has a high enough rating. This is a priority A call!

AMES:

(FILTER) What? Okay, it's you're neck, I'll try and get him for ya. He's in the control room, so you'll have to switch off your screen and speaker and go on earphones. Too much going on in there. Security ruling.

HANK:

You hear that, Steve? I've gotta cut the incoming screen.

STEVE:

(FILTER) All right, but don't try anything. Eight minutes, Hank.

SOUND:

SWITCHES CUT OFF

HANK:

Hello. Hello! ... What?

STEVE:

(FILTER) You got it, Hank?

HANK:

(BEAT) Yes... this is Hansen at San Marco ... No sir, Priority A request to cancel the bomb test ... No, no, I'm serious! This is deadly serious! ... We sent the X-2 JTR up today to the Outer Limit. We uncovered evidence ... Yes, on the automatic instruments ... What's that? ... No, possible chain reaction. No, I can't tell you the whole story, there isn't time here ... Yes, yes. I'll bring the readings into Washington in the morning ... You've got to postpone the test 'till you see them ... Look! I worked on contracts with the Commission for ten years! ... Yes, I have complete confidence in my information. You can record that ... Yes, I'll call you back immediately ... Good bye.

SOUND:

CLICK

STEVE:

(FILTER) Hank? Hank?

HANK:

He's agreed to cancel, Steve. The bomb won't go off. (LETS OUT A BREATH OF RELIEF) All right boy. You can come down out of that ship.

MUSIC:

TRANSITION (24:30)

SOUND:

CLICK AND HATCH ON SHIP OPENS WIND IN BG

SARGE:

He's opening up. Here he comes.

HANK:

All right, Steve! Come down.

STEVE:

Sure, Hank. Just a second.

SOUND:

STEVE GRUNTS AS HE CLIMBS DOWN THE LADDER

STEVE:

Hank, I was scared. I was plain scared.

HANK:

Easy now, it's all over. The bomb won't go off.

STEVE:

Thank God. Look, I want to see Mary and the baby. Can you get me transportation now?

HANK:

Wait a minute, it's almost twelve, they won't let you in the hospital, now.

STEVE:

I want to see the baby.

DONALDSON:

Sure you do, but you've been under a strain. I've got a shot for you here, Steve. It'll give you a good night's sleep. All right - roll up your sleeve.

STEVE:

Yeah, here.

DONALDSON:

(BEAT) There, that'll make you sleep. The sergeant will find you a bed.

SARGE:

Yes, sir. Come on, Mr. Weston.

STEVE:

Okay. Good night, Hank. I'm kinda beat. It's been a tough night.

SOUND:

FOOTSTEPS START UNDER LAST LINE

DONALDSON:

It sure has. I thought for a minute that he was gonna blast those rockets and send us all to Kingdom Come.

HANK:

Yeah.

DONALDSON:

Quite a stunt, getting the ray bomb test called off.

HANK:

It isn't called off.

DONALDSON:

But - the chief said --

HANK:

Ames couldn't get the chief. I was talking to a dead circuit. Bomb goes off in a couple of minutes.

DONALDSON:

Oh. Poor Steve. He was one of the best.

HANK:

He WAS the best.

DONALDSON:

One in ten million. Some story of his, poor guy. For a while, he almost had me believing in that quarantine. That's a very common delusion. End of the world.

HANK:

Yeah. I suppose so. (BRIGHTENS) It's a nice night. Never saw the stars so bright.

DONALDSON:

We'd better be getting in, that wind is cold.

SOUND:

FOOTSTEPS

HANK:

That bomb goes off in thirty seconds. Poor Steve.

DONALDSON:

You know, Hansen, there's just one thing.

HANK:

Yeah?

DONALDSON:

It's outside my field, but I'm curious. How did he keep that ship in the air for ten hours - with only ten minutes' fuel?

MUSIC:

THEME UP AND OUT (27:00)

ANNCR:

You have just heard THE OUTER LIMIT, by Graham Dorr. An adventure in time, space, and the unknown! (ECHO) Dimension X!

MUSIC:

MUFFLED DRUM, FOUR BEATS AND UNDER

ANNCR:

Now - about next week. Have you ever heard of the Mark Three? The amazing electronic brain at Harvard that instantly solves the most complicated scientific problems? Suppose you had a mechanical brain like that in your house? A robot that was always at your service, so that you could just sit with folded hands and relax the rest of your life. That would be nice, wouldn't it? Perfect. That's what they thought when it happened in the year 2006. But they were wrong. Terribly wrong. How? I'll tell you -- next week.

SOUND:

THERAMIN

ANNCR:

Tonight's story transcribed on Dimension X - The Outer Limit by Graham Dorr was adapted for radio by Earnest Cannoy. Featured in the cast were Joseph Julian as Steve, Wendell Holmes as Hank, and Joe DeSantos as Major Donaldson. Your host is Norman Roses. Music was by Albert Berman. Sound designed by Simon Roe. Edward King directed.

SOUND:

GONG/DRUMBEAT

ANNCR2:

Tomorrow, hear Sam Spade. Now, it's "Truth or Consequences" on NBC.

SOUND:

NBC CHIMES


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