Adventures in time and space transcribed in future tense.
The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Street and Smith, publishers of astounding
science fiction brings you Dimension X.
On a high hill in Samoa, there is a grave inscribed on the marker of these words, Under
the wide and starry sky did Mike rely, Gladly did I live and gladly die, and I lay me down
with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me, Here he lies where he longed to be, Home is the sailor,
home from the sea, And the hunter, home from the hills.
These lines appear an other place, Scrawled on a shipping tag from a compressed air container,
And pinned to the ground with a knife.
It wasn't much of a fair as fairs go.
The trotting races wouldn't be held till eight o'clock at night.
The flags and buzzing grouped in the gray afternoon, and the pitchmen seemed discouraged.
A large black cabriolet limousine stood at the side of the road, 32 cylinders purring
quietly.
And over the dust and the crater of a fair, a bullhorn blasted its highest pitch.
Hurry, hurry, hurry, this way to the moon rocket, the moon rocket.
These flags, the actual type rocket used by the first man to fly it, chills, thrills,
the
most
amazing
machine.
Four minutes of tape.
You can ride out for only $23.
Hurry, hurry, hurry.
Henry.
Yes, sir.
I'm getting out.
But the board meeting, sir, if you're due in Kansas City at 4.
Do you think I need another $5 gold piece?
Oh, no, sir.
Are you trying to tell me what to do?
Don't you hit on the door, sir.
Let go of me.
I'm sorry, sir.
Yeah.
That's the ship.
Rock and roll, cad.
Single jet type with fractional mid-riff controls.
Stay here, Henry.
I'm going over.
The morning.
Fifty seconds to cut aboard.
Light leaving in thirty minutes.
Hurry, hurry, hurry.
Hey, Charlie.
You got that feed tube patched?
I welded it.
Good for maybe an hour.
Oh, what a crowd.
Hey, we've got a problem.
I wouldn't risk a nickel to see the sun blow up.
Oh, Gibson.
Oh, excuse me, sir.
Yeah?
Oh, yes, sir.
Fifty cents to inspect the rock.
One?
Would you take a passenger to the strip?
You mean you want to go up?
It's twenty-five bucks.
That's right.
Yes, sir.
Right away.
Charlie, take the pitch.
Oh, okay.
Step this way, sir.
Look out for the feed line, sir.
Yes, I see them.
Step right into the office.
Doc, passenger for checkup.
Oh, okay, sir.
Is this necessary?
Regulation.
Take off your coat, open your shirt, roll up your eyes, see.
How are things, man?
Slow.
We're not growing as much as the coots, then.
Eh, we'll pick up tonight with the chargers.
Well, I'm ready, doctor.
That's your arm.
All right.
Breathe in.
Out.
Breathe.
Breathe.
Breathe.
That's all.
Sorry.
No go, doc.
Cardiac condition.
I couldn't certify him.
Sorry.
You mean he won't take me up?
He's the doctor.
I couldn't even guarantee you'd live through the takeoff.
It's not only a bad heart, but with heavy acceleration, your whole circulatory system
would be in danger.
And at your age, bones are brittle, highly calcified.
You can snap one on the takeoff.
Then out.
Well, I rather expected it.
I'm sorry.
Between you and me, we could have used the 25.
You're a good man.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Thank you.
I'm sorry.
My bad.
That'sidents.
Give the
Oh my请.
Mr.
Yeah.
Thank you.
No no no no no.
Don't come here in the middle of the winter.
No wait you come to the store to ask about the
Are you sure?
Charlie, Charlie, you had enough.
Oh, lay off, man.
Oh, that's perfectly all right, Captain McIntyre.
Any cigar?
No, thanks.
Hmm, light.
Yes, thanks.
Here, it's hard for me to see why any of you are here.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
It's hard for me to see why any holder of a master's ticket would put the Earth's moon
running.
I didn't like it.
Yeah, yeah.
Don't hand us that.
It was little G who walked you out.
All right, all right.
So I took a few drinks.
I could have squared that.
Too many regulations.
Red tape.
Yeah.
Would it help you to get back to the moon?
Sure.
I could get a short haul job hopping oil.
If I kept my nose clean, I might even get back on the run.
Captain, would you be open to the business proposition?
What is it?
You own your rocket, barring a couple of leaves.
I want a charter of that to take me to the moon.
What?
You hear what he said, Mac?
He wants us to fly that old heap to the moon.
Oh, no.
Can't do it.
The old boat's worn out.
We don't even use standard fuels.
Just gasoline and liquid air.
Why don't you bribe a couple of company medics if you've been down before?
I know, but not for me.
I'm D.D. Harriman.
Harriman?
Why, you own the company.
I own a large percentage of the company,
but the other directors won't permit me to jeopardize the franchise.
Can you tie that, Mac?
A guy with half the money in the world, and he's up the creek.
Shut up, Charlie.
He's right.
Well, Captain, it's against the law.
I'd make it worth your while.
Sure I would, Mac.
D.D. Harriman.
He'd make it worth our while.
Mac, Luna City.
Why do you want to go to the moon so bad, Mr. Harriman?
It's the one thing I've really wanted to do all my life.
I'm maybe 50 years older than you are.
When I was a kid, nobody believed we'd really reach the moon.
You've seen rockets all your lives, but when I was a boy,
they laughed at the idea.
But I believed.
I wanted the moon there.
I used to stand in the backyard and stare.
How far away is it, Mac?
The moon?
Far enough.
Why don't people fly there?
Oh, they can't.
Why not?
They just can't.
Not now, anyway.
Someday I will, Porter.
Fly on the moon.
Sure, sure.
Come on now, Dale.
Inside, way past your bedtime.
Go.
I wanted to go to college, engineering.
Then the University of Chicago, then Yerkes Observatory.
That's what I wanted.
But I didn't get it.
You see, Dale, Dad and I wanted you to go to college.
We planned it.
We saved for it.
But with your dad gone and the girls growing up, I just can't manage it.
The insurance won't cover us, and it's getting harder to make ends meet.
You've been a good boy, Dale, and worked hard to make out.
You'll understand.
And I understood.
And I worked.
Stock boy at the old Ford plant in Detroit.
Accountant.
Credit manager for a mail order house.
Then New York.
Wall Street.
And then transportation.
The monorail line between New York and Chicago.
The Atlantic pressure tunnel.
And then Harriman Rockets.
Dale, Dale, I want to talk to you.
But I'm working, Charlotte.
You talk to me now, Dale, or you may not get another chance.
What is it?
Fedlock with him.
He's sold out again.
I run the business, Charlotte.
Dale, I'm fed up.
I've got to hear.
I married you because I love you.
I still love you, but I'm fed up.
Now what is it, Charlotte?
We're not young anymore, Dale.
I'm tired.
I'm not asking for millions.
Just a little life for the two of us.
I'll pull the bunny out.
I know you will.
20 hours a day on benzidine to stay awake and kneel, barbatoat, asleep.
Dale, I can't stop you from doing this to yourself,
but I won't let you do it to me.
I didn't know about the divorce for a month.
I lost the papers under a stack of blueprints and stock prospectus.
Here's the news, Slash, Dale.
Stratorocket reaches Paris.
We've got the franchise lined up.
The House Committee is solid.
The Federal Rocket Commission is OK.
The next step is the moon, Fred.
Sure, sure.
Look, Dale, if we cut the freight rate on the tunnel, we could...
I'm serious, Fred.
The next step is the moon.
Dale, you've been writing that joke for years.
It's no joke, Fred.
I've signed a $4 million research contract with National Fission Corporation
and guaranteed the next two years' output of the Brookhaven Atomic Energy Institute.
Dale, you couldn't.
That's every liquid asset we have.
You can't do that on your own initiative.
I have, and the board will back me up.
Fred, we're going to the moon.
It took two fraudulent bankruptcies and an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission before we did it.
There were three injunctions on the rocket before it blasted off.
I was going on the second trip, but my considerate board served a court order on me.
You can't go, Dale.
Fred, I'll break you if it's the last...
You've got a bad heart.
I'm sorry, Dale.
I'm sorry, Dave.
I'm sorry, Dave.
I'm sorry, Dave.
I'm sorry, Dave.
You've got a bad heart, and that's no secret.
If you die out there, the whole card house comes down.
We've got an equity in this corporation, and we're going to see it protected.
You've sucked us in on this wild scheme, and now that it paid off,
you're going to sit right down here on Earth and see that the dividends come out on time.
You're not going to the moon, Dale.
Forget it.
I never went.
By the time my lawyers shipped off the restraining orders,
the first cargo rocket had crashed into the Pacific,
and Congress rushed through the Space Precautionary Act.
My heart was earthbound, but now I'm old.
But I will not die until I have set foot on the moon.
There, Captain McIntyre.
You asked why I want to go to the moon?
Well, you'll find a ship, Mr. Harriman.
I'll drive it.
You'll get to the moon.
What, Mr. Harriman?
You heard me. Sell out my holdings.
I want every share I own realized in cash as soon as possible.
But it'll depress the market, sir.
You won't realize the full value of your holdings.
Don't you think I know that?
I was juggling stock before you were born.
I can afford to take the loss.
Yes, sir.
Oh, Mr. Harriman, there are two men outside.
Who are they?
Captain McIntyre and Mr. Schwartz.
We'll send them in, Henry. What are you waiting for?
Yes, of course.
This way, gentlemen.
Yes, sir.
Captain McIntyre. Glad to see you.
And Mr. Schwartz, come right in.
You weren't kidding about that job for us, were you?
Certainly not.
You're not banking out on me, are you?
No, no, we need the job.
Yeah, our ship is lying in the middle of the Osage River.
With our jets split open like a herring.
You weren't hurt, were you?
Sparrows and bruises, that's all. We jumped.
I caught a catfish with my bare teeth.
That's all right.
Then we can get down to business.
I'll have contracts thrown up for you.
You two will have to buy me a ship.
I can't do it openly.
My dear board of directors will find out
and slap a port order on me.
But we can't get the credit.
Don't worry. I'll supply the ship.
Pick some ship that can be fitted for the jump.
A straddle yacht.
Move to a piece of desert.
I'll find a step and buy it.
You mean fitter out there?
Yes, we'll install extra fuel tanks,
change the injectors and timers for space flight.
Spend all the money you want.
I'll see that you get it.
132 shares of Apex holding at 60 percent of paw, check.
52 preferred space waste fuel, 50 percent of paw, check.
And at that is the list.
Mr. Harlan, there's a process server outside.
What is it?
I don't know, sir, but I think it's a subpoena.
I was expecting that.
Henry, get Mr. Kamen's on the phone.
Yes, sir.
I think it's time for my lawyer.
I'm mad at me, your honor.
Council representing Mr. Harlan's relatives
complained that his behavior for the past few weeks
gives clear indication that a mind brilliant in the world
is not a good person.
I think it's a subpoena.
I think it's a subpoena.
I think it's a subpoena.
I think it's a subpoena.
I think it's a subpoena.
The condition that a mind brilliant in the world of finance
has become phoenaed.
They petition you to declare him in cause
and to assign a conservator
to protect his financial interests and those of his heirs.
May I suggest that in his last few words,
my opponent gave away his entire thesis.
It is evident that the petitioners believe that my client should conduct his affairs in such a way
as to ensure that his nephews, nieces, and their issue will be supported in honor and luxury the rest of their lives.
Like vultures, they defend us.
Now while it is true that he has sold his holdings, isn't it strange that an elderly man should wish to retire?
We pray this court will confirm my client in his right to do what he likes with his own.
Deny this petition and send these meddlers about their business.
Well, Kamons?
He reserved judgment till tomorrow.
Which way is the cat going to jump?
Judge Embry is a strange one, Del.
He assured me he has a higher regard for personal liberty and then added that any action he took would be in your interest.
But he did say that men do become senile and must be protected.
Senile? He might rule against me.
Yes, Del. He might.
There he is. Eccentric millionaire disappeared.
Are you eccentric, Mr. Arriman?
Well, they used to call me crazy. It depends on your credit rating.
A bench warrant under contempt proceedings has been issued.
They won't find me out here.
How's the work going, Charlie?
Oh, my ends are pretty good shaped.
We finished the second pressure test on the new tanks and fuel lines today.
The ground tests are all done except the calibrations.
It'll take about four hours unless I run into bugs.
How about supplies?
Food and water on board, three vacuum suits, a spare, and service kit.
I'm short navigation equipment, but give me a second and I'll get you down on the moon at any spot you name.
Just some general knowledge of relevant speeds and orbits.
All right, Columbus. We know you can hit the floor with your hat.
Are you ready to go? My nephews will have detectives out looking for me.
Well, I could run those calibration tests tonight. Take till midnight.
After that, it's up to the Commodore here.
There. There she is, Mr. Arriman. That's the job that'll take you to the moon.
It's a good ship.
Hey.
Hey, Mac, stop the car. Charlie's out.
Look at him. Where's his medicine?
In his left pocket, break the plaza.
All right, hold it under his nose.
It looks lousy.
There.
And his breathing isn't.
He'll come around soon.
Mac, we ain't gonna take this.
Why not?
It's murder. He'll never stand up on his initial acceleration.
Maybe not, but it's what he wants to do.
Get that ship ready to fly.
Hey.
Hey, you. You.
Me? Yeah.
How many other people are there out here on this desert?
What can I do for you?
You're James McIntyre?
Hey, Mac.
Yeah? What's the matter, Charlie?
Oh. You McIntyre?
I'm the deputy federal marshal in the Pacific. I got a warrant for your arrest.
What charge?
Conspiracy to violate the Space Precautionary Act.
You, uh, you, I suppose you're, uh, Charles Swartz, huh?
Yeah.
I got one for you, too.
Thanks.
And a man named Harriman.
Got a court order to put seals on your spaceship.
We haven't got any spaceship.
What are you doing, kidding me? What's that, a kitty car?
It's not a yacht.
Oh, yeah?
We'll put seals on it until the spaceship shows up.
Now, come on. Where's Harriman?
Uh, in the shed. Over there.
What shed are you talking...
Oh. Oh, my knuckle.
That's the one I broke playing football.
I'm always hurting that thing.
Charlie, we gotta hurry.
Get Pop into the cabin and strap him into his hammock.
Right.
So long, deputy.
Oh, my knuckle.
She's warm, Charlie. Everything set back there?
How do I know? I didn't have time to run tests.
You all right, Mr. Harriman?
I think so.
These straps are tight.
Have to be when we blast off.
All set, Charlie. Give me control.
Check.
Test keys.
One bank.
Check.
Two bank.
There's an auxiliary on.
We don't need it.
All right, boy, hang on.
Let's go.
How are you, Pop?
I'm doing fine.
Couldn't be better.
You better stay in your hammock.
I'll loosen the straps a little.
What is it?
Nothing.
Just go easy on that side.
Pop, you ain't fooling me, man.
You got a couple of busted ribs.
Well, there's much I can do until we ground.
You take a neo-barbitol, and I'll wake you when we cut you.
No.
No, no, I'll stay awake.
OK.
Just you stay put.
She's on automatic, Charlie.
How are the tubes holding up?
Fine.
Tight as a drum.
She handles nice.
How's Pop?
Alive, but he's in bad shape.
How bad?
Cracked a couple of ribs in the takeoff.
You'd better set it down awful easy if you want him alive.
I'll make a full swing around the moon and ease the run on an approach curve.
It'll go fine.
If we've got enough fuel.
Why?
Who called me?
Something wrong, Pop?
I thought somebody was calling me.
I must have been asleep.
I swung your hammock around.
We're breaking now.
There she is ahead.
The moon.
I've seen a thousand photographs.
There.
That's Copernicus.
Tycho.
The moon of the Minerva mine stone.
You know it all right, Pop.
Where are you landing?
Maury Embrium.
Between Arisphalus and Archimedes.
That's about 40 miles from Luna City, isn't it?
Sure, sure.
It won't be easy landing with a ground approach radar, will it?
I've done it before.
Not without a second pilot to punch a statometer.
Pop, you ought to have a mate's ticket.
You know the whole routine.
You must have really studied up.
Yes, that's all I could do.
Study till now.
Oh, look at her.
The moon.
I feel as if I were coming home.
Yeah.
Charlie.
Yo.
I'm taking her in.
Cut in full power.
Make it good, Mac.
Pop can't take a rough one.
Shut up and give me the power.
I'll do my best.
OK.
Statometer setting punched.
Hang on.
Here we go.
That was a lousy landing, Mac.
Statometer drift.
How's our passenger?
Quiet.
I wouldn't make any bets.
That landing's tough.
Will you shut up?
I did my best.
Hey, Pop.
He's alive.
What is this?
Blood on his mouth.
All right.
Take it easy, Pop.
We're down.
Where?
Take it easy.
Vaccine suits.
Where are they?
Now, steady, Pop.
Steady.
We can't go out there yet.
We've got to give him some first aid.
Give me that suit.
What do you think, Mac?
Might as well get his suit out of the locker.
Use the big one.
He'll be more comfortable.
OK, Pop.
Easy now.
Hurts.
Hurts.
See a little zippers, Charlie.
Right now, take it easy.
All right, then, Elmer.
You die for him, Seth?
Check.
Seth?
Lift it on him.
Don't hit him.
There.
All right.
Come on, Charlie.
Let's get into our suits, and we'll carry him out the locker.
Easy.
Easy with him.
OK.
OK.
You all right, Pop?
Outside.
He'll be outside.
His left leg is going.
Get your shoulder under him.
Right.
Yeah.
Open the lock.
All right, Pop.
Come on.
We're going out on the moon.
The moon.
All right.
We're going to leave you out here to look around.
Now, we get ready for the hike to town.
You all right?
The moon.
We have to break out air bottles and rig a stretcher.
It's 40 miles into the dome.
Charlie, drop something behind his head.
OK.
Yeah.
Comfortable, Pop?
We'll be back soon.
Oh.
I can feel the pumice dust.
And look at the Earth overhead.
The Earth in the sky.
Green and blue.
I know the moon.
The moon.
The moon.
Yeah?
Charlie?
I thought somebody called my name.
Getting old.
My mind was blank.
The moon.
The moon.
The moon.
Charlie.
But you, isn't it?
I made it, Charlie.
I'm on the moon.
You didn't understand.
You were afraid I wouldn't take care of myself.
But I made it.
Dale.
Dale.
I'm on the moon.
Dale.
Come on, Charlie.
We'd better get Pop going.
Here, give me a hand getting him on the stretcher.
Never mind the stretcher, Mac.
What's the matter?
He won't need it.
He's dead.
Oh.
We'd better get out the pumice skiers and air bottles.
It's a long walk to town.
Yeah.
What about the rest of the crew?
What about him?
Looks as if he's resting, doesn't he?
Crouched up, looking out on the pumice.
Well, he got to the moon.
Come on.
Let's start walking.
You've just heard another adventure into the unknown world of the future.
The world of...
The Amazon.
Imagine a planet somewhere in the universe where night comes only once in a thousand years.
The friendly darkness night brings to our own world on this far-off planet is a thing of terror, a breeder of panic and evil.
Be with us next week as we bring you Isaac Asimov's Nightfall.
Dementor Next is presented transcribed each week by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Street and Smith, publishers of the magazine Astounding Science Fiction.
Today Dementor Next is presented Requiem, written for radio by Ernest Kanoy from the story by Robert Heinlein.
Featured in the cast were Rob Henderson as Harriman, Bill Quinn as McIntyre, and Orin Jordan as Charlie.