Vintage Sci-Fi Radio

X Minus One - Courtesy

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Duration:: 26m
Broadcast on:: 12 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

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S-O-L-G-O-O-D-M-E-D-I-A.com. Check it out, we hope to see you over there. (dramatic music) - Count down for blast off. X minus five, four, three, two, X minus one. X minus one. Fire. (dramatic music) - From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed tales of new dimensions in time and space. These are stories of the future. Adventures in which you'll live in a million could be years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Street and Smith, publishers of a astounding science fiction presents. X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X from our tragic example. As I write, there are two of us left. Two are of an original compliment of 180 men. One of us, myself, will be dead in less than 23 minutes. As for the other, even have mercy on him. I do not know. On June 3, 1997, less than two months ago, the last of our supply ships blasted off from land over their return to earth. After it had gone, I remember looking out across the plain at the dead city. One of thousands of us had thought of this planet. It had tall, graceful buildings, atomic power systems, vacuum conveyors, all perfect, all deserted, all ominous. How had it happened? The best guess was that the plague had frightened the original inhabitants of the planet so that they'd piled into rocket ships and headed for some distant planet. I often wondered why a civilization so advanced as Landro could not find a serum to beat the plague. Did it take an hour at Earth doctors less than six months to develop an immunization method? Well maybe those aborigines back in the hills knew the answer. That strange, ugly little people who had taken to the caves the day we landed. I was thinking these things when something happened that gave me the shock of my life. Good evening, Captain. What brings you here, doctor? It's the matter of the serum, sir. No, what about the serum? It's no good. No, good. It's too old. Ten years too old. Didn't you examine it? Yes, I did, but well, my eyesight has been failing lately. Are you aware, doctor, that the last supply ship has returned to earth? Do you know we'll have no more contact for two years? I... just how long do you give us? Well, the present immunity will last a week or so. Then, without boosa shots, it's just a question of time until someone picks up the plague. After that? What about the natives? They don't die from the plague. The accepted theory is that they have developed an immunity. Or suppose they haven't developed an immunity, doctor, suppose they get the disease. Then they must have a treatment for it. If they don't, there would be no natives. Would you be willing to go on an expedition to the hills to find out? At this point, Captain, I'd be willing to do anything, absolutely anything. I... I'm truly sorry. You're sorry. Dr. Morgan, sometime when you aren't too busy, when you have a moment, I'd hate to inconvenience you. Would you mind telling me how it feels to murder a hundred and eighty men? A hundred and eighty-one, including yourself? I did a lot of thinking after Dr. Morgan left my hut. It was still unreal for me. After all the planning of an expedition was no simple thing, you put into it the result of years of training and experience. Years of study at the academy, years of learning how to handle men and natives. Every man on my crew was handpicked for his skin. Yet, a simple thing like a myopic surgeon misreading a label could blast the whole thing. Yes, it was a shame. And I did the only thing I could think of. I yelled for bat ears braiding. Brady, get your carcass in here, take the lead off. Okay, okay. Sit down, bat ears. Get trouble, Ken. We got trouble. What? The serum's no good. What? Morgan forgot to check it. It's ten years to a... Holy jump and snails, you're going to court myself? I wouldn't do much good. We'll all be dead pretty soon unless somebody figures something out. What are you going to do, Ken? There's only one chance. One chance in ten million. What? The natives. Damn cave rats. What good can they do us? They don't get the plague, so maybe they know a cure. Okay. Let's get a few of them and beat it out of them. That's why you're here. Hmm? Shoot. How'd you like to come along on a little expedition up to the cave country? You, me, the doctor and Faulkner. Faulkner. Now listen, Cap, he's worse than the doctor. Yes, but he knows more about the native culture than anybody here. He's the only one who's completely familiar with the records of the first expedition. Okay, so it's me, you, the dark and Faulkner. When we start tonight, in half an hour, we should reach the cave country by tomorrow, but luck will be able to find natives before night. When a Faulkner was the expedition anthropologist, one of the most unfortunate-looking individuals I've ever met, an ugly man with large ears and a big nose. His body was small and consumped. But he had a good brain. He was the best anthropologist the inter-planet institute could recommend. He and Dr. Morgan were the only two civilians on the expedition. We set out, and after several hours, hard-walking. Cap, you know, what is it? Don't look now, but very slowly turn your eyes to the right and look behind that big yellow rock. Okay? You see anything? No? Keep looking. Don't stop walking. Okay. There. Does it look like a shadow or something? It's one of them gimpos. He's been far less now for almost an hour, dodging in and out behind the rocks. Shall I ring him in? No, not yet. Just pretend you don't see him. Tell the others if they notice to show no fear. There's nothing will start these simple-minded cavemen like fear. The manual said, "Under no circumstances shall a member of the patrol display fear before a native. The dignity of the earth man must be preserved at all costs. Just before dawn, we reached the cave country. We were tired and hungry, and we stopped to cook some food and rest. Everything was quiet. There was no sign of the gimpos which had been failing us until- Okay, get in there, you sneaky little monkey man. Come on, come on before I break this shovel on your star. Yeah, what's the trouble? Cap, I caught me one of these gimpos sneaking around outside the tent. Bring him in the light of the fire. We can get a look at him. Faulkner? Yes, sir? Keep an eye on him. Try to establish some communication. Alright, get in there. Look out. No need to knock him down, Batty. That's the only language I understand. See if you can reach him, Faulkner. Okay, Captain. I'll need a drum of some sort. What? Well, they have no language as we know it, and they have a very rudimentary sense of hearing. I find they communicate with one another through a very primitive kind of vibration of the tongue. The closest I can come is a series of drumbeats, a sort of Morse code. The psychologist on the first expedition had it worked out before he was killed by the plague. I've studied his notes and I think it'll work. You mean these little critters can talk to one another? I believe they can. At any rate, we'll have a chance to find out. Do we have something I can use for a drum? Here, take my water bottle. Thank you, Doctor. Now, I'll tap it three times. That's a greeting of some sort. Just a moment. Yes, sir? I don't want you treating this fellow like an equal. Don't give him the idea that we're desperate. Once they sense that, you're lost. I have to communicate with him, sir. I'll just bear in mind what I said. Dignity. Yes, sir. I'll do my best, sir. It was a strange sight. On one side of the water bottle crouched, little Benny Faulkner looking for all the world like a human spider. Across from him, crouched the Landria, a hump-backed, grey little creature with an enormous head in those huge, soft lavender eyes. Every few moments one would stop the strange tap-to of communication and the other would take it up. I'm setting forth in this narrative the most vital part of their conversation, as Benny Faulkner later transcribed it from the best of his memory. Benny asked, "Why were your cities abandoned? Was it the plague?" The native said, "Yes." Benny said, "Do you still fear the plague?" The native answered, "Yes." "Do any of your people become afflicted?" The answer was, "Some." "How do you treat them?" Silence. "How can we find a cure for the plague?" More silence. Then the native said, "Go among my people." Benny asked, "Will we find the answer among your people?" The native replied, "My people have the answer." Benny said, "Will you tell me the answer?" The native repeated, "Go among my people." As far as the Landrian was concerned, the conversation was ended. He rose to go and Faulkner stepped from his path, but Brady was there to ensure the bed. "Hold on there, bucko. You ain't going no place." "I don't melt, treat him, Brady." "What did he say, Benny?" He says, "His people have the answer." "What do you think?" "Maybe some truth in it." He says, "Some of his people still get the plague." "That must mean it isn't a question of immunity. They must have a cure." Well, he wasn't clear on that. "Then they must have a vaccine to keep it from spreading." Does he know? "His answer is for us to go among his people." "Well, that leaves it up to us. The first level of caves is on top of that cliff about a mile a year." "It's a trap, I'll bet my last dollar on it." "Well, maybe not. We'll have to risk it." "Wait." "Well, let me go." "I got you all into this." "But how will you talk?" Benny here can give me enough of the code so I can ask the big question. You understand that they might just decide to cut your throat? "I'm fully aware of the risk." "All right, doctor. You go ahead. We'll wait at the foot of the cliff. If you aren't back down in three hours, we'll come up after you." "What about the gimpo here?" "We'll hold him as a hostage to ensure the doctor safety. If the doc comes back, all right, we'll let him go. If not, that's your job, Brady." "A pleasure." It took Dr. Morgan about an hour to pick his way up the side of the cliff to the first of the openings where the Landrians lived. He waved to us before he entered the mouth of the cave and we waved back. Then we settled down to wait. It was a long, long wait. 8 o'clock. He's been up there more than three hours, Cap. We'll give him a little more time. "It's getting colder." "Let's keep that fire going. How much longer are you going to wait, Cap?" "Oh, we've got lots of time." "You'd think we'd have heard something by now if they were going to knock him off, I mean." "Not necessarily." "Wait. Look up on the cliff." "That's him, all right. What's he running for?" "No, he looks scared." "That crazy fool if he don't look out." "Doctor! Dr. Morgan, look out! Look out!" "We found the doctor at the foot of the cliff, crumpled and broken. There were no marks on his body, nothing except a twisted, mocking grin on his face. Oh yes, and one other thing. Scrawled across the pad he had taken with him on which to make notes concerning the answer was a single word. The word was courtesy. We threw the paper away. The expedition was a failure. No bad ears claimed he'd get it out of the gimpo if I'd let him. I nodded an agreement. Bad ears took the little native off behind an outcropping of rock. He was back in fifteen minutes, dripping with sweat. "Well?" "Let's go, Cap." "Nothing." "But nothing." "They ain't made very good these little gray people. They come apart too easy, so let's go, okay?" "All right. Benny, what is it?" "I feel kind of sick, all of a sudden, in the back of my head, it's all kind of pain." "Let me see your tongue. Come on, give me a hand, bad ears. We've got to get him back to camp." "What is it?" "I'm not sure, but that blackness on the tongue and the headache. It could be the plague." At the time we got Benny Faulkner back to camp, he had the red spots on his body and then the fever began to rage. It was the plague. No mistake about it. Before morning, Collins, the supply sergeant had it. Then it was Peabody. After that, the men went down like ten pence. Then one morning, sat here as Brady dragged himself into my tent and sat down. The lines in his face told me the end was coming pretty fast. "Sit down, Brady." "What's the count?" "Seeks left. We buried a japan today. You got anything to drink?" "Sorry I'm all out." "How about a secret, then? You got a secret?" "Yeah, sure. Yeah." "I was spoke now. I don't get it. He's still alive." "Still alive?" "Yep. In fact, he's getting better. He's sitting up." "Holy mackerel." "Oh, this is a good secret." "It's like any other?" "No, this one's different, Gabby. This is my last." "What do you mean, Brady?" "Take over my tongue. See? Little black spots." "Somehow I managed to get him into bed. He was already raving when I gave him the last of the morphing. It was incredible. Big, brawling, bat ears, Brady. A tower of strength lying sick and whimpering in a cot. When he died, I went out on the moors to think. The sun was a dull red glow. Cold breeze with the moon." "Somehow I couldn't forget fog. Why should Faulkner recover from a plague from which no man has ever recovered? Surely they must be a reason. Nothing happened without a reason. I turned and went back to see Benny Faulkner." "Hello, Captain." "Hello, Benny. How are you?" "Pretty good. I got up and walked a couple steps today. How goes it?" "Brady's gone. I just buried him. Listen, Benny. There must be some reason why." "There's nothing strange about me. Nothing different from any other man." "There must be. You survived the virus. Benny, I want you to tell me everything you know about yourself, everything you can remember, because somewhere in your makeup is some little thing that makes the difference. If I can find that thing, then maybe I can do something to save myself and the rest. Even if I can't, at least I can leave a record for any future expedition that comes to Landro. OK?" "OK, Captain. Where should I start? At the beginning, I'm going to take notes." "Well, I was born in the 2nd of July in 1971. My parents were ordinary people. My father was..." "Look, Captain, I've told you everything I can remember. Three days now you've gone over me, poured me, questioned me. What else can I tell you?" "Benny, let's go over that last part once again. Where should I start? Take it from where the native started to walk away. You stepped out of his path and Brady grabbed him." "OK, so I stepped out of his path. Why? What do you mean, why? Why did you step out of his path? Why not?" "Curtacy, I guess." "What's the matter?" "Curtacy." That's the word that Dr. Morgan had scrolled in his notebook. "Oh, I don't see it. I don't either." "Tell me, Benny, why should you want to be courteous to a native?" "Why not? What about maintaining your own dignity? Are you talking about dignity or arrogance?" "I don't know." "Benny, listen, maybe we were all wet in our deductions. Maybe these cities here and Landro weren't deserted centuries ago. Maybe these little people up in the caves of the same people who used to live in those big cities. Why would they leave? Maybe they found out the big cities weren't the answer. Maybe they found out that civilization doesn't necessarily bring happiness. So they just packed up and left. Return to the simple. "No, it doesn't make sense. You're forgetting the plague." "What is the plague, Benny?" "Well, I don't know. Is it a virus? I don't think they ever found out. You know what I think?" "What?" "I think the plague is nothing more than what we know as greed and arrogance." "Captain, you're going off your rock." "I think maybe we're in line to die. Serum was good. In fact, I don't think the serum had anything to do with it." "I never heard anything as crazy. Fantastic in my life." "No. I think I'll go back to my tent and finish writing the report. I am beginning to sweat a little." "Captain, maybe it isn't a plague." "It is. I've seen it too many times to kid myself about it." "Maybe hot compresses or something." "No, Ben." "Listen, Captain, you don't believe that junk about courtesy, do you? I mean, that's a lot of nonsense. You must know that." "Only macro, Captain. You do believe it, don't you?" "Good night, Benny. I think I'd like to be alone for a while." "Okay. Good night, Captain. Maybe the supply ship will be early. You can probably stick it out." "Sure. Good night, Captain." "This concludes my report. I'm turning it over to Benny Faulkner in the hopes that he will be able to transmit it to any other expedition commander who contemplates exploring the planet of Landra. The fever is beginning to mount now. My hands tremble as I write. The end should not be far off. There's little question in my mind as to what it will be. You see, I didn't have a chance. I stepped out of no paths. I showed no courtesy." "You have just heard X minus one presented by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Street and Smith, publishers of astounding science fiction. Tonight, by transcription, X minus one has brought you courtesy, adapted for radio by George Lefferts from the story by Clifford Simad. Featured in the cast were Brett Morrison as Captain Ira Warren, Arnold Robertson as Batter's Brady, Edwin Jerome as Dr. Morgan and Bill Griffiths as Benny Faulkner, your announcer Fred Collins. X minus one was directed by Ken McGregor and is an NBC radio network production." "And now, next week, the frontier is a strange place and the frontier is not always easy to recognize. It may lie on the other side of a simple door marked no admittance, but it is always deadly dangerous. What happens when an innocent girl ignores a single regulation? You will find out next week at X minus one one. When you buy United States savings bonds, you help to build your own future security. Here is an opportunity to save systematically for long-range personal objectives and with their increased yield and other improvements, U.S. savings bonds are a better investment than ever before." Hey there, listeners. Are you ready to unlock a world of captivating stories, soothing sounds and enlightening lectures? At Solgood Media, we believe in the power of audio to enrich your life and now we're offering you a chance to experience it all for free. 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