Cloak and Dagger Broadcasts

Quiet Please - Northern Lights

https://www.solgoodmedia.com Listen to hundreds of audiobooks, thousands of short stories, and ambient sounds all ad free! 'Cloak and Dagger Broadcasts' delves into the darker side of the mystery genre with stories of espionage, betrayal, and intrigue. Tune in for thrilling tales that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Duration:: 31m
Broadcast on:: 25 Jun 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

"Hey there, listeners. Are you ready to unlock a world of captivating stories, soothing sounds, and enlightening lectures?" "That's all good 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. For a limited time, you can get a one-month free trial to our premium, ad-free service." Imagine having unlimited access to over 500 audiobooks, meditative sounds, and exclusive shows, all at your fingertips. Just head over to sogadmedia.com and sign up to start your free trial today. No ads, no interruptions just pure, immersive audio content. Don't miss out. Transform your listening experience with all good media. Visit sogadmedia.com and start your free trial now. We can't wait for you to join our audio community. Happy listening. "Hey there, it's Solomon from Sogad Media. A lot of our listeners have asked how to get ad-free access to our podcasts. You asked and we answered, we're offering an exclusive one-month free trial to our ad-free streaming platform, packed with over 500 audiobooks, meditation sounds, and engaging podcasts. No strings attached, just pure listening pleasure. Sign up today at sogadmedia.com and dive into a world of stories and sounds that inspire and relax. Don't miss out on this limited time offer. It's your gateway to unlimited audio enjoyment. That's sogadmedia.com. S-O-L-G-O-O-D-M-E-D-I-A.com. Check it out. We hope to see you over there. Quiet please. Quiet please. Quiet please, which is written and directed by Wallace Cooper in which features Ernest Chappell. Quiet please for today is called Northern Light. This is a story about the temporal displacement of mass. It is also a story about teleportation. Do you know what those terms mean? No, I didn't think you did, but you stay right where you are, my charming friend, and you're quite likely to find out. You just stay right there and listen to us because everything you want to know. Maybe a couple of things you're not terribly anxious to know. Have you seen the Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis' their right name? You don't see them very often below the 50th parallel of latitude in this country, but up in northern Minnesota and Canada, up in New York, places like that, for quite common at the winter night. If you've seen them, you know what they look like if you haven't. There's no use by trying to describe them. Sometimes they fill a whole northern sky with waves of calm, like a fire burning wave beyond the horizon. Sometimes they're just long streamers of fire filling up the whole sky. Then another time they look like gigantic, cringed curtains of pure light, swaying as if some cold, cosmic breeze plucked at them, waves far off there to the north. And you can hear them too sometimes. Well, maybe not exactly hear them, but there's a sound, a humming that crackling somewhere inside your head. And there are times when you'd swear it's a voice talking to you, talking in some kind of strange language you can almost understand, filling your whole being with a kind of desperate, inescapable terror. You know what I mean? At night, in the cold night, voices talking and saying things to you that you can almost understand, filling the night sky with signs and questions of, inescapable terror. And nobody, nobody in the whole world knows what they are, nobody in this world at least, except me. And after I get done talking to you, you'll know too. And you won't be happy. Let me show you something now. This is from a recording I made on, let's see, December 13th, 1948, a little more than a month and a half ago. I started the recorder while Norman and I were just about finished with our work that afternoon here in the laboratory. I just set the microphone on top of the file cabinet there and turned on the machine. Listen, I'm going to play it back for you. The quality isn't so very good, but you can recognize my voice and, and Norman's, I think. Here. I got the cold rewind now I guess. As you tested? I got addicted when I said I just got a rewind. Yeah, very up. It's almost 6 o'clock. Yeah. It's dark that I didn't realize at times. Hurry up, I'm learning, um, be a display tonight just for you. How do I know? Been in display the last three nights. When I was a digger last night, wasn't it? Yeah, the machine wasn't ready. Hey, listen, you think you can do better now? Ouch! It's better. Oh, I stuck my fingers. Why'd you, where'd you put the coffee self in? Um, all right, I forgot the sink. Huh? No. I got it. What are you doing? Testing the coil. How's it? Ah, looks okay. Hey, wait a minute. Yeah, it's okay. I'll be right with you. Ah, hook it up. What do you guys understand? Try my cigarette lighter. That won't work anyway, I won't miss it if we don't get it back. I don't know how to say it'll work when the Northern Lights aren't shining. Maybe they aren't shining. They don't have to realize. Let's see. Hurry up. What's the matter? Hey, look. Mm, I'll hurt you now. Oh, boy, that's fine, the whole sky, look, blue and yellow. I never saw those long princesses, you know what I'm saying. I'll say, do you turn on the recorder? Yeah. Yeah, that's turning over. Let's see. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party. Exactly, but alone, that you got ready now? It's funny about the Aurora Northern Lights? Listen to this. What's the matter? Mostly friend. Oh, I don't know. Remember what I told you. You can almost hear the darn things. Not here, I mean, but it's kind of like somebody talking to you in a language you can almost understand. I don't know. I mean, you ever know, is it? Sure. High frequencies, I guess. Sudden. Awful a lot. We don't understand. Well, Gop, do go there to the recorder and talk in the mic. Talk well. Well, just describe what happens for the record. I'm going now. Here? I know you're not, but just say what you see, so we'll have an accurate record. Okay. Now? Go ahead. This is an experiment in the temporal displacement of a solid object. In other words, the first actual demonstration of a time machine, if it works. All right. Go on. Paul is now placing his old piece up, singing it later, on the stage of the high frequency candle later. And he's now saying the micro tenometer, "Can you tell me how far into the future he's going to send a lighter?" Well, how far, Paul? 10 seconds. 10 seconds. Now, at the end of that time, if our calculations are correct, and we hope they are, we say that matter will reappear. In that period of time, it will have been into the future. We could send his father into the future if we wanted to, I guess, but we'd just have to wait that much longer for time to catch up with it and make it reappear. But 10 seconds, well, I mean, we can prove our point by saying it's 10 seconds into the future just as well as 10 years ahead, and that's where we don't have to wait so long. Hey, I'm a dog, Paul. I'm going to get commercial. When Paul presses the little button, the cigarette lighter returns to mutton. And that's that rocket. It'll be here, but it'll be sent right into place. No, listen closely, please. Yeah. Well, now, Mr. Paul McGiliketh, a famous mad scientist, is about to press the big old button and send his lighter into the future. Ready, Paul? Here we go. Stand by. Look. Join. By God, it is gone. It's just as a beard. Bang, like that. I told you I was supposed to like, Paul, so it was hard. Yeah. The risen sign of the lighter, now the little stage on which Paul placed it is empty. And it's up here again. And just a second, it's a really good work. Three, two, one. It's fast. It's fast, Paul. It works. We did it. Oh, man, it's a repeat. It's all right. Oh, man. It's all right. Oh, man. It's cold. Oh, man. It's cold. Oh, man. It's cold. Oh, man. It's cold, Paul. Oh, man. It's cold. It's freezing cold. What do you know? It's driving things like a piece of ice. What is it? It's getting up to your suppose it's been in that kind of fight. No, wait, Ben. That's not the thing off yet. Listen. Listen. Paul, look. Where did that come from? What? They're on the stage when the lighter was. Where did that come from? What? Where did that come from? What? Where did that come from? Where did that come from? Where did that come from? In the middle of the winter. What is it? Oh, okay. It's a caterpillar, Paul. A brown and black caterpillar. Where do you suppose it came from? It wasn't there. Oh, I'll tell you where it came from, Paul. Well, it came from the same place where the cigarette lighter went. What are you talking about? The sealer, Paul. Seal it's fur. See? It's as cold as ice, too. A caterpillar. A little brown and black caterpillar. The kind they call wooly bears. You know, lava. The tiger moth. The icy is a bummer. In the dead of winter and as cold as ice. Where did it come from? Huh? You want to know. Incidentally, you know, the old timers say that the wooly bear caterpillar is a weather prophet. If the brown bands on his fur are narrow, there's a severe winter ahead. If they're wide, it's going to be a mild winter. Maybe. This one. You can hardly see the brown bands. Tough weather ahead. That's what the old timers would say. But where'd she come from? She wasn't there when we put the cigarette lighter on the stage. And when time caught up again, there she was. She? Sure is a bellow. I see it. It is a bellow. Oh, I told you, remember? Well, she was wiggling happily when she arrived from somewhere in the future. But as she warmed up, she seemed to go into a trance. Almost a death-like tense. So Norman said, put her in the deep freeze. Maybe she'll come too again in the cold. So we put her in the deep freeze. And in half an hour when we looked in at her, she was wiggling happily. 10 degrees below zero, Fred. Now, can you tie that? My goodness, she should have been frozen solid. Well, nothing special happened for a couple of days. Not to remember. It was a month and a half ago, December 13th, 1948. Where were you on the night of December 18th? Uh, Saturday night a week before Christmas. I'd been Christmas shopping in the afternoon. I remember I came back to the laboratory to check up on some stuff. Norman was there and peddling with things. I know him. I said, "How's Isabella?" You know something funny, Paul? What's the matter with you? Me? He looks so pale. You see it? He's some disagreed with you? Paul, isabella singing? Singing what? Isabella singing? Your daughter. She's singing. The caterpillar's singing. Not tap dancing, I hope. Not kidding you. Oh, I cut it off. Open the deep freeze and listen. You've been at the C-2H, 50H? I haven't had a drink since 39. Well, now, open the deep freeze and listen. No kidding? No kidding. Well, we don't know where she came from. I won't be surprised at anything. Hello, Isabella. Don't do that. The matter of French, you don't have to be back? Well, I don't know why. Hello, Isabella. Hey, here you're singing. I told you that. I don't hear anything. I listened to all of it. I haven't lost my buttons. I've been hearing it all afternoon. I couldn't figure out what was doing it, and then I noticed it was louder alongside the deep freeze here. So I opened it up and stuck my head inside, and it was coming from her. Yeah. What does it sound like? Well, I don't know. I mean, it's kind of like, uh... A-E-I. A-E-I? Didn't she say A-E-I-O-U and sometimes W-N-Y? Don't rid me. I tell you, I heard it. I think you better take a Christmas vacation, though. I'm not mad. I know, kid. I know, but listen. We've been playing around with some pretty deep cosmic secrets. You and me, we've managed temporal displacement, which nobody in the world has ever done. Maybe we both need a rest. You know what I think, Paul? What? I think we've managed teleportation, too. And we don't know it. Teleportation? Do you mean like Charles Ford talks about? I mean transporting tangible objects from one place to another without any mechanical means. Electronic. I don't know, Paul. All I know is that that cigarette lighter was someplace where it was awful cold. And it wasn't cold here in this room. Well... And where did that caterpillar come from? I don't know. It came from wherever that cigarette lighter went, Paul. But where? I don't know, somewhere. And you know what? I'm going to find out where it came from. You are. And how, may I ask you? I'm going to modify this gadget of ours, this hypercube candleator, so it'll carry a man. And then, my dear boss, I'm going to sit down in it and have you send me out there somewhere in time and space and come back and tell you all about it. That's all for tonight, Paul. What? Come on, I'll take you out and buy your drink. I'm not fooling, Paul. Okay, okay, you're not fooling, Mom. Get your hat and coat and come on. I prescribe hot-butted rum. Well, turn off the lights. Will you listen to me, Paul? Turn off the lights. I want hot-butted rum. Okay, okay. Gosh, look out of that window. The Northern Lights. Oh, they're really bright tonight. Sure are. Look how they pull. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Up. Look at the deep freeze there in the dark. What about? You see it? White ball. White. Get it. Get it. I see it, Mom. It's right in step with the Northern Lights. And the same color. Red. Red. Blue. Blue. Up. Down. Up. Coming on the deep freeze for our little friend, Isabel. Isabel was sinking. Now, what do you call it? I don't like this. We never did get that hot-blooded rum. We stayed there in the laboratory for a long time, listening to the voice of a thing in the box, endlessly repeating, "A-E-I-O-U." The vowels down to our speech. And watching the light that pounced up in the deep freeze in perfect rhythm of the flickering of the Northern Lights, we're watching the wind. And we've talked long, long thoughts today. And I'm not remembering these two clearly now. I do know we both of us thought of ways to perfect our little mechanism, our time machine. Our machine that brought back a little cold, brown and black caterpillar from somewhere. And when it was morning, on the lights that faded from the Northern skies, we found that our machine was very different. The stage where we found the caterpillar was larger now. I had only a vague recollection of what had happened in the night. I said to Norm, Norm and I said, "What do we do last night?" I don't know for sure, Paul. Did we rebuild that thing? Make it larger? I don't know. I think I dreamed I was working on it. I think I hit my finger with a hammer. And I see, hmm, that's all bruised. Certainly looks it. Nobody could have gotten in here the door's locked. The machine's certainly different. The coil I think, look, if we wound it, can I do that? My head hurts. Me too. I don't get it. I don't either. I wish I could. Listen Norm. What? Maybe we did change it. Well, how could we have done all that by ourselves? I've got an idea. Why? Why maybe Isabela helped us? The caterpillar? Oh, it did, shall we? Open the deep freeze. Well, I opened it. It was empty. There wasn't any brown and black caterpillar in the deep freeze. It took a flashlight and looked over every inch of it. I stood there and looked at each other. For a whole man. Foreign said, "Well, I just shook my head." We went over and sat down. All of a sudden I said, "I found a nominee." And there she was. There was little Isabela the caterpillar crumpled up, "Don't get on the floor of America." And you know, caterpillars have little tiny paws. And one of Isabela's paws was the end of a long piece of water. But ran up to the generator's point. Well, how did she get out? I said the thing couldn't be over from the inside. I said it was fastened down tight when I took the lid off just now. But she did get out. Maybe she did help us now, I said. Well, he just sat here and stared at me. And I got up and put on my overcoat. Where are you going? Where are you going, Paul? I said, "I'm going to find out something on me." Where I'm going, it's cold, I said. I know that, and I'm going to find out what's been going on and where that caterpillar came from. Oh, I'm goggled at me. I stepped on the stage of the machine. It's just taking me away somewhere in time and space. I said, "No, I'm going to turn it off." Finally, he reached open and touched the switch. He didn't say a word. And I braced myself. I nodded at him. Go ahead, I said. He pressed the switch. And nothing happened at all. Nothing. Why? I know, Paul, I know. It's daylight. I know I have any more than life. Well, it was just as well. So I had a chance to think about it a little, and I realized that Justin overcoat wouldn't do me any good where I might be going. And so when it was dark night again, and northern lights were flickering and dancing in the sky, I put on a high-altitude baby in his tooth that had its own source of heat supply. Obama shook his head as I got back on the stage, nodded for him to press the switch. Cone, you've never been told that. Darker. You wouldn't know how dark a candidate. When I was standing on an immense plane of stress so far, so far into the distance, the plane of the snow and eternal ice, a dead, cold, white world with the blackest sky above me. And the northern lights reached from horizon to horizon, even through the high-altitude suit, I could feel a fighting cold. I was afraid, shifting the objective, afraid. The screamers of the northern lights reached down, putting me in the raft without me. I heard a strong voice screaming into my mind that I could understand them. My wish, hardly, I'd ever played around with cosmic forces. I yelled inside the heavy helmet. I yelled Norman. Norman, bring me back. And there was nobody in here. No, I don't know what I was. Another planet, maybe even North Pole. Maybe the lights were all around me. Maybe that's what it was. This is the most terrible, awful, cold, lonely place you could imagine in a hundred years. The lights, the flickering, the living lights, crawl open me and feed it to me. I could almost understand what they were saying. And then, the crash, the sudden blackness. I was standing again on the laboratory. I'd left only a few short seconds ago, and Norman was tearing at the fastness of my student beating him. He was both hands. I wondered what in the world he was doing, and so I got the helmet off. He was rushing cat after this offering. Thousands of cold, freezing cold, brown and black, you're the other caterpillars. I was in bed for a week or more. I don't know how long. Wherever it was, I'd been. I'd nearly frozen to that in those short seconds. And at last, I was able to come back to the laboratory. I sat there that night with Norman. And outside the windows, the northern lights were brighter than they'd ever been before. Purple, green, yellow, black lights even. And there was a new ribbon tonight. The kind of cold, almost words, thoughts, not quite formed yet, curiously disturbing. Norman though, didn't seem to be as disturbed as I was. He just sat quietly and looked at me. Where did those caterpillars come from? I don't know. Where I was, that's all I know. Did you, did they attack you? I don't know. They came from the lights. The lights, the northern lights. Where are they, Norman? The caterpillar? Yes. Wherever, in the deep breeze, where is the bellow us? Where is the bellow us? How come I? Will you call? I'm listening. Listening to what? Don't you hear them? I don't hear anything. Don't you? I don't hear anything. Listen. I don't hear anything. Turn on the recording machine. I want to see if we can pick up their voices. There isn't anything. Turn it on. Turn it on. I want a recording quick. Quick, Norman. They're talking to us. Listen, friend. I want to play you another recording. This is what came out of our tape recorder that night when I was listening to the voices. And Norman couldn't hear anything. Just listen. I still don't hear anything, Paul. He still, listen. I tell you, I listen. What's that? Look at the deep breeze. The cops coming over. Look at the light around it, Paul. He's quiet. What? How did they? Good Lord, look. The caterpillar, they're coming out, Paul. Look at them. There's millions of them. Look at them, Paul. Your voice. He still, I said, something out of your voice. We wanted to talk to you. You what? He said, we. Why, of course, Norman. We. Go for that. It is Paul's voice, Norman. Paul's voice. Voice. But it is not Paul speaking. Listen. We speak to you. Paul. Not Paul. We the people of the lights. We from the cold. We are speaking to you with Paul's voice. I tell you that. Paul's voice will tell you what to do when the time comes, Norman. We go to the machine now. Paul's mind is ours for a little time now. We go to the machine. The machine that brought us to your world from the world of the lights. Who are you? Who are the people of the lights to take over this world of yours? Only this world of yours is so hot. We must have the cold world. And we know how to make it cold. What's the matter, Paul? Paul! So not. No, no. Quick, Norman. Turn on the machine. Send us to places in your world. No, I were a hurry. So not. Pray. So not. Paul. Pray. Turn on the machine. [Music] That's the end of the recording. No, I don't know. I don't have any recollection of it at all. But the recording there, isn't it? That must be what happened. Anyway, when I woke up, Norman was gone. And there were no caterpillars in the place here. The machine, the machine that took people and things away in the time and space, was wrecked. I don't know what the game is. You heard what I said about my voice. They're going to take over this world and make it a cold world. Like the one they came from. Whatever that is, nothing. Wherever they went. And I don't know where they went, where the machine sent them. I do have ideas. Yes. [Music] A new cold. [Music] It's freezing in here. And just for example, you read the papers? Look at the newsreels. Did you see the pictures of the snow in Los Angeles? In sub-tropical Los Angeles where it hasn't snowed for so many, many years? I wanted to buy them too. I wonder if anybody saw any brown and black, poorly bare caterpillars in Los Angeles. Long live the Tiger Mall by C. Sibella. [Music] The title of today's Quietly Story is Northern Lights. It was written and directed by Willis Cooper. The man who spoke to you was Ernest Chappell. And my laboratory assistant, Norman, was played by Dan Sutter. The voices of hisabella and her friends. Was that of Cecil Roy? As usual, music for Quietly is played by Albert Berman. Now, for what about next week? I write and direct to my good friend, Willis Cooper. Thank you for listening to Quietly. For next week I have a story for you that comes from the steel mills out of South Chicago way. It's called Captain Heath or Dan. [Music] And so until next week at the same time, I am quietly yours Ernest Chappell. [Music] And now, a listening reminder. How are your predictions of things to come? What's your batting effort? Compare your average with a man who has made predicting his business. Listen to Drew Pearson tonight on ABC. This is ABC, the American Broadcasting Company. [Music] Welcome to Salka Media, where your journey into a world of endless audio possibilities begins. Imagine a place where you can discover thousands of captivating audio books. Immerse yourself in tranquil sounds for sleep and meditation. And explore timeless stories and lectures that expand your mind and enrich your soul. At Salka Media dot com, we believe in the power of stories to transform lives. Whether you're a lifelong learner, a parent seeking bedtime stories for your children, or someone looking to unwind after a long day, we have something just for you. We invite you to try all good media free for one month. Explore our extensive collection and find the perfect audio content that resonates with you. Join our community of passionate listeners and unlock a world of knowledge, relaxation, and inspiration. Visit Salka Media dot com today and start your free trial. That's S-O-L-G-O-O-D-M-E-D-I-A dot com. [MUSIC]