TRANSKRIPT 🔗
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Inside a bathysphere descending toward the ocean floor, a scientist
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and an unnamed dictator share the confines of a record-setting dive.
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From CBS, this is Lights Out, Bathysphere, first broadcast June 29, 1943,
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during a wartime revival hosted by Arch Obler. Obler wrote, directed,
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and produced this political suspense drama, revisiting his 1939 radio play.
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Hans Conrad is the doctor, operating the diving bell, and
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Lou Merrill plays his excellency. The dive is intended to
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set a record, but the two men bring opposing views
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of power and freedom into the sphere. As the vessel
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drops beneath the surface, their conversation turns to power, freedom,
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and dictatorship. And now, the original broadcast.
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Arch-Oblers. Lights out, everybody.
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It is later than you think.
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This is Arch Obler bringing you another in our series
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of stories of the unusual.
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And once again, we caution you.
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These lights-out stories are definitely not for the timid soul.
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But we tell you calmly and very sincerely, if you
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frighten easily, turn off your radio now.
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November of 1939.
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Astronomically, that isn't even a blink in the eye of
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the universe, but it's a very long time measured in
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the length of our own very ephemeral lives. On that day,
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I aired our next story. Remember that date, 1939. A
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lot of heartbeats before we went to war against the
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madness of Adolf Hitler and his friend Benito.
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Listen to Bavasphere.
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The sea is very quiet.
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Yes, Your Excellency.
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Will it be very quiet under the water?
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No motion, Your Excellency. I'm sure it'll all be very amusing.
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I hope so, sir. The captain ought to have everything
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ready by now, sir. If you'll excuse me now, Your Excellency,
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I can't go to sleep. No, no, just a moment, Doctor. Yes,
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Your Excellency? You're much too impatient, my dear young friend.
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One of the great joys of an experience is to
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savour it before it happens. Yes, stay and talk to me.
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As you say, Your Excellency. How far under will we
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have to go to break the record? Over half a mile.
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Mm-hmm.
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How far's the bottom? Just over the record mark. Deeper
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than any man's ever gone. It'll all be very amusing.
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Suddenly the winds change. Always at this hour of the day,
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Your Excellency. It's time to go. I assure you that
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the sea will wait for us. But I am the
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start of the... Don't think so much, my young friend.
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Thinking is an unnecessary pastime. The emotions are much more dependable.
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My thoughts tell me that this little excursion under the
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sea will be quite precarious. On the other hand, my
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emotions tell me that it will be most interesting and amusing.
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Your Excellency, we are ready. Captain, you too are impatient, huh?
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I don't know what you mean. That is to say... Now, now,
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don't splutter. Now, come ahead, my young and impatient flame.
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We'll go aboard your diving boat and begin our little adventure. Come. Attention! Attention!
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You see, Your Excellency, we are quite ready. Well, Doctor,
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is everything to your satisfaction? Did you put in an
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extra oxygen tank, Captain? Yes, sir. Everything just as you said, Doctor.
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The telephone communication being tested? Twenty times. Search flight? I
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assure you, everything has been tested, Doctor. The winds go
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smoothly now? Why, yes, I believe. I don't want you
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to believe. I want you to know. But I assure you.
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Go and test it at once. Yes, Doctor. At once, Doctor.
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All right, then.
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Test number one.
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Aye, aye, sir. Aye, aye. Test number one.
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All right.
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Well, your thoroughness is most commendable, Doctor.
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We are going half a mile below the sea, sir.
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Nothing can be left to chance. The pressures down there
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are almost beyond imagination.
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Yes, I know, I know. Particularly on this dive, everything
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must be protected. You mean the record? I mean, Your Excellency,
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that your life is precious to the state. Yes. The
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press of the world has known me only as a
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record breaker in the world of what they so quaintly
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term power politics. By nightfall, I'll herald me as a
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record breaker in the world of science, eh, doctor? If
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all goes well, Your Excellency. If? You have doubts? No
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one can predict the ways of the sea. What are
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you talking about? There'll be quite a part of the
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sea inside of this fuel ball. This atmosphere. Oxygen to breathe.
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Telephones with which to communicate. Lights with which to see.
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Why should there be any question? The question of the
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human factor, Your Excellency. You're as cautious as they said.
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I like that. I, too, am a cautious man. Oh, yes, indeed.
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My success has been based upon determining that the unpredictable
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cannot occur before I, shall I say, embark upon my
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bold adventure. I'm talking quite frankly with you, are you, Doctor?
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It pleases me to do so. For a few hours,
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we'll be locked up in that steel ball. There's no
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reason you shouldn't know a little about your leader, is there?
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You honor me, sir. For example, I know beyond the
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shadow of a doubt the steel cable which will drop
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us down beneath the ocean has strength enough to hold
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fifty such steel spheres as the one we'll be in.
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I know, too, that you have made, let me think,
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you've made thirty such defense doors to throw over the
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ocean without the slightest misadventure. The men on this cruise,
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they are specially trained for the work. And with my
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life in their hands, I'm sure they'll be particularly careful
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on this descent. Eh, Doctor?
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There is no doubt of it, sir.
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All ready now, sir?
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Shall we go now, Your Excellency?
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Yes, of course, of course. Careful, Your Excellency.
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The deck is quite wet here.
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Well, thank you,
Captain. Well, of course, sir. Thank you, sir. Attention! No, no,
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no formalities. Let the men go about their business so
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we can get started. Yes, Your Excellency. At your work, men.
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Would you like to get into the bath with me
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at first, your Excellency? No, no, after you. Quite a
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small doorway, isn't it? How fortunate we're both small, lean men, Doctor.
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Lean men. Caesar once said something about that sort, didn't he?
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I don't know much about that sort of thing, sir. Oh,
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I didn't imagine, sir. Get in, Doctor. I'll follow you.
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Yes, sir.
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Head first into the steel ball. Quite a round dignity here, Captain.
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Shall I help you, sir? No, no, I'll make it
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all right. You ready for me, Doctor? Come ahead, sir. Now,
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careful of the bolt end, sir. Careful. You're all right, sir? Yes, yes,
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of course I am. Well, what are we waiting for? Captain. Aye, sir.
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Close her up. Aye, sir. Your ears.
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Cover your ears, sir.
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Huh? The bolts and wing bolts that hold the door shut,
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they have to be tightened by hammering with a sledge.
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Cover your ears, sir.
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Cover your ears.
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All right now, sir. They've done it. But what if...
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If I know then... Open it the other way. Hammering
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is the only definite guarantee of a watertight seal, sir.
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My ears.
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All well in there, sir? What's that? A voice with
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a telephone, sir. They'll communicate with us from the deck
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every three minutes. If one of us doesn't answer within
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half a minute, the orders are to pull us up.
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An excellent safety precaution. Yes, indeed. All well in there, doctor?
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All well. We're moving. Yes. lifting us out to the
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end of the boom, and then down we go.
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Look, sir, you can see the deck down there.
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Through the windows. Glass, so clear. Clearest in the world.
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Quartz glass to stand the pressure. Letting us down in
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the water, aren't they? Yes, sir, in a moment. We're under. Yes, I...
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I turned the oxygen higher. The light. So green. Yes.
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Soon it will be blue. Then a darker blue until
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it's around 2,000 feet. We'll be in a darkness that
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goes beyond dark. Complete eternal night. Eternal night under the water.
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How amusing. All well down there, sir? All well. How
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far down are we? About 1,100 feet, sir. It's hard
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to believe it. There is almost a quarter of a
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mile of water crushing down upon us. The word crushing
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is most inappropriate at this time, my young friend. My apologies,
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Your Excellency. I've been watching the water. You said it
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would be at night. If it isn't black, it's... it's blue. Blue.
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Strange as blue. A few more hundred feet and there
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will be no more color in the water, sir. The
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light out there. What light? Can't quite make it out, sir.
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Perhaps some sort of a luminous plankton. That's amusing. The
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fish is carrying along their own electric clouds. The dark's
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alive with them, sir. Oh, look, sir. What? That small
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flat fish. You see?
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Even his teeth gleam with the luminous mucus. I've caught
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that sort in the straws. They can eat organisms as
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large as they are. Wait, I'll turn on the searchlight.
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And you'll see. No, no, no, never mind. I didn't
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come under the sea out of any interest in those
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bits of fish. As you say, sir. They light up
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like a train in the dark. Oh, would the portholes
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of a boat be a more appropriate figure of speech? Well,
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seen one, seen them all. All well down there, sir?
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All well. How far down now? Ask him.
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How far?
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1,350 feet.
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Right.
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You make good time, huh? Yes, sir. They slower us
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very quickly, sir. A six-foot ball containing a very honest
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young man and the leader of the state. Headed for...
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What do you say, doctor? A new record, sir. Is
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that as far as your imagination carries you? At
the moment,
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I cannot say, Your Excellency. Perhaps when we reach the
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end of the cable, we'll discuss life and death very profoundly. Eh,
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my friend? Philosophy under the sea. All well down there, sir?
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All well. 2,200 feet. Right. How much further? We have 4,000
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feet of cable. You were right. There's a darkness out
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there now that's darker than any night that man has
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ever seen.
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It's amusing.
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It's amusing. All well down there, sir? All well. 2,800 feet, sir.
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Right.
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Your Excellency. Yes? In 10 or 11 minutes, we will
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have broken the record. You keep your eyes so close
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to that window. Might I ask why? I thought I
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saw something out there. What, sir? Something huge. It gave
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off a pale green light, and then it was gone
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so quickly, I... I'm not quite sure. I'll turn on
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the switch. No, no. No, this infernal darkness amuses me.
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Tell me, Doctor, in your other trips, have you seen
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anything out there... so vague, huge? You know what I mean. Yes, sir.
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Several times. Well? Shadowy and indistinct. I couldn't say what, sir.
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Can't you guess? I have no answer. All well down there? Oh,
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tell him yes, yes, yes, and stop annoying us. All well,
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and don't bother... I get the compliment, sir. You've reached 3,028 seats, sir.
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That was Beebe's record. Huh? The old one.
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3,030.
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Broken it. 3,100.
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Doctor, that's quite a number.
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3,150. Doctor, did you hear me? Broken the record on
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a few feet of spare. Order them to hold us up. 3,200. Doctor,
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you ought to be ahead. I gave you orders. Have
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them pull us up. I've had enough of this. I
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tell you that I.
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What? What happened? Happened? We just landed at the bottom
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of the sea, that's all. Why did you ignore my orders?
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I said to go up. What are you doing now?
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What was that lever that you threw? Answer me. Yes.
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I'll answer. Haven't you forgotten something, Doctor? What? To say, sir,
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your excellency. Excellency? Here, at the bottom of the sea? What?
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What happened to you? All of a sudden, you... I'm
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excited about creating a new record. A little too much
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for you, eh, my young friend? Well, it's understandable. Now,
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sing the ships and have them draw us up. Your
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little adventure is over. Didn't you hear me?
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I said signal the ship.
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How? Are you out of your mind completely? Telephone them.
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At once, you hear me?
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A telephone consists of a carbon transmitter, receiver, actuating battery,
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and connecting wire.
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We have no telephone. Get to one side.
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Hello.
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Hello up there. Hello. Hello, on to me. Hello. Hello. Hello, Blouse.
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Do you answer me? Hello. But they don't. The wire's
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torn loose. Would you know how to fix it, Your Excellency? What?
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I see it. Happened when we bumped on the bottom
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to the bed. Well, can't you fix it? I can,
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but I won't, Your Excellency. What is this?
235
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Taken you a great number of moments longer than I
236
00:16:45.970 --> 00:16:50.570
expected to ask that question. You notice that I've called
237
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you Your Excellency a couple of times, but that was
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00:16:53.789 --> 00:16:54.509
the end of that.
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From now on, I will call you Your Infernal Excellency.
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How amusing. Still amusing. Yes. I don't believe it. You
241
00:17:06.289 --> 00:17:08.779
think it's some kind of madness on my part that
242
00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:12.259
you'll do something about it. Not I, you. I? You
243
00:17:12.279 --> 00:17:15.250
have an emergency way of signaling it. Yes, I know
244
00:17:15.289 --> 00:17:18.349
you have. You flashed the searchlight on and off three times,
245
00:17:18.430 --> 00:17:19.829
and the floor of Curran tried to do it up
246
00:17:19.910 --> 00:17:24.490
on deck. And they know that it's an emergency. I'll
247
00:17:24.509 --> 00:17:27.309
go ahead and do it, and perhaps I'll forget your little...
248
00:17:28.170 --> 00:17:33.329
Shall we call it... joke? I am quite content to
249
00:17:33.490 --> 00:17:38.250
stay down here. Turn on the searchlight. All right, I'll
250
00:17:38.269 --> 00:17:44.509
do it myself. Why waste your time... You've so little
251
00:17:44.529
--> 00:17:48.529
of it left. What do you mean by that? The searchlight, too,
252
00:17:48.589 --> 00:17:53.410
is disconnected. Why? There is no need of it. It
253
00:17:53.430 --> 00:17:56.750
will be best to die in the dark. Die? Yes.
254
00:17:58.869 --> 00:18:03.529
This is impossible. I investigated you, your record, your family,
255
00:18:03.549 --> 00:18:09.650
your associates. Clearest record in the state. You have no
256
00:18:09.690 --> 00:18:13.119
reason in the world to kill me. Kill me? It's
257
00:18:13.140 --> 00:18:20.420
very funny. A young, empty-headed fool killed me. It's very amusing.
258
00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:24.140
You'll be afraid soon. Is it possible that you've forgotten
259
00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:28.599
the final emergency signal, you fool? Yes, I said signal.
260
00:18:29.740 --> 00:18:32.619
The signal of silence. I'll try to tell you from
261
00:18:32.660 --> 00:18:36.390
the schedule, and when we don't answer, they'll pull us out.
262
00:18:37.750 --> 00:18:41.230
Have you forgotten that? It's been more than three minutes
263
00:18:41.250 --> 00:18:43.920
since the last signal. If what you say is true,
264
00:18:44.299 --> 00:18:45.119
why aren't we moving?
265
00:18:45.740 --> 00:18:46.059
We.
266
00:18:47.779 --> 00:18:52.319
We are. For all I know, we... We are. Are we?
267
00:18:53.579 --> 00:18:56.329
The darkness, who can tell if there's enough emotion? You
268
00:18:56.369 --> 00:18:59.289
know emotion. As quiet as an atoll.
269
00:18:59.309 --> 00:19:01.630
Appropriate, then.
270
00:19:02.670 --> 00:19:04.890
And we'll stay here. I know that.
271
00:19:04.970 --> 00:19:05.230
Huh?
272
00:19:06.430 --> 00:19:08.190
That leave up on the roof that I pulled. Well?
273
00:19:08.490 --> 00:19:10.710
It threw the end of the steel cable free. Yes,
274
00:19:10.779 --> 00:19:14.180
so that the cord between ourselves... And the ship and
275
00:19:14.220 --> 00:19:14.619
the world.
276
00:19:14.700 --> 00:19:20.740
No. We are here, Your Infernal Excellency. Down here to stay. No.
277
00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:24.519
You lie. I don't believe you. Well, pull it up.
278
00:19:25.099 --> 00:19:28.160
The telephone, here. Here, you up there. Listen. Get me up.
279
00:19:28.829 --> 00:19:31.190
Get me up. You up there. Hear me. It's your leader.
280
00:19:31.490 --> 00:19:33.450
Get me out of here. Get me out of here.
281
00:19:33.470 --> 00:19:35.730
You hear me? Get me out of here. Out of here.
282
00:19:35.750 --> 00:19:36.109
Out of here.
283
00:19:46.519 --> 00:19:47.859
Not been here a month.
284
00:19:48.849 --> 00:19:52.319
Oxygen left for another... hour, and it takes you ten
285
00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:57.259
precious minutes of your precious life to believe. You do
286
00:19:57.279 --> 00:19:59.079
believe you're going to die now, don't you?
287
00:20:01.339 --> 00:20:06.059
I'm sure nothing could happen. Every detail of the machinery.
288
00:20:07.140 --> 00:20:09.539
The record of every member of the crew. And I
289
00:20:09.579 --> 00:20:13.720
was one of those who was perfectly harmless. Yes, you passed.
290
00:20:15.029 --> 00:20:17.289
Since a boy trained in the schools of the state.
291
00:20:18.579 --> 00:20:24.599
The father an official. Why do you do this to me? Why?
292
00:20:25.559 --> 00:20:28.980
Your ego is so great that even now, knowing you're
293
00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:32.339
going to die here with me, you're less concerned with
294
00:20:32.440 --> 00:20:36.440
death than you are with knowing wherein you failed. Answer me,
295
00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:39.900
why do you do this? You were trained in my schools,
296
00:20:39.940 --> 00:20:43.650
brought up to think the way you should think. Who
297
00:20:43.670 --> 00:20:46.240
out there made you do this thing and why? It
298
00:20:46.259 --> 00:20:49.279
will be a slow death. As slow as the death
299
00:20:49.339 --> 00:20:52.960
of my country. Answer me. Who and why? Your mouth
300
00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:54.680
will bite for air. And there won't be enough to
301
00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:57.019
let you live. And yet there'll be enough so that
302
00:20:57.059 --> 00:20:59.319
you won't quite die. You'll tell me you will. Your
303
00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:01.140
lungs will reach up through your mouth. A breath of air.
304
00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:04.529
Just another. There won't be another. And as you die,
305
00:21:04.809 --> 00:21:06.569
you'll know it. I want to know one thing. Why
306
00:21:06.589 --> 00:21:09.029
do you do this? Why, why, why? Yes, I'll give
307
00:21:09.049 --> 00:21:11.720
you your why's. You trained me in your school.
308
00:21:12.069 --> 00:21:14.049
And from morning to night, what went into my head
309
00:21:14.089 --> 00:21:16.130
was only what you decreed was right and proper for
310
00:21:16.150 --> 00:21:18.230
a good citizen of your eternal state to know.
311
00:21:19.190 --> 00:21:22.509
Yes, you crammed my head full. But there's one place
312
00:21:22.569 --> 00:21:24.890
you and your books and your speeches couldn't reach.
313
00:21:25.369 --> 00:21:25.829
My heart.
314
00:21:25.890 --> 00:21:28.930
Your heart? Yes, heart. You heard me, heart. My head
315
00:21:28.950 --> 00:21:31.430
said believe. My heart said no. My head said obey.
316
00:21:31.470 --> 00:21:34.230
My heart said no. That's where you made your mistake,
317
00:21:34.269 --> 00:21:36.529
you devil. You didn't start in young enough with me.
318
00:21:37.400 --> 00:21:39.440
For the heart that was born inside of me has
319
00:21:39.500 --> 00:21:43.819
brought you here to die. I... I don't understand.
320
00:21:44.200 --> 00:21:44.500
Wait.
321
00:21:44.980 --> 00:21:46.289
I'll turn a little more oxygen on.
322
00:21:48.890 --> 00:21:50.890
That'll give me a little more strength to keep on
323
00:21:50.930 --> 00:21:53.329
telling you you're fired. And cut the breath left for
324
00:21:53.349 --> 00:21:54.230
you after I'm finished.
325
00:21:55.670 --> 00:21:56.390
What was I saying?
326
00:21:57.390 --> 00:22:00.309
Yes, that you didn't condition me quite well enough. Should
327
00:22:00.349 --> 00:22:03.259
have started with the embryo. For somewhere along the line
328
00:22:03.299 --> 00:22:05.559
a little humanity got inside of me that cried out
329
00:22:05.619 --> 00:22:08.630
against what you were doing. It grew and grew until
330
00:22:08.670 --> 00:22:09.789
it said you had to die.
331
00:22:09.809 --> 00:22:12.750
And you will die. Yes, here in the black under
332
00:22:12.769 --> 00:22:15.509
the sea. And they won't roll drums for you, march
333
00:22:15.549 --> 00:22:19.230
for you. Ended here. What have you to say to that?
334
00:22:19.250 --> 00:22:22.490
You fool. Fool? Is that all you answer? Yes, fool.
335
00:22:22.609 --> 00:22:24.109
You think I'm a fool to die here with you?
336
00:22:24.250 --> 00:22:26.099
You call me a fool when I know that ending
337
00:22:26.130 --> 00:22:27.500
here I give a new beginning to.
338
00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:29.900
Those up there. Yes, such a fool. Oh, stop saying that.
339
00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:32.059
They won't say it back in the cities when they
340
00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:34.359
know that they're free. You fool. You think the freedom
341
00:22:34.420 --> 00:22:36.420
of me will make them free? Yes, yes, of course
342
00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:40.200
it will. I call you fool again. How do you
343
00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:43.039
think I became the head of the state? Through my
344
00:22:43.099 --> 00:22:47.759
great wisdom? I'm really not so wise. Through my great courage?
345
00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:50.480
No man has courage of that sort to stand up
346
00:22:50.539 --> 00:22:53.700
single-handed against the bullets and the bareness of the entrenched powers.
347
00:22:55.180 --> 00:22:57.019
And how? How did I do it? With lies and
348
00:22:57.059 --> 00:23:00.299
ruthlessness and cruelty, I know. You don't know a thing.
349
00:23:01.789 --> 00:23:04.369
You saw the end result surrounded by pomp and circumstance
350
00:23:04.430 --> 00:23:07.950
and you couldn't see the means. All right, I know
351
00:23:08.009 --> 00:23:11.410
I'm going to die. When a man is expected to
352
00:23:11.470 --> 00:23:13.839
die as long as I have, the actuality isn't quite
353
00:23:13.880 --> 00:23:17.710
as frightening as you might think. Since I am going
354
00:23:17.750 --> 00:23:20.349
to die, I'll have the one small satisfaction of showing
355
00:23:20.390 --> 00:23:23.769
you that you're an empty-headed fool. Stop saying that! Ah,
356
00:23:23.809 --> 00:23:27.730
you two have an ego. Apparently it's lived for weeks
357
00:23:27.829 --> 00:23:30.490
on how you'd make me plead and beg and scrub
358
00:23:30.519 --> 00:23:34.140
down on my knees. I had a few moments of hysteria,
359
00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:40.339
didn't I? You like that. You don't like this? My
360
00:23:40.380 --> 00:23:43.140
sitting in the dark so calmly telling you that you're
361
00:23:43.160 --> 00:23:47.059
a fool? I haven't failed. You're here. You failed because
362
00:23:47.099 --> 00:23:48.799
if you're killing me and yourself to give them back
363
00:23:48.819 --> 00:23:53.049
their freedom, whatever that word means, you're dying quite in vain.
364
00:23:53.089 --> 00:23:55.710
You're saying that because you think... No, don't talk. Listen
365
00:23:55.730 --> 00:24:00.430
to me. I'll tell you where you failed. I came
366
00:24:00.470 --> 00:24:03.819
into power not alone through my own strength, but because
367
00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:06.019
the conditions of our country were such that other men
368
00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:09.500
sitting on their wealth came to a decision that I
369
00:24:09.579 --> 00:24:11.660
alone could keep them there. But it was you... I
370
00:24:11.660 --> 00:24:16.299
tell you, listen. When an ancient rule of privilege is threatened,
371
00:24:16.380 --> 00:24:19.039
it seeks to live no matter what the cost. The
372
00:24:19.079 --> 00:24:22.099
cost to them was me, and they found me worth it.
373
00:24:22.740 --> 00:24:24.759
For I threw to the mass none of the wealth
374
00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:28.759
that worked to build, but only fighting phrases of prejudice
375
00:24:28.859 --> 00:24:31.769
and hate to cost the men who made me nothing
376
00:24:31.829 --> 00:24:34.609
but the rent of the halls for the simple to
377
00:24:34.650 --> 00:24:39.869
hear my opiates. And so I call you fool. Fool
378
00:24:39.890 --> 00:24:42.950
to die and fool to kill me. But the conditions
379
00:24:42.990 --> 00:24:46.930
that made me will still exist when I'm dead. You
380
00:24:46.950 --> 00:24:50.119
free them of me. But what of hunger? What of
381
00:24:50.160 --> 00:24:53.640
ruthless exploitation? These will still be free up there to
382
00:24:53.660 --> 00:24:57.539
put hate and desperation into men. And so the ones
383
00:24:57.599 --> 00:25:00.269
who gave me power will find a new leader to
384
00:25:00.289 --> 00:25:03.730
stop the Romney's rebellion with all the tricks that I
385
00:25:03.789 --> 00:25:07.150
taught them. A new leader. A new leader. Do you
386
00:25:07.190 --> 00:25:10.289
hear me, fool, or a new leader? No, it isn't true.
387
00:25:10.329 --> 00:25:13.950
It can't be true. It's so dark. If I could
388
00:25:14.009 --> 00:25:17.109
see your face to see the fool discovering he's a fool.
389
00:25:17.230 --> 00:25:19.869
They will be free. They will. They will. What magic
390
00:25:19.910 --> 00:25:22.130
do you think will come into the air when I'm dead?
391
00:25:22.150 --> 00:25:27.369
Will men forget their greed and say, oh, we've quite enough?
392
00:25:28.130 --> 00:25:31.809
That's enough for everyone. Let each share according to his needs.
393
00:25:32.930 --> 00:25:33.509
No, fool.
394
00:25:34.299 --> 00:25:36.559
With me or without me, the game will be played
395
00:25:36.740 --> 00:25:40.599
just as it always has been played. So you're a
396
00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:43.779
fool and die like one. What could I
have done?
397
00:25:43.799 --> 00:25:45.680
I hadn't done something. I'll tell you what you could
398
00:25:45.700 --> 00:25:48.299
have done. You could have done the one thing that
399
00:25:48.339 --> 00:25:50.619
would have in time helped destroy not only me, but
400
00:25:50.660 --> 00:25:55.319
those who made me. You could have gone to the people. What? Yes,
401
00:25:55.380 --> 00:25:58.680
walked among them, worked among them. And at every chance
402
00:25:58.759 --> 00:26:02.230
whispered to them the things I kept from them. The
403
00:26:02.279 --> 00:26:04.140
noose would have been around your neck every time you
404
00:26:04.220 --> 00:26:08.279
opened up your mouth. And yet, in that talking of
405
00:26:08.380 --> 00:26:11.559
liberty and freedom and common decency and all the rest
406
00:26:11.599 --> 00:26:15.140
of that sort of thing, there's been far more meaning
407
00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:19.640
in this futile murdering of me. I've had them hunted
408
00:26:19.660 --> 00:26:22.140
down and shot, each of those who dared to whisper
409
00:26:22.200 --> 00:26:25.660
among the people. But as they died, I didn't call
410
00:26:25.700 --> 00:26:30.670
them fools. Because I knew that they were wise. That
411
00:26:30.730 --> 00:26:32.779
only for the will to live and do of the
412
00:26:32.819 --> 00:26:36.460
great bludgeoning mass of their people was their hope of
413
00:26:36.539 --> 00:26:42.809
making that new world they wanted. Oh, have I bothered talking?
414
00:26:42.829 --> 00:26:52.369
The air is thick. I'm... I'm tired. Hand me something heavy, fool. Why? Why, why?
415
00:26:52.450 --> 00:26:56.369
More explanations? All right, the last one. You think I'm
416
00:26:56.410 --> 00:26:59.299
going to sit here and wait and count my every
417
00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:04.839
breath until the dark's crawling with horrors and I'm crawling... No.
418
00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:09.829
I'll end it now, quickly. Yes, faster than a bullet shot.
419
00:27:10.329 --> 00:27:12.950
Give me something heavy, I tell you. I'll smash the glass.
420
00:27:13.349 --> 00:27:16.730
The water, tons of it, smashing in. I'll be dead, dead, dead,
421
00:27:16.809 --> 00:27:19.210
faster than the thought and never end it. Give me
422
00:27:19.230 --> 00:27:21.529
something to smash the glass or I'll... All well down there, sir?
423
00:27:24.490 --> 00:27:26.009
All well down there, sir?
424
00:27:34.359 --> 00:27:34.740
Floyd.
425
00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:37.319
Telephone.
426
00:27:39.470 --> 00:27:48.170
All well. Take us up. We're moving. There's water on
427
00:27:48.190 --> 00:27:55.059
the glass. We're moving. Doctor, the cable. I lied. But
428
00:27:55.099 --> 00:27:57.200
all this time, why... My orders.
429
00:27:57.019 --> 00:27:59.220
To the crew were to leave us alone on the
430
00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:01.920
bottom as soon as the slackening of the wire showed
431
00:28:01.940 --> 00:28:02.880
them we'd hit the bottom.
432
00:28:03.509 --> 00:28:10.170
Terrifying. I reconnected it while you talked. Then... You didn't
433
00:28:10.210 --> 00:28:14.529
really mean to kill me. Kill you? Yes, I meant
434
00:28:14.549 --> 00:28:17.869
to kill you. I had it all planned out. Tell
435
00:28:17.890 --> 00:28:19.950
you what I told you, and then you'll go quite
436
00:28:20.029 --> 00:28:25.329
crazy with fear. And after that, I'd kill you. 2,900 feet.
437
00:28:26.109 --> 00:28:31.390
All well down there, sir? All well. And yet you didn't.
438
00:28:32.910 --> 00:28:37.339
The lights of the creatures out there. Blinking of stars
439
00:28:37.400 --> 00:28:40.750
on a cold night. Why didn't you kill me? I
440
00:28:40.769 --> 00:28:44.420
want to know. What would have been the good of it?
441
00:28:45.829 --> 00:28:49.519
A fool and a figure had died together. No good
442
00:28:49.559 --> 00:28:54.140
of it. So you believed me. Even a fool can
443
00:28:54.779 --> 00:29:01.480
understand futility. The water's getting lighter. Soon we'll be back
444
00:29:02.779 --> 00:29:09.359
up there. It'll be very strange at first. I don't
445
00:29:09.420 --> 00:29:15.009
much care now, yet I ask, what happens to me? You?
446
00:29:16.930 --> 00:29:21.150
I told you many things down there, didn't I? Yes,
447
00:29:21.210 --> 00:29:26.210
too many things. A man in doubt as I was
448
00:29:26.299 --> 00:29:30.359
talks too much. And since you of necessity heard what
449
00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:34.400
I said, when we get there, I will probably have
450
00:29:34.440 --> 00:29:40.660
you shot. The victim sentences his murderer It will be
451
00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:42.109
most amusing.
452
00:29:51.470 --> 00:29:58.579
It is later than you think.
453
00:30:15.349 --> 00:30:20.789
We leave Lights Out with Arch Arbola's Bathysphere from June 29th, 1943.
454
00:30:20.789 --> 00:30:23.220
Follow Lights Out for more classic broadcasts.