WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.150 --> 00:00:04.450
Gravely wounded on a World War III battlefield in 1975,
2
00:00:04.450 --> 00:00:09.460
an American soldier finds himself back in 1945, 13 years old,
3
00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:13.580
yet carrying memories of the future. It is the premise
4
00:00:13.619 --> 00:00:18.559
of Dimension X, Time and Time Again, Episode 39, first
5
00:00:18.620 --> 00:00:24.140
heard on NBC July 12, 1951. Adapted for radio by
6
00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:29.129
Ernest Kenoy from H. Beam Piper's 1947 story, It brings
7
00:00:29.190 --> 00:00:33.170
that soldier into a 1945 America where the life he
8
00:00:33.229 --> 00:00:38.119
remembers and the history ahead may not be fixed. Piper's
9
00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:43.979
story first appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in April 1947.
10
00:00:43.979 --> 00:00:47.450
David Anderson and Joseph Curtin are featured in this NBC
11
00:00:47.509 --> 00:00:52.530
sustaining production produced by William Welch. Here is the original broadcast.
12
00:00:59.289 --> 00:01:05.859
Adventures in time and space. Told in future tense.
13
00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:23.900
The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Street and Smith,
14
00:01:24.599 --> 00:01:27.819
publishers of astounding science fiction, bring you.
15
00:01:28.900 --> 00:01:39.599
Dimension X. It happened during a routine skirmish in the
16
00:01:39.640 --> 00:01:40.180
Great War.
17
00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:44.060
Patrols advanced from the defense perimeter under jet cover and
18
00:01:44.109 --> 00:01:47.750
proceeded by napalm throwers. The enemy defended in depth and
19
00:01:47.790 --> 00:01:50.849
mopped up with guided 98s fired from 40 miles to
20
00:01:50.890 --> 00:01:54.209
the rear. The blast area was 10 miles in circumference
21
00:01:54.829 --> 00:01:57.230
and the medics didn't find much to pick up over
22
00:01:57.230 --> 00:01:57.549
500 yards in.
23
00:02:00.530 --> 00:02:02.459
Drag it in here.
24
00:02:02.519 --> 00:02:09.800
Look out, it's lousy with mud. More, more. That left.
25
00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:17.770
More. Hold it. Stretchers. Come on, drivers, get those men out.
26
00:02:18.050 --> 00:02:18.469
Yes, sir.
27
00:02:19.229 --> 00:02:21.810
Get a move on, line them up. Come on.
28
00:02:23.229 --> 00:02:24.030
Easy, easy.
29
00:02:24.050 --> 00:02:24.849
You want to kill them?
30
00:02:25.400 --> 00:02:26.080
Okay, take it away.
31
00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:37.659
They might have left these joes where they was.
32
00:02:38.729 --> 00:02:40.610
Half of them won't last till the plane comes. As
33
00:02:40.650 --> 00:02:43.349
long as they're alive, they'll be treated. Get out the tags, Travis.
34
00:02:43.370 --> 00:02:44.270
Start parking names.
35
00:02:44.310 --> 00:02:44.689
Yes, sir.
36
00:02:45.110 --> 00:02:47.110
This one must have been a thousand yards in.
37
00:02:47.210 --> 00:02:49.210
Get his dog tag out. What a mess.
38
00:02:49.650 --> 00:02:49.849
Here.
39
00:02:50.969 --> 00:02:54.669
Hartley, Allen, Captain, G5 Chem Research, AN73D, number SO23869403J. Allen Hartley?
40
00:02:54.789 --> 00:02:55.169
Allen Hartley.
41
00:03:00.330 --> 00:03:02.270
Well, if that could be the hunter that wrote Children
42
00:03:02.289 --> 00:03:03.810
of the Mist and Conqueror's Road.
43
00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:07.580
Never heard of him. Major, I think maybe he's part conscious.
44
00:03:08.340 --> 00:03:09.379
Maybe I should give him another shot?
45
00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:10.120
Go ahead, Sergeant.
46
00:03:10.259 --> 00:03:11.699
There isn't much else we can do for him. It's
47
00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:16.159
a rotten shame. Ain't it always? Okay, Captain, give me
48
00:03:16.199 --> 00:03:16.840
your arm.
49
00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:18.879
There.
50
00:03:18.909 --> 00:03:19.210
There.
51
00:03:41.310 --> 00:03:41.750
Allen!
52
00:03:43.229 --> 00:03:44.569
Allen! Look out!
53
00:03:44.669 --> 00:03:48.289
Down! Down! Get up, Allen! You can't stay in bed
54
00:03:48.310 --> 00:03:48.870
all day!
55
00:03:48.889 --> 00:03:53.840
I remember that. Clear as if it were real.
56
00:03:54.800 --> 00:03:56.240
Up and at them! Hit the deck!
57
00:03:57.349 --> 00:04:00.159
Remarkably vivid. Strange.
58
00:04:00.379 --> 00:04:01.240
Alan, are you all right?
59
00:04:01.259 --> 00:04:06.979
I'm all right. What's wrong with my voice? It's too high.
60
00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:11.990
What are you doing? Practicing singing?
61
00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:13.490
My voice has changed.
62
00:04:15.229 --> 00:04:18.550
Is that all? You're growing up. Happy birthday, son.
63
00:04:19.230 --> 00:04:20.290
Happy birthday?
64
00:04:20.470 --> 00:04:21.889
Hey, wake up, son.
65
00:04:21.949 --> 00:04:24.579
Wake up. I am awake.
66
00:04:24.779 --> 00:04:26.019
Come on, out of bed.
67
00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:28.939
I don't understand.
68
00:04:29.180 --> 00:04:31.759
Breakfast waiting. Now, how the better I'll turn it over.
69
00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:36.180
All right, all right. It's a dream.
70
00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:37.779
Maybe, but you're wide awake now.
71
00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:39.980
I am awake now.
72
00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:41.500
Well, half awake anyway.
73
00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:48.029
That's the Bellasie Boniface, isn't it? What day is it?
74
00:04:48.050 --> 00:04:51.069
Are you kidding? You forget today's your birthday?
75
00:04:51.089 --> 00:04:51.149
No.
76
00:04:51.709 --> 00:04:54.649
No, I didn't forget.
77
00:04:54.709 --> 00:04:55.339
Neither did I.
78
00:04:55.990 --> 00:04:56.470
Here, son.
79
00:04:56.870 --> 00:05:00.259
Happy 13th birthday. You won't guess what's in here.
80
00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:04.800
A rifle. A light. 22 rifle.
81
00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:06.100
How'd you know that?
82
00:05:07.160 --> 00:05:07.860
I remembered.
83
00:05:07.879 --> 00:05:12.040
Did I spill the beans sometime? I could have sworn
84
00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:18.879
it'd be a surprise. Well, go on. Open it. Like it?
85
00:05:19.560 --> 00:05:23.329
Yeah. Yeah. It's perfect, Dad.
86
00:05:23.370 --> 00:05:25.389
I'll be shaving, Alan. Come down to breakfast when you're ready.
87
00:05:26.339 --> 00:05:30.550
It's a big day today. You're almost a man. Almost?
88
00:05:30.759 --> 00:05:32.810
You're still groggy. Snap out of it, Ellen.
89
00:05:33.589 --> 00:05:38.610
I will. There's a dream in it somewhere. But I'm
90
00:05:38.689 --> 00:05:40.050
not sure which.
91
00:05:40.509 --> 00:05:40.730
What?
92
00:05:42.230 --> 00:05:45.310
Never mind, Dad. I'll be right down for breakfast.
93
00:05:57.699 --> 00:06:01.000
Now for coffee. Mrs. Stauber makes the best in town.
94
00:06:01.420 --> 00:06:02.259
Black for me.
95
00:06:03.180 --> 00:06:03.379
What?
96
00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:04.800
I mean.
97
00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:06.759
You may be 13, Alan, but that's still a little
98
00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:08.250
young for coffee, especially black.
99
00:06:08.930 --> 00:06:10.170
Oh, I wasn't thinking.
100
00:06:10.189 --> 00:06:11.990
What are you going to do today, son?
101
00:06:12.589 --> 00:06:15.209
I want to do some reading this morning, I guess.
102
00:06:15.310 --> 00:06:18.050
That's always a good thing to do. After breakfast, suppose
103
00:06:18.069 --> 00:06:19.310
you take a walk down to the station and give
104
00:06:19.329 --> 00:06:19.829
me your times.
105
00:06:20.189 --> 00:06:21.290
Didn't it come? What, the times?
106
00:06:21.310 --> 00:06:25.069
They don't deliver. They don't deliver. Be a good idea, though.
107
00:06:25.910 --> 00:06:28.790
Maybe I'll talk to Sam Ashburn about it. Here's a
108
00:06:28.810 --> 00:06:30.730
half dollar, Alan. Get anything you want for yourself out
109
00:06:30.750 --> 00:06:31.209
of the change.
110
00:06:31.790 --> 00:06:32.790
Thanks, Dad.
111
00:06:32.810 --> 00:06:33.930
Finish your milk before you go.
112
00:06:34.110 --> 00:06:34.829
Oh, sure, Dad.
113
00:06:35.209 --> 00:06:37.410
And hurry back. I like to finish the crossword puzzle
114
00:06:37.430 --> 00:06:54.639
before lunch. Here you are, Alan.
115
00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:59.139
One times. Tell your father the puzzle's a stinker.
116
00:06:59.339 --> 00:07:00.779
Thanks, Mr. Ashburn.
117
00:07:00.819 --> 00:07:03.740
Look out for the trucks when you cross the highway.
118
00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:06.579
Oh, I'll go across Elton's lot shortcut.
119
00:07:07.050 --> 00:07:11.430
Elton's? You'll have a hard time crossing there, son. There's
120
00:07:11.509 --> 00:07:13.430
four buildings on that block.
121
00:07:13.970 --> 00:07:15.449
I thought they burned down.
122
00:07:15.550 --> 00:07:17.949
Seen them this morning. Big as life.
123
00:07:17.970 --> 00:07:21.769
Oh, I guess that didn't happen yet.
124
00:07:22.629 --> 00:07:23.529
What'd you say?
125
00:07:23.550 --> 00:07:27.750
Oh, nothing, Mr. Ashburn. I was just muttering.
126
00:07:29.050 --> 00:07:31.410
In my days, youngsters talked up.
127
00:07:32.250 --> 00:07:50.889
Yes, sir. Bye, Mr. Ashburn. Monday, August 6th, 1945. Okinawa 1,
128
00:07:50.889 --> 00:07:51.910
bombing Japan.
129
00:07:52.089 --> 00:07:52.410
Hey!
130
00:07:52.790 --> 00:07:57.089
Hey, Alan, wait up. Larry Morton. Hiya, Larry!
131
00:07:57.170 --> 00:07:57.589
Hi, Al.
132
00:07:57.889 --> 00:07:59.589
Hey, you want to have a catch or something? No,
133
00:07:59.610 --> 00:08:02.069
I have some things I want to do at home. Wow,
134
00:08:02.149 --> 00:08:02.649
get him.
135
00:08:03.009 --> 00:08:05.889
Fancy pants talk. Things I want to do at home.
136
00:08:06.149 --> 00:08:08.329
Oh, go chase yourself around the block.
137
00:08:08.389 --> 00:08:09.819
Go jump in a garbage can, will you?
138
00:08:10.189 --> 00:08:12.240
Go take a flying jet to the moon.
139
00:08:12.819 --> 00:08:13.920
Hey, that's a new one.
140
00:08:13.939 --> 00:08:15.920
A flying jet to the moon.
141
00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:17.740
Hey, you thought up a new one, Al.
142
00:08:18.500 --> 00:08:21.459
Yeah. Hey, how about us going swimming at the canoe
143
00:08:21.480 --> 00:08:25.540
clubs after? Gee, I wish I could. I gotta stay home.
144
00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:26.939
It's after.
145
00:08:27.660 --> 00:08:29.139
You see the football movie at the Grand?
146
00:08:29.660 --> 00:08:30.939
Boy, what a team.
147
00:08:31.319 --> 00:08:31.819
Notre Dame.
148
00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:33.720
I thought you liked Cornell.
149
00:08:34.100 --> 00:08:36.929
Cornell? Ha, they couldn't even beat Vassar.
150
00:08:37.370 --> 00:08:38.970
You're going to Cornell, aren't you?
151
00:08:39.289 --> 00:08:39.590
Me?
152
00:08:40.009 --> 00:08:40.509
Cornell?
153
00:08:41.049 --> 00:08:41.730
Fat chance.
154
00:08:42.600 --> 00:08:43.539
I'll bet you do.
155
00:08:43.779 --> 00:08:44.759
I wouldn't take your money.
156
00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:48.409
I know you wouldn't. You'll go to Cornell, all right.
157
00:08:48.769 --> 00:08:49.350
Cornell.
158
00:08:49.789 --> 00:08:53.789
Far above Cayuga's waters, there's an awful smell.
159
00:08:54.210 --> 00:08:59.169
Just the same. You'll go to Cornell. I've got to hurry, Larry. Well,
160
00:08:59.210 --> 00:09:02.139
so long, Al. See ya. So long, Larry. See ya.
161
00:09:17.389 --> 00:09:21.850
I'm stuck in this corner. A seven-letter word to mix
162
00:09:21.929 --> 00:09:22.990
in proportion.
163
00:09:23.789 --> 00:09:24.379
Titrate.
164
00:09:24.769 --> 00:09:26.460
Huh?
165
00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:28.820
T-I... It fits.
166
00:09:30.039 --> 00:09:31.919
How'd you know that, Ellen? What?
167
00:09:32.840 --> 00:09:35.259
Oh, I read it somewhere, I guess. Oh.
168
00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:37.860
What are you reading now, Tarzan again?
169
00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:39.860
No, not Tarzan.
170
00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:43.220
It's refreshing to see you with a book. Sometimes I
171
00:09:43.240 --> 00:09:45.120
think I ought to forbid comic books in the house.
172
00:09:48.610 --> 00:09:50.960
They must be raising the devil with those bombing raids
173
00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:51.500
in Japan.
174
00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:54.940
How long do you think the war in Japan will last, Dad?
175
00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:56.950
Oh, I'd say the middle of 1946. We'll have to invade.
176
00:10:00.059 --> 00:10:01.320
those islands foot by foot.
177
00:10:02.340 --> 00:10:05.879
I wouldn't be surprised if the war was over very suddenly.
178
00:10:06.620 --> 00:10:09.330
How? By magic? There is no thing on earth will
179
00:10:09.350 --> 00:10:12.649
make those Japanese surrender. You expect somebody to make a
180
00:10:12.710 --> 00:10:14.669
pass and it'll be all over by this afternoon?
181
00:10:15.269 --> 00:10:16.509
That's just about it.
182
00:10:16.580 --> 00:10:16.639
Mr.
183
00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:18.240
Hartley, excuse me.
184
00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:19.620
Could I see you for a minute?
185
00:10:20.120 --> 00:10:20.659
Oh, hello, Mr.
186
00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:21.700
Gottschall. Sure.
187
00:10:21.720 --> 00:10:24.059
That's Frank Gottschall, Dad?
188
00:10:24.179 --> 00:10:24.580
That's right.
189
00:10:25.259 --> 00:10:26.080
Excuse me.
190
00:10:26.100 --> 00:10:28.100
Didn't mean to disturb you, Mr.
191
00:10:28.139 --> 00:10:28.399
Hartley.
192
00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:30.679
That's quite all right. It's a lovely day, isn't it, Mr. Gottschall?
193
00:10:30.860 --> 00:10:35.879
The Lord's world is always beautiful. Of course, Mr. Gottschall. Uh, Mr.
194
00:10:35.940 --> 00:10:38.519
Hartley, I wonder if you could lend me a gun
195
00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:41.759
and some bullets. My little dog's been hurt and it's
196
00:10:41.799 --> 00:10:43.789
been suffering something terrible.
197
00:10:43.809 --> 00:10:45.269
Oh, that's too bad.
198
00:10:45.909 --> 00:10:47.889
I want a gun to put the poor thing out
199
00:10:47.929 --> 00:10:48.509
of its pain.
200
00:10:48.529 --> 00:10:51.710
Of course. How would a 20-gauge shotgun do? You wouldn't
201
00:10:51.730 --> 00:10:52.330
want anything heavy.
202
00:10:52.730 --> 00:10:55.230
I was hoping you'd let me have a little gun.
203
00:10:55.769 --> 00:10:56.799
Maybe so big.
204
00:10:57.019 --> 00:10:59.159
A pistol? So I could put it in my pocket.
205
00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:01.679
Wouldn't look right for a godly man to carry a
206
00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:06.769
hunting gun through town. I don't hold with killing innocent creatures.
207
00:11:07.129 --> 00:11:09.480
People wouldn't understand that it was for a work of mercy.
208
00:11:09.580 --> 00:11:11.740
Of course I understand. You're a very religious man.
209
00:11:11.940 --> 00:11:14.200
The whole world is evil, Mr.
210
00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:17.700
Hartley. Sometimes it certainly looks like it. Well, I have
211
00:11:17.720 --> 00:11:20.379
a Colt 38 special from the auxiliary police out there.
212
00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:21.759
That's fine, fine.
213
00:11:21.799 --> 00:11:23.419
You'll have to bring it right back, Mr. Gottschall. I
214
00:11:23.460 --> 00:11:24.139
might be called out.
215
00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:27.039
Dad, Dad, wait a minute. I just remembered.
216
00:11:27.179 --> 00:11:27.950
Remembered what, son? Oh.
217
00:11:29.549 --> 00:11:32.889
Aren't there some cartridges left for the Luger? Then you
218
00:11:32.929 --> 00:11:34.210
wouldn't be without the coat.
219
00:11:34.549 --> 00:11:37.330
That's right. I've got a German automatic, Mr. Gottschall, I
220
00:11:37.350 --> 00:11:38.950
can let you have. That way I wouldn't get stuck.
221
00:11:39.879 --> 00:11:43.120
Wait, Dad, I'll get it. I know where the cartridges are.
222
00:11:43.139 --> 00:11:47.059
Be careful, son. Well, Mr. Gottschall, it sure turned out
223
00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:48.320
nice after all that rain.
224
00:12:04.330 --> 00:12:11.029
Hello, police headquarters? Um, this is Blake Hartley. Uh, Frank Gutshaw,
225
00:12:11.070 --> 00:12:13.889
who lives on Campbell Street, has just borrowed a gun
226
00:12:13.909 --> 00:12:16.360
from me ostensibly to shoot a dog.
227
00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:17.720
What?
228
00:12:18.820 --> 00:12:25.179
No, he has no dog. He intends shooting his wife. Yes,
229
00:12:25.299 --> 00:12:30.250
I'll take out the firing thing. He'll walk home. If
230
00:12:30.289 --> 00:12:32.570
you hurry, you can get a man there in time.
231
00:12:34.370 --> 00:12:55.000
Right. Oh, there you are. What kept you, Ellen?
232
00:12:55.779 --> 00:12:59.379
I couldn't find the cartridges at first. I'll show Mr.
233
00:12:59.419 --> 00:13:02.039
Guttschall how it works. It's all loaded, ready to shoot.
234
00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:06.220
This is the safety. Just push it forward and up.
235
00:13:07.340 --> 00:13:08.259
There ain't shots in it.
236
00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:09.639
Did you load the chamber, Ellen?
237
00:13:10.059 --> 00:13:14.769
Oh, sure. It's unsafe now. You understand how it works, Mr.
238
00:13:14.809 --> 00:13:18.710
Guttschall? Yes, yes, I understand. Thank you, Mr. Hartley.
239
00:13:19.169 --> 00:13:20.129
Thank you, Sandy.
240
00:13:20.289 --> 00:13:23.429
Goodbye. Goodbye, Mr. Guttschall. Return the gun when you're done. Yes,
241
00:13:23.490 --> 00:13:24.710
I'll be done with it soon. Goodbye.
242
00:13:25.210 --> 00:13:25.840
Goodbye.
243
00:13:27.710 --> 00:13:29.629
Alan, you shouldn't have loaded that gun.
244
00:13:30.509 --> 00:13:32.980
I guess it's all over now. I had to keep
245
00:13:33.019 --> 00:13:35.440
you from fooling with it. Didn't want you to see
246
00:13:35.539 --> 00:13:37.039
I took out the firing pin.
247
00:13:37.500 --> 00:13:38.039
You what?
248
00:13:39.159 --> 00:13:41.879
I sure didn't want that gun to shoot a dog.
249
00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:47.029
He's a fanatic. He sees visions, hears voices. The voices
250
00:13:47.090 --> 00:13:50.370
probably put him up to this. I'll submit that any
251
00:13:50.429 --> 00:13:55.049
man who holds intimate conversations with disembodied spirits isn't to
252
00:13:55.070 --> 00:13:58.450
be trusted with a gun. He wants to shoot his wife.
253
00:13:58.950 --> 00:14:00.389
What are you talking about?
254
00:14:00.490 --> 00:14:02.889
While I was upstairs, I called the police. I put
255
00:14:02.929 --> 00:14:05.549
a handkerchief over my mouth and told them I was you.
256
00:14:05.669 --> 00:14:08.019
You... Why'd you have to do that?
257
00:14:08.419 --> 00:14:11.039
I couldn't have told them this is little Alan Hartley,
258
00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:12.179
13 years old.
259
00:14:12.340 --> 00:14:14.559
And suppose he really wants to shoot a dog. What
260
00:14:14.620 --> 00:14:16.000
kind of a mess will I be in then?
261
00:14:16.019 --> 00:14:20.200
No mess, because of life. But you'll have to front
262
00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:22.350
for me. They give me a lot of cheap boy
263
00:14:22.649 --> 00:14:24.789
hero publicity, which I don't want.
264
00:14:24.809 --> 00:14:28.519
This is crazy, Alan. This is absolutely crazy.
265
00:14:28.940 --> 00:14:31.759
We'll have the complete returns in 20 minutes.
266
00:14:42.789 --> 00:14:43.409
Mr. Hartley?
267
00:14:43.450 --> 00:14:43.649
Mr.
268
00:14:43.690 --> 00:14:45.070
Blake Hartley? That's right.
269
00:14:45.870 --> 00:14:48.049
I'm Detective Sergeant Kaborski from Homicide.
270
00:14:48.070 --> 00:14:52.129
Here's your Luger. Thank you.
271
00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:54.759
I don't know how you spotted that guy, but when
272
00:14:54.779 --> 00:14:56.860
we busted in, he was pointing that gun at his wife,
273
00:14:56.879 --> 00:14:58.639
swearing a blue sweet, because it wouldn't go off.
274
00:14:58.740 --> 00:15:02.549
Well, I'm glad I was able to help. They may
275
00:15:02.590 --> 00:15:04.909
have some kind of citation, Mr. Hartley. Oh, I don't
276
00:15:04.929 --> 00:15:05.769
think that's necessary.
277
00:15:06.009 --> 00:15:08.789
Well, in the department, we figure a little publicity never
278
00:15:08.830 --> 00:15:09.450
hurt nobody.
279
00:15:10.250 --> 00:15:13.730
Even a lawyer, huh? I really preferred to have it
280
00:15:13.769 --> 00:15:14.429
kept quiet.
281
00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:18.159
Well, whatever you say, we'll want you to drop around
282
00:15:18.179 --> 00:15:19.240
in the morning for a statement.
283
00:15:19.539 --> 00:15:21.120
I'll be glad to. Well.
284
00:15:21.549 --> 00:15:21.970
Thanks, Mr.
285
00:15:21.990 --> 00:15:22.289
Hartley.
286
00:15:22.490 --> 00:15:24.509
Goodbye. Goodbye, sonny.
287
00:15:24.950 --> 00:15:31.399
Goodbye, Sergeant. Why don't you take the citation, Dad?
288
00:15:31.740 --> 00:15:39.820
Well, you were right. You saved that woman's life. Let's
289
00:15:41.100 --> 00:15:43.600
see you put back the firing pin. Sure.
290
00:15:43.620 --> 00:15:48.019
There.
291
00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:50.639
Suppose we have a little talk.
292
00:15:51.870 --> 00:15:53.429
But I explained everything.
293
00:15:53.490 --> 00:15:56.809
You did not. Yesterday, you wouldn't even have known how
294
00:15:56.830 --> 00:16:00.529
to take this pistol apart. Today, you've been using language
295
00:16:00.570 --> 00:16:03.649
and expressing ideas that are outside of everything you've ever
296
00:16:03.710 --> 00:16:06.629
known before. Now I want to know.
297
00:16:08.009 --> 00:16:11.980
I hope you're not toying with the medieval notion of obsession.
298
00:16:12.929 --> 00:16:13.149
What?
299
00:16:14.299 --> 00:16:17.799
You say I'm changed. When did you first notice this?
300
00:16:18.539 --> 00:16:22.059
Last night, you were still my little boy. This morning,
301
00:16:22.100 --> 00:16:26.830
I don't know. You've been strange all day. Alan, what's
302
00:16:26.850 --> 00:16:27.470
happened to you?
303
00:16:28.539 --> 00:16:31.830
I wish I could be sure myself, Dad. You see,
304
00:16:32.610 --> 00:16:35.090
when I woke up this morning, all I could remember
305
00:16:35.129 --> 00:16:38.269
was lying on a stretcher injured by a bomb explosion.
306
00:16:39.289 --> 00:16:43.990
I was 43 years old and the year was 1975.
307
00:16:43.990 --> 00:16:53.409
1975? That's right. UB-43 in 1975. But... but... a bomb.
308
00:16:53.580 --> 00:16:56.840
Yes, during the siege of Buffalo in the Third World War.
309
00:16:57.580 --> 00:17:01.340
I was the captain in G-5 scientific warfare, general staff.
310
00:17:01.700 --> 00:17:04.799
Buffalo? You mean Buffalo, New York?
311
00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.009
Yes, there'd been a trans-polar invasion of Canada. I was
312
00:17:09.069 --> 00:17:11.450
sent to the front to check on service failures of
313
00:17:11.490 --> 00:17:15.390
a new lubricating oil. I got hit by a bomb blast.
314
00:17:16.220 --> 00:17:19.259
I remember being picked up and getting a narcotic injection.
315
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:22.339
The next thing I knew, I was in bed upstairs,
316
00:17:22.380 --> 00:17:26.089
and it was 1945 again. And I was back in
317
00:17:26.130 --> 00:17:28.130
my own 13-year-old body.
318
00:17:31.789 --> 00:17:35.230
Alan, you just had a nightmare to end all nightmares,
319
00:17:35.250 --> 00:17:35.650
that's all.
320
00:17:35.670 --> 00:17:38.960
I thought it might be that at first, but I
321
00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:41.480
rejected it. It wouldn't fit the facts.
322
00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:45.960
But it's ridiculous, all this Battle of Buffalo stuff. You
323
00:17:46.019 --> 00:17:48.700
picked it up listening to the radio. All the commentators
324
00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:50.500
have been going on about another war after this one.
325
00:17:51.339 --> 00:17:54.019
You've just got an undigested chunk of H.V. Calvin born
326
00:17:54.059 --> 00:17:54.900
in your subconscious.
327
00:17:55.160 --> 00:17:58.460
But that isn't everything. I remember four years of high school,
328
00:17:58.539 --> 00:18:01.700
four years at Cornell, seven years as a reporter on
329
00:18:01.720 --> 00:18:05.900
the Philadelphia Record, three novels, Children of the Mist, Rose
330
00:18:05.940 --> 00:18:09.650
of Death, and Conqueror's Road. I wrote detective stories under
331
00:18:09.670 --> 00:18:12.809
a phony name. I worked in chemistry. You think a
332
00:18:12.829 --> 00:18:15.269
13-year-old can dream up all that stuff?
333
00:18:15.779 --> 00:18:17.859
It's the only possible explanation.
334
00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:21.940
Maybe, but I can speak five languages today that I
335
00:18:22.039 --> 00:18:27.759
couldn't yesterday. French, German, Chinese, Russian, and Spanish. Although I've
336
00:18:27.779 --> 00:18:30.269
got a Mexican accent you could cut with a knife.
337
00:18:31.910 --> 00:18:34.769
But how'd it happen? I can't believe it.
338
00:18:35.470 --> 00:18:38.359
All I know is here I am. I've been reading
339
00:18:38.410 --> 00:18:43.039
up on time theories. Nobody seems to know much about them. Evidently,
340
00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:47.680
time exists parallel as another dimension. And I've got kicked
341
00:18:47.740 --> 00:18:49.500
backwards somehow.
342
00:18:49.880 --> 00:18:50.640
But how?
343
00:18:51.160 --> 00:18:54.549
It may have been the radiations from the bomb. Or
344
00:18:54.609 --> 00:19:00.190
the narcotic injection. Or both together. But the fact remains
345
00:19:00.289 --> 00:19:03.849
I'm here with full knowledge of my future identity.
346
00:19:04.849 --> 00:19:07.329
This is quite a shock, Ellen.
347
00:19:08.920 --> 00:19:10.680
But you do believe me, don't you?
348
00:19:11.460 --> 00:19:15.670
Yes, I suppose I must. You seem so strange as
349
00:19:16.670 --> 00:19:17.490
if you weren't my son.
350
00:19:17.509 --> 00:19:20.730
I'm your son, all right. The same body as yesterday.
351
00:19:20.910 --> 00:19:22.930
I've just had an educational shortcut.
352
00:19:26.150 --> 00:19:30.160
Wait a minute. If you can remember the next 30 years,
353
00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:32.480
suppose you tell me when the war is going to end.
354
00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:34.440
This one against the Japs, I mean.
355
00:19:35.250 --> 00:19:35.529
Sure.
356
00:19:35.750 --> 00:19:39.069
The Japanese surrender will be announced at exactly 7 or
357
00:19:39.069 --> 00:19:43.359
1 p.m. on August 14th, a week from Tuesday. Better
358
00:19:43.400 --> 00:19:45.279
make sure we have plenty of grub in the house
359
00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:48.730
by then. Everything will be closed up tight till Thursday morning.
360
00:19:49.349 --> 00:19:52.430
Even the restaurant. I remember we had nothing to eat
361
00:19:52.470 --> 00:19:53.809
in the house but some scraps.
362
00:19:53.869 --> 00:19:56.210
Tuesday week? That's pretty sudden, isn't it?
363
00:19:56.750 --> 00:19:57.710
Not after today.
364
00:19:57.730 --> 00:19:58.809
What do you mean?
365
00:19:58.829 --> 00:20:00.410
What happened today? Plenty.
366
00:20:01.470 --> 00:20:02.569
What time is it, Dad?
367
00:20:02.910 --> 00:20:06.950
Um, 11.16. Is your watch right? To the second. Why?
368
00:20:07.750 --> 00:20:11.740
It'll come at exactly 11... 1740.
369
00:20:11.740 --> 00:20:12.559
What'll come?
370
00:20:12.700 --> 00:20:13.880
The radio announcement.
371
00:20:14.059 --> 00:20:16.059
What are you getting at? Something important on the radio?
372
00:20:16.519 --> 00:20:17.019
We'll see.
373
00:20:17.299 --> 00:20:20.359
Don't bother, Dad. It won't work. I remember we had
374
00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:21.359
a tube burned out.
375
00:20:21.700 --> 00:20:25.410
Yeah, there is something wrong. What is this announcement of yours?
376
00:20:26.150 --> 00:20:31.069
I memorized it in journalism school at Columbia in 1954.
377
00:20:31.069 --> 00:20:31.789
What time is it?
378
00:20:31.769 --> 00:20:33.769
1118.
379
00:20:33.869 --> 00:20:38.400
They're breaking into the programs now. President Truman has just
380
00:20:38.460 --> 00:20:41.680
announced that an atomic bomb has been dropped on the
381
00:20:42.099 --> 00:20:47.039
Japanese industrial city of Hiroshima. The bomb was dropped 16
382
00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:50.779
hours ago, and the announcement was delayed to ascertain the
383
00:20:50.819 --> 00:20:55.430
results of the explosion. A man named John Howard Peterson
384
00:20:55.470 --> 00:20:58.920
read the announcement from the Washington newsroom of NBC. I....
385
00:21:00.309 --> 00:21:01.089
I don't believe it.
386
00:21:01.250 --> 00:21:06.680
No? Listen... That's the Burt Plate factory whistle and the
387
00:21:06.759 --> 00:21:11.480
bells at St. Boniface. Next, the whistle at the volunteer firehouse.
388
00:21:12.140 --> 00:21:14.480
And it's true. It is true.
389
00:21:14.740 --> 00:21:15.180
Sure.
390
00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:19.390
Then Larry Morton came by on his bicycle. Hey, hey, Al,
391
00:21:19.430 --> 00:21:23.089
you hear? You hear about the bomb? An atomic bomb. Yeah,
392
00:21:23.109 --> 00:21:25.750
we heard. Boy, atomic bomb.
393
00:21:26.430 --> 00:21:27.089
Oh, boy.
394
00:21:27.470 --> 00:21:30.930
I gotta go find my pop. He's on the golf course. Bye, Al. Bye, Mr.
395
00:21:30.990 --> 00:21:31.509
Hartley.
396
00:21:31.569 --> 00:21:32.220
You knew him.
397
00:21:33.069 --> 00:21:33.990
You knew about it?
398
00:21:33.990 --> 00:21:35.869
The next bomb hit Snackersacky.
399
00:21:36.309 --> 00:21:38.869
I thought that stuff about atomic energy was so much fantasy.
400
00:21:40.269 --> 00:21:42.150
Was that the kind of bomb that got you?
401
00:21:42.589 --> 00:21:45.519
That was a firecracker compared to the one that got me.
402
00:21:46.210 --> 00:21:49.240
It was a God in 98, exploded 10 miles away.
403
00:21:49.619 --> 00:21:51.440
And that's going to happen in 30 years?
404
00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:52.660
I remember it.
405
00:21:53.539 --> 00:21:57.470
How about, well, how about me? Wait, never mind, I...
406
00:21:58.769 --> 00:22:00.269
Don't think I better know when I'm going to die.
407
00:22:00.289 --> 00:22:02.970
I couldn't tell you anyway. I had a letter from
408
00:22:03.009 --> 00:22:05.430
you just before I left for the front. You were
409
00:22:05.430 --> 00:22:08.470
78 then, and you were still hunting and fishing and
410
00:22:08.569 --> 00:22:09.710
flying your own plane.
411
00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:14.960
But another war and fought on American soil. Alan, I
412
00:22:15.259 --> 00:22:16.559
wish this hadn't happened to you.
413
00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:17.900
It happened.
414
00:22:18.359 --> 00:22:21.599
I remember it. But if I can help it, I'm
415
00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:24.210
not going to get killed in any battle of Buffalo.
416
00:22:24.630 --> 00:22:27.390
But if you remember it, if time exists as a
417
00:22:27.410 --> 00:22:30.349
parallel dimension, Then every tick we're getting closer to that
418
00:22:30.369 --> 00:22:31.269
third world war.
419
00:22:31.789 --> 00:22:34.769
Dad, you know what I remember when Gutro came to
420
00:22:34.809 --> 00:22:35.549
borrow that gun?
421
00:22:35.569 --> 00:22:37.650
I suppose that you suspected him and warned me.
422
00:22:37.990 --> 00:22:41.109
No, no, that wasn't it. The other time, the first
423
00:22:41.170 --> 00:22:44.750
time when I was really 13. I wasn't home. I'd
424
00:22:44.789 --> 00:22:47.829
been swimming at the canoe club with Larry Morton. When
425
00:22:47.890 --> 00:22:49.930
I got home about half an hour from now, I
426
00:22:49.970 --> 00:22:51.230
found the house full of cops.
427
00:22:51.299 --> 00:22:52.740
What if the gun didn't fire?
428
00:22:52.779 --> 00:22:56.740
What makes you think it didn't? That Joe talked the
429
00:22:56.740 --> 00:22:59.190
38 out of you. Went home, shot his wife four
430
00:22:59.269 --> 00:23:01.509
times in the body, once behind the ear, and used
431
00:23:01.529 --> 00:23:03.970
the sixth shot to blow his own brains out.
432
00:23:04.390 --> 00:23:05.490
That's what you remember?
433
00:23:06.109 --> 00:23:11.559
Yes, but now it hasn't happened because I warned you. Dad,
434
00:23:11.980 --> 00:23:14.559
I found out the future can be changed.
435
00:23:14.759 --> 00:23:16.539
One man can't change the whole future.
436
00:23:16.920 --> 00:23:18.660
I stopped the murder and suicide.
437
00:23:18.839 --> 00:23:19.880
I know, son, but.
438
00:23:19.900 --> 00:23:22.220
With 30 years to work, I can stop a world war.
439
00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:24.200
I'll have the means.
440
00:23:24.700 --> 00:23:25.160
The means?
441
00:23:25.380 --> 00:23:29.059
Unlimited wealth and influence. I've got a good memory, Dad.
442
00:23:29.400 --> 00:23:31.460
Wrote a list out this afternoon. Look at this.
443
00:23:32.920 --> 00:23:40.460
Assault, jet pilot, citation, ponder, middle ground, counter... What is this, code? Horses.
444
00:23:40.920 --> 00:23:46.000
That's a list of Kentucky Derby winners from 1946 to 1970.
445
00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:46.779
You sure?
446
00:23:47.019 --> 00:23:49.220
I learned that list on a bet at the officer's
447
00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:53.690
club in Cincinnati in 1971. A salt paid eight to one.
448
00:23:54.630 --> 00:23:56.210
You figure out what we can take in.
449
00:23:56.329 --> 00:23:58.730
Oh, but gambling... This isn't gambling.
450
00:23:58.809 --> 00:24:01.869
It's a sure thing. When we get rolling, we'll make
451
00:24:01.890 --> 00:24:03.829
the Rockefellers look like pikers.
452
00:24:05.430 --> 00:24:08.750
A salt is eight to one. I suppose I could
453
00:24:08.789 --> 00:24:15.279
scrape up $ 5, 000. In ten years, that'll make a lot
454
00:24:15.319 --> 00:24:20.119
of money. Any other little thing you have in mind, Alan?
455
00:24:20.759 --> 00:24:26.460
By 1952, we start building a political organization here in Pennsylvania.
456
00:24:26.619 --> 00:24:29.519
In 1960, I think we can elect you president.
457
00:24:29.599 --> 00:24:34.720
Of course, I... President? Isn't that going a little too far?
458
00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:37.960
Why not? Who wouldn't vote for a politician who was
459
00:24:38.119 --> 00:24:43.059
always right? Besides, that's one thing we've got to change.
460
00:24:44.099 --> 00:24:46.599
In 1960, we had a man in the White House
461
00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:49.109
who was good to his wife and sang a nice tenor.
462
00:24:49.809 --> 00:24:53.690
And that's about all. He fouled up so completely we
463
00:24:53.789 --> 00:24:57.819
ended up at war. I think President Hartley might be
464
00:24:57.859 --> 00:25:00.259
a little more trusted to take a strong line.
465
00:25:00.299 --> 00:25:03.160
Well, I don't know anything about international decisions.
466
00:25:03.500 --> 00:25:07.410
I do. I know all the wrong ones. If we
467
00:25:07.450 --> 00:25:10.789
can stop a murder, with time we can stop a war.
468
00:25:12.190 --> 00:25:12.950
How do I start?
469
00:25:13.289 --> 00:25:17.230
Well, as I remember, just after that bomb announcement, you
470
00:25:17.269 --> 00:25:20.130
got a phone call from the city fusion party about
471
00:25:20.150 --> 00:25:21.170
the next election.
472
00:25:21.210 --> 00:25:22.940
Well, there's a lot of talk about a reform ticket.
473
00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:27.160
That call is going to be important, Dad. It's the
474
00:25:27.259 --> 00:25:31.500
turning point. You've got... There it is.
475
00:25:33.400 --> 00:25:33.900
What do I do?
476
00:25:34.200 --> 00:25:34.680
Answer it.
477
00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:36.980
Go ahead. But, Alan, I.
478
00:25:37.009 --> 00:25:39.769
Don't worry. I'll tell you what to say. Go ahead.
479
00:25:39.789 --> 00:25:40.170
Go ahead.
480
00:25:42.140 --> 00:25:52.410
Hello? Yes, this is Blake Hartley. Judge Crimmins? Well, just
481
00:25:52.450 --> 00:25:55.509
a moment. Alan, he's asking me to run.
482
00:25:55.970 --> 00:25:59.509
Oh, my head.
483
00:25:59.670 --> 00:26:01.210
Alan. Alan, what's the matter?
484
00:26:01.799 --> 00:26:02.059
Alan.
485
00:26:02.299 --> 00:26:06.019
He passed out. Alan, what do I do now? Alan,
486
00:26:06.039 --> 00:26:09.559
listen to me. Alan. Alan, what's the matter? Alan. Alan.
487
00:26:24.109 --> 00:26:31.380
Captain Hartley. Captain Hartley. Captain Hartley. It's all right, Doctor.
488
00:26:31.400 --> 00:26:33.140
I gave him the shot and he was all right.
489
00:26:34.440 --> 00:26:35.140
He's dead.
490
00:26:36.440 --> 00:26:40.759
All right, Sergeant, make up the tag. Yes, sir. Hartley, Allen, Captain.
491
00:26:41.140 --> 00:26:44.299
Dead August 8th, 1975.
492
00:26:58.349 --> 00:26:58.589
Ellen.
493
00:26:59.089 --> 00:27:00.470
Ellen, what happened? Ellen.
494
00:27:01.109 --> 00:27:01.390
Ellen.
495
00:27:01.630 --> 00:27:03.450
Huh? Ellen, are you all right?
496
00:27:04.650 --> 00:27:05.589
Hi, Dad.
497
00:27:05.769 --> 00:27:07.089
I've got Judge Crimmins on the phone. What do I
498
00:27:07.109 --> 00:27:07.349
tell him?
499
00:27:07.849 --> 00:27:08.170
What?
500
00:27:08.589 --> 00:27:10.210
Ellen, are you all right? You passed out.
501
00:27:10.890 --> 00:27:14.970
Sure, I'm all right. Hey, today's my birthday, isn't it?
502
00:27:15.190 --> 00:27:17.170
What did you get me, Dad? What did you get me?
503
00:27:17.450 --> 00:27:18.549
Alan, are you all right?
504
00:27:18.650 --> 00:27:21.690
Sure, I'm okay. What did you get for my birthday, huh?
505
00:27:21.809 --> 00:27:24.089
Don't you remember the Third World War?
506
00:27:24.150 --> 00:27:28.609
What Third World War? Gee, Dad, what's the matter? You're
507
00:27:28.650 --> 00:27:30.890
looking at me funny.
508
00:27:31.109 --> 00:27:38.390
Judge Crimmins, I'll have to call you back. Goodbye. You
509
00:27:38.430 --> 00:27:44.119
don't remember. You're back again, aren't you? Back to 13
510
00:27:44.119 --> 00:27:44.599
years old.
511
00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:48.789
Sure, I'm 13 today. For corn's sakes, Dad.
512
00:27:48.849 --> 00:27:51.789
You must have died up there. It was only a
513
00:27:51.849 --> 00:27:57.509
mine transfer. That means now I'm on my own. I
514
00:27:57.529 --> 00:27:59.130
have to do it myself without your help.
515
00:27:59.549 --> 00:28:03.289
Help for what? Oh, if it's the grass, I said
516
00:28:03.329 --> 00:28:04.490
I'd cut it tomorrow.
517
00:28:04.509 --> 00:28:06.769
No, no, it isn't the grass. I've got to save
518
00:28:06.789 --> 00:28:09.609
your life, Ellen. I can't let you die that way
519
00:28:09.650 --> 00:28:12.440
in 1975. What are you talking about, Dad?
520
00:28:13.950 --> 00:28:14.769
You sound goofy.
521
00:28:14.990 --> 00:28:16.569
I've got to change it all by myself.
522
00:28:16.829 --> 00:28:17.829
Change what?
523
00:28:17.890 --> 00:28:20.309
Never mind, Alan. You don't know yet. Come on. Let's
524
00:28:20.349 --> 00:28:20.769
have lunch.
525
00:28:21.509 --> 00:28:24.309
Sure, Dad. Hey, how about my present now? What did
526
00:28:24.349 --> 00:28:25.369
you get me for my birthday?
527
00:28:25.390 --> 00:28:27.690
Hey, in a minute, son. Go on in.
528
00:28:28.369 --> 00:28:29.369
Hurry up, Dad.
529
00:28:29.589 --> 00:28:29.990
All right.
530
00:28:30.009 --> 00:28:35.839
Now, where'd I put that list of horses?
531
00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:54.160
You have just heard another adventure into the unknown world
532
00:28:54.200 --> 00:28:56.599
of the future. The world of.
533
00:28:56.619 --> 00:29:01.299
Dimension X! X! X! X!
534
00:29:13.049 --> 00:29:17.410
Homecoming is a joyous word. But when the home you're
535
00:29:17.450 --> 00:29:22.509
returning to is a burned-out, radioactive planet, and when you
536
00:29:22.549 --> 00:29:25.950
cannot even imagine what terrible changes you will find there,
537
00:29:26.890 --> 00:29:31.299
the word then takes on a very different meaning. Next week,
538
00:29:31.339 --> 00:29:35.099
Dimension X brings you a strange story called.
539
00:29:35.220 --> 00:29:37.220
Dwellers in Silence.
540
00:29:46.130 --> 00:29:48.660
Dimension X is brought to you each week by the
541
00:29:48.680 --> 00:29:53.380
National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Street & Smith, publishers
542
00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:58.460
of the magazine Astounding Science Fiction. Today, Dimension X is
543
00:29:58.500 --> 00:30:02.630
presented time and time again Written for radio by Ernest
544
00:30:02.670 --> 00:30:04.339
Canoy and the story by H.
545
00:30:04.390 --> 00:30:05.210
Beam Piper.
546
00:30:06.029 --> 00:30:07.470
Featured in the cast were.
547
00:30:07.329 --> 00:30:10.910
David Anderson as Alan and Joseph Curtin as his dad.
548
00:30:11.970 --> 00:30:16.930
Your host was Norman Rose. Music by Albert Berman. Dimension
549
00:30:17.029 --> 00:30:20.279
X is produced by William Welch and directed by Fred Way.
550
00:30:30.150 --> 00:30:34.000
That completes Dimension X, Episode 39, Time and Time Again.
551
00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:37.730
Follow Dimension X for more classic science fiction broadcasts.
1
00:00:00.150 --> 00:00:04.450
Gravely wounded on a World War III battlefield in 1975,
2
00:00:04.450 --> 00:00:09.460
an American soldier finds himself back in 1945, 13 years old,
3
00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:13.580
yet carrying memories of the future. It is the premise
4
00:00:13.619 --> 00:00:18.559
of Dimension X, Time and Time Again, Episode 39, first
5
00:00:18.620 --> 00:00:24.140
heard on NBC July 12, 1951. Adapted for radio by
6
00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:29.129
Ernest Kenoy from H. Beam Piper's 1947 story, It brings
7
00:00:29.190 --> 00:00:33.170
that soldier into a 1945 America where the life he
8
00:00:33.229 --> 00:00:38.119
remembers and the history ahead may not be fixed. Piper's
9
00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:43.979
story first appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in April 1947.
10
00:00:43.979 --> 00:00:47.450
David Anderson and Joseph Curtin are featured in this NBC
11
00:00:47.509 --> 00:00:52.530
sustaining production produced by William Welch. Here is the original broadcast.
12
00:00:59.289 --> 00:01:05.859
Adventures in time and space. Told in future tense.
13
00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:23.900
The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Street and Smith,
14
00:01:24.599 --> 00:01:27.819
publishers of astounding science fiction, bring you.
15
00:01:28.900 --> 00:01:39.599
Dimension X. It happened during a routine skirmish in the
16
00:01:39.640 --> 00:01:40.180
Great War.
17
00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:44.060
Patrols advanced from the defense perimeter under jet cover and
18
00:01:44.109 --> 00:01:47.750
proceeded by napalm throwers. The enemy defended in depth and
19
00:01:47.790 --> 00:01:50.849
mopped up with guided 98s fired from 40 miles to
20
00:01:50.890 --> 00:01:54.209
the rear. The blast area was 10 miles in circumference
21
00:01:54.829 --> 00:01:57.230
and the medics didn't find much to pick up over
22
00:01:57.230 --> 00:01:57.549
500 yards in.
23
00:02:00.530 --> 00:02:02.459
Drag it in here.
24
00:02:02.519 --> 00:02:09.800
Look out, it's lousy with mud. More, more. That left.
25
00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:17.770
More. Hold it. Stretchers. Come on, drivers, get those men out.
26
00:02:18.050 --> 00:02:18.469
Yes, sir.
27
00:02:19.229 --> 00:02:21.810
Get a move on, line them up. Come on.
28
00:02:23.229 --> 00:02:24.030
Easy, easy.
29
00:02:24.050 --> 00:02:24.849
You want to kill them?
30
00:02:25.400 --> 00:02:26.080
Okay, take it away.
31
00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:37.659
They might have left these joes where they was.
32
00:02:38.729 --> 00:02:40.610
Half of them won't last till the plane comes. As
33
00:02:40.650 --> 00:02:43.349
long as they're alive, they'll be treated. Get out the tags, Travis.
34
00:02:43.370 --> 00:02:44.270
Start parking names.
35
00:02:44.310 --> 00:02:44.689
Yes, sir.
36
00:02:45.110 --> 00:02:47.110
This one must have been a thousand yards in.
37
00:02:47.210 --> 00:02:49.210
Get his dog tag out. What a mess.
38
00:02:49.650 --> 00:02:49.849
Here.
39
00:02:50.969 --> 00:02:54.669
Hartley, Allen, Captain, G5 Chem Research, AN73D, number SO23869403J. Allen Hartley?
40
00:02:54.789 --> 00:02:55.169
Allen Hartley.
41
00:03:00.330 --> 00:03:02.270
Well, if that could be the hunter that wrote Children
42
00:03:02.289 --> 00:03:03.810
of the Mist and Conqueror's Road.
43
00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:07.580
Never heard of him. Major, I think maybe he's part conscious.
44
00:03:08.340 --> 00:03:09.379
Maybe I should give him another shot?
45
00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:10.120
Go ahead, Sergeant.
46
00:03:10.259 --> 00:03:11.699
There isn't much else we can do for him. It's
47
00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:16.159
a rotten shame. Ain't it always? Okay, Captain, give me
48
00:03:16.199 --> 00:03:16.840
your arm.
49
00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:18.879
There.
50
00:03:18.909 --> 00:03:19.210
There.
51
00:03:41.310 --> 00:03:41.750
Allen!
52
00:03:43.229 --> 00:03:44.569
Allen! Look out!
53
00:03:44.669 --> 00:03:48.289
Down! Down! Get up, Allen! You can't stay in bed
54
00:03:48.310 --> 00:03:48.870
all day!
55
00:03:48.889 --> 00:03:53.840
I remember that. Clear as if it were real.
56
00:03:54.800 --> 00:03:56.240
Up and at them! Hit the deck!
57
00:03:57.349 --> 00:04:00.159
Remarkably vivid. Strange.
58
00:04:00.379 --> 00:04:01.240
Alan, are you all right?
59
00:04:01.259 --> 00:04:06.979
I'm all right. What's wrong with my voice? It's too high.
60
00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:11.990
What are you doing? Practicing singing?
61
00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:13.490
My voice has changed.
62
00:04:15.229 --> 00:04:18.550
Is that all? You're growing up. Happy birthday, son.
63
00:04:19.230 --> 00:04:20.290
Happy birthday?
64
00:04:20.470 --> 00:04:21.889
Hey, wake up, son.
65
00:04:21.949 --> 00:04:24.579
Wake up. I am awake.
66
00:04:24.779 --> 00:04:26.019
Come on, out of bed.
67
00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:28.939
I don't understand.
68
00:04:29.180 --> 00:04:31.759
Breakfast waiting. Now, how the better I'll turn it over.
69
00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:36.180
All right, all right. It's a dream.
70
00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:37.779
Maybe, but you're wide awake now.
71
00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:39.980
I am awake now.
72
00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:41.500
Well, half awake anyway.
73
00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:48.029
That's the Bellasie Boniface, isn't it? What day is it?
74
00:04:48.050 --> 00:04:51.069
Are you kidding? You forget today's your birthday?
75
00:04:51.089 --> 00:04:51.149
No.
76
00:04:51.709 --> 00:04:54.649
No, I didn't forget.
77
00:04:54.709 --> 00:04:55.339
Neither did I.
78
00:04:55.990 --> 00:04:56.470
Here, son.
79
00:04:56.870 --> 00:05:00.259
Happy 13th birthday. You won't guess what's in here.
80
00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:04.800
A rifle. A light. 22 rifle.
81
00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:06.100
How'd you know that?
82
00:05:07.160 --> 00:05:07.860
I remembered.
83
00:05:07.879 --> 00:05:12.040
Did I spill the beans sometime? I could have sworn
84
00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:18.879
it'd be a surprise. Well, go on. Open it. Like it?
85
00:05:19.560 --> 00:05:23.329
Yeah. Yeah. It's perfect, Dad.
86
00:05:23.370 --> 00:05:25.389
I'll be shaving, Alan. Come down to breakfast when you're ready.
87
00:05:26.339 --> 00:05:30.550
It's a big day today. You're almost a man. Almost?
88
00:05:30.759 --> 00:05:32.810
You're still groggy. Snap out of it, Ellen.
89
00:05:33.589 --> 00:05:38.610
I will. There's a dream in it somewhere. But I'm
90
00:05:38.689 --> 00:05:40.050
not sure which.
91
00:05:40.509 --> 00:05:40.730
What?
92
00:05:42.230 --> 00:05:45.310
Never mind, Dad. I'll be right down for breakfast.
93
00:05:57.699 --> 00:06:01.000
Now for coffee. Mrs. Stauber makes the best in town.
94
00:06:01.420 --> 00:06:02.259
Black for me.
95
00:06:03.180 --> 00:06:03.379
What?
96
00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:04.800
I mean.
97
00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:06.759
You may be 13, Alan, but that's still a little
98
00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:08.250
young for coffee, especially black.
99
00:06:08.930 --> 00:06:10.170
Oh, I wasn't thinking.
100
00:06:10.189 --> 00:06:11.990
What are you going to do today, son?
101
00:06:12.589 --> 00:06:15.209
I want to do some reading this morning, I guess.
102
00:06:15.310 --> 00:06:18.050
That's always a good thing to do. After breakfast, suppose
103
00:06:18.069 --> 00:06:19.310
you take a walk down to the station and give
104
00:06:19.329 --> 00:06:19.829
me your times.
105
00:06:20.189 --> 00:06:21.290
Didn't it come? What, the times?
106
00:06:21.310 --> 00:06:25.069
They don't deliver. They don't deliver. Be a good idea, though.
107
00:06:25.910 --> 00:06:28.790
Maybe I'll talk to Sam Ashburn about it. Here's a
108
00:06:28.810 --> 00:06:30.730
half dollar, Alan. Get anything you want for yourself out
109
00:06:30.750 --> 00:06:31.209
of the change.
110
00:06:31.790 --> 00:06:32.790
Thanks, Dad.
111
00:06:32.810 --> 00:06:33.930
Finish your milk before you go.
112
00:06:34.110 --> 00:06:34.829
Oh, sure, Dad.
113
00:06:35.209 --> 00:06:37.410
And hurry back. I like to finish the crossword puzzle
114
00:06:37.430 --> 00:06:54.639
before lunch. Here you are, Alan.
115
00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:59.139
One times. Tell your father the puzzle's a stinker.
116
00:06:59.339 --> 00:07:00.779
Thanks, Mr. Ashburn.
117
00:07:00.819 --> 00:07:03.740
Look out for the trucks when you cross the highway.
118
00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:06.579
Oh, I'll go across Elton's lot shortcut.
119
00:07:07.050 --> 00:07:11.430
Elton's? You'll have a hard time crossing there, son. There's
120
00:07:11.509 --> 00:07:13.430
four buildings on that block.
121
00:07:13.970 --> 00:07:15.449
I thought they burned down.
122
00:07:15.550 --> 00:07:17.949
Seen them this morning. Big as life.
123
00:07:17.970 --> 00:07:21.769
Oh, I guess that didn't happen yet.
124
00:07:22.629 --> 00:07:23.529
What'd you say?
125
00:07:23.550 --> 00:07:27.750
Oh, nothing, Mr. Ashburn. I was just muttering.
126
00:07:29.050 --> 00:07:31.410
In my days, youngsters talked up.
127
00:07:32.250 --> 00:07:50.889
Yes, sir. Bye, Mr. Ashburn. Monday, August 6th, 1945. Okinawa 1,
128
00:07:50.889 --> 00:07:51.910
bombing Japan.
129
00:07:52.089 --> 00:07:52.410
Hey!
130
00:07:52.790 --> 00:07:57.089
Hey, Alan, wait up. Larry Morton. Hiya, Larry!
131
00:07:57.170 --> 00:07:57.589
Hi, Al.
132
00:07:57.889 --> 00:07:59.589
Hey, you want to have a catch or something? No,
133
00:07:59.610 --> 00:08:02.069
I have some things I want to do at home. Wow,
134
00:08:02.149 --> 00:08:02.649
get him.
135
00:08:03.009 --> 00:08:05.889
Fancy pants talk. Things I want to do at home.
136
00:08:06.149 --> 00:08:08.329
Oh, go chase yourself around the block.
137
00:08:08.389 --> 00:08:09.819
Go jump in a garbage can, will you?
138
00:08:10.189 --> 00:08:12.240
Go take a flying jet to the moon.
139
00:08:12.819 --> 00:08:13.920
Hey, that's a new one.
140
00:08:13.939 --> 00:08:15.920
A flying jet to the moon.
141
00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:17.740
Hey, you thought up a new one, Al.
142
00:08:18.500 --> 00:08:21.459
Yeah. Hey, how about us going swimming at the canoe
143
00:08:21.480 --> 00:08:25.540
clubs after? Gee, I wish I could. I gotta stay home.
144
00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:26.939
It's after.
145
00:08:27.660 --> 00:08:29.139
You see the football movie at the Grand?
146
00:08:29.660 --> 00:08:30.939
Boy, what a team.
147
00:08:31.319 --> 00:08:31.819
Notre Dame.
148
00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:33.720
I thought you liked Cornell.
149
00:08:34.100 --> 00:08:36.929
Cornell? Ha, they couldn't even beat Vassar.
150
00:08:37.370 --> 00:08:38.970
You're going to Cornell, aren't you?
151
00:08:39.289 --> 00:08:39.590
Me?
152
00:08:40.009 --> 00:08:40.509
Cornell?
153
00:08:41.049 --> 00:08:41.730
Fat chance.
154
00:08:42.600 --> 00:08:43.539
I'll bet you do.
155
00:08:43.779 --> 00:08:44.759
I wouldn't take your money.
156
00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:48.409
I know you wouldn't. You'll go to Cornell, all right.
157
00:08:48.769 --> 00:08:49.350
Cornell.
158
00:08:49.789 --> 00:08:53.789
Far above Cayuga's waters, there's an awful smell.
159
00:08:54.210 --> 00:08:59.169
Just the same. You'll go to Cornell. I've got to hurry, Larry. Well,
160
00:08:59.210 --> 00:09:02.139
so long, Al. See ya. So long, Larry. See ya.
161
00:09:17.389 --> 00:09:21.850
I'm stuck in this corner. A seven-letter word to mix
162
00:09:21.929 --> 00:09:22.990
in proportion.
163
00:09:23.789 --> 00:09:24.379
Titrate.
164
00:09:24.769 --> 00:09:26.460
Huh?
165
00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:28.820
T-I... It fits.
166
00:09:30.039 --> 00:09:31.919
How'd you know that, Ellen? What?
167
00:09:32.840 --> 00:09:35.259
Oh, I read it somewhere, I guess. Oh.
168
00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:37.860
What are you reading now, Tarzan again?
169
00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:39.860
No, not Tarzan.
170
00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:43.220
It's refreshing to see you with a book. Sometimes I
171
00:09:43.240 --> 00:09:45.120
think I ought to forbid comic books in the house.
172
00:09:48.610 --> 00:09:50.960
They must be raising the devil with those bombing raids
173
00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:51.500
in Japan.
174
00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:54.940
How long do you think the war in Japan will last, Dad?
175
00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:56.950
Oh, I'd say the middle of 1946. We'll have to invade.
176
00:10:00.059 --> 00:10:01.320
those islands foot by foot.
177
00:10:02.340 --> 00:10:05.879
I wouldn't be surprised if the war was over very suddenly.
178
00:10:06.620 --> 00:10:09.330
How? By magic? There is no thing on earth will
179
00:10:09.350 --> 00:10:12.649
make those Japanese surrender. You expect somebody to make a
180
00:10:12.710 --> 00:10:14.669
pass and it'll be all over by this afternoon?
181
00:10:15.269 --> 00:10:16.509
That's just about it.
182
00:10:16.580 --> 00:10:16.639
Mr.
183
00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:18.240
Hartley, excuse me.
184
00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:19.620
Could I see you for a minute?
185
00:10:20.120 --> 00:10:20.659
Oh, hello, Mr.
186
00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:21.700
Gottschall. Sure.
187
00:10:21.720 --> 00:10:24.059
That's Frank Gottschall, Dad?
188
00:10:24.179 --> 00:10:24.580
That's right.
189
00:10:25.259 --> 00:10:26.080
Excuse me.
190
00:10:26.100 --> 00:10:28.100
Didn't mean to disturb you, Mr.
191
00:10:28.139 --> 00:10:28.399
Hartley.
192
00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:30.679
That's quite all right. It's a lovely day, isn't it, Mr. Gottschall?
193
00:10:30.860 --> 00:10:35.879
The Lord's world is always beautiful. Of course, Mr. Gottschall. Uh, Mr.
194
00:10:35.940 --> 00:10:38.519
Hartley, I wonder if you could lend me a gun
195
00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:41.759
and some bullets. My little dog's been hurt and it's
196
00:10:41.799 --> 00:10:43.789
been suffering something terrible.
197
00:10:43.809 --> 00:10:45.269
Oh, that's too bad.
198
00:10:45.909 --> 00:10:47.889
I want a gun to put the poor thing out
199
00:10:47.929 --> 00:10:48.509
of its pain.
200
00:10:48.529 --> 00:10:51.710
Of course. How would a 20-gauge shotgun do? You wouldn't
201
00:10:51.730 --> 00:10:52.330
want anything heavy.
202
00:10:52.730 --> 00:10:55.230
I was hoping you'd let me have a little gun.
203
00:10:55.769 --> 00:10:56.799
Maybe so big.
204
00:10:57.019 --> 00:10:59.159
A pistol? So I could put it in my pocket.
205
00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:01.679
Wouldn't look right for a godly man to carry a
206
00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:06.769
hunting gun through town. I don't hold with killing innocent creatures.
207
00:11:07.129 --> 00:11:09.480
People wouldn't understand that it was for a work of mercy.
208
00:11:09.580 --> 00:11:11.740
Of course I understand. You're a very religious man.
209
00:11:11.940 --> 00:11:14.200
The whole world is evil, Mr.
210
00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:17.700
Hartley. Sometimes it certainly looks like it. Well, I have
211
00:11:17.720 --> 00:11:20.379
a Colt 38 special from the auxiliary police out there.
212
00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:21.759
That's fine, fine.
213
00:11:21.799 --> 00:11:23.419
You'll have to bring it right back, Mr. Gottschall. I
214
00:11:23.460 --> 00:11:24.139
might be called out.
215
00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:27.039
Dad, Dad, wait a minute. I just remembered.
216
00:11:27.179 --> 00:11:27.950
Remembered what, son? Oh.
217
00:11:29.549 --> 00:11:32.889
Aren't there some cartridges left for the Luger? Then you
218
00:11:32.929 --> 00:11:34.210
wouldn't be without the coat.
219
00:11:34.549 --> 00:11:37.330
That's right. I've got a German automatic, Mr. Gottschall, I
220
00:11:37.350 --> 00:11:38.950
can let you have. That way I wouldn't get stuck.
221
00:11:39.879 --> 00:11:43.120
Wait, Dad, I'll get it. I know where the cartridges are.
222
00:11:43.139 --> 00:11:47.059
Be careful, son. Well, Mr. Gottschall, it sure turned out
223
00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:48.320
nice after all that rain.
224
00:12:04.330 --> 00:12:11.029
Hello, police headquarters? Um, this is Blake Hartley. Uh, Frank Gutshaw,
225
00:12:11.070 --> 00:12:13.889
who lives on Campbell Street, has just borrowed a gun
226
00:12:13.909 --> 00:12:16.360
from me ostensibly to shoot a dog.
227
00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:17.720
What?
228
00:12:18.820 --> 00:12:25.179
No, he has no dog. He intends shooting his wife. Yes,
229
00:12:25.299 --> 00:12:30.250
I'll take out the firing thing. He'll walk home. If
230
00:12:30.289 --> 00:12:32.570
you hurry, you can get a man there in time.
231
00:12:34.370 --> 00:12:55.000
Right. Oh, there you are. What kept you, Ellen?
232
00:12:55.779 --> 00:12:59.379
I couldn't find the cartridges at first. I'll show Mr.
233
00:12:59.419 --> 00:13:02.039
Guttschall how it works. It's all loaded, ready to shoot.
234
00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:06.220
This is the safety. Just push it forward and up.
235
00:13:07.340 --> 00:13:08.259
There ain't shots in it.
236
00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:09.639
Did you load the chamber, Ellen?
237
00:13:10.059 --> 00:13:14.769
Oh, sure. It's unsafe now. You understand how it works, Mr.
238
00:13:14.809 --> 00:13:18.710
Guttschall? Yes, yes, I understand. Thank you, Mr. Hartley.
239
00:13:19.169 --> 00:13:20.129
Thank you, Sandy.
240
00:13:20.289 --> 00:13:23.429
Goodbye. Goodbye, Mr. Guttschall. Return the gun when you're done. Yes,
241
00:13:23.490 --> 00:13:24.710
I'll be done with it soon. Goodbye.
242
00:13:25.210 --> 00:13:25.840
Goodbye.
243
00:13:27.710 --> 00:13:29.629
Alan, you shouldn't have loaded that gun.
244
00:13:30.509 --> 00:13:32.980
I guess it's all over now. I had to keep
245
00:13:33.019 --> 00:13:35.440
you from fooling with it. Didn't want you to see
246
00:13:35.539 --> 00:13:37.039
I took out the firing pin.
247
00:13:37.500 --> 00:13:38.039
You what?
248
00:13:39.159 --> 00:13:41.879
I sure didn't want that gun to shoot a dog.
249
00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:47.029
He's a fanatic. He sees visions, hears voices. The voices
250
00:13:47.090 --> 00:13:50.370
probably put him up to this. I'll submit that any
251
00:13:50.429 --> 00:13:55.049
man who holds intimate conversations with disembodied spirits isn't to
252
00:13:55.070 --> 00:13:58.450
be trusted with a gun. He wants to shoot his wife.
253
00:13:58.950 --> 00:14:00.389
What are you talking about?
254
00:14:00.490 --> 00:14:02.889
While I was upstairs, I called the police. I put
255
00:14:02.929 --> 00:14:05.549
a handkerchief over my mouth and told them I was you.
256
00:14:05.669 --> 00:14:08.019
You... Why'd you have to do that?
257
00:14:08.419 --> 00:14:11.039
I couldn't have told them this is little Alan Hartley,
258
00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:12.179
13 years old.
259
00:14:12.340 --> 00:14:14.559
And suppose he really wants to shoot a dog. What
260
00:14:14.620 --> 00:14:16.000
kind of a mess will I be in then?
261
00:14:16.019 --> 00:14:20.200
No mess, because of life. But you'll have to front
262
00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:22.350
for me. They give me a lot of cheap boy
263
00:14:22.649 --> 00:14:24.789
hero publicity, which I don't want.
264
00:14:24.809 --> 00:14:28.519
This is crazy, Alan. This is absolutely crazy.
265
00:14:28.940 --> 00:14:31.759
We'll have the complete returns in 20 minutes.
266
00:14:42.789 --> 00:14:43.409
Mr. Hartley?
267
00:14:43.450 --> 00:14:43.649
Mr.
268
00:14:43.690 --> 00:14:45.070
Blake Hartley? That's right.
269
00:14:45.870 --> 00:14:48.049
I'm Detective Sergeant Kaborski from Homicide.
270
00:14:48.070 --> 00:14:52.129
Here's your Luger. Thank you.
271
00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:54.759
I don't know how you spotted that guy, but when
272
00:14:54.779 --> 00:14:56.860
we busted in, he was pointing that gun at his wife,
273
00:14:56.879 --> 00:14:58.639
swearing a blue sweet, because it wouldn't go off.
274
00:14:58.740 --> 00:15:02.549
Well, I'm glad I was able to help. They may
275
00:15:02.590 --> 00:15:04.909
have some kind of citation, Mr. Hartley. Oh, I don't
276
00:15:04.929 --> 00:15:05.769
think that's necessary.
277
00:15:06.009 --> 00:15:08.789
Well, in the department, we figure a little publicity never
278
00:15:08.830 --> 00:15:09.450
hurt nobody.
279
00:15:10.250 --> 00:15:13.730
Even a lawyer, huh? I really preferred to have it
280
00:15:13.769 --> 00:15:14.429
kept quiet.
281
00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:18.159
Well, whatever you say, we'll want you to drop around
282
00:15:18.179 --> 00:15:19.240
in the morning for a statement.
283
00:15:19.539 --> 00:15:21.120
I'll be glad to. Well.
284
00:15:21.549 --> 00:15:21.970
Thanks, Mr.
285
00:15:21.990 --> 00:15:22.289
Hartley.
286
00:15:22.490 --> 00:15:24.509
Goodbye. Goodbye, sonny.
287
00:15:24.950 --> 00:15:31.399
Goodbye, Sergeant. Why don't you take the citation, Dad?
288
00:15:31.740 --> 00:15:39.820
Well, you were right. You saved that woman's life. Let's
289
00:15:41.100 --> 00:15:43.600
see you put back the firing pin. Sure.
290
00:15:43.620 --> 00:15:48.019
There.
291
00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:50.639
Suppose we have a little talk.
292
00:15:51.870 --> 00:15:53.429
But I explained everything.
293
00:15:53.490 --> 00:15:56.809
You did not. Yesterday, you wouldn't even have known how
294
00:15:56.830 --> 00:16:00.529
to take this pistol apart. Today, you've been using language
295
00:16:00.570 --> 00:16:03.649
and expressing ideas that are outside of everything you've ever
296
00:16:03.710 --> 00:16:06.629
known before. Now I want to know.
297
00:16:08.009 --> 00:16:11.980
I hope you're not toying with the medieval notion of obsession.
298
00:16:12.929 --> 00:16:13.149
What?
299
00:16:14.299 --> 00:16:17.799
You say I'm changed. When did you first notice this?
300
00:16:18.539 --> 00:16:22.059
Last night, you were still my little boy. This morning,
301
00:16:22.100 --> 00:16:26.830
I don't know. You've been strange all day. Alan, what's
302
00:16:26.850 --> 00:16:27.470
happened to you?
303
00:16:28.539 --> 00:16:31.830
I wish I could be sure myself, Dad. You see,
304
00:16:32.610 --> 00:16:35.090
when I woke up this morning, all I could remember
305
00:16:35.129 --> 00:16:38.269
was lying on a stretcher injured by a bomb explosion.
306
00:16:39.289 --> 00:16:43.990
I was 43 years old and the year was 1975.
307
00:16:43.990 --> 00:16:53.409
1975? That's right. UB-43 in 1975. But... but... a bomb.
308
00:16:53.580 --> 00:16:56.840
Yes, during the siege of Buffalo in the Third World War.
309
00:16:57.580 --> 00:17:01.340
I was the captain in G-5 scientific warfare, general staff.
310
00:17:01.700 --> 00:17:04.799
Buffalo? You mean Buffalo, New York?
311
00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.009
Yes, there'd been a trans-polar invasion of Canada. I was
312
00:17:09.069 --> 00:17:11.450
sent to the front to check on service failures of
313
00:17:11.490 --> 00:17:15.390
a new lubricating oil. I got hit by a bomb blast.
314
00:17:16.220 --> 00:17:19.259
I remember being picked up and getting a narcotic injection.
315
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:22.339
The next thing I knew, I was in bed upstairs,
316
00:17:22.380 --> 00:17:26.089
and it was 1945 again. And I was back in
317
00:17:26.130 --> 00:17:28.130
my own 13-year-old body.
318
00:17:31.789 --> 00:17:35.230
Alan, you just had a nightmare to end all nightmares,
319
00:17:35.250 --> 00:17:35.650
that's all.
320
00:17:35.670 --> 00:17:38.960
I thought it might be that at first, but I
321
00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:41.480
rejected it. It wouldn't fit the facts.
322
00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:45.960
But it's ridiculous, all this Battle of Buffalo stuff. You
323
00:17:46.019 --> 00:17:48.700
picked it up listening to the radio. All the commentators
324
00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:50.500
have been going on about another war after this one.
325
00:17:51.339 --> 00:17:54.019
You've just got an undigested chunk of H.V. Calvin born
326
00:17:54.059 --> 00:17:54.900
in your subconscious.
327
00:17:55.160 --> 00:17:58.460
But that isn't everything. I remember four years of high school,
328
00:17:58.539 --> 00:18:01.700
four years at Cornell, seven years as a reporter on
329
00:18:01.720 --> 00:18:05.900
the Philadelphia Record, three novels, Children of the Mist, Rose
330
00:18:05.940 --> 00:18:09.650
of Death, and Conqueror's Road. I wrote detective stories under
331
00:18:09.670 --> 00:18:12.809
a phony name. I worked in chemistry. You think a
332
00:18:12.829 --> 00:18:15.269
13-year-old can dream up all that stuff?
333
00:18:15.779 --> 00:18:17.859
It's the only possible explanation.
334
00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:21.940
Maybe, but I can speak five languages today that I
335
00:18:22.039 --> 00:18:27.759
couldn't yesterday. French, German, Chinese, Russian, and Spanish. Although I've
336
00:18:27.779 --> 00:18:30.269
got a Mexican accent you could cut with a knife.
337
00:18:31.910 --> 00:18:34.769
But how'd it happen? I can't believe it.
338
00:18:35.470 --> 00:18:38.359
All I know is here I am. I've been reading
339
00:18:38.410 --> 00:18:43.039
up on time theories. Nobody seems to know much about them. Evidently,
340
00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:47.680
time exists parallel as another dimension. And I've got kicked
341
00:18:47.740 --> 00:18:49.500
backwards somehow.
342
00:18:49.880 --> 00:18:50.640
But how?
343
00:18:51.160 --> 00:18:54.549
It may have been the radiations from the bomb. Or
344
00:18:54.609 --> 00:19:00.190
the narcotic injection. Or both together. But the fact remains
345
00:19:00.289 --> 00:19:03.849
I'm here with full knowledge of my future identity.
346
00:19:04.849 --> 00:19:07.329
This is quite a shock, Ellen.
347
00:19:08.920 --> 00:19:10.680
But you do believe me, don't you?
348
00:19:11.460 --> 00:19:15.670
Yes, I suppose I must. You seem so strange as
349
00:19:16.670 --> 00:19:17.490
if you weren't my son.
350
00:19:17.509 --> 00:19:20.730
I'm your son, all right. The same body as yesterday.
351
00:19:20.910 --> 00:19:22.930
I've just had an educational shortcut.
352
00:19:26.150 --> 00:19:30.160
Wait a minute. If you can remember the next 30 years,
353
00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:32.480
suppose you tell me when the war is going to end.
354
00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:34.440
This one against the Japs, I mean.
355
00:19:35.250 --> 00:19:35.529
Sure.
356
00:19:35.750 --> 00:19:39.069
The Japanese surrender will be announced at exactly 7 or
357
00:19:39.069 --> 00:19:43.359
1 p.m. on August 14th, a week from Tuesday. Better
358
00:19:43.400 --> 00:19:45.279
make sure we have plenty of grub in the house
359
00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:48.730
by then. Everything will be closed up tight till Thursday morning.
360
00:19:49.349 --> 00:19:52.430
Even the restaurant. I remember we had nothing to eat
361
00:19:52.470 --> 00:19:53.809
in the house but some scraps.
362
00:19:53.869 --> 00:19:56.210
Tuesday week? That's pretty sudden, isn't it?
363
00:19:56.750 --> 00:19:57.710
Not after today.
364
00:19:57.730 --> 00:19:58.809
What do you mean?
365
00:19:58.829 --> 00:20:00.410
What happened today? Plenty.
366
00:20:01.470 --> 00:20:02.569
What time is it, Dad?
367
00:20:02.910 --> 00:20:06.950
Um, 11.16. Is your watch right? To the second. Why?
368
00:20:07.750 --> 00:20:11.740
It'll come at exactly 11... 1740.
369
00:20:11.740 --> 00:20:12.559
What'll come?
370
00:20:12.700 --> 00:20:13.880
The radio announcement.
371
00:20:14.059 --> 00:20:16.059
What are you getting at? Something important on the radio?
372
00:20:16.519 --> 00:20:17.019
We'll see.
373
00:20:17.299 --> 00:20:20.359
Don't bother, Dad. It won't work. I remember we had
374
00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:21.359
a tube burned out.
375
00:20:21.700 --> 00:20:25.410
Yeah, there is something wrong. What is this announcement of yours?
376
00:20:26.150 --> 00:20:31.069
I memorized it in journalism school at Columbia in 1954.
377
00:20:31.069 --> 00:20:31.789
What time is it?
378
00:20:31.769 --> 00:20:33.769
1118.
379
00:20:33.869 --> 00:20:38.400
They're breaking into the programs now. President Truman has just
380
00:20:38.460 --> 00:20:41.680
announced that an atomic bomb has been dropped on the
381
00:20:42.099 --> 00:20:47.039
Japanese industrial city of Hiroshima. The bomb was dropped 16
382
00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:50.779
hours ago, and the announcement was delayed to ascertain the
383
00:20:50.819 --> 00:20:55.430
results of the explosion. A man named John Howard Peterson
384
00:20:55.470 --> 00:20:58.920
read the announcement from the Washington newsroom of NBC. I....
385
00:21:00.309 --> 00:21:01.089
I don't believe it.
386
00:21:01.250 --> 00:21:06.680
No? Listen... That's the Burt Plate factory whistle and the
387
00:21:06.759 --> 00:21:11.480
bells at St. Boniface. Next, the whistle at the volunteer firehouse.
388
00:21:12.140 --> 00:21:14.480
And it's true. It is true.
389
00:21:14.740 --> 00:21:15.180
Sure.
390
00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:19.390
Then Larry Morton came by on his bicycle. Hey, hey, Al,
391
00:21:19.430 --> 00:21:23.089
you hear? You hear about the bomb? An atomic bomb. Yeah,
392
00:21:23.109 --> 00:21:25.750
we heard. Boy, atomic bomb.
393
00:21:26.430 --> 00:21:27.089
Oh, boy.
394
00:21:27.470 --> 00:21:30.930
I gotta go find my pop. He's on the golf course. Bye, Al. Bye, Mr.
395
00:21:30.990 --> 00:21:31.509
Hartley.
396
00:21:31.569 --> 00:21:32.220
You knew him.
397
00:21:33.069 --> 00:21:33.990
You knew about it?
398
00:21:33.990 --> 00:21:35.869
The next bomb hit Snackersacky.
399
00:21:36.309 --> 00:21:38.869
I thought that stuff about atomic energy was so much fantasy.
400
00:21:40.269 --> 00:21:42.150
Was that the kind of bomb that got you?
401
00:21:42.589 --> 00:21:45.519
That was a firecracker compared to the one that got me.
402
00:21:46.210 --> 00:21:49.240
It was a God in 98, exploded 10 miles away.
403
00:21:49.619 --> 00:21:51.440
And that's going to happen in 30 years?
404
00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:52.660
I remember it.
405
00:21:53.539 --> 00:21:57.470
How about, well, how about me? Wait, never mind, I...
406
00:21:58.769 --> 00:22:00.269
Don't think I better know when I'm going to die.
407
00:22:00.289 --> 00:22:02.970
I couldn't tell you anyway. I had a letter from
408
00:22:03.009 --> 00:22:05.430
you just before I left for the front. You were
409
00:22:05.430 --> 00:22:08.470
78 then, and you were still hunting and fishing and
410
00:22:08.569 --> 00:22:09.710
flying your own plane.
411
00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:14.960
But another war and fought on American soil. Alan, I
412
00:22:15.259 --> 00:22:16.559
wish this hadn't happened to you.
413
00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:17.900
It happened.
414
00:22:18.359 --> 00:22:21.599
I remember it. But if I can help it, I'm
415
00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:24.210
not going to get killed in any battle of Buffalo.
416
00:22:24.630 --> 00:22:27.390
But if you remember it, if time exists as a
417
00:22:27.410 --> 00:22:30.349
parallel dimension, Then every tick we're getting closer to that
418
00:22:30.369 --> 00:22:31.269
third world war.
419
00:22:31.789 --> 00:22:34.769
Dad, you know what I remember when Gutro came to
420
00:22:34.809 --> 00:22:35.549
borrow that gun?
421
00:22:35.569 --> 00:22:37.650
I suppose that you suspected him and warned me.
422
00:22:37.990 --> 00:22:41.109
No, no, that wasn't it. The other time, the first
423
00:22:41.170 --> 00:22:44.750
time when I was really 13. I wasn't home. I'd
424
00:22:44.789 --> 00:22:47.829
been swimming at the canoe club with Larry Morton. When
425
00:22:47.890 --> 00:22:49.930
I got home about half an hour from now, I
426
00:22:49.970 --> 00:22:51.230
found the house full of cops.
427
00:22:51.299 --> 00:22:52.740
What if the gun didn't fire?
428
00:22:52.779 --> 00:22:56.740
What makes you think it didn't? That Joe talked the
429
00:22:56.740 --> 00:22:59.190
38 out of you. Went home, shot his wife four
430
00:22:59.269 --> 00:23:01.509
times in the body, once behind the ear, and used
431
00:23:01.529 --> 00:23:03.970
the sixth shot to blow his own brains out.
432
00:23:04.390 --> 00:23:05.490
That's what you remember?
433
00:23:06.109 --> 00:23:11.559
Yes, but now it hasn't happened because I warned you. Dad,
434
00:23:11.980 --> 00:23:14.559
I found out the future can be changed.
435
00:23:14.759 --> 00:23:16.539
One man can't change the whole future.
436
00:23:16.920 --> 00:23:18.660
I stopped the murder and suicide.
437
00:23:18.839 --> 00:23:19.880
I know, son, but.
438
00:23:19.900 --> 00:23:22.220
With 30 years to work, I can stop a world war.
439
00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:24.200
I'll have the means.
440
00:23:24.700 --> 00:23:25.160
The means?
441
00:23:25.380 --> 00:23:29.059
Unlimited wealth and influence. I've got a good memory, Dad.
442
00:23:29.400 --> 00:23:31.460
Wrote a list out this afternoon. Look at this.
443
00:23:32.920 --> 00:23:40.460
Assault, jet pilot, citation, ponder, middle ground, counter... What is this, code? Horses.
444
00:23:40.920 --> 00:23:46.000
That's a list of Kentucky Derby winners from 1946 to 1970.
445
00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:46.779
You sure?
446
00:23:47.019 --> 00:23:49.220
I learned that list on a bet at the officer's
447
00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:53.690
club in Cincinnati in 1971. A salt paid eight to one.
448
00:23:54.630 --> 00:23:56.210
You figure out what we can take in.
449
00:23:56.329 --> 00:23:58.730
Oh, but gambling... This isn't gambling.
450
00:23:58.809 --> 00:24:01.869
It's a sure thing. When we get rolling, we'll make
451
00:24:01.890 --> 00:24:03.829
the Rockefellers look like pikers.
452
00:24:05.430 --> 00:24:08.750
A salt is eight to one. I suppose I could
453
00:24:08.789 --> 00:24:15.279
scrape up $ 5, 000. In ten years, that'll make a lot
454
00:24:15.319 --> 00:24:20.119
of money. Any other little thing you have in mind, Alan?
455
00:24:20.759 --> 00:24:26.460
By 1952, we start building a political organization here in Pennsylvania.
456
00:24:26.619 --> 00:24:29.519
In 1960, I think we can elect you president.
457
00:24:29.599 --> 00:24:34.720
Of course, I... President? Isn't that going a little too far?
458
00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:37.960
Why not? Who wouldn't vote for a politician who was
459
00:24:38.119 --> 00:24:43.059
always right? Besides, that's one thing we've got to change.
460
00:24:44.099 --> 00:24:46.599
In 1960, we had a man in the White House
461
00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:49.109
who was good to his wife and sang a nice tenor.
462
00:24:49.809 --> 00:24:53.690
And that's about all. He fouled up so completely we
463
00:24:53.789 --> 00:24:57.819
ended up at war. I think President Hartley might be
464
00:24:57.859 --> 00:25:00.259
a little more trusted to take a strong line.
465
00:25:00.299 --> 00:25:03.160
Well, I don't know anything about international decisions.
466
00:25:03.500 --> 00:25:07.410
I do. I know all the wrong ones. If we
467
00:25:07.450 --> 00:25:10.789
can stop a murder, with time we can stop a war.
468
00:25:12.190 --> 00:25:12.950
How do I start?
469
00:25:13.289 --> 00:25:17.230
Well, as I remember, just after that bomb announcement, you
470
00:25:17.269 --> 00:25:20.130
got a phone call from the city fusion party about
471
00:25:20.150 --> 00:25:21.170
the next election.
472
00:25:21.210 --> 00:25:22.940
Well, there's a lot of talk about a reform ticket.
473
00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:27.160
That call is going to be important, Dad. It's the
474
00:25:27.259 --> 00:25:31.500
turning point. You've got... There it is.
475
00:25:33.400 --> 00:25:33.900
What do I do?
476
00:25:34.200 --> 00:25:34.680
Answer it.
477
00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:36.980
Go ahead. But, Alan, I.
478
00:25:37.009 --> 00:25:39.769
Don't worry. I'll tell you what to say. Go ahead.
479
00:25:39.789 --> 00:25:40.170
Go ahead.
480
00:25:42.140 --> 00:25:52.410
Hello? Yes, this is Blake Hartley. Judge Crimmins? Well, just
481
00:25:52.450 --> 00:25:55.509
a moment. Alan, he's asking me to run.
482
00:25:55.970 --> 00:25:59.509
Oh, my head.
483
00:25:59.670 --> 00:26:01.210
Alan. Alan, what's the matter?
484
00:26:01.799 --> 00:26:02.059
Alan.
485
00:26:02.299 --> 00:26:06.019
He passed out. Alan, what do I do now? Alan,
486
00:26:06.039 --> 00:26:09.559
listen to me. Alan. Alan, what's the matter? Alan. Alan.
487
00:26:24.109 --> 00:26:31.380
Captain Hartley. Captain Hartley. Captain Hartley. It's all right, Doctor.
488
00:26:31.400 --> 00:26:33.140
I gave him the shot and he was all right.
489
00:26:34.440 --> 00:26:35.140
He's dead.
490
00:26:36.440 --> 00:26:40.759
All right, Sergeant, make up the tag. Yes, sir. Hartley, Allen, Captain.
491
00:26:41.140 --> 00:26:44.299
Dead August 8th, 1975.
492
00:26:58.349 --> 00:26:58.589
Ellen.
493
00:26:59.089 --> 00:27:00.470
Ellen, what happened? Ellen.
494
00:27:01.109 --> 00:27:01.390
Ellen.
495
00:27:01.630 --> 00:27:03.450
Huh? Ellen, are you all right?
496
00:27:04.650 --> 00:27:05.589
Hi, Dad.
497
00:27:05.769 --> 00:27:07.089
I've got Judge Crimmins on the phone. What do I
498
00:27:07.109 --> 00:27:07.349
tell him?
499
00:27:07.849 --> 00:27:08.170
What?
500
00:27:08.589 --> 00:27:10.210
Ellen, are you all right? You passed out.
501
00:27:10.890 --> 00:27:14.970
Sure, I'm all right. Hey, today's my birthday, isn't it?
502
00:27:15.190 --> 00:27:17.170
What did you get me, Dad? What did you get me?
503
00:27:17.450 --> 00:27:18.549
Alan, are you all right?
504
00:27:18.650 --> 00:27:21.690
Sure, I'm okay. What did you get for my birthday, huh?
505
00:27:21.809 --> 00:27:24.089
Don't you remember the Third World War?
506
00:27:24.150 --> 00:27:28.609
What Third World War? Gee, Dad, what's the matter? You're
507
00:27:28.650 --> 00:27:30.890
looking at me funny.
508
00:27:31.109 --> 00:27:38.390
Judge Crimmins, I'll have to call you back. Goodbye. You
509
00:27:38.430 --> 00:27:44.119
don't remember. You're back again, aren't you? Back to 13
510
00:27:44.119 --> 00:27:44.599
years old.
511
00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:48.789
Sure, I'm 13 today. For corn's sakes, Dad.
512
00:27:48.849 --> 00:27:51.789
You must have died up there. It was only a
513
00:27:51.849 --> 00:27:57.509
mine transfer. That means now I'm on my own. I
514
00:27:57.529 --> 00:27:59.130
have to do it myself without your help.
515
00:27:59.549 --> 00:28:03.289
Help for what? Oh, if it's the grass, I said
516
00:28:03.329 --> 00:28:04.490
I'd cut it tomorrow.
517
00:28:04.509 --> 00:28:06.769
No, no, it isn't the grass. I've got to save
518
00:28:06.789 --> 00:28:09.609
your life, Ellen. I can't let you die that way
519
00:28:09.650 --> 00:28:12.440
in 1975. What are you talking about, Dad?
520
00:28:13.950 --> 00:28:14.769
You sound goofy.
521
00:28:14.990 --> 00:28:16.569
I've got to change it all by myself.
522
00:28:16.829 --> 00:28:17.829
Change what?
523
00:28:17.890 --> 00:28:20.309
Never mind, Alan. You don't know yet. Come on. Let's
524
00:28:20.349 --> 00:28:20.769
have lunch.
525
00:28:21.509 --> 00:28:24.309
Sure, Dad. Hey, how about my present now? What did
526
00:28:24.349 --> 00:28:25.369
you get me for my birthday?
527
00:28:25.390 --> 00:28:27.690
Hey, in a minute, son. Go on in.
528
00:28:28.369 --> 00:28:29.369
Hurry up, Dad.
529
00:28:29.589 --> 00:28:29.990
All right.
530
00:28:30.009 --> 00:28:35.839
Now, where'd I put that list of horses?
531
00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:54.160
You have just heard another adventure into the unknown world
532
00:28:54.200 --> 00:28:56.599
of the future. The world of.
533
00:28:56.619 --> 00:29:01.299
Dimension X! X! X! X!
534
00:29:13.049 --> 00:29:17.410
Homecoming is a joyous word. But when the home you're
535
00:29:17.450 --> 00:29:22.509
returning to is a burned-out, radioactive planet, and when you
536
00:29:22.549 --> 00:29:25.950
cannot even imagine what terrible changes you will find there,
537
00:29:26.890 --> 00:29:31.299
the word then takes on a very different meaning. Next week,
538
00:29:31.339 --> 00:29:35.099
Dimension X brings you a strange story called.
539
00:29:35.220 --> 00:29:37.220
Dwellers in Silence.
540
00:29:46.130 --> 00:29:48.660
Dimension X is brought to you each week by the
541
00:29:48.680 --> 00:29:53.380
National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Street & Smith, publishers
542
00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:58.460
of the magazine Astounding Science Fiction. Today, Dimension X is
543
00:29:58.500 --> 00:30:02.630
presented time and time again Written for radio by Ernest
544
00:30:02.670 --> 00:30:04.339
Canoy and the story by H.
545
00:30:04.390 --> 00:30:05.210
Beam Piper.
546
00:30:06.029 --> 00:30:07.470
Featured in the cast were.
547
00:30:07.329 --> 00:30:10.910
David Anderson as Alan and Joseph Curtin as his dad.
548
00:30:11.970 --> 00:30:16.930
Your host was Norman Rose. Music by Albert Berman. Dimension
549
00:30:17.029 --> 00:30:20.279
X is produced by William Welch and directed by Fred Way.
550
00:30:30.150 --> 00:30:34.000
That completes Dimension X, Episode 39, Time and Time Again.
551
00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:37.730
Follow Dimension X for more classic science fiction broadcasts.
