X Minus One - Cold Equations

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1:02Get a big something extra. With a big mac or 10-piece McNuggets, fries and a medium coke all for just $9. Limited time only, promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing. Bada, bada, bada. Goddamn, per blast off. X minus five, four, three, two, X minus one, fire. Bada. From the far horizons of the unknown, come transcribed tales of new dimensions in time and space. These are stories of the future, adventures in which you'll live in a million

2:02could be years on a thousand maybe worlds. The national broadcasting company in cooperation with Street and Smith, publishers of astounding science fiction presents. X minus one, one, one, one. The Night Story. Cold equations. There is no margin of safety along the rim of a frontier. There can't be any until the way is made for those who come later. Until then, the penalty for mistakes is a grim one. A laws of physical nature operate with irrevocable certainty, with no room for mercy, kindness or sentimentality. In space, life becomes a cold equation. And the equal sign is often followed by death. I know. I'm the pilot of an EDS.

3:03Come in. You're set for me, Commander? Yes. Sit down, Barton. We just got an EDS from the territorial space station on Walden. Walden? That's in the crab nebula, isn't it? That's right. There are two exploration parties there on Manning's continent, eight Manich. They've got Call of Evern one of them and no serum. Oh. And I thought this was going to be a nice quiet passenger run. Computers are working out your payload and your course right now. In exactly 10 minutes, we'll drop in a normal space and launch your ship. I'll get it ready. One thing. What's that? Walden is at the maximum pay limit for an EDS. Figuring the weight of the serum will be able to give you just enough fuel to land on Manning's continent if you make it the first pass. Otherwise, you'll burn out in mid-air. Standard procedure. Report the launching control. Right. Good luck, Barton. Thanks. Oh, by the way. Yes? When can I expect to be picked up? We'll make a stop on the run back to Earth sometime next year. You'll be notified by radio.

4:03OK. Sorry, we can't make it sooner. That's what happens when you sign on for EDS work. I'll see you next year, Commander. Down in the belly of the Stardust, the crew was working like beavers to get the EDS, the emergency dispatch ship ready. Mechanics and technicians were swarming all over the place. Girls and inspectors' uniforms were checking the gauges in the supply cabinet. Nine minutes later, the exact course was in the computer. The serum was stored in my supply cabinet closet. And little EDS 4G3 was ready to be born into space. Barton? Yes, sir. Thirty seconds to blast off. All set? All set. I'm turning you over to traffic. Ready. Traffic control. Community EDS 4G3. Ready. Twenty seconds. Lock open. Fifteen seconds.

5:05Space drive on. Space drive on. Ten seconds. Gravity neutralizer on. Neutralizer on. Five seconds. Four, three, two, one. Blast off. I don't remember how long it was afterwards that I first noticed something wrong. Maybe an hour, maybe two. There was nothing to show it except the needle and the heat gauge. It was on zero when we left the Stardust. And now I noticed that it had crept up toward the thirty mark. That meant something inside the ship was radiating heat. That something was in the supply closet and it was alive. All right. Come out. Whoever or whatever you are, if you don't come out in five seconds, I'm going to blast

6:06you. One, two. Well, I'll be. Hello. I'm Marilyn Lee Cross. What are you doing in there? I'm a stowaway. Oh my. What's the matter? Do I have to pay a fine or something? What are you doing here? I wanted to see my husband. Who's your husband? He's with the government survey crew on Woden. I haven't seen him since he left Earth four years ago. Okay. But what made you hide in my EDS? I have a job waiting for me on Mimir. But I heard you were going to Woden and there was plenty of room so I hid. Why do I be breaking some kind of rule? But what's one little rule? Huh. What's one little rule? H amount of fuel will power an EDS with a mass of M safely to its destination. H amount of fuel will not power an EDS with a mass of M plus X safely to its destination.

7:11Now how could she be expected to know? She was five two with brown curly hair and the faint sweet smell of perfume. She was five two and she smelled like apple blossoms. And her name was X, in an equation that would have to be balanced. Start us. Come in EDS. Come in. This is Barton, emergency dispatch pilot 4G3. Go ahead. Give me Commander Delhardt. What's the message EDS? I have to consult Commander Delhardt. The Commander is busy. Listen you squirt. Give me Commander Delhardt. One moment, 4G3. Commander Delhardt, emergency message from EDS 4G3. This is Delhardt. What is it? At 0800 hours I discovered a storeway aboard my ship. A storeway? Yes, sir. Well, have you notified ships records? Not yet, sir. You know the regulations as well as I do. Of course I know the regulations.

8:11That's why I'm called. Barton, what's going on? Sir, this is a girl, a young woman. She wanted to see her husband on Whadden. She didn't know what she was doing. I see. I wanted, sir. Maybe the cruiser could change course or something? I'm afraid not. We're hundreds of light years apart now. We have a limited fuel supplier sells with 900 passengers. Is there any chance? No. OK, skipper. Better get the information to ship records. OK. Barton, skipper. I'm sorry. Yeah, sure. You've got our acceleration, didn't you? Yes. Why? Well, safe fuel. For a while. How did you manage to stow away? I was taking a language lesson in memories from a girl in the inspection corps.

9:12The order came in for your trip. I just went along on an impulse. That was easy. I'll be a model prisoner, I promise. If you were only a thief or a spy, it would make it easier. Make what easier? Forget it. Why couldn't she have been somebody with some ulterior motive of fugitive hoping to lose himself in a raw new world about the crackpot with a mission? Why did she have to be a woman? A beautiful, kind, trusting woman. Start us. Barton, EDS 4G3. Go ahead, 4G3. Identify your stowaway. Give me your identification disc, Miss Cross. Here. Why? It's for ships records. Identification number T8374. One moment. This is for the gray card, of course.

10:13Yes. I'll need the timer. I'll tell you later. That's highly irregular. Then we'll do it in a highly irregular manner. The subject is a young woman. She's listening to everything that's said. Are you capable of understanding that? Go ahead, 4G3. Number T8374-y54. Name, Maryland Lee Cross. Female, Married. Born July 7, 2160. Good Lord, you're only a child. A height five feet, two inches, weight 110. Hair, brown, eyes blue, complexion light, blood type O, original destination, port city, Memeer. Listen, I'll call you back later. Look, Miss. Maryland. Look, Maryland. I guess you don't know what you got yourself into here. Well, it's like this. This ship is carrying Calla Fever's serum

11:14to the Survey Group on Walden. Their supply was wrecked in a tornado. The fever is always fatal, unless the serum is given in the first 48 hours. Now, these little ships have exactly enough fuel to reach their destination. If you stay aboard her, your added weight will cause it to use up all its fuel before it can land. What happens then? We crash. You die, I die, and six fever victims on Walden die. Can't they send out another ship to meet us? There are no ships to send. Well, I know. I know you couldn't do that. That's how it has to be. But that's crazy. I haven't done anything. I haven't heard anybody. I'm sorry. I should have told you before, but I wanted to make sure there was no other way. You mean it? You're going to make me leave the ship? That's how it is. But I'll die. I'll explode. I'll be like those horrible pictures about... Try to understand. I do understand.

12:14You're going to kill me, and I didn't do anything. I know you didn't. I know you didn't. That has nothing to do with it. It has everything to do with it. Nobody just dies like that for no reason. Oh, listen. Maybe there are other cruisers. Cruisers, you don't know about. Maybe the radio. Maybe it will be... Now listen to me. It's different here. Different from anything you've ever known. Onwarden, there are 16 men, 16 men on an entire world. They're fighting. Fighting in an alien environment. The environment fights back. You're going to only make a mistake once. And I made a mistake. Yes. Yes. No hope. Absolutely none. You have to be put out of the ship. BELL RINGS It was better so. With the going of all hope would go the fear. Then would come the resignation. She needed time, and there was so little.

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14:17Statistics. This is EDS 4G3. I'm intersecting course vector 7.3 at 0831. Deceleration 1750, weight 1 ton. I would like to stay at 0.10 as long as the computers allow. Will you give them the question? Check, I'll call you back. We wouldn't have long to wait. The new factors would be fed into the steel wall of the computer bank and the electrical impulses would go through the complex circuits. Here in the Ararilae would click a tiny cog turnover. But it would be the current, formless, mindless, invisible, which would determine without our precision, how long the pale young girl beside me would live. Five little segments of metal in the second bank would trip against an inked ribbon, and the machine would spit out the answer. He will resume deceleration at 1910. It was 1810 when he spoke. One hour, she has one hour to live. One hour?

15:23That's it. All I did was hide in the closet. And now you tell me I have to die. I don't believe it. You might as well get used to it. This happened back on earth. A thousand ships would fill the sky. The whole world would know. And the world would know. And the world would know. A thousand ships would fill the sky. And the whole world would know about it. They'd do everything to save her. This isn't earth. It was such a big dream. Jerry and I separated almost five years ago. They were too young. And I was going to see him to try to make everything alright again. Are you married? I was. You're also not on love with someone on the weather service. Do you still think about it? I don't let myself. Where is she? Back on earth. If you don't mind, I'll talk about something else.

16:25Okay. What you do when you've got an hour to live? What do you talk about? What's Jerry like? Jerry. He's a funny guy. When he found out, I mean about the other fella. He didn't get mad. He cried. That was all he felt, sadness. So you walked all over? I thought I wanted him to get mad at me to be jealous. And now? I've been thinking about him for five years. So when I heard this ship was bound for Woden and I knew Jerry was there, I stowed away. I didn't know about the fuel. I didn't know this would happen to me. He had violated a man-made law that said keep out. The penalty was not of man's making or desire. It was not a penalty men could revoke.

17:27H, him out of fuel, will power an EDS with a mass of M safely to its destination. The time was 1830, 40 minutes. It was beginning to get me. A space frontier is a rough place, and I'd seen a hundred men die since I left Earth. But this was different. I watched her as she wrote a message to her folks. I watched her as she fought her way through the black horror of fear toward the calm grave acceptance. And then there it was on the view stream. The planet Woden, a red ball enshrouded in the blue haze of its atmosphere, swimming in space against the background of star-sprinkled blackness. The chronometer on the instrument panel said 1845. Listen, we're in radio range of Woden now. I mean, would you want me to try to contact your husband? Jerry? It would mean he would know you're going to die.

18:27There'd be nothing anyone can do. Yes. I would like to talk to him. Do you think we can? The planet is turning if his group is on the side facing us, we might be able to reach him. What's wrong? All right. Hello. Hello, Woden. EDS to government survey group. Can you hear me? Come in, Woden. They may not be monitoring. Hello. Hello. Hello. Identify yourself, please. This is government survey group one on planet Woden. This is John Barton, EDS pilot. You have the serum? Yes, how bad is it? One man died last night, six have the fever. How long will it take to... I started deceleration at 1910 hours. I should be able to land at 1930. Thank God. Look, do you have a Gerald Cross in charge of the group? Command across? Yes, we do. What I speak to him. He isn't here. He's out with the survey team. When do you expect him? Can't say. How do you read me?

19:27How much time do we have left for communication? Less than 15 minutes. All right. If Commander Cross comes back before we lose radio contact, will you have him buzz me? It's important. Okay, yes. I'll keep the set open. Check. A minute's passed like small bits of eternity. On the view screen, I could see Manning's continents sprawled like a gigantic hourglass in the eastern sea. There was a thin line of shadow where it was beginning to disappear as the planet turned on its axis. I looked at the pale woman next to me. And I thought of another woman long ago who'd sat next to me and cried because I wouldn't try to understand. What had she written in those letters back home? What would they think of the faceless, unknown pilot who'd sent her to her death? What would I think of myself alone nights reliving this voyage? Cold, isn't it?

20:28I'll turn up the thermostat. Nothing from Jerry. We have about two minutes of radio contact left. Maybe it's bear. I mean, suppose it were you and your wife tried to call you. How would you feel? I don't know. Do you ever hear from her? I got a letter about a year ago. I tore it up. That was foolish. Yeah, I was. Life is so terribly short to be wandering around alone. Well, I, uh, wait a second. We're getting something. How much time before I have to leave the ship? About ten minutes. Hello, EDS. Hello, EDS. Come in. Come in. EDS. This is Woten. I have Commander Cross. All right, go ahead. Hello. This is Commander Cross. Jerry Cross? Yes. I have someone for you. Go ahead. Hello. Jerry? Hello? Jerry? Who is it? It's me. Marilyn.

21:28Marilyn? I wanted to see you again. I stowed away on the EDS. You what? What, Marilyn? It doesn't matter, Jerry. All that matters is that I can tell you all the things I've kept inside for so long. Jerry, I want you to know I've never forgot. Oh, it's been so many years. I can't believe it. I thought I'd see you again, but now I can't. Jerry, you don't hate me, do you? Hate you. Marilyn, I've never stopped loving you. Not for an instant. Oh, Jerry. Listen, we don't have much time. The transmission is getting fuzzy. Marilyn, I've got to see you. There's got to be some way. There isn't. Let me talk to the pilot. Give me. Hello. Pilot, have you called the mothership? Did you have them checked with the computers? I've done everything. You've been on the front here long enough to know the setup in an EDS. Oh, dear God, there must be something some way. Do you think I'd let this happen if I wasn't sure? He tried to help me, Jerry. He tried. And it really doesn't matter. I'm not frightened anymore. Not now. But how did you get here? I don't understand.

22:29I was going to be mayor to take a job. I thought, now I realize it was, I was just going because I'd be closer to where you were. Oh, Jerry, all this time. Don't. Let me tell you something. Marilyn, I've always known you'd come back to me. I've known it every minute. It's what's kept me alive. I want you to hold that in your mind. Jerry, I can't hear you. We haven't much time. We're losing radio cuts. Jerry! I don't cry, darling. Just know how I feel. I do. It's fading. There are so many things to say. Jerry, if you can still hear me, maybe I'll come to see you again. Maybe I'll come to you in your dreams. Probably the touch of a breeze or one of those golden winged little birds singing my silly head off. Maybe I'll be nothing. You can see you're here, but you'll know I'm there. Think of me like that, Jerry. Goodbye. She sat motionless in the hush that followed.

23:32And then she looked at me. No. No. I pulled down the black lever and the inner door of the lock slid open. She walked with her head up and the brown curls brushing her shoulders. I let her do it alone. She stepped into the lock and turned to face me. And I could see the pulse in her throat. I'm ready. I pulled the red lever and there was a slight waiver as the air gushed out. I thought I sensed a bump as if something had bumped the outer door. And then there was nothing. The white hand of the closet temperature control was back at zero. A cold equation had been balanced and I was alone in the ship. The The The The

24:33The The The The The The You have just heard X-1 presented by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with street and Smith, publishers of astounding science fiction. Despite by transcription, X-1 has brought you cold equations written by Tom Godwin and adapted for radio by George Lefferts. Featured in the cast were court-pensened as Barton, J. Meredith as Marilyn, Milo Bolton as Commander Delhart, Bob Hastings as Jerry Cross, Jack Arthur as traffic control officer, and Walter Canceller as the Woden Monitor. Your answer, Bill Riffy, X-1 was directed by Ken McGregor and is an NBC radio network production. At now, next week, in the days of the wind jammers, well, or sometimes what untcruises

25:39that lasted as long as two years and so, sometimes they had to resort to rough methods to gather accrued. And one of the future, when accrues to a distant star may last for fifteen years or more. We hear of such a voyage next week on… Minus minus minus minus. One, one, one.