Dimension X - And The Moon Be Still As Bright - #26

Summary

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Podcast Summary:

Podcast: Harold's Old Time Radio
Episode: Dimension X - "And The Moon Be Still As Bright" (#26)
Air Date: May 5, 2026
Adapted From: Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles
Tone: Reflective, mournful, ultimately tragic science fiction drama

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Episode Overview

This episode of Dimension X adapts Ray Bradbury’s haunting story from The Martian Chronicles, exploring the fourth human expedition to Mars. The crew discovers the remains of Martian civilization, wiped out by a simple Earth disease. The episode centers around the philosophical divide between celebrating conquest and mourning irreversible loss, focusing especially on archaeologist Pargil Spender’s struggle with humanity’s destructive tendencies. This conflict escalates into violence and ends in tragedy, raising poignant questions about colonization, respect, and what makes a civilization truly civilized.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Landing on Mars and Discovery

• The crew lands cautiously, aware that previous expeditions have vanished (“Three other expeditions landed and disappeared within 24 hours. We’re not relaxing security until we find out what happened to them.” — Captain Wilder, 02:49).
• The city they find is alien and breathtaking in its architecture (“It’s a kind of engineering we couldn’t duplicate on Earth…Beautiful, aren’t they?” — Spender, 03:07).

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2. The Martian Catastrophe

• The crew discovers recent Martian corpses. Testing reveals they died of chickenpox (“People were living in it last week, sir…Martians…Dead…Hadn’t been dead more than 10 days…Chickenpox.” — 05:04–05:21).
• This revelation is met with horror and shame by Spender, who mourns their extinction by “a dirty, silly child’s disease…We didn’t even give them a decent excuse for dying. We just gave them chickenpox.” (05:56–06:03)

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3. Celebration and Desecration

• Other crew members want to celebrate their “victory,” drinking, making noise, and vandalizing Martian structures (“Why don’t we break out a bottle and celebrate?” — Biggs, 02:35; “Throw them away. Wait. How about that building? Two to one for a buck I can he went right through that window.” — 08:13–08:18).
• Spender is disgusted with their disrespect: “Celebrate? Because the world died? Because a rotten little virus from Earth wiped out a whole civilization?” (06:45)
• He warns, “We Earth men have a talent for ruining big beautiful things.” (09:25–09:26)

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4. Spender’s Moral Crisis

• Spender recites Lord Byron’s poem, framing the tragedy and the Martians’ end as poetic and deeply mournful (“So we'll go no more a-raving so late into the night...and the moon be still as bright…” — 11:57–12:43).
• As the crew ignores the loss, Spender walks away into the Martian city, overcome by the burden of what’s been done.

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5. Spender the Martian

• Days later, Spender reveals he has identified with the Martians, learned their language, and seeks to avenge Mars’ destruction by killing his own crewmates (“Let me ask you a question. How would you feel if you were a Martian and people came to your land and started to tear it up?” — 16:50–16:59; “I’m the last Martian…Biggs, I’m going to kill you.” — 17:43–17:45).

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6. Wilder–Spender Confrontation

• Spender’s motives come into focus in a quiet, tense conversation with Captain Wilder on a Martian hilltop:
  • “Why did you do it?” — Wilder (22:26)
  • “Because what these Martians had was just as good as anything we’ll ever hope to have…They knew how to combine science and art and religion. They knew how to live with dignity and peace.” — Spender (22:28–22:41)
  • Spender plans to kill as many Earthmen as possible to delay Mars’ colonization: “If I’m lucky, I’ll live to be 60. I’ll meet every expedition that lands on Mars…I’ll save Mars for half a century…” (23:06–23:43)
  • Wilder, though sympathetic, knows his duty always puts him in opposition to Spender.

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7. Final Showdown and Aftermath

• The episode ends with Spender's death at the hands of his captain and crewmates, after which Spender is buried with Martian rites:
  • “So we'll go no more a roving so late into the night…yet we'll go no more a roving by the light of the moon.” (Poem read by Captain Wilder, 28:06)
• The crew's disrespect briefly continues, but Wilder’s anger at the vandalism hints at the lasting impact of Spender’s plea (“Captain Wilder caught Parkhill and nearly knocked his teeth…” — 28:38)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Disease and Extinction:
  • “It's like saying the Greeks died of mumps. Or the proud Roman Empire collapsed because of athlete’s foot.” — Spender, 06:03
• On the Human Tendency to Destroy:
  • “We Earth men have a talent for ruining big beautiful things.” — Spender, 09:25
• Spender’s Empathy:
  • “How would you feel if you were a Martian and people came to your land and started to tear it up?” — Spender, 16:50
• Captain Wilder’s Dilemma:
  • “I may even agree with you about all this. That doesn’t change what I’ve got to do.” — Captain Wilder, 24:49
• The Poem (Byron):
  • “Though the night was made for loving. And the day returns too soon. Yet we’ll go no more a roving by the light of the moon.” — Spender/Captain Wilder, 12:00, 28:06

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Key Timestamps

• Arrival and Landing: 01:33–03:36
• Discovery of Dead Martians: 04:52–06:28
• Crew's Celebration and Spender's Disgust: 06:32–09:54
• Byron's Poem/Spender's Soliloquy: 11:54–12:43
• Spender's Transformation and Attack: 16:46–18:33
• Wilder & Spender’s Hilltop Conversation: 21:12–25:38
• Spender's Death: 27:00–27:37
• Spender's Burial / Final Poem: 28:06–28:38

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Thematic Takeaways

• The cost of colonialism: even unintentional, destruction follows.
• The tension between pragmatic survival and reverence for alien beauty.
• The fate of empathy in the face of institutionalized, collective actions.
• The haunting, poetic loss of a civilization, and the rarity of true respect for what’s different.

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This episode stands out for its emotional depth—a mournful, cautionary sci-fi story brought to life with poignant dialogue and a lyrical, tragic tone. It remains deeply relevant, warning of what can be lost when conquest and carelessness overpower wonder and respect.

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Transcript

[Pargil Spender]

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[Narrator]

Adventures in time and space told in future tense

[Biggs]

dimension.

[Narrator]

Tonight transcribed from Ray Bradbury's collection, the Martian Chronicles. We present and the Moon be still as bright. The first three expeditions to Mars left Earth in a mushroom of Flame Arc 3 and finally dwindled to tiny specks in the big eye of Mount Palomar telescope and then were lost to sight forever. The prearranged landing signals flashed back to Earth and then the radios went dead. One after the other ships had disappeared and were never heard from again. But still the rockets came. The fourth expedition emerged from the silent gulfs of space and angled down toward the floating red disk of Mars. Down into an orbit as the order came to land.

[Captain Wilder]

Stand by for deceleration.

[Pargil Spender]

Deceleration, aye, sir.

[Captain Wilder]

Skids down.

[Pargil Spender]

Skids down, sir.

[Captain Wilder]

Engine room.

[Pargil Spender]

Engine room, aye.

[Captain Wilder]

Landing procedure. Fire one, three and five.

[Biggs]

Aye, sir.

[Narrator]

The last blast of the bow jets broke red against the blue desert sands and the ship slid to a halt at the edge of a vast city that reflected the icy glare of the moonlight. For a while, all was still.

[Captain Wilder]

All right, Park Hill, open the airlock.

[Pargil Spender]

Aye, sir.

[Biggs]

Fresh air.

[Pargil Spender]

How about a fire? Captain Wyler? It's freezing.

[Captain Wilder]

Later. We got work to do.

[Biggs]

Smell that? Eh, you could get drunk on it. Say, there's an idea. Why don't we break out a bottle and celebrate?

[Captain Wilder]

Biggs, there'll be no drinking done till we're secured.

[Biggs]

But we're landed, Captain.

[Captain Wilder]

Three other expeditions landed and disappeared within 24 hours. We're not relaxing security until we find out what happened to them.

[Pargil Spender]

Maybe Martians.

[Captain Wilder]

Exactly. Pargil Spender, you're an archaeologist. How old would you say those buildings are? Somebody built these cities?

[Pargil Spender]

I can't tell till I study them more closely. It's a kind of engineering we couldn't duplicate on Earth. Those thin reed like towers and the stone filigree wouldn't stand up under Earth pressure. Beautiful, aren't they?

[Captain Wilder]

I'm not interested in the architecture now. I want to make sure there's nothing there that might be dangerous. Mr. Hathaway.

[Mr. Hathaway]

Yes, sir.

[Captain Wilder]

I want you to take a reconnaissance party into the city and find out what's there.

[Mr. Hathaway]

The cities all look dead from the air, sir.

[Captain Wilder]

They look dead, but I want to make sure. Mr. Spender, you better go with Hathaway.

[Pargil Spender]

Yes, sir.

[Captain Wilder]

Don't waste any time gathering relics either. You can make an archaeological study later. Right now I want a Security report, Biggs.

[Biggs]

Yes, sir.

[Captain Wilder]

We'll set up camp right here. No man is to go more than 50ft from the rocket. And there'll be no celebration until Hathaway and his party report back.

[Biggs]

No, sir. It's just that we've been cooped up in the.

[Captain Wilder]

That's all, Beggs. We've landed safely. We're not safe yet. Not until we know what we're up against here. We'll maintain full security till Hathaway gets back.

[Narrator]

In the sea bottoms. The wind stirred along faint vapors. And from the mountains great stone visages looked upon the silvery rocket and the small fire. The sky was black overhead as the two racing moons threw knife edge double shadows on the desert.

[Pargil Spender]

All right, Come and get it, cow. She got the eight, Jackie. Sawdust smothered in cold lamb fat. Good. I thought it was something I couldn't eat. Hey, you guys. Pipe down. Captain, Mr. Hathaway's back.

[Biggs]

Captain.

[Mr. Hathaway]

Captain Wyman.

[Captain Wilder]

Over here. Mr. Hathaway.

[Biggs]

Well?

[Mr. Hathaway]

Most of the city is dead, sir. Spender says it's been dead a good many thousand years. But we found one part about a mile over.

[Captain Wilder]

What about it?

[Mr. Hathaway]

People were living in it last week, sir. People?

[Pargil Spender]

Martians.

[Captain Wilder]

I see. Where are they now?

[Pargil Spender]

Dead. We found the bodies. Thousands of bodies. Hadn't been dead more than 10 days.

[Captain Wilder]

What did they die of?

[Pargil Spender]

You won't believe it.

[Captain Wilder]

What killed them?

[Pargil Spender]

Chickenpox.

[Captain Wilder]

Chickenpox?

[Pargil Spender]

Yes. I made tests. It worked differently on Martians than on Earth. People burned them black and dried them out to brittle flakes.

[Captain Wilder]

But where could they get chickenpox?

[Mr. Hathaway]

From Earth, sir.

[Captain Wilder]

And the other rockets did get through?

[Mr. Hathaway]

Yes, sir. I don't know what the Martians did to them. But I sure know what they did to the Martians. Gave them chickenpox and wiped them out. They just didn't have any resistance to an Earth disease.

[Captain Wilder]

There aren't any of them left.

[Mr. Hathaway]

There won't be any when a thing like that starts spreading, sir. There's no stopping it anyway. It's a thousand to one that's killed them all. This planet is through.

[Captain Wilder]

Incredible.

[Pargil Spender]

Think of it, Captain. That dirty, silly child's disease. Like chicken pox. It isn't right.

[Captain Wilder]

Spender, take it easy.

[Pargil Spender]

It's like saying the Greeks died of mumps. Or the proud Roman Empire collapsed because of athlete's foot. We didn't even give them a decent excuse for dying. We just gave them chickenpox.

[Captain Wilder]

Spender, get hold of yourself.

[Pargil Spender]

You didn't see those bodies, Captain.

[Captain Wilder]

It must have been a shock. I Suppose you need a rest, a little relaxation. Martians are dead. There's nothing you can do about it now.

[Biggs]

Hey, you hear that? The Martians are all dead. Well, come on. Let's break out a bottle and whoop it up. How about it, Captain?

[Captain Wilder]

Well, all right, man.

[Biggs]

Oh, that's fine.

[Captain Wilder]

Hathaway, seat of the security guard.

[Mr. Hathaway]

Yes, sir.

[Pargil Spender]

Good Lord, do they have to do that now?

[Captain Wilder]

It's been a tough trip. It's only natural they'd want to celebrate a little.

[Pargil Spender]

Celebrate? Because the world died? Because a rotten little virus from Earth wiped out a whole civilization?

[Captain Wilder]

Well, they're not thinking of that.

[Pargil Spender]

Isn't there time later to throw old beer cans into the canals? A civilization died here. It's like butchering a pig in a churchyard.

[Captain Wilder]

Spender, you think too much. We're lucky to get to Mars without catching a meteor in our bulkheads. Let it go at that.

[Biggs]

Save on Mars. The first Seichema Save on Mars. We gotta celebrate.

[Captain Wilder]

Yahoo.

[Narrator]

Many bottles were opened and drunk. The voices got louder, the Earth laughs and shouts echoing across the empty Martian sands.

[Biggs]

There was that time in New York when I ran into that blonde boy. What a blond. Listen. The first thing she said.

[Narrator]

Spender listened to the wind over his ears, cool and whispering. He felt the land getting cooler. The stars drew closer, very clear. The air smelled clean and new. He looked at the cool ice of the white Martian buildings. Over there on the empty sea lands.

[Biggs]

Hey, what do we do with these empty bottles?

[Pargil Spender]

Save them. There's a 2 cent deposit. Throw them away. Wait.

[Biggs]

How about that building? Two to one for a buck, I can. He went right through that window.

[Pargil Spender]

You're right.

[Biggs]

Here goes.

[Pargil Spender]

Bullseye.

[Biggs]

Double or nothing on the next shot.

[Pargil Spender]

Put that bottle down. Fix.

[Biggs]

Who's that? Mr. Spender.

[Pargil Spender]

Stop smashing those windows.

[Biggs]

What's the difference? The planet's ours now. I guess I can do anything with it that I want.

[Pargil Spender]

Drop that bottle. I'll knock your teeth out.

[Biggs]

Yeah? Just watch me.

[Pargil Spender]

I warned you, big head.

[Captain Wilder]

Spender, what is this?

[Pargil Spender]

I hit him.

[Biggs]

He's crazy, Captain. He just walked up and slugged me.

[Pargil Spender]

Biggs wasn't doing that.

[Captain Wilder]

All right, let go of him. You men go back to your party. Spender, come with me.

[Pargil Spender]

I like that guy. Just watch up them and slug him.

[Captain Wilder]

He wasn't. Spender, suppose you explain what was the idea.

[Pargil Spender]

Oh, the noise, the drunken brawl. I guess I was ashamed of the spectacle the whole crew was making. Where's their respect for what's happened? Their sense of what's right?

[Captain Wilder]

Men are tired. It's been a long trip. You've got a different way of seeing things.

[Pargil Spender]

I'm seeing things all right. I'm seeing how we'll ruin Mars.

[Biggs]

We'll rip it up.

[Pargil Spender]

Rip the skin off the way we've already ruined Earth. We Earth men have a talent for ruining big beautiful things.

[Captain Wilder]

Is that why you hit Biggs?

[Pargil Spender]

Yes. I couldn't stand the idea of them watching us make fools of ourselves.

[Captain Wilder]

Them?

[Pargil Spender]

The Martians.

[Captain Wilder]

The Martians? They're dead. All dead.

[Pargil Spender]

They know we're here. Doesn't an old thing always know when a new thing comes? We've come a long way to smash their windows and spitting their wine. Maybe you're right.

[Captain Wilder]

I'm fining you $50 for that fight. Now suck in your shin. We'll go back there and play. Happy now?

[Narrator]

The whole party moved out into the moonlight. Across the desert. They made their way into the dreaming dead city. The light of the racing twin moons glinted on the barrel of a pistol. The long blade of a machete. The round gurgling shape of a raised bottle. Their shadows under them were double shadows on the ice blue sand. They were waiting. Waiting for something to stir in the dead city. Something to rise. Some an ancient ancestral shape to come galloping across the vacant sea bottom on an ancient armored steed of impossible lineage, of unbelievable derivation.

[Pargil Spender]

Look at it, captain. Down those avenues in the mist you can almost see them.

[Narrator]

The mind's eye populated the dead city. Each window was given a person who leaned from it and waved slowly, as if under some timeless water, at some moving form in the fathoms of space below the moon silvered towers. There were faint murmurs of sound. An odd animal scurrying across the gray red sands. The wind blew in from the dead sea bottom and brushed through the silvery wire filigree of the towers. Strange music drifted down to the double shadowed streets. A thin haunted music that played as it had played through the uncounted years of time.

[Pargil Spender]

Time.

[Narrator]

Nobody moved. The moons held and froze them. The wind beat slowly around them.

[Biggs]

Hey, out there, you people in the city.

[Captain Wilder]

Pigs.

[Biggs]

Well, I just wanted to make a little noise.

[Captain Wilder]

Come on.

[Pargil Spender]

They built this city thousands of years ago. And now where are they? How did they die?

[Biggs]

Who cares? Dead. It's good enough for me.

[Pargil Spender]

Lord Byron.

[Captain Wilder]

What?

[Pargil Spender]

Lord Byron, an old 19th century poet. He wrote a poem that fits this city might have been written by the last Martian. So we'll go no more a roving so late into the night. Though the heart be still as loving and the moon be still as bright. For the sword outwears the sheath and the soul outwears its breast. And the heart must pause to breathe. And love itself must rest. Though the night was made for loving. And the day returns too soon it will go no more A roving by the light of the moon.

[Narrator]

Without a word, the Earth men stood in the center of the city. It was a clear night. There was not a sound except the music of the wind. At their feet lay a tile court worked into the shapes of ancient animals and images. They stood there, silvered by the double moons beneath the crystal towers of Mars. Then Biggs was sick, and the sour stench of liquor filled the cool air. The men of Earth had come to Mars. And Spender turned and walked away into the city, alone in the moonlight. Never once stopping to look back.

[Captain Wilder]

That you, Hathaway?

[Mr. Hathaway]

Yes, sir. My trick on bridge watch, sir.

[Captain Wilder]

What time is it?

[Mr. Hathaway]

0400. Any orders, sir?

[Captain Wilder]

No. I'll stay on watch. You turn in.

[Mr. Hathaway]

Aren't you sleeping, sir?

[Captain Wilder]

I'll wait for Spender.

[Mr. Hathaway]

He didn't come in?

[Captain Wilder]

No.

[Mr. Hathaway]

He's crazy. Walking away into the shadows. He didn't even look back.

[Captain Wilder]

Spender's a strange man. He.

[Mr. Hathaway]

He's crazy, sir.

[Captain Wilder]

How's the rest of the crew?

[Mr. Hathaway]

Sleeping it off. Biggs had DTs, but he's calmed down now.

[Captain Wilder]

You can go back below, Hathaway.

[Mr. Hathaway]

I'll take your watch, Captain Wilder, do you think Svendel will be coming in before morning?

[Captain Wilder]

I don't know.

[Mr. Hathaway]

You know, sir, I don't think he's ever coming back. That's the way I feel about him, sir. He'll never come back.

[Pargil Spender]

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[Narrator]

It was a morning that might have been a Monday or a Tuesday or any day on Mars. Biggs was on the canal rim. His feet hung down in the cool water, soaking while he took the sun in his face.

[Pargil Spender]

What are you doing back here, Biggs? Didn't you go out with the search party?

[Biggs]

Yeah. I come back, I got a blister. Sure, sure. What do you mean?

[Mr. Hathaway]

Look.

[Biggs]

Look, Cherokee. You see that? Anyway, I had enough searching. Four days hunting for that screwball Spender.

[Pargil Spender]

Didn't find him yet, huh?

[Biggs]

Nah. Good riddance.

[Pargil Spender]

Oh, my feet.

[Biggs]

I'm gonna soak em good. If I was wild. I wouldn't worry about that nut. Spin. Let him go. He's a crackpot anyway. A little foggy upstairs, I guess. Why don't you take your feet out

[Pargil Spender]

of that canal, Biggs?

[Biggs]

I gotta make coffee out of that water. Coffee? You call that stuff coffee? I had a motorcycle once that dripped grease that tasted better than that.

[Pargil Spender]

Wait a minute, Biggs. Look over there.

[Biggs]

Where?

[Pargil Spender]

By that bush.

[Captain Wilder]

There's someone there.

[Pargil Spender]

Hey, it's him. Hey, Spender. Spender. He's coming over.

[Biggs]

Why didn't he stay lost? The crazy. Jake.

[Pargil Spender]

Hi, Spender. Long time no see. Hello, Cherokee. I've been exploring some ruins.

[Biggs]

You and them ruins. You're like a dog in a. In a boneyard. What's the matter? Where you been?

[Pargil Spender]

Up in the hills. What would you say if I told you I found a Martian?

[Biggs]

Where?

[Pargil Spender]

Never mind. Let me ask you a question. How would you feel if you were a Martian and people came to your land and started to tear it up?

[Captain Wilder]

I know how I'd feel. I've got Cherokee blood in me. My grandfather told me lots of things

[Pargil Spender]

about the way they kicked the Indians

[Captain Wilder]

around in the Oklahoma Territory.

[Pargil Spender]

If there's any Martian around, I'm all for him. How about you, Biggs?

[Biggs]

They're all dead. A good thing, too.

[Pargil Spender]

Well, I found a Martian up in a dead town in the hills. I've been reading their books. They're easy to understand. I've learned their language. Then I found this Martian. He said, give me your boots. And I did. He said, give me your uniform. And I gave him my uniform.

[Biggs]

You're crazy, Spender. Hey, Cherokee, he's crazy.

[Pargil Spender]

The Martian said, give me your gun. And I gave him my gun. And then he said, come along and watch what happens. And the Martian walked down into camp. And he's here now.

[Captain Wilder]

I don't see no Martian.

[Pargil Spender]

I'm the last Martian.

[Biggs]

What?

[Pargil Spender]

Biggs, I'm going to kill you.

[Biggs]

They cut it out. Kind of a lousy joke, is it?

[Pargil Spender]

Stand up and take it.

[Biggs]

Hey, put that gun away, Spender.

[Pargil Spender]

Yeah, cut it, Spender.

[Biggs]

Oh, put that gun away. You're joking. You're kidding, huh?

[Pargil Spender]

Spaniard. He's dead. Killed him. You can come with me, Cherokee. You know how the Martians would feel. You can be in this with me. You killed him.

[Biggs]

You.

[Pargil Spender]

You just killed him. He deserved it.

[Biggs]

You're crazy.

[Pargil Spender]

Well, maybe I am. But you can come with me. Come with you for what? Go on. Go on. Get out of here. You. You. You crazy murderer. All of them. I thought you'd understand. I thought you'd remember what happened to your own people.

[Captain Wilder]

You get out of here.

[Pargil Spender]

You. You.

[Captain Wilder]

You crazy.

[Mr. Hathaway]

They're both dead. Captain Wilder.

[Captain Wilder]

Who's missing?

[Mr. Hathaway]

Only Spender. It must have been him, sir.

[Captain Wilder]

Why didn't he come and talk to me? Why didn't he?

[Pargil Spender]

Should have talked to me. I'd have shot his brains out. That's what I'd have done.

[Mr. Hathaway]

He took him by surprise. There's no sign of a struggle.

[Captain Wilder]

Hathaway, break out the arms locker. Issue pistols, rifles and grenades.

[Mr. Hathaway]

Yes, sir.

[Captain Wilder]

You better get the Bible out of the navigation chest. We'll have to bury these two. Park Hill.

[Pargil Spender]

Aye, sir.

[Captain Wilder]

You start digging a grave.

[Mr. Hathaway]

How about Spender?

[Captain Wilder]

We'll have to go up in the hills and find him.

[Pargil Spender]

Just let me at him with my bare hands. Crazy, murdering louse.

[Captain Wilder]

That's enough. Park Hill. Man is sick. He must be sick. Man. Grab a shovel. Start digging.

[Narrator]

Spender saw the thin dust rising in the valley. And he knew the pursuit was beginning. The sun burned farther up the sky and the blue sand drifted lazily across the sea bottom below. He sat beside a quiet pool 10,000 years old and held a silver book through the house. Played the strange wind music of ancient Mars. And he heard voices whisper in his mind.

[Pargil Spender]

I hear you. I've always heard you. Even down there on Earth. I won't run. What's the use? What for? To see them tear down your temples and put up hot dog stands?

[Captain Wilder]

Run. Run. Run, run, run. Run.

[Pargil Spender]

They've seen me. They know I'm up here.

[Captain Wilder]

There's Wilder.

[Pargil Spender]

Got him right in my sights. Funny. Hasn't ordinantly used grenades. He could lob one right up here and blow me to bits. And maybe the captain thinks I'm too nice to be blown to bits. He wants my death to be clean. Just one bullet hole in me. Nothing messy. And why? Because he understands me. Kill him. Kill. He's the only one in the crew who ever did. Well, at least I can do the same for him. Kill him. Kill him. Just one bullet in his heart. A nice clean jack. All I have to do is pull the trigger and then. It's no use. I can't do it to him.

[Captain Wilder]

Spender. Spender, can you hear me?

[Pargil Spender]

Spender. Yeah, I hear you, Captain. What do you want?

[Captain Wilder]

Talk truce.

[Pargil Spender]

All right. Come on up. Leave your gun down there and keep your hands up.

[Captain Wilder]

Spender, are you there?

[Biggs]

Over here.

[Captain Wilder]

It's quite a climb. Mind if I sit down? Cigarette?

[Pargil Spender]

Thanks.

[Captain Wilder]

Light?

[Pargil Spender]

Yeah. Got my own.

[Captain Wilder]

It's warm.

[Pargil Spender]

It is.

[Captain Wilder]

You Comfortable up here in the hills?

[Pargil Spender]

Quite.

[Captain Wilder]

How long do you think you can hold out?

[Pargil Spender]

About 12 men's worth.

[Captain Wilder]

Why didn't you kill all of us this morning when you had the chance? You could have.

[Pargil Spender]

I know. I got sick after I started killing people. I realized they were just fools and I shouldn't be killing them. It was too late, so I came up here where I could get angry again.

[Captain Wilder]

Why did you do it?

[Pargil Spender]

Because I've seen what I've seen. That what these Martians had was just as good as anything we'll ever hope to have. They stopped where we should have stopped a hundred years ago. They knew how to combine science and art and religion. They knew how to live with dignity and peace.

[Captain Wilder]

And for that reason you started shooting people?

[Pargil Spender]

When I was a kid, my folks took me to visit Mexico City. I'll always remember the way my father acted, loud and big. My mother didn't like the people because they were dark and didn't wash enough. I can see my mother and my father coming to Mars and acting the same way. Anything that's strange is no good to us. We aren't fit to take over this planet.

[Captain Wilder]

But kill two men?

[Pargil Spender]

What could I do? It's me against the whole Earth. Isn't it enough they've ruined one planet. Now they want to ruin this one? I'll kill you all off, Wilder. That'll delay the next rocket five years, and I'll kill them too. If I'm lucky, I'll live to be 60. I'll meet every expedition that lands on Mars. I'll be very friendly. I'll explain that our rocket blew up one day and I'll kill them off. I'll save Mars for half a century, and by then maybe the Earth people will give up.

[Captain Wilder]

You got it all planned?

[Pargil Spender]

Yes.

[Captain Wilder]

Yet you're outnumbered. We already have you surrounded. In an hour you'll be dead.

[Pargil Spender]

I found an underground passage that'll take me back into the hills. Wilder. I'll go back there and then I'll pick you off one by one.

[Captain Wilder]

We'll see. It's a nice town you got here, Spender.

[Biggs]

Beautiful.

[Captain Wilder]

I'd like to live here.

[Pargil Spender]

You can, but join me. You're not like them. I'll show you what a good life these people had. I'll play an old reel of Martian music that must be at least 50,000 years old. A kind of music you've never heard in your life.

[Captain Wilder]

That sounds wonderful, but I can't stay with you. Sorry, Spender. I'm sorry this is happening.

[Pargil Spender]

I Guess you'd better go back now so you can start your attack.

[Captain Wilder]

I guess so,

[Pargil Spender]

Captain. I won't kill you when it's all over. You'll still be alive. Then maybe you'll change your mind.

[Captain Wilder]

No. There's too much Earth blood in me. I may even agree with you about all this. That doesn't change what I've got to do.

[Pargil Spender]

You won't stay?

[Captain Wilder]

No. This is your last chance. Brenda, you're sick. Come along with me.

[Pargil Spender]

Quietly.

[Biggs]

Now,

[Pargil Spender]

look, one last thing. If you win, do me a favor. Try to see that they don't tear this planet apart.

[Captain Wilder]

Right.

[Pargil Spender]

If it helps, just think of me as a very crazy fellow who went berserk one summer day. It'll be easier on you that way.

[Captain Wilder]

I'll think it over. So long, Spender.

[Pargil Spender]

Bye, Captain. Good luck.

[Captain Wilder]

All right, we'll go after him now. Hathaway, you take the right. I'll lead on the left. You have to kill him. He won't come down. Make it a clean shot if you can get it over with.

[Pargil Spender]

I'll blow his bloody brains out.

[Captain Wilder]

No. Park Hill. Through the heart. You heard what I said. Through the heart. Now let's go get him.

[Narrator]

They spread out again, walking and then running on the hot hillside. Places where there would be sudden cool grottoes that smelled of moss and sudden open blasting places that smelled of sun on stone. The men ran and ducked and ran and squatted in the shadows.

[Pargil Spender]

Blow his brain's eye. Just one slug. That's all he needs.

[Narrator]

Captain Wilder hugged the rock, warmed by the sun. He gasped. The air was thin and not meant for running. Spender lay at the top of the hill and a gap in the rocks showed the white of his shirt against the shadows. Wilder looked at the towers of the little clean Martian village like sharply carved chess pieces lying in the afternoon. He saw the rocks and the interval between where Spender's chest was revealed.

[Captain Wilder]

Go on, Spender, get out. You've only got a few seconds to escape. Get out to the caves and come back later. Go now, Spender. I've got to end it. I've got to think I'm right and pull the trigger. Go now. Get out.

[Pargil Spender]

I'll get him. Slug in the head. I'll blow his bloody.

[Captain Wilder]

No. Park Hill. Put down that gun. I've got to do this myself. Spender. Why didn't you get out?

[Pargil Spender]

Why?

[Captain Wilder]

Why?

[Narrator]

They buried him in that ancient valley town where the music of the wind played on through the days and the nights. They laid him in an ancient silver sarcophagus with waxes and wines which were 10,000 years old, his hands folded on his chest. The last they saw of him was his peaceful face in the cold silver light of the racing twin moons. The captain found the poem in Spender's pocket, and he read it before he shut the marble door.

[Captain Wilder]

So we'll go no more a roving so late into the night Though the heart be still as loving and the moon be still as bright Though the night was made for loving and the day returns too soon yet we'll go no more a roving by the light of the moon.

[Narrator]

The next afternoon, Parkhill did some target practice in one of the dead cities, shooting out the crystal windows and blowing the tops off the fragile towers. Captain Wilder caught Parkhill and nearly knocked his teeth.

[Pargil Spender]

Are.

[Narrator]

All of you regular listeners to Dimension X will be interested to know that our show is changing its day and time of broadcast over this station. Starting early in November. We'll be back at the new time. We suggest you watch your local newspaper and be sure to join us in about four weeks for for a new series of adventures into the unknown world of tomorrow. The world of Dimension X.

[Pargil Spender]

Tonight. Dimension X is transcribed and the Moon Be still as Bright adapted for radio

[Narrator]

by Ernest Kanhoye from the original story by Ray Bradbury.

[Pargil Spender]

Featured in the cast were Alexander Scorbius Bender, Wendell Holmes as Captain Wilder, and your host and narrator for the story, Norman Rose. Music by Albert Berman. Engineer Bill Chambers. Dimension X is directed by Edward King. This is Robert Warren speaking. Enjoy the life of riley with william bendix next Friday on NBC. Shop the Sherwin Williams sale and get 30% off duration. Woodscapes and Superdeck products May 1st through the 11th. Whether you're refreshing your interior or exterior, we've got the colors to bring your vision to life. And with delivery, getting everything to your door is easier than ever. Shop online to have it delivered or visit your neighborhood Sherwin Williams store. Click the banner to learn more. Retail sales only some exclusions apply. See store for details. Delivery available on qualifying orders.