Dimension X - Dwellers In Silence - #40

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Harold's Old Time Radio

Episode: Dimension X - Dwellers In Silence (#40)
Date: May 6, 2026
Original Works By: Ray Bradbury (adapted by George Lefferts)
Cast Highlights: Peter Capel (Captain Parsons), Bill Griffiths (Dr. Hathaway), Gertrude Warner (Alice Hathaway)

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Episode Overview

This episode revisits the classic radio play "Dwellers In Silence" from the influential sci-fi anthology series Dimension X. Adapted from Ray Bradbury's Mars Chronicles, the story follows the first Earth expedition from Mars in 20 years, as the explorers discover a seemingly abandoned, radioactive world—and encounter the mysterious Dr. Hathaway and his perfect, ageless family. Underlying themes include loneliness, survival, the nature of humanity, and the things we do to escape solitude.

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Key Discussion Points & Story Breakdown

1. The Return to Earth (02:10–05:52)

• Setting: Three Martian settlers (Captain Parsons, Dr. Evans, Mr. Williams) return to Earth, long thought dead after apocalyptic wars and mass migration.
• Conflict: Divergent attitudes toward Earth—Parsons eager to reclaim it, Williams skeptical and loyal to Mars.
• Notable Exchange:
  • Captain John Parsons (03:01): “We’re going home, Evans. We’re going home.”
  • Mr. Williams (03:05): “Home to what, Captain? Home to a burned out radioactive planet... incapable of supporting human life.”

2. The Enigmatic City (05:53–09:05)

• Discovery: In the ruins of New York, the crew finds one city brilliantly lit, perfectly preserved, yet utterly empty of life.
• Creepy Encounter: Searching for clues, they find an automatic phone conversation, hinting at recent, inexplicable activity.
• First Meeting:
  • Dr. Hathaway introduces himself, revealing he and his family survived alone for 20 years.
  • Dr. Cornelius Hathaway (09:16): “I waited and hoped for so long.”

3. The Hathaway Family & Their Secret (11:06–15:00)

• The Household: Hathaway’s family—his wife Alice, two daughters, and son John—appear unnaturally young and perfect.
• Subtle Clues: The crew suspects anomalies, noting ages don’t match timelines.
• Suspicion Mounts:
  • Captain John Parsons (11:45): “Nothing, except that it’s impossible... Dr. Hathaway's son was already in college when I started. That would make him at least 45.”

4. The Heart Attack & The Nighttime Revelation (17:55–21:05)

• Hathaway’s Illness: Dr. Hathaway suffers a heart attack after reminiscing about Earth and his past.
• Graveyard Scene (18:45):
  • Parsons and Evans follow Hathaway at night. They find him praying over four graves—his real wife and children, dead for 20 years.
  • Dr. Cornelius Hathaway (19:06): “Do you forgive me for what I’ve done? I had to do it. I was so terribly lonely...”
  • Hathaway dies in the arms of the explorers.

5. The Truth of the “Family” (21:05–23:58)

• Confrontation: Parsons confronts Alice, realizing the full truth: Hathaway, consumed by loneliness, built perfect robotic replicas of his family.
• Alice’s Humanity:
  • Alice Hathaway (22:21): “He would have liked to hear you say that. He was so very proud of us... He even forgot sometimes that he had made us.”
  • Alice Hathaway (22:41): “After a while, he came to love us. And at the end, he took us as his real wife and children.”

6. The Moral Dilemma—What Now? (24:23–27:18)

• The Burial: Parsons and crew bury Hathaway.
• Debate: Should they destroy the robots (as “less than human”), leave them, or take them back—but they cannot fit them on the ship.
• Key Moral Moment:
  • Mr. Williams (25:29): “I suggest that we turn them off.”
  • Dr. Evans (26:57): “It would be murder. Cold-blooded murder.”
  • Captain Parsons (27:00): “There will never be anything as fine as they are. Built to last 200, 300, perhaps a thousand years.”

7. Farewell & Emotional Closure (27:41–28:40)

• Goodbye: Parsons says a poignant farewell to Alice Hathaway.
• The Robots’ New Humanity:
  • Alice Hathaway (28:33): “I am alive. Even though he created me, I’m a person now.”
• Hopeful Note: Alice vows to look for Parsons' return, symbolizing the persistence of hope and the evolution of artificial life.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Loneliness & Creation:
  • Dr. Cornelius Hathaway (19:06): “Do you forgive me for what I’ve done? I had to do it. I was so terribly lonely.”
• On Humanity and the Robots:
  • Captain Parsons (25:03): “Good Lord, man. What would you have done if you’d had his medical and technical genius?”
• On the Robots’ Fate:
  • Captain Parsons (27:00): “There will never be anything as fine as they are, built to last 200, 300, perhaps a thousand years.”
• Alice’s Realization:
  • Alice Hathaway (28:33): “I am alive. Even though he created me, I’m a person now.”

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Key Timestamps

• 02:10—05:52: Arrival on Earth, first impressions, city found lit but empty
• 06:08—09:05: Exploration of city, automatic phone call, Dr. Hathaway encountered
• 11:06—15:00: Family dinner, suspicions about the Hathaway children’s age
• 18:45—19:38: Hathaway praying at graves, heart attack, confession
• 21:05—23:58: Parsons’ confrontation with Alice, revelation of their true nature
• 24:23—27:18: Burial, debate about robots’ fate, emotional decision not to destroy them
• 27:41—28:40: Emotional goodbye between Parsons and Alice, Alice’s new sense of humanity

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Tone & Atmosphere

The episode maintains a mix of nostalgic yearning, eerie suspense, and poignant contemplation. The performances imbue the dialogue with gravitas, reflecting both the longing for lost worlds and the ambiguities of love, loneliness, and creation.

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Conclusion

Dimension X – Dwellers In Silence is a haunting exploration of what it means to be human—and what lines might be crossed in the name of love and survival. The episode’s emotional core tugs at the listener, leaving questions about identity, the nature of “life,” and mercy echoing long after its close.

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Transcript

[Doug]

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[Captain John Parsons]

Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?

[Doug]

Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.

[Captain John Parsons]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.

[Doug]

Anyways, get a'@libertymutual.com or with your local agent.

[Mr. Williams]

Liberty. Liberty.

[Captain John Parsons]

Liberty.

[Mr. Williams]

Liberty.

[Narrator]

Adventures in time and space told in future tense

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

dimension.

[Narrator]

The National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with street and Smith Publishers of Astounding Science Fiction bring you Dimension X. 20 years had passed since the last of the giant migration ships had crashed to the surface of Mars, bearing its pitiful handful of survivors of The Earth Wars. 20 years of scratching at the stubborn Martian soil. 20 years of trying to devise new solar engines that would use the strange fuel they found on Mars. 20 years of longing, of turning eyes toward the green Earth as it hung on the horizon like a beckoning light. And now it was done. And the first new ship built of shining Martian chromaton had lifted bravely toward home with three men locked in its metal belly. Would they return to an Earth made barren by cosmic dust? To a blackened, radioactive hell? Or would they find intelligence still alive on the scourged planet? What had 20 years of death and radioactivity done to our beloved Earth?

[Dr. Evans]

That's it, Captain. We've intersected the core spectre.

[Captain John Parsons]

Williams?

[Mr. Williams]

Yes, sir.

[Captain John Parsons]

Prepare for deceleration.

[Mr. Williams]

Forward fission. Ready, Captain.

[Captain John Parsons]

Read us off, Athens.

[Dr. Evans]

We'll enter the gravitational field of the earth in exactly 10 seconds. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4.

[Captain John Parsons]

3.

[Dr. Evans]

Fire 2 and 4.

[Captain John Parsons]

1. 0.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

2 and 4.

[Captain John Parsons]

What's our momentum, Evans?

[Dr. Evans]

Negative 3.

[Captain John Parsons]

Fire 1.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

1.

[Dr. Evans]

Negative 4. Now.

[Captain John Parsons]

Steady as she goes.

[Dr. Evans]

How are we on parabola now? If we can hold, we should breach the Heaviside layer somewhere north of what used to be Murmansk.

[Captain John Parsons]

Let's have a look at her visor, please.

[Mr. Williams]

Yes, sir.

[Dr. Evans]

Mother Earth 20.

[Captain John Parsons]

We're going home, Evans. We're going home.

[Mr. Williams]

Home to what, Captain? Home to a burned out radioactive planet that is incapable of supporting human life.

[Captain John Parsons]

Evans and I don't agree with that. Williams, we think the Earth is ready for us again. That should give us another chance.

[Mr. Williams]

I'm sorry, Captain, but I was born and brought up on Mars under the new central government. We younger men disagree with you about migrating back to Earth. For us, Mars is home.

[Dr. Evans]

Well, we'll see if there is some form of life on Earth, we'll find out soon enough.

[Captain John Parsons]

Williams, head for New York.

[Dr. Evans]

There it is, Captain. You can barely see the top of the Atomic Trades building in the twilight. They never finished building it.

[Captain John Parsons]

Dark as a tomb. Slow to cruising speed.

[Mr. Williams]

Cruising speed.

[Dr. Evans]

It begins to look as if Williams is right, Captain. Not a sign of life on four continents.

[Captain John Parsons]

Make a radiation check and then head back for Mars.

[Mr. Williams]

You agree with me, gentlemen, that for all practical purposes, the planet is dead?

[Captain John Parsons]

It's still my captain. What is it?

[Dr. Evans]

Am I going out of my mind? Look out that way, to the west. Could that be?

[Captain John Parsons]

By heaven, it is. Those are lights. Turn the ship

[Mr. Williams]

heading west. Southwest.

[Captain John Parsons]

Full speed.

[Mr. Williams]

Full speed.

[Dr. Evans]

They are lights, Captain. It's a city.

[Mr. Williams]

A whole blasted city lit up like a crystal.

[Dr. Evans]

Well, what do you think of your dead planet now, Williams?

[Mr. Williams]

We shall see.

[Captain John Parsons]

Evans.

[Mr. Williams]

Remember, the commission wants evidence of life as we know it.

[Captain John Parsons]

Decelerate to negative five. We're gonna take her down. There's an open area just on the edge of the city.

[Mr. Williams]

Yes, sir.

[Captain John Parsons]

Hold on, gentlemen. We're about to land.

[Mr. Williams]

Landing jacks are down.

[Captain John Parsons]

Open the airlock. Close. All right, gentlemen, before we go out, security at all times. Williams, you have the blast gun? I have it. If anyone becomes separated, fire a shot and make for the ship. How's the radiation?

[Dr. Evans]

Ams safe enough so far. This seems to be a light area.

[Captain John Parsons]

Very well. Open the lock.

[Dr. Evans]

Oh, it's unbelievable. We've been walking for hours now and not a soul to be seen.

[Captain John Parsons]

There must be someone. How do you explain the lights?

[Dr. Evans]

I don't know.

[Mr. Williams]

Municipal building. Shall we have a look here, sir? Possibly the records might contain some clue.

[Captain John Parsons]

Good idea. Keep your weapons ready. This door is in good working order. Almost as if it had been oiled recently. Long corridor, lights blazing in every office. William, stand to watch here in the corridor. Fire a blast if you need us.

[Mr. Williams]

Yes, sir.

[Captain John Parsons]

Evans, you come with me. We'll start right here with the City Clerk's office. Better check radiation again.

[Dr. Evans]

Not enough to do any damage.

[Captain John Parsons]

Gives you the creeps, doesn't it? Look at this desk. Paper's crumpled. Ink stand. Just as if somebody came in and worked here every day. Calendar June 18, 1987.

[Dr. Evans]

Why, that's the day of the evacuation. The dust cloud had already blanketed New York and was heading west.

[Captain John Parsons]

Dog licenses, hunting permits.

[Dr. Evans]

Somehow I have a peculiar feeling that.

[Captain John Parsons]

Good Lord. Pick it up. Evans.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Hello?

[Dr. Evans]

No answer. Hello? I hear something. A scratching sort of noise.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Good day, Doctor.

[Captain John Parsons]

What?

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

How are you? I called to ask some advice. About a trepanning problem. Can you tell me if the lateral cut should be made first?

[Dr. Evans]

Hello?

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Hello?

[Dr. Evans]

This is absolutely insane.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Hello, Doctor. I'll do that. By the way, how is your wife, Alice and the girls? And your son John? Fine boy. John. I'll call again tomorrow. Goodbye, Doctor. Hello?

[Alice Hathaway]

Hello?

[Dr. Evans]

It's gone dead.

[Captain John Parsons]

Who was it?

[Dr. Evans]

I don't know. Strange voice. Carried on a conversation about some surgical operation without paying the slightest attention to anything. I see. Captain, the lights are out.

[Captain John Parsons]

Good Lord. Captain. Captain, I have a torch. Come on. Williams, what is it?

[Mr. Williams]

I don't know.

[Captain John Parsons]

You fired a shot?

[Mr. Williams]

Yes, sir. Just as the lights went out. I. I'm sure I saw a figure. It looked like an old man in a white robe. It moved across the end of the corridor down that way.

[Captain John Parsons]

Flash your torch down there. Evans. Nothing there. Are you certain, Williams?

[Mr. Williams]

I'm not certain. The lights.

[Dr. Evans]

They're on again.

[Captain John Parsons]

We're gonna get to the bottom of this.

[Dr. Evans]

Wait.

[Alice Hathaway]

Wait.

[Captain John Parsons]

What?

[Dr. Evans]

Listen quietly. Someone is coming. Walking slowly toward the corridor.

[Captain John Parsons]

Coming closer. Cover him when he turns the corner.

[Mr. Williams]

It'll be a pleasure.

[Captain John Parsons]

Don't fire unless I give the word. Shh. What jumping Jupiter are you?

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Is it really someone, or am I having hallucinations?

[Captain John Parsons]

We are no vision.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

No. Oh, you seem to be real. I saw the ship come down. I thought perhaps I was losing my mind. It's been so many years.

[Captain John Parsons]

I'm Captain John Parsons. These are my assistants, Dr. Evans and Mr. Williams. We've returned to Earth from Mars.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Then it's happened. We're not alone anymore. Forgive me, gentlemen. I seem moved. I waited and hoped for so long.

[Captain John Parsons]

You survived the radiation.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

We did.

[Captain John Parsons]

There are others.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

My family. We're the only ones.

[Dr. Evans]

I answered the phone a moment ago. Who was it?

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

You heard my voice, doctor.

[Dr. Evans]

Your voice?

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

To break the loneliness, I've recorded my voice and rigged up an automatic telephone. It's pleasant to hear the phone ring. I come here to do my work.

[Dr. Evans]

I take it you're a medical man.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

My name's Cornelius Hathaway.

[Captain John Parsons]

Hathaway? Hathaway, the brain surgeon.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

You know my name.

[Captain John Parsons]

Who doesn't? I watched you on television at college. I saw you 20, 23 years ago. You performed a difficult surgery for a cerebral tumor. Marvelous.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Thank you. I'd almost forgotten. My mind, you see. I'm almost 80 now.

[Captain John Parsons]

You look fine, sir.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Well, we've had the best of everything. An entire city to choose from. Coal storage, the best equipment. But come. When I saw your ship, I told Alice, my wife, you know, to prepare a feast this Is a great day for me, gentlemen. A great, great day. This is my wife, gentlemen. Alice. Mrs. Captain Parsons, Dr. Evans and Mr. Williams.

[Dr. Evans]

How do you do?

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Now if you'll follow me, gentlemen. We'll meet my children.

[Captain John Parsons]

Lord, what a beautiful woman.

[Dr. Evans]

She looks no more than 35.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

These are my daughters, Susan and Marguerite. This is my son, John.

[Captain John Parsons]

How are you, John?

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Sit down, gentlemen, sit down. We'll have a feast in honor of this occasion. Susan, Marguerite, get the best silverware and the damnest napkins. John, fetch the glasses.

[Captain John Parsons]

Oh, yes, Father.

[Dr. Evans]

It'll only take.

[Captain John Parsons]

Excuse me, John. Sir? How old are you? 23, sir. Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me.

[Dr. Evans]

What is it, Captain? Something wrong?

[Captain John Parsons]

Nothing, except that it's impossible. You see, Dr. Hathaway's son was already in college when I started. That will make him at least 45. That was a wonderful meal, Mrs. Hathaway. Doctor, your wife is an exceptional woman.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Thank you, sir.

[Alice Hathaway]

How would you gentlemen like some fresh gingerbread with your coffee? I baked it this morning.

[Captain John Parsons]

Wonderful smell that, Evans.

[Dr. Evans]

Oh, it's like coming home.

[Alice Hathaway]

Mrs. Hathaway, we enjoy having you here.

[Captain John Parsons]

Mrs. Hathaway, may I compliment you on your having preserved your youth and beauty so well.

[Alice Hathaway]

Thank you. We have had no worries here. No competition. Only the things we need for material comfort.

[Dr. Evans]

Parsons and I were wondering, Dr. Hathaway, if the radioactivity had any effect in preserving tissue. Your children all look so young too.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Is possible, gentlemen? Of course. Radiation does strange things to living tissue. Alice, could we have some champagne?

[Alice Hathaway]

Of course. I'll only be a moment.

[Captain John Parsons]

An amazing woman. Did you ever see such grace? Such complete relaxation?

[Dr. Evans]

It doesn't seem quite natural.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

I beg your pardon, gentlemen.

[Dr. Evans]

Captain Parsons was just about to ask how you and your family managed to escape.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Dr. Hathaway, you were very fortunate. I was working in the Sierra Mountains at the time. I had a lead lined laboratory where I did X ray research on my pet project.

[Dr. Evans]

And what is that, sir?

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

The study of machines as they relate to human function. And the corollary of physics. Well, to continue. When the dust cloud covered America, we remained in the laboratory, well supplied with food and water. Later, when the radiation permitted, we made our way east back to our old home in the hopes of finding other survivors. But by that time, every living creature had been evacuated to Mars. We were stranded. The migration ships didn't wait for stragglers.

[Captain John Parsons]

That's true. My father and I were on the last rocket out of New York.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

I've always loved this old house. But the loneliness of those first years

[Captain John Parsons]

at least you had your wife and children.

[Mr. Williams]

Yes.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Yes, I had my family. If it were not for them, gentlemen, I assure you, I would long ago have put a bullet in my head.

[Alice Hathaway]

Here we are. Champagne, Captain?

[Captain John Parsons]

Oh, thank you, Mrs. Hathaway.

[Dr. Evans]

May.

[Captain John Parsons]

May I propose a toast?

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Let me. Gentlemen. To Earth.

[Captain John Parsons]

To Earth.

[Dr. Evans]

Earth.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

May she never be a stranger to man.

[Captain John Parsons]

Agh. Hathaway. What is it?

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Nothing really. Just rather sharp pain in the chest.

[Dr. Evans]

I think you should lie down, Doctor.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Yes, perhaps you're right.

[Mr. Williams]

Let me help you.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

No, no, no. John and Susan will help, of course, Father. Why don't you gentlemen go out on the porch, enjoy the air. I'll. I'll see you all in the morning.

[Captain John Parsons]

Good night, Doctor.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Good night.

[Dr. Evans]

Come.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

John.

[Captain John Parsons]

Yes, Father? Well, what do you think of old Mother Earth now, Williams, when you manage

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[Captain John Parsons]

Smell that summer breeze. Look at that view of the city lighted up against the sky.

[Mr. Williams]

It has a certain quality.

[Dr. Evans]

Well, score one point for the back to Earth proponents.

[Mr. Williams]

I didn't say that.

[Captain John Parsons]

You're beginning to feel it though, Willie. I can tell.

[Mr. Williams]

If you don't mind, gentlemen, I'm quite tired. I think I'll turn in. Excuse me.

[Dr. Evans]

Well, Captain?

[Captain John Parsons]

Well, what?

[Dr. Evans]

What do you make of all this?

[Captain John Parsons]

I don't know what you mean.

[Dr. Evans]

This Hathaway and his family. There's something strange and unnatural going on here. I can sense it.

[Captain John Parsons]

I think you're reading things into it, Evans. Oh, perhaps.

[Dr. Evans]

Well, I'll turn into. Are you coming?

[Captain John Parsons]

In a moment. I want to smoke a cigarette.

[Alice Hathaway]

Beautiful view. What is it not?

[Captain John Parsons]

I didn't hear you come out. How is he?

[Alice Hathaway]

Resting. I've never seen him this bad.

[Captain John Parsons]

Yes, he's an old man. I'm sorry, but the difference in your ages is so apparent. You must have been married very young.

[Alice Hathaway]

My husband is a very great man, Captain. It's too bad there was no one to appreciate him. Once he wired the whole city with sound speakers. And when he pressed a button the whole town lit up and made noises as if 10,000 people were living in it.

[Captain John Parsons]

He must have been very lonesome for people. Although with a woman such as you. I don't understand.

[Alice Hathaway]

Perhaps one day you will understand. Good night, Captain. Captain.

[Captain John Parsons]

Good night, Mrs. Hathaway.

[Dr. Evans]

Captain.

[Captain John Parsons]

Captain Parsons. Who was there?

[Dr. Evans]

It's Dr. Evans.

[Captain John Parsons]

What time is it? 2am what's wrong?

[Dr. Evans]

I couldn't sleep. A few minutes ago, I heard someone slip out the front door. The moonlight. I saw it was the old man. He was headed toward our ship.

[Captain John Parsons]

What are you suggesting, Evans?

[Dr. Evans]

Nothing. Except that it's fairly unnatural for an old man with a bad heart to go wandering off at 2 in the morning.

[Captain John Parsons]

Very well. We'll follow him. See him yet?

[Dr. Evans]

No. Look.

[Captain John Parsons]

I had. There, on the hillside. Isn't that Hathaway kneeling in the moonlight?

[Dr. Evans]

Yes, I think so. Can we get closer?

[Captain John Parsons]

Let's head for that clump of bushes. This is far enough.

[Dr. Evans]

What do you suppose he's doing there? What are those things on the ground?

[Captain John Parsons]

Good Lord. Those are grave markers. Four of them.

[Dr. Evans]

You're right. Seems to be praying over them.

[Captain John Parsons]

Listen.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Do you forgive me for what I've done? I had to do it. I was so terribly lonely. You do forgive me, don't you? Yes. I feel. You do? I'm glad. I think perhaps I can rest now. I think I.

[Captain John Parsons]

He's having another attack. Come on, Hathaway. Dr. Hathaway. Raise his head.

[Dr. Evans]

His lips are moving.

[Captain John Parsons]

What is it, Doctor?

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Lean closer. I. I'm sorry I had to spoil all of this. I. I've expected it for some time.

[Captain John Parsons]

We'll fix you up. Oh.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

Oh. This is the end for me. It really doesn't matter. Except for them.

[Captain John Parsons]

What about them? Hathaway? You. You suspect it, didn't you? Yes, I suspected. But I couldn't believe it until now. Do they know?

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

No. No, they wouldn't understand. I. I wouldn't want them to know.

[Dr. Evans]

Ever.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

The earth. The Earth.

[Captain John Parsons]

Don't try to talk.

[Dr. Cornelius Hathaway]

The earth is so fair.

[Captain John Parsons]

Doctor. He's dead, Captain.

[Dr. Evans]

He knew it was the end this time.

[Captain John Parsons]

Yes, he knew.

[Dr. Evans]

What was it he meant about your suspect? Light.

[Captain John Parsons]

A match happens. Look on those four grave markers and tell me what you see. Good Lord. Well?

[Dr. Evans]

Alice Hathaway. Marguerite Hathaway. Susan Hathaway. John Hathaway. Died July 1987. But that's 20 years ago. If these markers are correct, then who are those others?

[Captain John Parsons]

Can't you guess, Evans? Can't you guess? Misses Hathaway, Are you awake?

[Alice Hathaway]

Yes, Captain.

[Captain John Parsons]

May I come in?

[Alice Hathaway]

Yes. It's about my husband, isn't it?

[Captain John Parsons]

You knew?

[Alice Hathaway]

I saw him go out tonight. He felt it was near the end.

[Captain John Parsons]

He died less than an hour ago. I'm sorry. Thank you. How do you feel?

[Alice Hathaway]

He told us it would happen one day. And that he didn't want us to cry. He didn't teach us how, you know. He said it was the worst thing that could happen. To know how to be lonely and unhappy. What will happen to us now that he's gone?

[Captain John Parsons]

I don't know.

[Alice Hathaway]

Will you stay with us?

[Captain John Parsons]

I would like to, but I cannot.

[Alice Hathaway]

You know about us.

[Captain John Parsons]

Yes, I know. I didn't think that you knew yourself.

[Alice Hathaway]

The children don't. I've been aware for a long while.

[Captain John Parsons]

No one would have guessed. You are so perfect.

[Alice Hathaway]

Oh, he would have liked to hear you say that. He was so very proud of us. After a while, he came to love us. And at the end, he took us as his real wife and children. He even forgot sometimes that he had made us.

[Captain John Parsons]

You gave him great deal of comfort.

[Alice Hathaway]

Yes. Over the years, we sat and talked. He loved so much to talk. I was first, you know. Then he became lonesome for the children, and so he made them. He told me about the things he did, about his laboratory.

[Captain John Parsons]

Surely the children must suspect.

[Alice Hathaway]

Oh, no. You see, there were no other beings with which to compare themselves.

[Captain John Parsons]

He must have been a great, great genius.

[Alice Hathaway]

Each morning, he took a recording of his voice into town and put it on the automatic telephone. Each night it would call us. I think, what with the phone ringing and the sound of voices and the lights on, he was happy. There was only one thing, one flaw. And that he couldn't make us grow old. And so he had to watch himself become an old, old man while we stayed young. It was a great blow to him.

[Captain John Parsons]

And so we commend the body of this man, Cornelius Hathaway, to his Maker. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, returneth. Amen.

[Alice Hathaway]

Come, John.

[Captain John Parsons]

Yes, Mother.

[Alice Hathaway]

Susan Margaret Evans.

[Captain John Parsons]

Williams. Stay here a moment, please.

[Dr. Evans]

What is it?

[Captain John Parsons]

Let them go back to the house. I want to speak to you.

[Mr. Williams]

I know what you're going to tell us, Captain. I saw the names on the grave markers. Well, it's a mockery, a blasphemy of everything we believe in for a man to do something so evil.

[Captain John Parsons]

Can't you imagine what he faced? Can't you imagine what it must have been like to have watched his wife and children die slowly of radiation burns? To know that he was the last man on the face of the earth alone, eternally and unalterably alone. Good Lord, man. What would you have done if you'd had his medical and technical genius?

[Dr. Evans]

It's incredible.

[Captain John Parsons]

Yes, it is. But with an entire American city on which to draw for supplies and equipment, a brilliant man might accomplish anything. Even that.

[Mr. Williams]

What are you suggesting, Captain? That we take them back.

[Captain John Parsons]

We haven't enough space in the ship for that. Every ounce counts. Still to leave them here like that, alone.

[Mr. Williams]

I think I have an answer, cold blooded as it may seem.

[Captain John Parsons]

Go on.

[Mr. Williams]

I suggest that we turn them off.

[Captain John Parsons]

Do you think that I could do that?

[Dr. Evans]

No.

[Captain John Parsons]

But I could.

[Mr. Williams]

After all, they aren't human. They're worse than robots. They're ghoulish.

[Captain John Parsons]

Have you talked to her? Has she smiled at you with that quiet, beautiful smile?

[Dr. Evans]

Captain, we can't take them with us. And it would be less than human to leave them here without Hathaway.

[Captain John Parsons]

Could you do it? Evans,

[Dr. Evans]

Give me the blast gun. Williams.

[Captain John Parsons]

We'll wait on the ship. Take off in half an hour.

[Dr. Evans]

Half an hour?

[Mr. Williams]

6:25. He should be back soon.

[Captain John Parsons]

Yes.

[Mr. Williams]

He's doing the only humane thing, Captain. They are less than human. Are they? Well, it's done now. And no one will ever. That's the airlock. He's back.

[Captain John Parsons]

Well, here's your gun. Did you do it?

[Dr. Evans]

When I entered the house, she looked at me with those fine, intelligent eyes.

[Captain John Parsons]

I couldn't do it.

[Dr. Evans]

It would be murder. Cold blooded murder.

[Captain John Parsons]

I prayed you wouldn't be able to do it. There will never be anything as fine as they are built to last 200, 300, perhaps a thousand years. Well, get the course in the integrator, Williams. We'll take off in 20 minutes. I should be back by then.

[Mr. Williams]

You're going out, sir?

[Captain John Parsons]

I'm going to say goodbye. You've come back only to say goodbye.

[Alice Hathaway]

It was nice of you.

[Captain John Parsons]

I wanted you to know that I am coming back someday.

[Alice Hathaway]

When will you come?

[Captain John Parsons]

I don't know. It will take many years to prepare fuel for another trip. Six, seven, perhaps 10 years.

[Alice Hathaway]

I will watch the sky at night. Just as he watched it.

[Captain John Parsons]

I'm afraid I must go now.

[Alice Hathaway]

I understand. Strange. I have a new feeling. One which he did not teach us. A feeling of longing, of sadness that

[Captain John Parsons]

one is not taught. It comes of being alive. Yes.

[Alice Hathaway]

I am alive. Even though he created me, I'm a person now.

[Captain John Parsons]

Goodbye, Alice Hathaway.

[Alice Hathaway]

Goodbye, John Parsons.

[Captain John Parsons]

It.

[Narrator]

You have just heard. Another adventure into the unknown world of the future. The world of dimension. When the time comes for man to explore the universe, to deal with the strange inhabitants of other worlds, there will be much to remember. Perhaps the most important lesson of all will seem too fundamental to be included in the training manuals. Listen at this time next week as Dimension X brings you a story from the pages of the august Astounding Science Fiction. A story called Courtesy.

[Dimension X Announcer]

Dimension X is presented each week by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Scree ten Smith publishers of the magazine Astounding Science Fiction. Today, Dimension X has presented Dwellers in Silence, written for radio by George Lefferts from the story by Ray Bradbury. Featured in the cast were Peter Capel as Captain Parsons, Bill Griffiths as Dr. Hathaway and Gertrude Warner as Alice. Your host was Norman Rose. Music by Albert Berman. Dimension X is produced by William Welch and directed by Fred Wayne Dragnet. The story of your police force is next on NBC.

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