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Liberty Mutual Agent
And, Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.
George Hadley
Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?
Liberty Mutual Agent
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.
George Hadley
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.
Liberty Mutual Agent
Anyways, get a'@libertymutual.com or with your local agent.
George Hadley
Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.
Narrator
Adventures in time and space told in future 10, The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with street and Smith publishers of Astounding Science Fiction, bring you Dimension X. The soundproofed happy life home had cost $30,000. Installed it clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to their life. Purred on from day to day, measured and controlled by the nucleonic thermostats, the iridium sponge servo brains that made the beds and washed down the bathroom floors and made sure the salt cellars flowed freely without clogging. Twice a day the house paused, rang
George Hadley
a quiet bell
Narrator
and turned precisely 90 degrees on its axis in order that the view from the solaroid living room windows might be varied to avoid ennu. Of course, the pride of the house was the nursery. The agent for the company had been most enthusiastic.
George Hadley
This way. Right down the hall. All right.
Lydia Hadley
What was that?
George Hadley
Oh, it's all automatic. The nursery turns itself on when you come within 10ft of it. Soft automaticity. That's the motto of the company. All right. Now, this is the nursery. 40ft by 40ft and 30ft high. Separate power unit with automatic overload circuit breakers inspected and approved by the underwriter's laboratory. The nursery is educational, instructive, entertaining and therapeutic. The entire control mechanism is adjusted to the electroencephalographic key of the child. How much does it cost? 30,000 fob Los Angeles. But that's as much as the whole house. Why, no. But we do want the best for our children, don't we?
Lydia Hadley
Oh, yes. We want the best for our children.
Narrator
And it was the best. The crystalline walls wavered from two to three dimensions. The pseudo textured composition flooring shifted lightly from brick to dirt to waving grass. And the odorophonics wafted the scent of fantasy through the hermetically conditioned and filtered air. The nursery was the very. But then they wanted the very best for the children. The technicians installed the nursery and the heavy coaxial power cable was run in from the main line. The walls Sprang to life and the mental control banks and relays hummed.
George Hadley
All right, Peter and Wendy, this is your nursery.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
What's so special about a nursery, dad?
George Hadley
Plenty. You just go in and see.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Oh, do we have to? It's so big. You promised you'd play ball with me. Outside, Pop.
George Hadley
Go on, kids. Try out the nursery. It's better than any old yard.
Lydia Hadley
Aw, go on in, dear. You'll be surprised.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
She.
George Hadley
Go ahead, Wendy.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
I'm scared. I'm not. Hey, it's nice in here. It is? Come on in. Wendy, look at the pictures on those walls. They're real. Well, almost real.
George Hadley
You can change them any way you like just by thinking about it.
Lydia Hadley
Go on in, dear.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Well, all right, Mommy. Hey, Wendy, look what I can do with the pictures. Now, that's a white Magic from Alice in London ring.
George Hadley
Sure.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
I just thought about it, and there it was. Well, let me try, Peter. Let me try. Go ahead. Just think. How about the. Oh, I know. I want to see the wizard of Oz.
George Hadley
Well, dear, there we are.
Lydia Hadley
They like it, don't they?
George Hadley
Well, why shouldn't they? All they have to do is think, and they've got whatever they want in three dimensions. Color, sound and smell. Oh, think what it would have been like to have a nursery like that
Narrator
when you were a kid.
Lydia Hadley
It's nice that we can give them all the advantages.
George Hadley
Why, sure. What else are we working for, huh?
Lydia Hadley
Right.
George Hadley
Well, what do you want to do this evening?
Lydia Hadley
Well, the Petersons asked us over for bridge, but.
George Hadley
Oh, we don't have to worry about the kids. They'll be all right in the nursery. Come on, Lydia. We deserve a night out.
Narrator
And in the nursery, the walls were kaleidoscope of time and space and imagination. The Green Forest of Sherwood and quiet forms of Robin and his merry men gave way to the roll of the high seas and the smell of salt in the air as Sir Henry Morgan sailed into the harbor at Jamaica.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
It's my turn now, Peter. You've gotta be fair.
Narrator
It's my turn, Dorothy. And the wizard of Oz followed the yellow brick road round the nursery walls. Then Hansel and Gretel discovered the gingerbread house about three, three feet from the door. And from a high tower that stretched into the clouds, the little lame prince sailed out over his kingdom. And behind the crystal and quartz walls, the vacuum tubes and grids and banks of mental image tape spun quietly and efficiently, erasing the line between illusion and reality. Of course, the electric bill from Consolidated Utilities was tremendous, but it was worth it. The house went on the stove Hummed happily in the kitchen, making breakfast, dinner and supper for four, turning the eggs over lightly and producing popovers electronically calculated by capacity to a 30 volt current and specific gravity. The automatic laundry did the shirts with a medium starch in the collars except the button down oxfords which had no starch at all. The happy life home breathed contentedly as life proceeded with soft automaticity as guaranteed in the brochure and bill of Sal.
Lydia Hadley
George, I wish you'd look at the nursery.
George Hadley
Well, what's. What's wrong with us?
Lydia Hadley
Well, I don't know.
George Hadley
Well, that might.
Lydia Hadley
I just want you to look at it, that's all. Or call a psychologist to look at it.
George Hadley
What would a psychologist want with a nursery?
Lydia Hadley
Oh, now, George, you know very well what he'd want.
George Hadley
I was in the nursery last week. It's perfectly all right.
Lydia Hadley
Well, it's different now.
George Hadley
What do you mean different?
Lydia Hadley
I just want you to come and see.
George Hadley
Are the kids there?
Lydia Hadley
No. Madge Allen took them to a show along with her kids. That's why I want you to look in now before they get back.
George Hadley
All right. What you expect me to do? I don't know. I'm no mechanic.
Lydia Hadley
This isn't a question of a leaky faucet, George.
George Hadley
All right, dear, I'm coming.
Liberty Mutual Agent
And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.
George Hadley
Hey everyone, check out this guy and his bird.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
What is this, your first date?
Liberty Mutual Agent
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.
George Hadley
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.
Liberty Mutual Agent
Anyways, get a quote@libertymutual.com or with your local agent.
George Hadley
Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty.
Liberty Mutual Agent
Yes you can. A five minute quick and easy calorie burning workout.
George Hadley
Give it a try. Come join our sweat sesh on TikTok.
Narrator
The nursery light flicked on as they came down the hall. The relays clicked and the tubes warmed and chemical odor banks and pipes bubbled into life as they paused before the closed door.
Lydia Hadley
Go ahead, George. Open it.
Narrator
On all sides in three dimensions stretched the hot tired landscape of an African veldt, reproduced at the last stick and pebble and bit of straw. The ceiling above them became a sky with a hot yellow sun. A wind blew in from the baked veldtland. The hot straw smell of lion grass. The cool green smell of the hidden water hole. The great rusty smell of animals. The smell of Dust like red paprika on the hot air. And now the sounds. The howl of the jackal in the distance. The thump of distant antelope feet on grassy sod. And the papery rustling of the great vultures that wheeled and circled under the yellow burning sun.
George Hadley
Oh, let's get out of this sun. It's a little too real.
Lydia Hadley
Oh, no, George. You promised. You look around.
George Hadley
Well, I. I don't see any.
Lydia Hadley
Now, wait a minute.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Look.
Lydia Hadley
There are the vultures.
Narrator
Filthy creatures.
Lydia Hadley
And there. There are the lions. Far over that way.
George Hadley
Yes, I see them.
Lydia Hadley
They're on their way to the water hole. They're just eaten. Eaten?
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Yes.
George Hadley
I can't see what sun. Too strong.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Well, shade your eyes.
George Hadley
It's some animal. A zebra or a baby giraffe, maybe.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Can you see it? Are you sure?
George Hadley
It's a little too late to be sure. Nothing over there but clean bone and vultures dropping for what's left.
Lydia Hadley
George, did you hear that scream?
Narrator
What scream?
Lydia Hadley
Just now.
George Hadley
Sorry, hon. No.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Here come the lions. George, they're frightening.
George Hadley
Take it easy, Lydia. They're just illusions.
Narrator
It was a miracle of mechanical efficiency. The lions prowling toward them over the tawny Veldtland. A miracle of inventive genius. Every house should have one. The lions were 15ft away. So real, so startlingly real, you could feel the prickling fur on your hand. Your mouth was stuffed with the dusty upholstery smell of their heated pelts. The yellow of them was in your eyes, like the yellow of an exquisite tapestry. The yellows of lions in summer grass. The sound of the matted lion lungs exhaling on the silent noon. And the smell of meat from the panting, dripping mouths.
Lydia Hadley
George, I'm afraid they're so real.
George Hadley
They're only an illusion, Lydia.
Narrator
That's all.
George Hadley
Watch out. Oh, quick. Outside.
Lydia Hadley
Oh, George.
George Hadley
Lydia. My poor, sweet Lydia.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
George, they almost got her.
George Hadley
No, not now. Now, take it easy. Calm down.
Lydia Hadley
But I could feel their breath.
George Hadley
Now, now, now, get. Get a hold of yourself with. Here. They aren't real walls. That's all it is. Crystalloid walls.
Lydia Hadley
But they look so real.
George Hadley
Yes, yes, darling, of course they do. But it's all dimensional, color, reactionary process. And metal tape film behind glass screens. It's all odorophonics and sonics. Now, here, here, take my handkerchief.
Lydia Hadley
I'm afraid. George, did you see? Did you feel it's too real.
George Hadley
No, no, Lydia.
Lydia Hadley
We've got to tell Wendy and Peter not to read any more on Africa.
George Hadley
Yes, yes, of course. Of course, dear.
Lydia Hadley
Do you promise?
George Hadley
Sure, sure.
Lydia Hadley
And lock the nursery for a few days.
George Hadley
Oh, now wait a minute, dear. Let's keep our sense of proportion.
Lydia Hadley
George, I want you to lock that place up.
George Hadley
Honey, you know how difficult Peter is about that. I punished him last week by locking the nursery for an afternoon and he threw a tantrum. And Wendy too. Honey, they live for the nursery.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
I tell you, it's got to be locked. That's all there is to it.
George Hadley
Lydia, you need a rest.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Oh, I. I don't know. I don't know.
Lydia Hadley
Maybe I don't have enough to do. I have too much time to think. All I do is set the menu selector dials at the beginning of the week.
George Hadley
But honey, that's the whole idea. The house is automatic.
Lydia Hadley
I know, but couldn't we turn it off for a couple of weeks?
George Hadley
Just.
Lydia Hadley
Just a couple of weeks and take a vacation?
George Hadley
You mean that you want to fry eggs for me?
Lydia Hadley
Yes, I do. And darn socks too. I feel like I don't belong here. The house is wife and mother and maid. How can I compete with the African veldt? And you, George, you don't know what to do with yourself in the house when you're home. You're drinking too much.
George Hadley
Am I?
Lydia Hadley
You'll feel useless too.
George Hadley
Yes, I. I suppose I do.
Lydia Hadley
George, those lions can't get out of there, can they?
George Hadley
Oh, of course not, dear. Now don't think about it anym.
Narrator
They ate alone. He sat idly, watching the dining room table produce warm dishes of food from its mechanical interior. You forgot to catch him.
George Hadley
That's finished.
Narrator
It wouldn't hurt to lock the children out of the nursery for a while. It was clear that they'd been spending too much time in Africa. Oh, that sun. He could still feel it on his neck like a hot paw. And the lions. The smell of blood. Remarkable how the nursery caught the telepathic emanations of the children's minds and created a life to fulfill their desires. The children fought zebras. And there were zebras. Sun, sun, death and death. They were so young. But long before you knew what death was, you were wishing it on someone else.
George Hadley
But this.
Narrator
The long hot African veldt. The awful death in the jaws of a lion. And repeated again and again and again. The children came home dutifully at 8:30.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Hi, Mom. Hi, Pop. Hi, Peter.
Lydia Hadley
You're.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Want something to eat, Wendy? No, thanks.
Lydia Hadley
Well, we're just having dessert.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
We're full of strawberry ice cream and hot dogs. We'll just sit and watch.
Narrator
Sure.
George Hadley
Peter, tell us about the nursery.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Nursery?
Narrator
Yes.
George Hadley
All about Africa and everything.
Lydia Hadley
I don't understand.
George Hadley
Your mother and I were just traveling through Africa with Rod and Reel.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
There is no African in the nature nursery.
George Hadley
Oh, come now, Peter. We know better.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
I don't remember any Africa. Do you win run and see, huh? Sure.
Liberty Mutual Agent
And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.
George Hadley
Hey, everyone, check out this guy in his. What is this, your first date?
Liberty Mutual Agent
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.
George Hadley
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.
Liberty Mutual Agent
Anyways, get a quote@libertymutual.com or with your local agent.
George Hadley
Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
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George Hadley
Wendy, come back here. Wendy.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
She'll be right back.
George Hadley
She doesn't have to. I've seen it. Now come on.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Sure, Pop. Wendy will tell us though.
Lydia Hadley
Could they be lying?
George Hadley
We'll see in just a moment. Peter, open the door.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
See, Daddy? It's not Africa. It's Florida. What do you mean? There go the deer. See? It isn't Africa.
George Hadley
Yes, I see it isn't. Go to bed.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
But it isn't 9 o'. Clock. No, it isn't.
George Hadley
You heard me.
Narrator
Go to bed.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Okay. Night, Mom. Night. Hello. Good night, dears.
Lydia Hadley
I'll be right in.
George Hadley
Lydia, wait a minute.
Narrator
Here.
George Hadley
Look. Look at this.
Lydia Hadley
What is it?
George Hadley
This is the corner where the lions were, isn't it?
Lydia Hadley
What's that you picked up?
George Hadley
It's an old wallet of mine. There's a smell of hot grass on it. The smell of a lion. It's wet with saliva. And it's been chewed.
Lydia Hadley
George, those sweet as a blood.
George Hadley
Come on out. Now. Let's go to bed.
Narrator
So they went to bed. But in the middle of the night, Lydia was still awake. And she knew her husband was awake.
Lydia Hadley
George, how did your wallet get in the nursery?
George Hadley
I don't know. Wendy must have changed the walls from the African belt. Honey, I'm gonna keep it locked. Maybe it isn't good for the children.
Lydia Hadley
It's supposed to help them work off their neuroses in a harmless way.
George Hadley
I'm starting to wonder.
Lydia Hadley
We've given the children everything they wanted.
George Hadley
My father used to say children are like carpets. They should be stepped on occasionally. We've never Lifted a hand. They're spoiled and we're spoiled. I think I'll have Dr. MacLean come tomorrow morning and have a look at Africa.
Lydia Hadley
Yes, Tony. It isn't Africa now. It's Florida and the yearling.
George Hadley
I have a feeling it'll be Africa again before then.
Lydia Hadley
George, Wendy and Peter aren't in their room?
George Hadley
No, they've broken into the nursery.
Lydia Hadley
Those screams, they sounded familiar.
George Hadley
Did they?
Lydia Hadley
Yes, awfully. Oh, George.
Narrator
Although their automatic Somno beds tried very hard, the two adults couldn't be rocked to sleep for another hour. A smell of cats was in the night air. And in the morning, the stove cooked French toast and the dining room table poured the syrup and melted butter.
George Hadley
Yes.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
You weren't gonna lock up the nursery?
George Hadley
That all depends.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
On what?
George Hadley
On you and your sister.
Lydia Hadley
We feel that you should have some variety, dear.
George Hadley
If you intersperse this Africa with a little Sweden or China.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
I thought we were free to play the way we like.
George Hadley
Well, you are, within reasonable bounds.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
But what's wrong with Africa, Daddy?
George Hadley
Oh. Oh, so now you admit you've been thinking up Africa.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
I wouldn't want the nursery cross locked up ever.
George Hadley
Well, as a matter of fact, we're thinking of turning the whole house off for about a month. Sort of camping out.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
You mean I'd have to tie my own shoes instead of having my shoe tie? Or do it and brush my own teeth and comb my own hair and give myself a bath.
Lydia Hadley
Well, Wendy, it would be fun for a change, don't you think, dear?
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
No, it'd be awful. I didn't like it when you took out the picture painted last month.
George Hadley
Well, that's because I wanted you to learn to paint by yourself.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
I don't want to do anything but look and listen and smell. What else is there to do?
George Hadley
Oh, all right.
Narrator
All right.
George Hadley
Go play in Africa.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Are you gonna shut off the house?
George Hadley
We're considering it.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
I don't think you better consider it anymore, Pop.
George Hadley
I won't have any threats from you, son.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Okay, Pop. Come on, Wendy. Let's get back.
Narrator
After breakfast. Dr. David McLean was announced by the audio knocker and the dining room table, recognizing him as an old friend. Poured an extra cup of coffee, light with four lumps.
George Hadley
I saw the nursery last year, George. It looked all right to me. You didn't notice anything unusual? No. Pattern showed the usual violence, a tendency towards slight paranoia. All children feel persecuted by their parents. Perfectly normal. I locked the nursery and they broke into it last night. I let them stay so they could form the patterns for you to see.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Here.
George Hadley
There it is. Well, suppose we take a look at it right now.
Narrator
They entered without knocking and sent the children out. The screams had faded and the lions were. Were feeding quietly under the trees.
George Hadley
Wish I could see what they're eating. You suppose some high powered binoculars? Hardly. How long has this been going on? Little over a month. It certainly doesn't feel good. I don't want feelings. I want fact. George. George's psychologist never saw a fact in his life. He knows about feelings. And this doesn't feel good. My advice to you is to have the whole room torn down and your children brought to me every day for the next year for treatment.
Narrator
Is it that bad?
George Hadley
I'm afraid so. You know, that's why the nursery was developed originally. To let us examine the patterns left on the wall by a child's mind. But what is it? What's wrong with Peter and Wendy? Well, it's hard to say. I haven't punished them more than average, though. I took away a few gadgets last week. I locked the nursery to show I meant business. George, you've let this room replace you and your wife in your children's affections. This room is their real father and mother. And now you come along and want to shut it. You can feel the hatred coming out of that sky. George, turn everything off. The nursery, the automatic kitchen, the whole confounded automatic house. Start now. But won't the shot be too much for the children? I don't want them going any deeper. Let's get out of here. I never liked these rooms. Get me nervous. Those lions look real, don't they? I don't suppose there's any way that.
Narrator
What?
George Hadley
That they could become real? Certainly not some flaw in the machinery tamp. No, no, no. I don't imagine the room would like being turned on. Nothing ever likes to die, even a room. I wonder if it hates me for turning down. Paranoia is thick today. Hello. Is this your scarf? It's stained brown. Say, that's blood. That's Lydia's. Come on. The main fuse box is out here. Go ahead, pull the switch. Yeah,
Narrator
it's off. The two children were in hysterics. They screamed and kicked and threw things. They yelled and sobbed and swore and jumped on the furniture. Weeping.
George Hadley
It's often it stays off. The whole house dies. As of now. The more I see of the mess we put ourselves in, the more it sickens me. We've been contemplating our electrical mechanical navel for too long. We need air. Fresh, unfiltered, unconditioned air.
Narrator
He marched around the house, cutting switches and pulling fuses. The stove was disconnected with a roast lamb in the oven and a flapjack still in the air. The heaters, the shoe shiners, the shoelacers, the body scrubbers and swabbers and massagers. He pulled the plugs and shorted out the controls. One after, the house became full of electronic corpses. It was a mechanical cemetery, so silent, none of the humming, hidden energy of the machines waiting to function at the tap of a button and by the still dining room table, its radionic insides dead and currentless. Peter wailed at the house, don't let them do it.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Don't let Pop kill everything. I hate you, Bob. I hate you.
Lydia Hadley
Peter, please.
George Hadley
Insult don't get you anywhere.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
I wish you were dead.
George Hadley
We were for a long while. Now we're going to start really living.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
One more, Daddy. Just one more.
Lydia Hadley
Oh, Wendy, honey.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
One minute of the nursery, that's all. Just one more minute.
Lydia Hadley
Oh, George.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
George, it can't hurt, really.
George Hadley
Oh, all right, all right. Only shut up one minute and that's the end. Forever.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Gee, thanks, Pop. Thanks.
George Hadley
Then we're going on a vacation. Dr. McLean is coming in a half hour to help us out. Lydia, turn on the nursery.
Lydia Hadley
Now remember, kids, it'll be just for one minute.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Oh, boy. Come on, Wendy.
Narrator
Come on.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Thanks, Daddy. Thanks a lot.
George Hadley
Just one minute. Remember. Where'd I put those suitcases? Lydia, Don't.
Lydia Hadley
Don't shout, George. I'm right here.
George Hadley
Oh, did. Did you leave them alone in the news?
Lydia Hadley
Well, I've got to get ready, George. Oh, that awful Africa. What can they see in it?
George Hadley
Well, in an hour we'll be on our way to Iowa. What prompted us to buy a nightmare like that?
Lydia Hadley
Pride, I guess. We had the money and we were foolish.
George Hadley
I guess we'd better get them out of there before they get involved with those beasts again.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Pat. Pat, come in, Maddie.
George Hadley
Maddie, come on, quick.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Wendy. Wendy. Peter, what's the matter?
George Hadley
Hurry up. Open the nursery. Wendy. Peter.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Well, they aren't anywhere. Wendy. Peter.
George Hadley
Peter, the door.
Narrator
Open the door.
George Hadley
They've locked it from the outside. Peter. Peter, open up.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Peter, don't let them. Don't let them. Turn off the nursery.
George Hadley
Now, don't get ridiculous, children. It's time to go.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Wendy. Wendy. Open the door, dear.
George Hadley
Let us out. Peter, open the door. Time to go. Open the door. George.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
George, the lion.
George Hadley
Peter, do you hear me? Open this door.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
They're all around us. George.
George Hadley
Son.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Son, do you hear me? They're coming.
Narrator
When Dr. David McLean came a half hour later, he found the two children in the nursery sitting in the center of the open glade, eating a picnic lunch. Beyond them was the water hole in the yellow Veldtland. Above was the hot sun. Dr. McLean saw at a distance the lions fighting and clawing and then settling down to feed in silence under the shady trees.
George Hadley
Hi, kids. Where are your mom and dad?
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Oh, they'll be here directly.
George Hadley
Good, good. We've got to get going.
Narrator
He squinted at the lions with his hands up to his eyes. Now they were done feeding. They moved to the water hole to drink. A shadow flickered as the vultures dropped down from the blazing sky to finish what the lions had left.
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Dr. McLean. Dr. McLean.
Lydia Hadley
Huh?
George Hadley
What?
Children (Wendy and Peter Hadley)
Have a cup of tea.
Narrator
You've just heard another adventure into the unknown world of the future. The world of dimension Action. How soon we actually build a spaceship to conquer the stars depends upon many factors, not the least of which is a man. The overwhelming desire to create such a ship, and the power to have it done. Next week we tell the story of such a man as Dimension X brings you Nelson Bond's the Vital Factor.
George Hadley
Dimension X is presented transcribed each week by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with street and Smith, publishers of the magazine Astounding Science Fiction. Today, Dimension X has presented the Velt, written for radio by Ernest Kanhoy from Ray Bradbury's the Illustrated Man. Included in the cast were Leslie woods and Bill Quinn as the parents, Joan Laser and David Anderson as the children. Your host was Norman Rose. Music by Albert Berman. Dimension X is produced by William Welch and directed by Fred Way.
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Episode: Dimension X - "The Veldt" (#43)
Date: May 6, 2026
Original Broadcast: NBC / Dimension X (adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s story from The Illustrated Man)
This episode revisits “The Veldt,” a chilling science fiction story by Ray Bradbury, dramatized for radio. It explores the unintended consequences of technological convenience on family life, particularly the alienation between parents and children in an automated future. Through immersive sound design and suspenseful storytelling, the episode warns about the dangers of handing over parenting and emotional bonds to machines.
[02:01-05:16]
Notable Quote:
"All they have to do is think, and they've got whatever they want in three dimensions. Color, sound and smell." (George Hadley, 05:02)
[07:16-13:17]
Notable Quote:
"George, I wish you'd look at the nursery." (Lydia Hadley, 07:16)
"George, I'm afraid they're so real." (Lydia, 11:49)
[13:17-15:26]
Notable Quote:
"I feel like I don't belong here. The house is wife and mother and maid. How can I compete with the African veldt?" (Lydia, 13:38)
[15:40-18:21]
Notable Quote:
"It's an old wallet of mine. There's a smell of hot grass on it. The smell of a lion. It's wet with saliva. And it's been chewed." (George, 18:02)
[22:07-24:49]
Notable Quote:
"George, you've let this room replace you and your wife in your children's affections. This room is their real father and mother. And now you come along and want to shut it. You can feel the hatred coming out of that sky." (Dr. McLean, 23:47)
[25:39-29:44]
Notable Quote:
"Don't let Pop kill everything. I hate you, Pop. I hate you." (Peter, 27:06)
"We were for a long while. Now we're going to start really living." (George, 27:14)
[29:44-30:44]
Notable Quote:
"Have a cup of tea." (Peter/Wendy to Dr. McLean, 30:44)
On Technology Replacing Emotional Bonds:
"George, you've let this room replace you and your wife in your children's affections." (Dr. McLean, 23:47)
On Domestic Alienation:
"The house is wife and mother and maid. How can I compete with the African veldt?" (Lydia, 13:38)
On Parental Realization:
"The more I see of the mess we put ourselves in, the more it sickens me. We've been contemplating our electrical mechanical navel for too long. We need air. Fresh, unfiltered, unconditioned air." (George, 25:58)
Chilling Finale:
"Oh, they'll be here directly." (Peter/Wendy, when asked about their parents, 30:14)
"Dimension X - The Veldt" is a cautionary tale about overreliance on technology at the expense of human relationships and personal responsibility. The episode expertly dramatizes fears about automated convenience leading to emotional displacement and, ultimately, disaster. The radio format heightens the story’s psychological horror, making this an unforgettable entry in Golden Age sci-fi.