Orbit One Zero 1961-05-12 The Voices

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Harold's Old Time Radio

Episode: Orbit One Zero (1961-05-12) – "The Voices"
Date: December 4, 2025
Host: Harold’s Old Time Radio

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Overview

In this fourth episode of "Orbit One Zero," subtitled "The Voices," the suspenseful British radio drama delves deeper into the mysterious events surrounding alien cylinders discovered in the UK. Dr. Hayward Petrie and his colleagues contend with inexplicable phenomena as their investigation into the cylinders threatens both their understanding of science and their personal safety. New evidence points to extraterrestrial origins, a disturbing pattern of global incidents, and the revelation of a possible new planet. The tension crescendos in a chilling laboratory encounter with forces beyond comprehension.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Cylinder’s Power and the Vanishing Lamp

• After a steel lamp is absorbed by the green-glowing rod, the team witnesses matter vanishing without a trace, challenging their scientific understanding.
  • "If I had watched it alone, I would have disbelieved my own eyes. But we all saw it, that heavy jointed lamp shrink to a speck and then literally sucked into the glowing core of the rod." – Dr. Petrie (01:34)
• The team debates if existing physical laws apply to the cylinder’s behavior.
  • "Well, one of our laws perhaps. But must they apply everywhere?" – Dr. Petrie (02:29)

2. Biological Parallels and Scale

• Clifford notes a resemblance between the cylinder’s core and nurse cells in human biology, but on an enormous scale.
  • "The cells that thing is made up of must be a quarter of an inch across. If that material comes from some kind of living being... A human, if he were composed of cells that size, would be almost three miles high." – Dr. Petrie (03:52–04:32)

3. Escalation and Official Involvement

• Petrie, with mounting concern, contacts Sir Edward Bancroft, who arranges a meeting with the Minister of Science, indicating the gravity of their findings.
  • "In the morning, I shall give Charles a ring... Lord Heatherton, the Minister of Science... We're getting a little out of our depths, Hayward. I'm afraid officialdom must take over." – Tom Lambert (07:35–07:41)

4. Discovery of a Second Cylinder

• A group of students discover another cylinder in a disused Welsh mine—suggesting the phenomenon is not isolated.
  • "They found something else. An object covered in mineral deposits... seven or eight feet long. They described it as some sort of cylinder." – Tom Lambert (10:17–10:27)
• Parallel incidents of strange phenomena around the world are referenced, hinting at a larger pattern.

5. Pattern of Global Incidents

• Lambert reveals a dossier of related events from around the globe: unexplained earth tremors, frost in summer, green lights, and unexplained collapses all linked in some way to the cylinders.
  • "40 accounts in all. 40. And they all have a familiar ring, don't they, Doctor? Maybe even this isn't the whole story." – Tom Lambert (12:19–12:19)

6. Governmental Deliberations and Theories

• In Whitehall, Dr. Petrie explains the cylinders’ properties and hazards, theorizing they're powered by consumption of energy and matter, and they may have extraterrestrial origins.
  • "We know of the certain existence of two cylinders. They can cause violent physical disturbances. They can also assimilate mineral and metallic substances, probably any solid matter." – Dr. Petrie (15:59–16:09)
• Lord Heatherton promises support and resources to continue the investigation:
  • "Carry on with your work, Doctor. You will have my ministry's full support. And money, if you need it." – Lord Heatherton (17:47–18:02)
• Dr. Petrie hypothesizes the cylinders are part of a deliberate, extraterrestrial plan, ongoing for decades:
  • "They've traveled here from some source in space... they're part of a plan and operation devised by an extremely advanced intelligence... they've been falling on Earth for at least 50 years..." – Dr. Petrie (18:17–18:47)

7. Astronomical Revelations: Signals from Orbit One Zero

• At the radio telescope on Skara, McCraran and Garrick detect fading and intensifying signals, calculations suggesting a large body in a distant orbit—possibly a tenth planet.
  • "Signals are coming from a solid body orbiting around the sun like a planet somewhere beyond Pluto." – Tom Lambert (20:03–20:05)
• Dr. Petrie confirms:
  • "Campbell, I want to be the first to congratulate you. These figures are conclusive. A large orbiting body within the solar system. There can be only one explanation. A new tenth planet. Orbit 1-0." – Dr. Petrie (21:41–22:01)

8. Terrifying Lab Incident

• Elizabeth, left alone, is psychically compelled towards the cylinder, which activates ominously. Overwhelmed by cold and a compulsion to approach the device, she manages to phone Clifford before being consumed or vanishing.
  • "She found herself walking against her will towards the cubicle... Something somewhere was calling, demanding, willing her to obey... Cliff, please come. Please. I can't fight it much longer." – Narrator/Dr. Petrie & Elizabeth (26:16–28:38)
• Clifford races to the lab but finds it sealed by debris and filled with frost and vapor: Elizabeth has disappeared without a trace.
  • "But there was no sign of Elizabeth. The laboratory seemed quite... empty." – Narrator/Dr. Petrie (29:49)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Defying Laws of Physics:

  • "After tonight, who are we to say what's impossible? Thank heaven we had that cabinet made."
    — Dr. Petrie (03:08)

• Realizing the Threat:

  • "If solid matter can be drawn in, it could be, well, extremely dangerous."
    — Dr. Petrie (03:29)

• Broader Implications:

  • "This could be our first contact with some other intelligence. Yes. The thing probably isn't meant to do any harm. It may be just a complex instrument hopelessly out of its element, running wild."
    — Tom Lambert (06:44–07:14)

• The Chilling Climax:

  • "She found herself walking against her will towards the cubicle... her eyes fixed on the growing core of the rod. Something seemed to be drawing her towards it."
    — Narrator/Dr. Petrie (26:16)

• The Global Mystery:

  • "Syria, Yugoslavia. There could be others, perhaps all over the world... this is vitally important. All such reports everywhere can we get hold of them?"
    — Dr. Petrie (13:33–13:52)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Absorption of the Lamp and Theoretical Debates:
  • 01:34–03:08
• Biological Scale Comparison:
  • 03:34–04:38
• Drive to Bancroft and Government Involvement:
  • 04:38–08:09
• Discovery of a Second Cylinder:
  • 09:09–10:27
• Global Pattern Analysis:
  • 11:40–13:33
• Whitehall Meeting and Scientific Theories:
  • 15:41–18:47
• Astronomical Discovery & Orbit 1-0:
  • 19:36–22:05
• Elizabeth’s Ordeal & Climax:
  • 24:46–29:49

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Tone and Style

The episode maintains a tense, methodical, and slightly chilling tone, reinforcing the classic science fiction mystery of 1960s radio drama. Characters discuss the impossible with earnest, clipped British precision, maintaining both curiosity and growing unease.

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Summary

This episode of "Orbit One Zero" marks a turning point as Dr. Petrie and his colleagues connect local anomalies to a global—and possibly cosmic—phenomenon. The demonstration of the cylinder’s frightening capabilities leads to government involvement, with theories of extraterrestrial engineering mounting in plausibility. The discovery of signals from a hypothetical tenth planet provides a cosmic context for the events on Earth, while the harrowing experience of Elizabeth, culminating in her unexplained disappearance, leaves the fate of the investigators—and possibly the entire planet—ominous and unresolved.

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Transcript

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[Tom Lambert]

From London, we present Orbit 1 0, a play in six episodes by Peter Elliot Hayes.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Episode 4 the Voices.

[Tom Lambert]

This is Tom Lambert again. You've now heard three of the six tape recordings made by Dr. Hayward Petrie. But on that November night in the college laboratory, when the green rod went into action for the second time, we were very far from halfway to the truth. Even if the three of them watched a solid steel lamp dwindle and vanish into the cylinder, they could not dream of what was yet to come. But Dr. Petrie must take up the story for himself. Here is the fourth recording.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Continuation of notes real 4. If I had watched it alone, I would have disbelieved my own eyes. But we all saw it, that heavy jointed lamp shrink to a speck and then literally sucked into the glowing core of the rod. Almost at once the disturbance, noise, light, vibration began to subside.

[Tom Lambert]

Look. Do you see? The light's dimming and the mist in.

[Clifford]

The cubicle is clearing. But there's no way for it to get out.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

It doesn't need a way out. It's being reabsorbed into the rod where it came from.

[Tom Lambert]

There's nothing else in there. The lamp's gone. Completely.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

We wondered what power that thing possessed. Now we know. Yes, it can absorb solid matter. No, those objects missing from the self are curcuis.

[Tom Lambert]

Of course.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

The way the workbench that thing was standing on seemed to vanish, the dust that was left there, well, they went the same way as that lamp.

[Tom Lambert]

But it's impossible. Solid gases can't pass through each other. It's a question of densities. It's a law of physics.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Well, one of our laws perhaps. But must they apply everywhere? Under sufficient pressure, water can be forced through a steel plate. A solid can pass through a gas, but a splinter of super frozen hydrogen can be driven into a wooden board. It's all a question of applied forces. We only understand these things in our own terms.

[Tom Lambert]

Yes, sir, but physical and chemical changes always leave something, some deposit. Yes.

[Clifford]

Look at the rod now. It's gone quite dull. You can see through it again.

[Tom Lambert]

Just the wires and the gray thing in the center. Nothing else?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

No, nothing else but that lamp just.

[Tom Lambert]

Can'T disappear off the face of the earth.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Can't it? After tonight, who are we to say what's impossible? Thank heaven we had that cabinet made. If this had happened in the open.

[Clifford]

Yes, it seems to work more powerfully this time.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Now listen, both of you. I'll repeat what I said three days ago, and this time I mean it. After this, we must never open that cubicle. Not for any reason.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

All right.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

If solid matter can be drawn in, it could be, well, extremely dangerous.

[Clifford]

Doctor?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Yes?

[Clifford]

The book I was looking at before. Cliffs under the Buzzer. That illustration. I think you're right.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Yes. That organism in the center, it has all the same characteristics, only on a much larger scale. The resemblance is perfect.

[Clifford]

And the photograph was a human nurse cell?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Yes. Each one perhaps one ten thousandth of an inch in diameter. But the cells that thing is made up of must be a quarter of an inch across. If that material comes from some kind of living being for some reason, in some way enclosed, sealed in. Well, the mind staggers at the possibilities. Don't you realize it's simply a question of scale? A human, if he were composed of cells that size, would be. He'd be almost three miles high.

Later that night, leaving Clifford and Elizabeth on watch, I went alone to my study. I wanted to think this had suddenly become something far larger than a laboratory problem. This powerful wolfless mechanism lying buried for years beneath a Hebridean beach with the sea washing indifferently over it. How had it got there? And more vital, where it had begun its existence. At last I picked up the telephone and called Sir Edward Bancroft at his home in Kent. Edward made no comment as I told him the fact. When I'd finished, he told me to come down to Westrum at once and bring my students with me. I wonder now if either of us realized that it was three in the morning. I shall always remember that drive through the wet, empty suburbs and later through the black surrey lanes. And at 4:30 we were sitting in Edward's panel drawing room around the ashes of a dead fire with the first grey of dawn coming over the Kent hill.

[Tom Lambert]

Choose the pajamas and dressing gown, weren't you?

[Clifford]

Yes, of course.

[Tom Lambert]

Don't usually receive guests like this. But guests usually come at a respectable hour. My wife's making coffee. She'll be here in a minute.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Perhaps I should have waited until the morning.

[Tom Lambert]

No, you did quite right. Haven't well, at least you didn't write off the college completely.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Not quite.

[Tom Lambert]

These are the readings you collected?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Yes, sir.

[Tom Lambert]

Radiation level reached 5 runtions. Temperature down to minus 11 in 80 seconds. Vibrations up to 12,000 cycles. Quite a lively little gadget, isn't it?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

And we lost a lamp.

[Tom Lambert]

Yes.

Look, Heywood. It's no good our thinking up glib exposure and sticking our heads in the sand. I'm in touch with technological advances pretty well everywhere, and I can tell you that no one has produced anything like this. So we're forced to consider the possible.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Alternative that the cylinder did not originate on this planet.

[Tom Lambert]

Not a new idea to you, perhaps?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

No, it's not.

[Tom Lambert]

We've shot umpteen satellites into space. Some of them have stayed up and.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Some of them haven't.

[Tom Lambert]

But what do we know about what comes into our own planetary back garden planet? Practically nothing. I agree. This could be our first contact with some other intelligence. Yes. The thing probably isn't meant to do any harm. It may be just a complex instrument hopelessly out of its element, running wild. Imagine Sputnik 99 thumping down on Venus and disgorging sparks, radio signals and guinea pig inhabitants, if any, would be quite justified in taking a sledgehammer to it and asking questions afterwards. This could be something like that.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Yes, but where in the solar system could it have come from? The composition of the planets is well known. None of them can support the kind of life to bring off an achievement like this.

[Tom Lambert]

And I think, sir, our cylinder can bite a little harder than the average guinea pig.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

It can.

[Tom Lambert]

And it'll take more than a sledgehammer to even chip it. Yes, so you've seen.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

We have, indeed.

[Tom Lambert]

Well, none of us is qualified to make decisions on this. In the morning, I shall give Charles a ring.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Charles?

[Tom Lambert]

Lord Heatherton, the Minister of Science, lives in Whitehall somewhere. We're getting a little out of our depths, Hayward. I'm afraid officialdom must take over.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Yes. Whatever happens, I must have facilities to continue studying that rod. I can't stop now.

[Tom Lambert]

I know, Charles. You have every facility. And the cylinder, for the moment, seems safe enough where it is. Don't look so glum, all of you. You may have made the most important discovery in the history of our world.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

I hope so, Edward, but.

Oh, I don't know. I just wish there wasn't something about that thing that makes me want to throw it back into the sea.

[Tom Lambert]

That's not like you, Hayward. You're tired, been going at it too hard, perhaps. We must take this one careful step at A time. Ah, here's that copy. Yes. Poor old Heatherton, Cambridge. He was just rotten. A tire map.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

I reached home as my housekeeper was laying breakfast. If my unshaven, disheveled appearance was a shock for her, there was one waiting for me too. Almost at once the telephone rang.

[Tom Lambert]

Oh? Cardiff University.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Yes, this is Dr. Petrie.

[Tom Lambert]

Thank you. Hello. Good morning, Heward. Morning, Clever Hughes. Yeah, good. Did I get you out of bed?

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

No, you didn't.

[Tom Lambert]

Good, good.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

How is Welsh Wales this morning?

[Tom Lambert]

Cold and damp, but better than London any day.

Heyward.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Yes?

[Tom Lambert]

You asked me to have a look at that colliery, Slan Wesleyan. In the room there.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Yes, of course. Now have I wasted your time?

[Tom Lambert]

I got a blue of my students doing some detecting. Ones who come from that part. Hold on. Of a good mind to advise the Dean to send them down. Every mother son of them.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

Well, why?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

What have they done?

[Tom Lambert]

A couple of them were keen potholers. They thought this was too good to miss. Worse, one of them had worked in a pit. Well, they went to Llan Wesslin, but everything seemed quiet enough, including the pit keeper, who was having a sleep. Of course, there was no way of getting down the old shaft. But did that discourage them? The idiots went down their way. Potholing gear, ropes, lamps and all the rest. They ought to be shot. Believe it or not. They got down to the level of the first working and went half a mile into the galleries.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Good for them.

[Tom Lambert]

Good for.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Sorry, I. I mean, very foolhardy of them.

[Tom Lambert]

Mad as happy. Yes. Luckily the pit is still in quite good shape. Except for a few small collapses and a little flooding. But at the very end of the east working Heywood, they. They say they found a kind of cavern. Oh, yes. It must have formed since the pit was closed. And then clambering about with their lamps, they. They found something else.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

What?

[Tom Lambert]

What did I find? An object covered in mineral deposits sticking out of the debris. Tubular. Seven or eight feet long. They described it as some sort of cylinder.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Oh, so it's not the only one. They didn't try to move it?

[Tom Lambert]

No. The air was foul. They had to come up.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Thank heaven for that, Trevor. I can't explain it all now, but they must not go down again. We have a similar object here in the college. We what? Yes, and we don't know what it may be.

[Tom Lambert]

Have you been climbing down coal mines at your age?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

No, no. This was found on an island in the Hebrides. Now we know of two. I'll call you later, Trevor.

[Tom Lambert]

Oh, yes, yes.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

And those students of Yours.

[Tom Lambert]

Be strict with them.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Get them sent down. Definitely.

[Tom Lambert]

Yes, I should. Of course. On the other hand, one could say they showed a good sense of initiative. What are you laughing at? Oh, nothing.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Thanks for your help. Goodbye.

Shortly afterwards, the telephone rang again. It was Sir Edward Bancroft. He told me he'd arranged an appointment for me with the Minister of Science, 4 o' clock that afternoon in Whitehall. A cloud of uncertainty was gathering in my mind. A dark, forbidding cloud. And I knew then where the answer lay. I went to Fleet street, to Tom Lambert.

[Tom Lambert]

Well, Doctor, are we in business or aren't we?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Yes. Lambert, I owe you an apology.

[Tom Lambert]

No, not at all.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

You were right to drag me down to llan Wetland after this. I'll respect your underlisting intuition. There is another cylinder in that pit.

[Tom Lambert]

There is?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Yes. It was found yesterday.

[Tom Lambert]

Phew. Well, it was a shot in the dark. But I've had my eye on this longer than you have, Doctor. You know, years ago, I began noticing the way similar reports kept turning up.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Yes?

[Tom Lambert]

Well, I hadn't a ghost of a theory for them, but once a journalist smells a mystery.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Oh, I know.

[Tom Lambert]

Well, anyway, I started a private news library just so.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

And that's why I came. You showed me some cuttings on the train to Wales. There were about seven, I remember.

[Tom Lambert]

Yeah, but there were only a few of them.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

A few?

[Tom Lambert]

Didn't I make that clear?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

No. How many more are there?

[Tom Lambert]

You better see the file. All of it should be in here. And I've only been at this for a few years. Here we are.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Oh, it's very thick.

[Tom Lambert]

Uh huh.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

One cutting dated 1907. Mystery earth tremors in Lincolnshire. 1919. Strike at Kent Quarley. Narrow escapes as Fisher opens. 1929. Frostbite in midsummer. Strange sounds on X1.

[Tom Lambert]

And plenty more. Going back for 50 years. 40 accounts in all. 40. And they all have a familiar ring, don't they, Doctor? Maybe even this isn't the whole story. Look, tend to the last sheet. One I came across by accident when I was in Jordan last year.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Syrian village devastated. Humming heard as ground subsides Green light. Vibration tilting Damascus Port Heaven through.

[Tom Lambert]

Yeah, and earlier this year, a half finished block of flats and Belgrade collapsed without warning. Again. The ground just caved in. And again workmen talked about a green light. Does that mean anything?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Yes, of course you will. You don't know. The cylinder in our laboratory emits a green light when it functions.

[Tom Lambert]

Good heaven, yes.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Syria, Yugoslavia. There could be others, perhaps all over the world. Lambert, this is vitally important. All such reports everywhere can we get hold of them?

[Tom Lambert]

Tall order. The world's a fair sized place, you know. Yeah, but the Press Association's not too little. If I can get my editor on our side and the foreign news agencies would play. We can try.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

I think I can get you official backing for it. I'm seeing Lord Heatherton this afternoon.

[Tom Lambert]

The Minister, Is it that I already.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Yes. Look, may I borrow this file of yours? I think he ought to see it.

[Tom Lambert]

Yeah, it's all yours. And I just hope that one day that lot might make a news story.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Not yet.

[Tom Lambert]

Looks like something pretty big, doesn't it, Doctor?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Bigger, perhaps, than we can even imagine.

Soon after 4 o', clock, I was sitting in a long, high room behind Whitehall. A log crackled in an edible fireplace, its flames reflecting darkly on the disdainful portraits on the walls. Beyond the tall window, a tug hooted on the grey curve of the Thames. Lord Heatherton seemed a quiet, mild looking man, until his blue eyes suddenly sharpened and then you felt a powerful mental microscope focusing on him.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

Interesting, Dr. Petrie.

[Tom Lambert]

There.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

Disturbing, perhaps, but would you say conclusive? Any of it.

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[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

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There's no actual proof of what we suspect.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

Right then. You're not a crank?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

No, sir.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

Well, now you've given me the technical data. Your notes. Methodical, as I expected they would be. And I've talked with Bancroft and he takes it seriously. Now, tell me what you think, Doctor. Just what you consider we are up against.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Well, I can summarize. We know of the certain existence of two cylinders. They can cause violent physical disturbances. They can also assimilate mineral and metallic substances, probably any solid matter.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

How do they do it? I want your theory.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Possibly by some means of compressing molecular structures. This could account for the extraordinary shrinking process we have observed. When the object is sufficiently condensed, it passes into the interior of the rod and is absorbed. You might say it's digested without trace.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

But this is not limited to single objects.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

No. Beneath the ground, the cylinders absorb quantities of whatever strata surround them. Soil, rock, sand. And submerged. I believe they even take in seawater.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

They seem to have quite an appetite. And Some curious taste. But this would require energy. A great deal. Where do they obtain it?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

It may well be that they can absorb that too, from any nearby source. Dynamos, electric lines, possibly even heat. There was an occasion when an express diesel engine became drained of power. And at the college, since we've had the thing in the laboratory, the lights often grow dim and the electric lifts work sluggishly.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

You mean they can recharge themselves at will? Through solid walls across distances?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

It's the only answer. And when they're replenished, they can operate again. That's when the dangerous freezings occur.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

I see. There are these news reports. Do you seriously believe that each one means another cylinder?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Not in every case, perhaps. But I think we must accept the existence of. Well, a considerable number.

[Tom Lambert]

Europe, the Middle East. A network of them.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

Where does one begin to grasp a thing like this? And you are trying to trace all reports that fit the known pattern?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Yes. It may take some time.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

It must be done quickly. I will talk to the Press association myself until we know how far this goes. If the results are significant, some of the sites will have to be excavated. Until then, carry on with your work, Doctor. You will have my ministry's full support.

[Tom Lambert]

Thank you.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

And money, if you need it.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Thank you.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

It's not meter readings I want. I want to know why.

[Tom Lambert]

What their purpose is.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

What is nowadays known as the $64,000 question.

[Tom Lambert]

Where have they come from, Doctor? You tell me.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Very well. I believe they've traveled here from some source in space. They've been guided, directed to bury themselves in out of the way places. They're part of a plan and operation devised by an extremely advanced intelligence. They've been falling on Earth for at least 50 years, possibly for very much longer. It seems safe to assume, therefore, that they're still.

Arriving.

It was coming nearer at last. We were beginning to glimpse the vast outline, which only too soon was to become dreadfully clear.

And things were not only happening in London since our return, we'd had too much to occupy us to give much thought to where it had all begun. The radio telescope on the Isle of Skara. But on that desolate headland in the control room, beneath the huge brooding bowl, McCraran and Garrick were making discoveries of their own.

[Tom Lambert]

Still a long way from breaking down the signals themselves. But you check the calculations yourself, sir. What conclusion would you come to? The signals faded steadily for six months. Now they're growing stronger again. The source moving away from us and coming back? Yes. And these progressions are regular? Yes. That means the Motion of the point of origin is curved. An arc. And an arc is part of a.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Circle or an ellipse.

[Tom Lambert]

An ellipse. And that can only mean one thing. An orbit. These transmissions are coming from a solid body orbiting around the sun like a planet somewhere beyond Pluto. Nine planets and.

Peter, do you realize what this could be? Yes. What every astronomer has been wondering since Pluto was discovered in 1930. Yes.

Well, the universities must see these figures and. No, I must discuss this with Petrie first.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

We need his opinion.

[Tom Lambert]

I'll send him a telegram and go.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Down to London for a few days.

[Tom Lambert]

Right, sir.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

I rather want to see what he's.

[Tom Lambert]

Making of that wee souvenir he took home with him.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Late the next afternoon, I sent Clifford and Elizabeth away from the laboratory. I wanted to study my notes alone. And the mouse seemed no purpose in watching the silent cylinder all the time. Also, Elizabeth seemed to be growing more depressed each day, as if something were weighing on her mind. She and Clifford retired, rather discouraged, probably to spend the evening at their usual coffee bar. And I went home.

At about 11 o' clock that night. In my study in Eaton Square, I was examining a thick folder of calculations and diagrams. Professor McLaren, who had arrived with it an hour before, watched me curiously.

[Tom Lambert]

Well, is it or isn't it?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Campbell, I want to be the first to congratulate you. These figures are conclusive. A large orbiting body within the solar system. There can be only one explanation. A new tenth planet. Orbit 1 0. That's it. It's been suspected for years. A planet so distant, so dark, that no telescope even yours can detect it.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

No.

[Tom Lambert]

No. We would never have known without those signals. But that's where they're coming from, Heywood. Signals from the tenth planet.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

It must be enormous. Possibly even larger than Jupiter. A vast frozen giant. And its journey around the sun must take something like 700 years.

I wonder, Campbell.

[Tom Lambert]

Yes?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Through the. Suppose those cylinders of mine scattered over the Earth, have some connection with it. They take in solid matter and it vanishes completely. It's a fantastic process and it must have a purpose.

Is it possible that they absorb substances in order to transmit them elsewhere? To send them perhaps back to. To where the cylinders themselves came from. Back across space?

Back to the 10th planet itself? If so. Oh, we're up against something so big we don't realize it's staring us in the face.

[Tom Lambert]

Like. Another coffee, Liz? That one must be cold.

[Clifford]

Oh, no, thanks. I'm not hungry.

[Tom Lambert]

I only said. Oh, I'll skip it. Well, if the Martians are on the way, they Surely have a lulu of the technique. Nerve warfare. And we're the first victims. Anytime now we'll be at one another's throats.

[Clifford]

Oh, Cliff, don't. Don't say things like that. Evening fun.

[Tom Lambert]

I'm sorry. Should we talk about the weather?

[Clifford]

I'm tired. I think I'll go and. Oh, I left my pile of notes and lab and I want to write them up at home. I'd better sit back and get them.

[Tom Lambert]

Not alone you don't.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

Petri won't be there.

[Tom Lambert]

I'll walk up to the college with you.

[Clifford]

No, I'd rather be on my own. I'll ring her tomorrow.

[Tom Lambert]

Okay. I'll stay here a bit.

[Clifford]

Sorry, sir.

[Tom Lambert]

Well, forget it.

[Clifford]

Good night.

[Tom Lambert]

Night.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Elizabeth left the coffee bar at exactly 11:35. She walked into Cromwell Road, entered the deserted college and took the lift up to the third floor, reaching the laboratory and switching on the lights. The first thing she did was look quickly at the rod. Standing in the Densal I cubicle, it was dull and silent. Elizabeth could see her own pale face reflected, distorted in its polished green surface. Automatically, she ran her eye over the recording instruments. The meter needles were all quite still. Near the cubicle lay the cylinder, a huge, empty shell. She smiled. Already dust was gathering on it. She collected her folder of papers from the bench and walked back towards the door.

Then she stopped. Even before she looked around, she knew by the air becoming colder each second, chilling, biting, and by the slow flood of unearthly green light which bathed the wall, confronting her with her own black rearing shadow. As she spun round, her breath made a white cloud and something crackled under her feet, frost forming rapidly white and glinting. The green glare from the rod, growing fiercer, hurt her eyes then the vibration, rattling the benches and apparatus dinning in her ears and dulling her mind.

She found herself walking against her will towards the cubicle, her aching eyes fixed on the growing core of the rod. Something seemed to be drawing her towards it. She bumped something. It clicked as she put out a hand, but she went on. She cried out, but her voice seemed not to belong to her, to come from a vast distance. Seconds passed. There was no thought in her mind. And then something seemed to. To burn her fingers. Forcing her eyes down, she saw it was the lock bar of the cabinet, white with ice. She had lifted it and the door was swinging open. Now she was very close to the blazing rod, and softly, silently, a gray vapor was beginning to seep from its surface. With a frantic effort, she forced herself to think, to move, to step back. But the noise wouldn't let her think. Something somewhere was calling, demanding, willing her to obey. Her eyes fell on the laboratory telephone. One clear thought, one hope came, and she clung to it.

[Clifford]

Telephone. Chief Cotton Bar. Phone number. Seen it so often. Phone number on the menus. Think.

Sloane. Oh. One.

Number on the menus. Sloane. Yes. O1, 8, 1.

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

The frozen steel of the telephone dial bit at her fingers. It seemed to take all her strength to turn it, release it. It were back. Her mind was blurring, slipping away again. Another one, and another and another.

[Tom Lambert]

Hello? Oh, yes, he is here. I tell him I am. Mr. Clifford, your young lady is on the phone for you. Okay.

Hello? Cliff here. Is that you, Liz? Hello?

[Clifford]

Cliff. I tried. I didn't know if.

[Tom Lambert]

Hey, Liz, what's wrong?

[Clifford]

Cliff, please come. Please. I can't fight it much longer.

[Tom Lambert]

Oh, Liz, what is it?

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

Are you in the lab?

[Clifford]

Yes. Cliff, help me. I mustn't go back.

[Tom Lambert]

Liz. Liz, honey, hang on. Whatever it is, hang on. I'll be right with you.

[Sir Edward Bancroft]

Liz.

[Tom Lambert]

Liz, are you in there? Liz, for heaven's sake, can you hear me?

[Narrator / Dr. Hayward Petrie]

Clifford had reached the college. The doors of the laboratory they wouldn't open. Something had fallen across them, jamming them on the inside. Peering helplessly through the glass panels, he saw gray, swirling vapor. The room was choked with it, and everywhere a wintry whiteness of frost and ice. He saw dimly the open cubicle and the rod glowing a dull green. The telephone and its receiver just cleared of the floor, swinging slowly on its cord.

But there was no sign of Elizabeth. The laboratory seemed quite.

Empty.

[Tom Lambert]

That was Orbit 10, a play in six episodes, written by Peter Elliot Hayes and produced for the BBC by David Davis.

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