A (0:01)

Relic Radio this is Relic Radio. Sci FI Old Time Radio Science fiction stories from relicradio.com Adventures in Time and Space Told in Future Tense man has always dreamed of conquering the barrier of the atmosphere. Problem is on the drawing boards of aeronautical engineers and atomic physicists. They can calculate the power needed, the trajectories and the equipment. On the sound stages of Hollywood. The engineers and special effects men have combined to bring that day to life. The day when the first rocket leaves Earth for outer space. Now a radio play taken from the advanced screenplay of the George Pal Technicolor production Destination Moon on the vast concrete strip at Dry Wells, Texas, the form of the rocket powers above the cranes, the loading machinery and the scuttling trucks and jeeps. The fuel lines snake across the concrete to the rocket, its destination moon. A small pursuit plane circles in for a landing on the Runway. Turns and taxis toward the prefab building at the edge of the strip. Here comes General Fair. Got those reports, Dr. Cargrave already, Barnes. He made good time. Hi there, General. Over here, Barnes. I've got to talk to you. You just made it, General. Everything's running smooth as a clock. We ground test in 20 minutes. Come on over to the office. What's the matter, Nonvine? Something happened in Washington. Something always happens in Washington. Let's have it straight, General. Our application for a test license was denied. Denied out. Quote, in the opinion of the commission, sure. The engine failed structurally. The dispersal of radioactive material would mean danger to the surrounding area. But we've evacuated the blast. No use Bonds. Mission is pretty sensitive about public opinion. The gallivant newspaper chain has been after our scalp. I got mine anyway. What do you mean? I've been retired. Retire? You got a job for an ex general. Pretty handy with a lug wrench. They can't do that. Where would the Air Force be if you hadn't kicked them into using the jetpool jet engine on pursuits? It's not as simple as all that. One star general's cank went to the Department of Defense and pound desks. I did. Some of those old mossbacks would still be using horse cavalry if they could get away with it. This ship will work. I know. I built it. I don't suppose we'll ever know. The mission won't reverse itself. Wait a minute, Cargrave. Ship's already, isn't it? Except for minor installations, yes, General. I've been building and flying ships by the seat of my pants since they had piano wire between the wings. Now this baby either works the first time or she doesn't. What do you mean, Bond? The commission refused permission to ground test, right? Yeah. All right. We won't ground test Cargraves. What's the next astronomical optimum? 3:47 tomorrow morning. We better get busy then. You've got just 17 hours to get that ship ready. And then we take off for the moon. Hey, hey, Brian. What do you want? Sweeney, what color is the skin temperature? Lead wire on the chart? Orange with a black stripe. This stuff looks like insulated macaroni. I got it. Hurry up, will you? We're running behind. What's your rush? You're going along on this clam bank, aren't you? Can't you wait to break in there? Hey, look out for the starter. Come on, move. We gotta take off before somebody spots a rid on us. Brownie, you ready? Gone. Sure. Bates? Me? What do you want to go to the moon for? To see what's on the other side? Ask a stupid question, you get a stupid answer. What's the separation rate? Positively red and white spiral. What's the matter, a belly ache? Eating green apples? No, no, I'm all right. Come on, Sween, you get busy. We've got two hours left to patch this mess together. Mr. Barnes. Oh, what is it, Sweeney? It's Brown. They just took him to the hospital. They what? Well, is he all right? He will be after they cut out his appendix. There goes our radio man. There's no chance of finding a substitute? No, it's special equipment. Brown installed it himself. I've got it. Barnes here. What? Well, we'll have to delay. Cycle of a month. Okay. Goodbye. We can't, General, that was Hastings at Dry Wells. There's a United States marshal driving over. Something leaked and he's got a court order forbidding the takeoff. We were so close. Yeah. Million dollars got up. The flu. You want me to give a stand by, Mr. Bond, I suppose. Wait a minute, Sweeney. Yeah? You installed that communication equipment with Brown, didn't you? Yeah. Then you must know the operation could go in Brown's place. Come on. Uh. Oh, no, not me. It's an important project, Sweeney. The scientific advancement. There's the military aspect, Sweeney. I had four years of the military aspect, General. That's enough. Afraid you're Dodd. Tilting that ship is safe. Maybe, maybe not. But, sweetie. Look, you guys aren't gonna get anywhere pressuring me. Maybe you got reasons to go to the moan. You, Mr. Barnes. You got a million dollars tied up in the ship. It's your scientific baby, doc. And the general's out on A limb in Washington. What's in it for me? That's no way to talk, Sweeney. It's an important advance for the whole world. You pardon the expression, baloney, Sweeney. I work on a scientific theory too, General. Hooray for me, you look out for yourself. Ain't gone. I don't like to say this, but this isn't the time to consider yourself, Sweeney. This country's defense hangs on being the first to develop space travel. Somebody else, not me. There's nothing I want on a moon. All right. We'll take care of that, Sweeney. I'll offer you $10,000 bonus and a 10% royalty on the ship patents out of my cut. It's no use to me unless we get off before that marshal gets here from Dry Wells. Sweeney, you'd be rich enough to retire. You could take it easy the rest of your life. Well, now you're Talking my language, Mr. Barnes. Okay, when do we leave? Clear airfield. Clear airfield. Firing. Clear airfield. Firing. Like that, Hasties? Right. I'll be tracking you from control center. Hey, what's that car doing? He's coming right out on the field. Marshal. Doc. General Sweeney. Inside. Hey, Big Burns, button up. Hey. Hey there, commander. That ship. I've got a court order you can't take off. Tough, mister. We can't do this. Hey, hey, save your knuckles, fella. You couldn't get in that ship with a blowtorch. Burns can't do this. Suppose you tell him all about it when he gets back from the moon. We need. Warm up your communication circuit. Yes, sir. Calling traffic. Shank traffic. Get a clearance check. There's a clearance Traffic, over. All clear. Drywalls is ready for tracking. Over. Power. Power ready. Communications? Yeah. Co pilot. Automatics ready. Give the warning signal. Give me a time check on the computer. 3, 47, 58. Stand by for count off and firing. Standby for count off and firing. Roger for check to 48. 10. Coming up. 30 seconds. 29, 28. I'll lie back on the acceleration. Worst pressures. We over in four minutes. General, I don't like having a man along who isn't with it. Queenie. It's too late now. Make it pretty tough if he's half hot. We'll worry about that later. 7, 6, 5, 4, 3. So. Fire. What happened? Noise all gone at speed of sound. Switch on televiewer app. I can't. Can't move. Pressure switches right under your finger. 1. All right, that's it. Time. 3, 50 12. Altitude. 2 miles. Get your scent goggles on it. It'll be coming through in a minute. There's the dawn line. And the sun. It works. This thing really works. Look in the viewer. There's the Earth down there. Yeah. Time? 3 hours, 51 minutes and 10 seconds. Altitude, 20 miles. Time? 353, 50. Altitude, 807 miles. That's the end of the blast. We're in free fall. Unbuckle your straps. Hey. Hey. I'm falling. I'm falling up. There's no gravity up here. We don't weigh anything. I don't feel so good. How do I get down from the ceiling? I feel lousy. Seasick? No, no. Space. Sick. What's the difference so long as I ain't healthy. There's a bottle of pills under the head pad. They ought to settle your stomach. I'll break out the magnetic shoes. Then we can at least keep our feet down on the floor plates. Here, Sweeney, you put these on. Hand them up. All right. Here. Now you can walk down the wall. Try it like this. Hey, Like a human fly. You know, this is the second time I ever walked on a ceiling. Only this time, I'm sober. Hey, Jenro, would you mind tapping that ham sandwich back and float it away from me? Feeling better, Sweeney? I guess so. It's a heck of a note when your meal floats away from me before you eat it. Sweeney. Yeah, Mr. Bronson? I tried to crank out the radar antenna. She's stuck. Well, let me see. Stuck, all right. I don't understand it. I greased the gun. Grease. Well, no wonder it's stuck. It's exposed to outer space. It must be frozen solid. What's the idea, Sweeney? Didn't you read the engineering manual? Yeah, and a flush fitting gets great. Don't jump on me. Well, if we can't get that radar mass cranked out, we can't land on the moon. Well, it's all right by me. Don't you realize that half the value of this trip is in the landing? Geological surveys, radiation tests. Look, General, I told you before I started. This whole thing is slug nutty to me. Who wants the moon? They're trying to be first with the old Brooklyn Battery tunnel. Trini, I'll. This isn't getting that mask fixed. We've got to go outside in spacesuits and chip it loose. Outside? You mean outside the ship. You can't fall. You'll be in the same trajectory as the ship. Worst that could happen would be to drift away. Drift away? Don't bother getting one of them monkey suits for me. I'm Comfortable in here? Sweeney, we've taken enough from you. We can't let one man endanger the whole project. You get out there in a spacesuit, or we shove you out without one. All right. All right, that's settled. You got us into this mess, you're going to help get us out. General, break out the spacesuit. Close the interlock. Now, let's get this straight. Keep your magnetic shoes on the hull plates, your safety lines hooked. If you break loose, we won't be able to go after you. You'll hit the moon at 20,000 miles per hour and squash. Hey, wait a minute. How come General Thayer don't go? That's right. He doesn't go. He's co pilot. Okay, okay. I just ask. All right. Now let's make sure our intercom walkie talkies are warmed up. All set? Check. All right. Fasten helmets. Hello. Hello, Doc? I hear you. Barnes? I'm okay. Check instruments. I'm gonna bump out the lock. All set. Open the outer door. Doc. Look at that, will you? A million stars, 20,000 miles an hour. Free fall and no breeze. That's right. No air. And we haven't got time for the scenery. Let's get to work. Can you two handle it? I want to go aft to see how the firing tubes held up. All right, Doc. Come on, sweetie. Let's get to work. It looks now. Pull the mat off, Sweeney. Slippery as a hog on ice. Yeah. Now let's get back. Suits me. That's the Earth up there, Western hemisphere. You can see America. That dark strip against the light. But he's far away. Barnes. Barnes, what's the matter? Help. Help. I'm loose. I'm drifting. Not. What happened? My shoe magnets pulled loose. There he is. It's take. The knife broke. Harry, help. He's too far to keep alive. Oh, he's cook. We'll never get him back. Hello, General Thayers. All right, Barnes, I heard you on the control room speaker. Coming outside. Bring an oxygen tank top there. All right. Hurry. What are you going to do? Throw him a bottle of air? Forget a bottle. Barnes. Barnes, help. Now. All right, Doc. General Thayer's coming out of the lock. Where's Carave? 50ft out and down that left. Give me that oxygen tank. What are you going to do? Unhook my shoes first. You're crazy. You'll float away, too. I could use the pressure in the oxygen tank for a jet. Maybe I can ride the tank out there. If there's enough power from the nozzle. Turn the bell there over. That recoil taking my helmet by Jake. I'll try it again. Hey. At launch like an outboard motor. Keep going, Barnes. About 30ft. More. Swing a little to the left. All right. A couple more shots and out. Reach out for me, Doc. You're too far. I can't. I can't. Hang on, Doc. One more shot. There. Hang on. How do you get back bar if we don't? We tour the universe together. Hang on to me, Doc. All right. You wave us while I turn the bell. You're drifting, Father. Boss. There better be enough pressure to get us back. Here we go. Oh, we're. We're moving. Yeah, not fast enough. Measure's almost down in this tank. There's the last of the guests. We're. We're too far out. Barnes. They. They can't reach us with a line. Get you back to the ship. On the count of three, push the tank as hard as you can. The reaction may shove us in close enough. Yeah. Ready? One. Two, three. Helicopter. General. Grab them. Reach out. Bond, grab the line. All right. Thank God. Well, glad to have you aboard. There she is. Come on. Stand by for landing procedure. That's pretty rugged country down there. Stand by the turn ship. Fasten straps. Altitude fare 27.3. All right. Turning ship. Hey. Hey. You're leveling off. You're turning too far. We'll go backwards. We land backwards. Use the jets for brakes. Holy smokes. You mean sit down on a trail? Ground speed 1.52. Standby for deceleration. Now. Fire. Radar call. Thing is plotted. Give me view apps on the screen. Hey. We can't land down there. Look. Mountains, cliffs. That's the crater Harpalus. We're heading for a smooth plane short of there. Don't look smooth to me. I'm going to kill our forward speed. Standby. You won't clear them out. Give another blast. I can't. We won't have enough power to get home. We'll make that. Clip on the right. Look out. We're going to crash. Barnes. Blast you've got. Right. Automatic landing. Automatic in. Hang on for emergency landing. Stand by for the blast. Hold it. Now Back down. Get out your gyros. Ah, that was a lousy landing. It sounds safe. Yes, but I wasted reaction mass. We'll need to get home. We'll worry about that later. Right now I want to get out there and plant my feet on the moon. The moon. Ready to open the decompression lock? Check. I'm set. And the Earth's inside control, Bond? Yeah, sure. You don't want to leave the ship. I'll be out later. I've got to contact Earth. All right, let's go. Open the outer door. All right. Be sure you don't fall. You puncture your suits on the rocks, you're done. And look out for the low gravity. You'll weigh one sixth what you did on Earth. All right, let's go. Hey, what is this stuff? Dust. Pilot, rock. Go ahead, Doctor. Explain to the fishermen. Oh, yes. In the name of the United States of America, I take possession of the planet moon of and for the benefit of mankind. Well, let's now get down to business. Sweetie, you set up the astronomical camera. What's the matter? Get back here, all of you, right away. We were just starting work. You've got to get back. I've been talking to her. We may not get off. We may be stuck on the moon for good. Hello? Hello, Earth. Reaction mass down to 8, 672 wasted power in a bad landing. Request new figures for return trip. Earth to luna. Looks bad, Mr. Blind. I'll have to run it through the machine. In the meantime, dump everything you can. I'll check back with the result. I'll be standing by. Roger. Out. Well, Barnes? Well, we wasted too much power on that lousy landing. Hastings checked the figures. We've got the light and ship. We've got just four hours to get off. If we miss that, we don't get another chance to hit the Earth for another month. We don't have more than 10 days oxygen supply. Exactly. Come on. We better start dumping. And we better pray we can get rid of enough weight. Acceleration Pad 4, Serial 706, Schedule B. 14 pounds. Check. Give me a hand, Doc. Yes. Airlock's full. I put my helmet on and shove the junk out of the lock. Barnes, is that everything we can get out? Three of the spacesuits will be dropped before we take off. How about the fourth? We'll have to keep that so we can open the airlock to shove the others out. I've got a removable bridge I could dump. You may have to. General. Hastings is due back now with the takeoff figures. Hello? Hello, Earth. Luna calling earth. All right, Mr. Fine, we hear you. How much weight have you dropped? 4,003 pounds earth weight. Then you're still short 110 pounds. What? If you can dump 110 pounds, you can coast haul. We're stripped. We unbolted the locker doors, junked the radar chassis and mounts. We'll have to take a chance. As we are, it's Suicide. You haven't enough reaction mass to clear the moon. You could be wrong, couldn't you? I could, but not the computer. I'll be standing by, Mr. Barnes. Over. All right. Hayton out. 110 lousy pounds. What happens if we're not light enough? We fall back and crash? Or just go into an orbit around the moon? Just keep going around. Yeah, that's it. We've got 14 minutes left till takeoff time. Oh, that's fine. I could have gone over Niagara Falls in a barrel, but I had to come to the moon. Well, it's pretty simple. £110. One of us stays. Yes, I guess that's it. Highway 180. That's plenty. Now, wait a minute, General. I'm the oldest one here. Yeah, and I'm the captain of this ship. If anyone stays, I give the orders here. Doc is the engineer. General. Pilots, when you hit the Earth atmosphere. But, Bond, I've got no family, so I stay. No, no, no, no, no. You. You've got to go back. Both of you. I've been discredited. They won't listen to me. You've got to tell them what you've seen. Listen, General, you've got to tell them what the Earth looked like from here. Vulnerable, defenseless, hanging in the sky. I knew this clip would have military value. Well, it does. Can you imagine atom warheads launched at Earth from up here? The moon is the perfect base for an attack on the Earth. Remember, it's only 1/6 as hard to shoot rockets from here to Earth as it is the other way. You've got to tell them the only government to control the moon must be a world government. General, I guess you don't know it. If what you just said means you've got to get back to Earth and convince them. Even if the rest of us don't make it. Bond, don't. No, General, that's all there is to it. Barnes. General. Never mind, Sweeney, you're not in. Don't worry, you'll get back. I was gonna say, why don't you heroes match for it? Odd man's house. All right, Bonds, I'll go for that. I meant. No, no, no. Two to one, Bonds. Well, all right. What do we use? You can match buttons off your overalls. All right. Each one pull off a button. I better check. Hastings on Earth. Here's my button. Hello. Hello. Earth signing. Fine, Mr. Barnes. We're working it out. One of us stays behind. What? We're matching for it. Check time. That's only 110 pounds. Isn't that check time? Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt the program Dimension X for just a moment from. For two important bulletins from the wires of United Press from Seoul, Korea. The North Korean radio says the North Korean Communist government formally declared war on South Korea effective at 11am Sunday, Korean time. And then a little later, this bulletin from Washington. State Department officials say they will hold Russia responsible for the North Korean attack against the independent South Korean Republic, which this country and the United nations brought into being and have supported. We now return to the program Dimension x. Yes, sir. 9:41:50. 10 minutes to zero hour. Check. That's all, Hastings. We'll take off with three men. All right, Ready to match. Say what? Tierlach. Really? He went out. What's he doing? What? He's going out. Out there on the movie. Shine On Harvest. Hello? Hello, Sweeney, can you hear me? Yeah, sure, boss. Now ya come back. Come back in here, you fool. It's nice out here. Come back, Sweeney. You're going home. Some other time. Remember me of the girls, honey girls, Mrs. Winnie. Come back. This trip doesn't mean that much to you. We've talked you into it. Nobody can expect you to do this. I. Don't be crazy. Why not? I'm a moment thing. Get it? Hello, Natick. Sweeney, come back. Clifford, I lighten your shirt, get it? £160. That's me. Now go on, take off. Come back. Sweeney, you can't do this. Listen, you guys wouldn't count me in on a matching. No, no. I run out. Hooray for me. And you look out for yourself. Well, maybe I changed my mind. I've been looking up there at that earth hanging in the sky. We're gonna build something on this moon. All of you guys gotta go back. Doc, he's the guy to work it out in the lab. Barnes, you build the ships. And the General, he's got to pound those desks and see that he gets done right. He'll leave me. Sweeney, wait a minute. Come on. Come on, bro, get gone. You're spoiling my whole day. Come along, hero. You don't understand. We can take off. All of us. What do you mean? What's £110? Now listen, do what I say. Get back in here. And on the way pick up a screwdriver and a rat tail file. And an oxygen tank. What's the damn. Get back in here. I've got a way to get us hauled off and it works. Now, Queenie, we're reading you clear on the intercom speaker. You in the airlock yet? Yeah. Your space suit weighs around 70 pounds. Radio weighs 50. Yeah, but I can't open the outside door of the airlock without my suit. What are you trying to pull? Barnes, after you chuck the radio out, you file a hole in the gasket on the outer door. Got that? Then you tie your safety line to the oxygen tank, pass it through the hole, it hangs outside. You got that? Yeah. Then you close the outside door, get out of your suit, come in here, we close up, decompress and open the outside door again. I get it. The tank pulls us so out of the lock. Right. And if it works, we all get home. Now, hurry now, Sweeney. Eight minutes to calculate a takeoff time. Eight minutes. Two minutes. Two minutes. All set, Sweeney? Yeah. I shut the radio off. Close the outer door. There. Pressure up. I'm getting out of pursuit. This doorway's pretty narrow, boss. If the suit don't clear with Sock, we'll have to take that chance. All right, here I come. All six, close the inner door. Decompress now. The outer door. My name. Open. I can see it through the paw. Coming up. One minute. One minute to take off. What are the silt caught on the intake? No, no, no, no. It's flatten out. Get clear of that door, brother. Get clear. There it goes. We're in. We're in. 40 seconds. Close the outer door. Sweet. Take off, everybody. 30 seconds. 20. Queenie, I. 28. I don't think I could have done that. 26. Just walk out. Oh, baloney. I haven't got that kind of courage. 23. I'd have had to make a speech. A big heroic speech. 20, 19. I didn't have the guts to just walk out. Knots, 16. All right, standby. 14. Communications. Five, five. Just handy. Copilot, automatic. Seven nine. Standby. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, five. All right, we're clear. Son of a guy. We're clear. We're heading home. Time? 2:50, 36. Destination Earth. You have just heard another adventure into the unknown world of the future.