Incident At Switchpath by Beyond Tomorrow

Summary

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Episode Overview

Podcast: Relic Radio Sci-Fi
Episode: Incident At Switchpath by Beyond Tomorrow
Air Date: October 6, 2025

This episode of Relic Radio Sci-Fi presents “Incident At Switchpath,” an adaptation of a classic Theodore Sturgeon story, originally aired as part of the Beyond Tomorrow radio drama series. The story unfolds as a tense courtroom inquest in a small western town, where James Gordon Kemp stands accused of murdering Professor Alessandro Sykes. Kemp adamantly insists that what occurred was “something much, much worse than murder.” Through a blend of tense legal drama and uncanny science fiction revelations, the episode explores human curiosity, the dangers of unchecked technological advancement, and the unsettling notion of Earth as the subject of extraterrestrial surveillance.

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Main Discussion Points & Plot Breakdown

The Courtroom Inquest: An Unusual Crime (00:25–04:18)

• Setting: A Western town courtroom, led by a gruff coroner (Bert Hafferty) and the skeptical sheriff, sets the scene.
• Accusation: Kemp faces the charge of murdering Professor Sykes, to which he replies desperately:
  • “You’re trying to accuse me of murder, but I tell you, it’s something worse. Something much, much worse than murder.” (03:07, James Gordon Kemp)
• Hostility to Outsiders: The townsfolk’s suspicion of city-dweller Kemp and outsiders is palpable.

Meeting Professor Sykes: A Scientific Proposition (04:18–07:38)

• Flashback: Kemp recounts his first meeting with Professor Sykes, who seeks his expertise with an atomic torch for $5,000 to open a mysterious cave in Arizona.
• Sykes’ Claim: Inside the cave is advanced machinery predating human civilization—possibly alien in origin.
  • “It was the machinery in the cave. Machinery that must have been put there before there were any human beings on Earth.” (06:45, Professor Sykes)
• Skepticism vs. Conviction: Kemp and Sykes discuss the outlandish idea of non-human—possibly extraterrestrial—beings placing technology on Earth.

The Alien Recorder: Unveiling the Machines (07:38–12:08)

• Description: Sykes describes two enigmatic machines: a transmitter and a dumbbell-shaped recorder with unrecognizable alloy wire capable of documenting the entire geological and meteorological history of Earth.
• Potential: Sykes believes decoding the wire could solve historical mysteries like the parting of the Red Sea and the fate of the Spanish Armada—“I have it all here. And I am going to give it to the world... history will be reckoned from the day I speak.” (10:03, Professor Sykes)
• Obsession: Sykes is consumed by decades of work and has guarded the cave’s secret, seeking validation and proof before telling the world.

The Descent into the Cave (13:21–16:59)

• Journey: Kemp and Sykes trek to the cave, navigating treacherous terrain and eerie atmospheres.
• Cutting In: The atomic torch barely makes a dent in the strange rock, reinforcing the unnatural nature of the barrier.
• Anxious Atmosphere: Sykes’ anxiety and obsession grow as they near the machines he believes could change history.

Revelations in the Chamber (18:12–22:41)

• Discovery: Inside, the “recorder” hums with alien purpose, and Sykes finds the wire has been mostly removed—“There’s only eight inches of wire on it. Only eight inches, Kemp. It was almost full before!” (22:36, Professor Sykes)
• Realization: Sykes deduces that the machines are being monitored, and someone—or something—from beyond Earth has collected the record, triggered by the advent of atomic power.
  • “They've been here.” (22:55, Professor Sykes)
• Chilling Connection: The recorder began transmitting on July 16, 1945—the date of the first atomic bomb test. This triggers the realization that Earth's ascension to atomic capability has signaled a silent observer.

Collapse and Aftermath: Catastrophe and Panic (24:35–27:09)

• Cave Meltdown: The machines overheat, the chamber collapses, and Sykes is burned as Kemp drags him out.
• Sykes’ Final Words: “They knew we’d reached the atomic age. They wanted to be told when... Your torch did it, Kemp. That 300 years in the future torch, that did it. They think we have atomic power. They’ll come back, Kemp.” (25:42–26:27, Professor Sykes)
• Despair: Sykes dies, convinced Earth has alerted unknown powers.

The Town’s Reaction & The Uncanny Climax (27:49–29:11)

• Disbelief: In court, the coroner and sheriff argue about Kemp’s story—half sneering at its strangeness.
• Dramatic Twist: As they ridicule his tale, flashes in the sky draw their attention—alien ships appear overhead.
  • “Wilson, look. There in the sky.” (29:05, Presiding Coroner)
  • “The sky is full of ships.” (29:11, Professor Sykes)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Desperation in Court:
  • “I didn’t kill him. I didn’t kill him. You’re trying to accuse me of murder, but I tell you, it’s something worse. Something much, much worse than murder.”
    [03:07, James Gordon Kemp]
• On Ancient Technology:
  • “It was the machinery in the cave. Machinery that must have been put there before there were any human beings on Earth.”
    [06:45, Professor Alessandro Sykes]
• The Recorder’s Function:
  • “It records the physical being of the entire Earth—every earthquake, every continental shift, weather cycles... through the years, through the centuries.”
    [09:03, Professor Alessandro Sykes]
• History Revealed:
  • “I’ll be able to prove things which until now have only been guessed, only whispered about in the history books of the world.”
    [09:55, Professor Alessandro Sykes]
• Trigger of the Atomic Age:
  • “The day the first atom bomb was exploded at Los Alamos, New Mexico.”
    [19:33, Professor Alessandro Sykes]
• Realization of Surveillance:
  • “They've been here.”
    [22:55, Professor Alessandro Sykes]
• Final Dread:
  • “They knew we’d reached the atomic age. They wanted to be told when... They think we have atomic power. They’ll come back, Kemp.”
    [25:42–26:27, Professor Alessandro Sykes]
• The Arrival:
  • “The sky is full of ships.”
    [29:11, Professor Alessandro Sykes]

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Timeline of Key Segments

• [00:25] – Introduction to the inquest; Kemp’s plea
• [04:18] – Kemp meets Sykes and hears about the cave
• [07:38] – Sykes explains the function of the mysterious machines
• [13:21] – Trek across the desert and entry into the cave
• [16:59] – Attempts to cut through to the chamber and growing tension
• [18:12] – Discovery of the empty wire spool; realization of alien monitoring
• [25:42] – Sykes’ dying warning about the consequences of their actions
• [27:49] – Court’s disbelief, interrupted by the arrival of alien ships

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Final Thoughts

"Incident At Switchpath" stands as a classic example of old-time radio science fiction—anchored in a small-town setting, fueled by extraordinary ideas, and culminating in cosmic consequences. Its tone is alternately skeptical, anxious, and awed, moving from courtroom drama to speculative terror. The episode expertly uses suspense and dialogue to convey its central warning: that human technological progress might alert ancient, unknowable powers—raising the chilling question of what comes "beyond tomorrow."

Transcript

[James Gordon Kemp]

Relic radio. This is relic radio. Sci Fi Old time radio. Science fiction stories from relicradio.com.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Foreign.

[Narrator]

Let'S go beyond tomorrow. Are you afraid to face tomorrow or whatever may lie beyond tomorrow? Do you think you're up to spending a weekend on the moon or entertaining house guests from Mars? Can you and your children adjust to the strange new, wonderful world that is being wrought in the test tubes and cyclotrons of science? Beyond tomorrow. Beyond tomorrow. A new program of probabilities drawn from the vast library of science fiction where anything is possible and possibly may happen to you tonight. Based on a famous story by Theodore Sturgeon and adapted by draper Lewis. A tale about a man accused of murder in a small western town who insists it was not murder, but something really much worse.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

All right, all right. I'm presiding coroner here, and I'll handle this inquest my way, if you don't mind. All right.

[Sheriff / Court Official]

Now, look, camp, why can't you get it through your head that nobody's trying to railroad you into admitting anything?

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

You just a fella knows something about.

[Sheriff / Court Official]

The death of this here Alessandro Sykes. Now, this court would like to know exactly what happened.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

I'll tell you what happened. That kid killed Sykes. Killed him dead in the doornail. And then brought the body back here and dumped it in his hotel room. That's what happened. No, no, you're wrong.

[James Gordon Kemp]

I didn't kill him. I didn't kill him. You're trying to accuse me of murder, but I tell you, it's something worse. Something much, much worse than murder.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

If we don't have it quiet in this courtroom, I'm going to have the sheriff clear the place. This inquest is going to be run legal like or ain't going to be run at all. You mean maybe we should have the hanging right now? Bert, I didn't say no such thing. Well, maybe you should, and stop wasting so much time.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson, sir, you can't let him hang me. I'm innocent. I tell you, I didn't kill Sykes. Aren't you even gonna listen to what.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

I got to say?

[Sheriff / Court Official]

Sure. Sure, son. I'm gonna listen.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

We're all gonna listen.

[Sheriff / Court Official]

I'm taking this boy into Tucson where there's a jury that will listen.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

Well, this better be good. We don't like murder around Switchbacks, darling. We don't like strangers, neither.

[Sheriff / Court Official]

If you gentlemen are through. Now, suppose we hear what the boy has to say. All right, son. Now let's get the facts straight. First dog your full name, James Gordon Kemp. And your home Chicago.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Chicago, Illinois.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

City bred.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Huh?

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

Maybe that's why he don't give no mind to something like murder. I thought you was always so proud about the times you've been to Tucson, Hafferty.

[Sheriff / Court Official]

Seems to me wearing silk shirts is pretty cityfied, too. All right, here, son. Sit down.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Thank you.

[Sheriff / Court Official]

Now, suppose you tell us what happened. Tell us the whole story, just like it happened.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Okay, I'll try. I guess I'd better go right back to the beginning. First time I ever saw this here, Sykes, it must have been about two months ago. I had a little repair shop at the time. Just auto parts and maybe fooling around with radios and TV sets now and then. It didn't make no big profit, but it paid the rent and gave me a little extra pocket money. I was working in my shop one afternoon when he walked in. He watched what I was doing a couple of minutes, then he spoke up.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

You Gordon Camp?

[James Gordon Kemp]

I said yes, and looked him over. He was a scrawny fella, probably 60 years old, and wound up real tight. He talked fast, smoked fast, moved fast, as if there wasn't time for anything. But he had to get onto something else. I asked him what he wanted.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Knew the man had that article in the magazine about a concentrated atomic torch.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Yeah, Only that guy from the magazine used a lot of loose talk. He says my torch is 300 years ahead of its time. Actually, it's something I stumbled on by accident, more or less. It's an ordinary atomic hydrogen torch, but it's plenty hot. It'll cut anything.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Anything.

[James Gordon Kemp]

And since it got patented, you'd be surprised at the calls I got. You got no idea how many people want to cut into bank vaults in the side doors of hot shops.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

I have to take a few weeks off and go out west. Arizona. I want you to cut your way into a cave there. A cave?

[James Gordon Kemp]

Is it legal? Sure, it's legal. How legal?

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

You get me into that place, you can satisfy yourself as to whether it's legal. I'll give you $5,000 cash. How's that again? Get me into that cave and you'll get $5,000 cash.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

How come you happen to run across.

[James Gordon Kemp]

This here cave, Professor Sykes? Didn't anyone else in Switch Path ever spot it?

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

From what I can gather, there must have been a shifting of rock. Maybe a slight earth tremor that opened it up. The time I was fresh out of college, spending all my time digging for Indian ruins, I found it at the bottom of a deep cleft. Small, dark room, all rock walls. Rock that was very old. Couple of hundred thousand years. Maybe half a million. Half million? It wasn't the rock that got me so excited. It wasn't the rock and it wasn't the cave. It was the machinery in the cave. Machinery that must have been put there before there were any human beings on Earth. Oh, not. Just a minute, professor. Now, look, you don't care whether you believe me or not. I know what I'm talking about. Those machines were installed in that cave room back when there wasn't a single living creature of any sort.

[James Gordon Kemp]

But that doesn't make sense. If there are machines, then some human beings must have made them. Some human beings must have hauled them into the cave and assembled them. Only you say that there weren't any human beings on Earth.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Maybe not on Earth, Kemp, but there are human beings someplace else. At least beings. Who knows whether they're human or not.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Wow, that's a nice, pleasant thought.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Yes, I thought so, too, at the time. Gotten used to it now. Gotten used to it during all the days and nights I stayed in that room and studied that machinery. What?

[James Gordon Kemp]

What kind of machinery was it?

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Well, I finally figured out that one of them was some sort of a radio transmitter. Now, get this. Here's a machine with an antenna on top of it, just like a microwave job. Beside it is another machine. The second machine is shaped like a dumbbell standing on one end. Top of it is sort of a covered hopper. At the waist of the machine are two big spools with a wire running between them made out of some alloy that was never seen before on this Earth. Were they running? One was running, making a slight humming sound. The dumbbell machine was running. And that's what gave me a clue to what it was. That machine is a recorder that automatically makes the other machine a transmitter. A recorder?

[James Gordon Kemp]

What kind of a recorder?

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

It records the physical being of the entire Earth. Every earthquake, every continental shift, weather cycles, every hurricane and volcano eruption and landslide. Here, take a look at this piece of wire. Huh? About 35 gauge. Money tough. Yes, I cut it off the recording machine. Kemp, my boy, took a long time, a lot of years out of my life. I finally got it decoded. I can read that wire. You've no idea in what detail that piece of wire records second by second, minute by minute, day by day, through the years, through the centuries. When I start my decoding, I'll be able to prove things which until now have only been guessed, only whispered about in the history books of the world. I'll be able to give the exact time and date when the Red Sea parted for the fleeing Israelites. Want to know what happened to the Spanish Armada?

[James Gordon Kemp]

I have it all.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Here. What about the last days of Pompeii? I have it, son. I have it. And I am going to give it to the world. Me, Alessandro Sykes. Give it to humanity. Complete and provable. And history will be reckoned from the day I spe.

[James Gordon Kemp]

I admit he did sound a little off his rocker. And if I had any sense, I would have gotten off that train and gone back to Chicago. But he was such a nice little guy. As nice a little characters as you'd ever want to meet. And he figured he had something. Something big in that cave.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Yes. Yes.

[James Gordon Kemp]

I tell you something important enough that he's been living with it, thinking about it, working on it day in and day out for 30 years or more. You can't let that kind of a guy down.

[Sheriff / Court Official]

All of us here knew Sykes pretty well, Camp. His family was among the first settlers in Switchbath. Came in on the wagon train just before the rush in 49. We knew he spent a lot of time digging around in the desert. But we never heard about no Cave.

[James Gordon Kemp]

It's 30 miles or so to the east of town. You pass a big rock formation that's shaped like a crescent. And the cave's a little further.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

I've been out by crescent rock more times than I can count and I never see no cave.

[James Gordon Kemp]

But you wouldn't see it if you didn't climb into the cleft.

[Sheriff / Court Official]

Something happened out there just about two years ago. Ground was hot for miles around. All the grass shriveled up and died. Nothing's grown there since.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

Besides, if Sykes had found a cave, he certainly would have told somebody here in town. Ain't like he was in out that cave was there.

[James Gordon Kemp]

It's not there now. But it was there and I was in it. Sykes didn't tell anyone else about it because he knew no one would believe him. He wanted to get his proof first.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

And what makes you think we believe you, Camp?

[James Gordon Kemp]

This is the truth.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

I'm telling you.

[James Gordon Kemp]

This is how it happened.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

And you still haven't told us about the killing yet. No. How about that? I said this inquest was going to be run legal, boys. Hey, we're wasting a lot of time. The whole story smells to high heaven. And you know, I. I am passing judgment one way or the other.

[Sheriff / Court Official]

Till hear what the boy has to say.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

And I still mean what I said about having the court cleared.

[Sheriff / Court Official]

All right. Now go on, Camp. What happened when you got here to Switch Path? With Sykes, I. I don't think anyone.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Will remember the night we arrived. I was dead tired from the trip, and I. I wanted to get some sleep. But the professor was all for getting out of town as quick as possible. He didn't want to answer any questions. So we piled all this stuff into his rattly old car and started for Crescent Rock. It was plenty spooky driving across the desert at night. It was a cold wind that kicked up the dust, and you breathed dust bit into it. The old man kept peering straight ahead, and every now and then, he changed the direction.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Swing a little to the right, son.

[James Gordon Kemp]

It's an old castle trail.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

We follow it for five miles or so.

[James Gordon Kemp]

He knew the way. Perfect.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

It's Crescent Rock way up there ahead. Just keep it head on.

[James Gordon Kemp]

We didn't detour a backtrack once.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

It's another 10 miles now. Distance is pretty tricky out here. Things look closer than they really are.

[James Gordon Kemp]

And then, just as it began to get near dawn, the sky was all smoky, and you could start seeing the scrub weeds and cactus growing around the trail.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Sykes grabbed my arm and said, pull up here, son. Walk the rest of the way to the cave. I don't want anybody snooping around while we're down there with those machines. I don't want anyone to know a thing until I'm ready to tell them. Just about another hundred feet or so to meet the entrance to the room, son.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Boy, I never knew how much this torch weighed till I had it strapped to my back.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Sure can't give you a hand with a dog on. No, it's okay, Professor.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Don't. Don't worry.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Over there. That's. That's all that's left of the place where I used to camp at night. I was afraid to sleep in the room. Afraid to sleep outside the cleft. Used to make a fire and bed down on the rock.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Can't say I'd enjoy that over a long period of time.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Get used to anything if it's important enough. I got used to the dark. The sound of little animals scurrying around, the damp, the smell. Wait. Mrs. Ed Kemp. You can take off your pack here.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Oh, that feels better. Oh, I'm glad I can still straighten up.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

You see that place there between the two pillar formations? That's it, son. And it's all yours. That 300 years in the future torch of yours is any good, now's the time to prove it.

[Narrator]

And now back to our story.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Okay, now. Now, stand clear of the equipment, Professor. Sure. That tank is balanced squarely we can.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Pile a few more rocks around it.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Yeah, well, we'll give it a try. This way. If it starts to move, just give a shot.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

I'll watch it, Ken.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Well, here we go.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

How long do you think it'll take, Ken?

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

I don't know.

[James Gordon Kemp]

It depends on how thick the rock is that's sealing up this room.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Think of it. On this little piece of wire, I have a complete record of the movement of the polar glacier, which will have all the learned busybodies gnashing their teeth. Have I said anything? Not me, not Sykes. I'll wait till I can get the whole school of wire and I'll translate it into a history of the earth and mankind, written in such detail, with such detail, with such authority that the name of Sykes will go into the language as a synonym of the miraculously accurate. Me, Alessandro Seitz.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Hand me those black goggles, huh?

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

How.

[James Gordon Kemp]

How long have we been at it now, Professor?

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Almost three hours, son. You better let me span you.

[James Gordon Kemp]

No, I'll take a breather when I need one. This torch is too heavy for you to handle. By the way, whatever happened to the answers he used before? How can we have to burn our.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Way in like this? That, my boy, is an unforeseen quality of the machines. For some reason, they closed themselves up. In a way I'm glad they did. I was unable to get back in. I was forced to concentrate on my sample. If it hadn't been for that, I doubt I would ever have cracked a code. Whoever left these machines here or how they operate, we may never know. It would be interesting to find out. The important thing now is to get into that room and get that spool of wire. That's all that matters, son. That's all that matters.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Six hours and only seven and a half inches. I've seen that torch of mine walk in a laminated bank vaults like the door was open. What kind of rock is this anyhow?

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

It must have been some chemical substance added that we don't know about when the room was sealed.

[James Gordon Kemp]

And you think that machine will still be running after the blast of heat it must have took to build this wall?

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

It'll be running. They'll both be running the recorder and the transmitter.

[James Gordon Kemp]

What do you mean the transmitter has.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

The recorder was set to trip it off. I found that out too. There's a little gear train waiting by the wire. And when something happened somewhere on earth, it was just the right thing. Crimp would show him the wire which would hit the gear train and start up the Transmitter?

[James Gordon Kemp]

Yes. But you said.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

I saw a crimp in the wire. Something happened which put a wiggle in it. The thing I was looking for all along. I was in the cave the day it happened. There was a sharp click. The transmitter started up and the wire kept on recording. I looked in the papers the next week to see what it was. I couldn't find a thing. It wasn't until the following August that I found out what.

[James Gordon Kemp]

What was the date when it started to transmit?

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

July 16, 1945.

[James Gordon Kemp]

July 16.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

The day the first atom bomb was exploded at Los Alamos, New Mexico. Okay. Okay, professor.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Hold a light a little higher, please. This. I should do it now. Well, there it is. I'll have to wait a minute. It's so Uncle's edge is cool.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

30 years work. 30 years. Kemp.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Professor, who. Who do you think's on the receiving end of that transmitter?

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

I don't know. I'm only sure whoever he is or they are, they're not any place on this earth. That's why I've been so anxious to get into the room.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Well, we'll throw that canvas on the edges just to be safe. Now, you. You take the big flashlight. I'll bring the light.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

We can remove the spool of wire and then destroy the machines. It won't be any good to anyone else once the recording device is disconnected. The light. Kemp, bring in the light quickly.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Yeah, quickly. I'm right behind you, Professor. You aren't kidding about that machinery, Ward.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

They're beautiful, aren't they, Kemp?

[James Gordon Kemp]

I've never seen anything that looks like that transmitter.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Then the recorder. Kemp, come closer. Examine the recorder. Listen to it. Humming, Kemp. I knew it would be humming. It's recording everything that's happening to the earth, the whole earth. When we stand here and listen to it humming.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Professor, maybe we better get the wire to get out of here. This place gives me the woolies.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Don't be frightened, son. Machines can't hurt you.

[James Gordon Kemp]

It's not the machines. I just don't like this place. Let me hold a flashlight. You disconnect the spool.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

There should be a catch lever of some sort which frees it. Something like a movie camera. One of those old fashioned wire recorders. There.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Well, maybe I can find it. Professor, I haven't worked with these things. No, I know.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

No, I. I can find it.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Just.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Just let me alone. You forget that I've been. Oh, Kemp.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

Kemp.

[James Gordon Kemp]

What's the matter? Professor Kemp, the reel is empty.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Look. There's only eight inches of wire on it. Only eight Inches, Kemp.

[James Gordon Kemp]

It was almost full before the camp was seen. But that's impossible. No one could get through that rock. No one, I tell you.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Maria's been refilled. That's what's happened.

[James Gordon Kemp]

It's been refilled.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Ken. They've been here.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Who's been here, Professor?

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

That's what the transmitter was for. Kemp, tell them.

[James Gordon Kemp]

When the first atomic power was used.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

On Earth, Recorder tripped, the transmitter had sent out a signal. They answered it and came here and changed the reel. It's the beginning of a new era as far as they're concerned.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Sykes. Sykes. Who are you talking about? Who are they? What do you mean?

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

I don't know. I don't know. But they've been here.

[James Gordon Kemp]

And I've lost 30 years work.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

30 years of my life.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Completely gone and disappeared. Professor, you gotta put yourself together. We gotta get out of here.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

I don't like this at all.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

Get out?

[James Gordon Kemp]

Why get out.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Damage has been done.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Now the reel's gone. I don't like the way that thing hums. Sounds like it's just sitting there waiting.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

And.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Crimp it. Hit another crimp in the wire. The transmitter started again. It doesn't matter now. Nothing matters now. Nothing. Come on. And grab that light. I've had enough of this. So. No, I'm going to stay here.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Not stay in this game.

[James Gordon Kemp]

You're coming with me if I have to carry it.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

No. Let me alone. I'm staying here. Kim.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Kim.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

Let go of me.

[James Gordon Kemp]

No.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

No. Let go. Professor, Watch out for the recorder.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Professor Zeiss, are you all right? My hands.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

Burn. My hands. It's so hot.

[James Gordon Kemp]

You're getting hotter every second.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Come on.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Come on. We gotta move. Somebody tells me this. This place is gonna blow. Sky. Hands. My hands. Put your arm across my shoulder. I'll guide you out. Clem. High school.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

30 years work. Kept talking in one.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Professor, we're getting out of here in. I don't remember much about that climb up through the cliff. Dragging Sykes with me every inch of the way. I just knew it was hot. I could hear rock falling and rock bubbling thick and heavy behind me down there in that terrible room. I somehow get to the car and stretch Sykes out of the backside. I asked him how he was, but he. He didn't answer me. He just kept looking back towards the cleft and the glow of the lava. And then he whispered.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

They knew we'd reached the atomic age. They wanted to be told when. That's what the transmitter did. They came and took the recordings. Build the machine.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Don't don't try to talk, Professor. I'm going to drive you into town and we'll get the doc to take care of those hands of yours.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

They sealed off the room with something they thought only controlled atomic power could break into. This time. The recorder was triggered to that power. Your torch did it, Kim. That 300 years in the future torch, that did it. They think we have atomic power. They'll come back, Camp.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Who, Professor?

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Who? We don't know. They don't know whether they're friends or enemies or where they are. There'd be only one reason why someone, some creature would want to know a thing like that. Not so they could stop us. Oh, no. No, Professor.

[James Gordon Kemp]

We're not going to be stopped now. Like the papers say, we're in the atomic age if it kills us. But we're in for keeps. Why, humanity would have to be killed off before to get out of this atomic age. Know that, Camp?

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

I know. That's what I mean, Camp. What have we done? What have we done? Professor.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Professor Sykes. I was gonna bury him there. Out there near the cleft. I thought he'd like to be there, but then I. I realized that people would be wondering about him, looking for him. So I brought him in. The excitement, I left town. It just didn't look good to me. I knew nobody would listen to a yarn like that.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Well.

[Sheriff / Court Official]

Now I can see what Brother Kemp was worried about. That story is true. I, for one, would think twice about telling him.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

He's a liar. He's a murdered liar. I got a kid that reads that kind of stuff, and I never did like to see him at it. Believe me, he's gonna cut it out. As of right now, I think this Kemp guy needs a hanging. Wait a minute, man. Wait a minute.

[Sheriff / Court Official]

We kill off this fellow, we do it legal, see? You just keep quiet a while longer and let me ask this boy a question. Now, look, Camp, if there's anything in your story or in that goofy idea of the dead man's about someone coming to kill us off, well, ain't it about time they did?

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

Yeah. Yeah. When's the invasion start, kid? Maybe we should start digging. Foxes households.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Now, I didn't say anything about that. I just told you the facts, the way they happened. I just told you what Sykes told me.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

The whole thing's a lousy pack of lies. It's all lies. Lies. Wilson. Wilson, that was a bomb. Dead. Wilson, look. There in the sky.

[James Gordon Kemp]

Look, the chaps.

[Professor Alessandro Sykes]

Ships.

[Presiding Coroner / Bert Hafferty]

The sky is full of ships.