The Diamond Mountain Of Venus by Exploring Tomorrow

Summary

Podcast Summary: "The Diamond Mountain Of Venus" by Exploring Tomorrow

Podcast Information:

• Title: Relic Radio Sci-Fi (Old Time Radio)
• Host/Author: RelicRadio.com
• Episode: The Diamond Mountain Of Venus by Exploring Tomorrow
• Release Date: December 2, 2024

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Introduction & Setting

"The Diamond Mountain Of Venus" transports listeners to a futuristic exploration of Venus, blending classic old-time radio storytelling with timeless science fiction themes. The narrative unfolds through the dynamic interactions between two main characters, Phil (later revealed as Senga) and Guido, as they navigate the treacherous terrains of Venus in pursuit of a legendary diamond mountain.

Characters

• Phil/Senga: A seasoned space pilot with a complex past, carrying the legacy of his father, Paulo Santos, a revered space explorer.
• Guido: Phil's close friend and fellow explorer, who shares a brother-like bond with him. He grapples with Phil's lingering issues post their Venus expedition.

Plot Summary

Journey to Venus

The story begins with Phil and Guido preparing for their mission back to Venus, reminiscing about their last night on Earth and the challenges that await them. Their conversation reveals the depth of their relationship and sets the stage for the unfolding drama on Venus.

Revelations and Conflicts

As they trek through the Venusian jungle towards the fabled Diamond Mountain, tensions surface. Phil's demeanor shifts, showcasing a sense of superiority that strains his friendship with Guido. This tension hints at underlying secrets and unresolved issues related to their previous expedition.

Guido (00:39): "Now step into the incredible amazing future as we go exploring tomorrow."

Phil (03:13): "Your father never approved. All right. He picked me up in the mountains here."

Encounter with the Unknown

Midway through their journey, the duo encounters mysterious inhabitants of Venus—descendants of an ancient Earth civilization. This discovery adds a layer of intrigue and danger, as Phil and Guido must navigate not only the physical challenges of Venus but also the complexities of interacting with its native population.

Phil (08:27): "Descendants from a group of people who came here from Earth millions of years ago."

Guido (08:43): "They've seen the ship before, of course."

Phil's True Intentions

As they approach the Diamond Mountain, Phil's true motives come to light. His desire for superiority and wealth drives him to manipulate the Venusian inhabitants into aiding his quest for the diamond peak. This revelation exposes the moral decay and personal conflicts that Phil harbors.

Phil (10:12): "This is the place where I discovered I am not of an inferior race."

Guido (14:39): "You've been shown nothing but kindness."

Climactic Confrontation

Tensions escalate into a confrontation where Guido confronts Phil about his manipulative and power-hungry nature. The struggle reaches its peak as Phil attempts to secure the diamond, leading to a physical and ideological clash between the two former allies.

Phil (13:35): "You won't have any use for sidearms, so don't try to get them back."

Guido (15:26): "History is full of people like you. The little upstarts with a lust for power and hatred."

Resolution

The narrative concludes with Guido overcoming Phil’s manipulations, emphasizing the importance of compassion and unity over power and superiority. The story wraps up with reflections on human nature, hate, and the value of individual talents working together.

Narrator (19:05): "No individual is everything the other guy's got. Something you need."

Themes & Insights

1. Superiority vs. Inferiority: The story delves into the delicate balance between feelings of superiority and inferiority, illustrating how misunderstandings can lead to conflict and hatred.

   Phil (01:06): "Hate and love are really quite close to each other."

2. Legacy and Identity: Phil's struggle with his identity and his father's legacy underscores the impact of upbringing and societal expectations on personal development.

3. Human Nature and Compassion: The narrative highlights the essential role of compassion in overcoming inherent hate, advocating for understanding and cooperation.

   Guido (12:30): "The law of the universe decreed your death. You're alive only because of the basic law of civilized human nature. Compassion."

4. Colonialism and Exploitation: Phil's attempt to exploit the Diamond Mountain mirrors historical acts of colonialism, raising questions about ethical exploration and resource acquisition.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Phil on Hate and Love:

  “Hate and love are really quite close to each other.” ([01:06])

• Guido on Superiority Complex:

  “You and I grew up like brothers. There's no difference between us.” ([03:30])

• Phil Revealing His True Intentions:

  “This is the place where I discovered I am not of an inferior race.” ([10:12])

• Guido Confronting Phil:

  “History is full of people like you. The little upstarts with a lust for power and hatred.” ([15:26])

• Narrator on Human Value:

  “No individual is everything the other guy's got. Something you need.” ([19:05])

Conclusion

"The Diamond Mountain Of Venus" is a compelling exploration of human emotions, legacy, and moral dilemmas set against the backdrop of a perilous Venusian landscape. Through the intricate relationship between Phil and Guido, the narrative examines the thin line between love and hate, the quest for power, and the enduring value of compassion and cooperation. This episode stands as a testament to Relic Radio Sci-Fi's ability to weave classic storytelling with enduring philosophical questions, making it a must-listen for enthusiasts of old-time radio and science fiction alike.

Transcript

[Phil]

Relic Radio.

[Narrator]

This is Relic Radio. Sci Fi Old time radio.

[Phil]

Science fiction stories from relicradio.com.

[Guido]

Now step into the incredible amazing future as we go exploring tomorrow. And now, here is your guide to these adventures of the mind. John Campbell Jr.

[Narrator]

Hate and love are really quite close to each other. Usually hate stems from a misunderstanding of something which, properly understood, would make love. One of the concepts that many people don't see, Miss, just get all wrong. Is the fact that there is superiority and there is inferiority. But those things are specialized and narrowed into special areas. If you don't recognize them, the system won't work at all. If you do recognize them, well, you know. Each must then recognize two things. That he is superior and that he's inferior. This is a story of a man who hadn't learned, hadn't found out the importance of special superiority and special inferiority.

[Guido]

Phil, are you ready for a drink?

[Phil]

My name is not Philip. My name is Senga.

[Guido]

What?

[Phil]

Nothing.

[Guido]

You better drink this.

[Narrator]

Thanks.

[Guido]

To our last night on Earth for some time to come. Or better yet, to this house where I was born. To the green mountains and jungles we've loved and hunted in. To all this we leave behind.

[Phil]

I was looking at her.

[Guido]

Yes, she's beautiful. The brightest planet of them all.

[Phil]

She's dark and she's ugly.

[Guido]

Not from this distance from here, no.

[Phil]

But she's ugly.

[Guido]

The ancients didn't think so when they named her Venus.

[Phil]

They never got there.

[Guido]

No, but you did. You've been there.

[Phil]

So will you. Tomorrow you'll be on your way. We both will.

[Guido]

Sen. You've never talked much about the place.

[Phil]

I told you, it's hot. Very hot.

[Guido]

Animals.

[Phil]

A great many, but I saw only a few. You mostly only hear them. Once I wanted to go hunting. Your father said no. He couldn't forget I was Indian.

[Guido]

You and I have hunted here, so don't talk rot.

[Phil]

Your father never approved. All right. He picked me up in the mountains here. When I was four years old, he brought me to this house. Now I am 32, with 28 years of education and civilization behind me. But I am still Indian. All right, Gu. Tell me. I have a complex.

[Guido]

No, no, no. But ever since you came back from Venus, you've had a chip on your shoulder. Now, come on, fella. You and I grew up like brothers. There's no difference between us.

[Phil]

Isn't there?

[Guido]

And you're a first rate space pilot. As good as my father was.

[Phil]

As good as you too.

[Guido]

Just as good. After all, you brought the ship back to Earth. Alone. Almost alone, anyway. You had my father's body with you. He was a great man, son. The greatest space explorer of this age.

[Phil]

Yes, he was a great man.

[Guido]

At least it was you who shared his last minutes. You. He chose to go with him on that trip. He thought quite a lot of you.

[Phil]

It was not a matter of choice that he took me along.

[Guido]

What do you mean by that?

[Phil]

Nothing. I've said more than I intended.

[Guido]

I have a right to know, Phil.

[Phil]

Yes, yes. When we get there, let's call it a night. We blast off at dawn.

[Guido]

We need sleep.

[Phil]

Green light.

[Guido]

Blast off.

[Phil]

Coffee?

[Guido]

Thanks. I can use a cup a quarter.

[Phil]

Of a million miles out in space before morning.

[Guido]

Coffee.

[Phil]

Not bad, eh, Phil?

[Guido]

Yes, but my father was not the first man to land on Venus. But no one else, so far as we know, found diamonds there.

[Phil]

No one else ever went to the right area. Besides, you use the word diamond in the plural sense. The singular would be more correct. The peak of this mountain is one solid diamond pushed up there from the interior by volcanic action. A slab of diamond that must weigh 7,000 tons.

[Guido]

If it's true, then diamonds back home will become absolutely worthless.

[Phil]

Not immediately. And what happens later will not concern us.

[Guido]

Why didn't you bring back a sample?

[Phil]

There were many reasons. You'll understand when you get there.

[Guido]

There's a lot you haven't told me.

[Phil]

A great deal. Yes. But you can wait. Let's play some ch.

[Guido]

Exploring tomorrow continues in just a moment.

[John Campbell Jr.]

All of us, as American citizens, believe in our inherent liberties and freedoms, such as the freedom of association, assembly and action. But if you will read the First Amendment to the Constitution, you will notice that it is worded. Congress shall make no law abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble. Whatever the association, assembly or action, it must be accomplished peaceably. We are given the right to petition, for example. But that right cannot be used to bring malice upon others. We must assume the responsibility for the purposes and actions of associations and assemblies. And if we accept that responsibility, we ensure our freedom.

[Narrator]

When a kid grows up at a certain period of life, he stops being a child. And yet he is not yet a man. He's an adolescent somewhere in between. This is one of the most critical areas of development. This is where we have our juvenile delinquents starting becoming what they are. The juvenile delinquent is an adolescent gone wrong and misunderstanding. An adolescent is in the problem of inferiority and superiority. He's inferior to his parents, and it's a general inferiority because the parents have greater Experience greater understanding, greater wisdom simply by the sheer accumulation of understanding of problems they've had to solve and experience themselves.

[Phil]

We have to walk about a quarter of a mile through the jungle. Then we start to climb.

[Guido]

What?

[Phil]

What's the matter?

[Guido]

Maybe hallucination.

[Phil]

You saw something?

[Guido]

No. Someone. Oh. A man. Half naked. A savage. You saw him too?

[Phil]

Yes, I glimpsed him.

[Guido]

There are people here.

[Phil]

That's right.

[Guido]

You told the newspapers you saw no sign of people.

[Phil]

I didn't feel like telling the newspapers all I saw. Any more than your father did after his first trip here. Oh, yes, Guido. He knew about these people. He never told anyone.

[Guido]

They're human like us.

[Phil]

Descendants from a group of people who came here from Earth millions of years ago. People more advanced in science than we are today. Only through the years they lost their knowledge, reverted to the jungle. At least, that was your father's theory.

[Guido]

Are they hostile?

[Phil]

I'm not sure.

[Guido]

They've seen the ship before, of course.

[Phil]

Yes, they've seen it before. They know we come out of space. It's fantastic.

[Guido]

Descendants of Earth people. It's as fantastic as your Diamond Mountain.

[Phil]

The Diamond Mountain is very real. Come. We have a long walk.

[Narrator]

How far above?

[Phil]

About a thousand feet. Above ground level, I'd say.

[Guido]

There. Thin. Shouldn't be this thin at only a thousand feet.

[Phil]

Nevertheless, it is.

[Guido]

I can hardly breathe.

[Phil]

It won't get much worse. Stick it out.

[Guido]

We should have brought oxygen masks.

[Phil]

It's too hot. They'd be impractical.

[Guido]

That's right.

[Narrator]

Maybe it's the heat.

[Guido]

Not so much the thin air. I feel as though I'm being scorched up. Save your breath.

[Phil]

Come on. Come on.

[Guido]

Oh, we still got to climb. That's right. Feel like. I can't. I can't go much further.

[Phil]

Try.

[Guido]

I. I can't. Sorry, Phil.

[Phil]

You did better than I thought. As a matter of fact, much better than your father. What? He collapsed about 100 yards further back. But, of course, he was much older. Don't look so shocked.

[Guido]

I don't understand.

[Phil]

It is simple to understand. This is the place where I discovered I am not of an inferior race. Here, in this place, I was your father's superior. Now I am your superior. I can live where you can die where he died.

[Guido]

You let him die?

[Phil]

No, No, I didn't want him to die. I wanted to enjoy my sense of superiority. I carried him back, but it was too late. He was too weakened.

[Guido]

I can't think properly, but I can.

[Phil]

Your father wanted you to come here for the diamond. It was an easy Promise for me to give him. I wanted to bring you here. I wanted to realize my superiority.

[Guido]

It's crazy kind of talk. That's crazy. You're like my brother. He was like your father.

[Phil]

Oh, no, no. He was the great Paulo Santos, perhaps the greatest explorer and ship desire of his day. He built our ship. He was the scientist's supreme superior man. And you're his natural son.

[Guido]

Guido, look up there.

[Phil]

I said look up there. You can see the diamond peak.

[Guido]

Some kind of rock crystal rock? No, no.

[Phil]

Pure diamond. I have been up there. I chipped a piece off. I brought it back here to your father. He knew it was diamond. He lived just long enough to confirm that. I can reach the diamond, you see. But you can't. No one of your race could. But I can.

[Guido]

I've got to get to lower ground.

[Phil]

Not without my help, see? You're too weak to move. You must depend on me.

[Guido]

You're crazy.

[Phil]

Oh, no. I won't let you die. But I'll take away your sidearms. I can't have you armed. How does it feel, Guido? I feel about superior man suddenly confronted by superiority of an inferior race.

[Guido]

I've got to get to lower ground.

[Phil]

A situation that reflects the law of the universe. Guido, your father was always talking about that. Well, I don't want you to die. I want you to live so that you can serve me. I get you to lower.

[Narrator]

You know, hate has a very real place in life. We need it. Man is unique among the living things on this planet in that he does have hate. Man hated the wolf. He hated the cave bear. He eliminated those species that were just not tolerable. Hate has a good side. Hate has a place. The difficulty is when the hate is misplaced, when it is generalized and not specialized to the point where it belongs to the thing that is really wrong. I'm afraid Phil misunderstood and had his hate directed in the wrong direction. It wasn't a race he hated, he just thought he did. What he hated was to have someone who was older and wiser than he himself. And now he had misplaced it to another guy who was trying to do a good job with him.

[Phil]

You won't have any use for sidearms, so don't try to get them back. If you do, I'll kill you.

[Guido]

What do you have in mind?

[Phil]

I have a plan, but I'll need to have the help of the people here. You can't reach the diamond, but I can. And so can they. Our job is to get them to carry the drilling equipment up that hill so that I can start chipping the diamond.

[Guido]

You think they'll work for you?

[Phil]

They're afraid of me. After your father died, they attacked. And I had to kill some of them with a blaster. That's why they don't show themselves. Now. It may take a little while, but I've got to make them understand that they must do what I want.

[Guido]

Suppose you succeed?

[Phil]

Well, when I leave here, I'll take away enough diamond to convert into enough cash. That will make me just about the richest man on Earth. Once I've done that, what about me? You?

[Guido]

Won't I be an obstacle?

[Phil]

No.

[Guido]

You'll do away with me.

[Phil]

Not here. I'll wait until we're out in space.

[Guido]

Just like that?

[Phil]

I'm afraid so. It's funny, isn't it?

[Guido]

Oh, yes. Yes. You identify yourself with what you call an inferior race and resent the people who made you our intellectual equal.

[Phil]

Human nature. I should feel grateful instead, huh?

[Guido]

Is that it? You've been shown nothing but kindness. Gratitude wouldn't be out of place if.

[Phil]

You only knew how I hated that word.

[Guido]

I know some people do. What makes them squirm. They cry for help. They get it and they hate you for it.

[Phil]

I didn't cry for help. Yes.

[Guido]

You were a child of four, abandoned in the jungle. You were crying when my father found you. You'd have died or been killed by some animal or survived and just been a savage.

[Phil]

Now. Now it's coming off. Everything you and your father felt about me.

[Guido]

I'm sorry for you.

[Phil]

You. You sorry for me? I hold the rain. No. No.

[Guido]

History is full of people like you. The little upstarts with a lust for power and hatred. You never last long. The law of the universe never tolerates you.

[Phil]

Law of the universe? You sound like your father.

[Guido]

That's nice to know, Phil. By the way, we're being watched.

[Phil]

I know that.

[Guido]

You better let me have my side on.

[Phil]

Not a chance.

[Guido]

You said these people were scared. They are not scared enough. That's another law of the universe. And a lesson for mystery. People are never too scared to resist an invader. And we're invaders.

[Phil]

They won't resist. If I turn this blaster on them.

[Guido]

Again, the ones you kill won't.

[Phil]

I don't want to kill them. I want to talk to them.

[Guido]

In what language?

[Phil]

Sign language, what else?

[Guido]

You can try.

[Phil]

May take weeks or months.

[Guido]

Well, what happens in the meantime?

[Phil]

We'll go back to the ship. There's open space there. Sooner or later, a few of them will approach us. Then I'll try to talk to them.

[Guido]

Then we better start down, unless we're surrounded.

[Phil]

I'll blast our way through if there's trouble. Come on. Keep ahead of me where I can see you. No trouble.

[Guido]

You see? I'm sure I spotted a couple.

[Narrator]

Share those all right.

[Phil]

About a quarter of a mile from this ship. Come on. Keep in front.

[Guido]

Get down.

[Phil]

A slingshot. A piece of rock.

[Guido]

Yes. It hit this tree instead of one of us.

[Phil]

Piece of rock. Here it is.

[Guido]

A diamond the size of a small egg.

[Phil]

Diamonds for ammunition. This planet must be crawling with diamonds.

[Guido]

Keep on.

[Phil]

I blast them to keep them come.

[Guido]

But we're the first ones in history to be stoned with diamonds. Better pick them up.

[Phil]

You pick them up. I could just see what those savages are.

[Guido]

They're not too close. We can't stay here. Come on, before they close in from all sides. You may not have time to shoot in all directions.

[Phil]

All right, we push on. Get anything?

[Guido]

No, but I've got a feeling they see us.

[Phil]

Ship is pretty close. Now we got the way.

[Guido]

I had to use a gun once. Better keep quiet. You have a nasty cut on your head. We're going back to report to the World Council. Every country in the world has a stake in this matter. The council will decide what to do about the diamonds, not us.

[Phil]

Why didn't you leave me there to them?

[Guido]

Let's say two basic laws came into conflict. The law of the universe decreed your death. You're alive only because of the basic law of civilized human nature. Compassion. You've still got to learn that, Phil. Nothing will change that.

[Narrator]

You know, you can make yourself and a lot of other people around you mighty unhappy. If you try to have all values, be able to do everything. Consider yourself tops at anything around. None of us has that ability. We can't do it all. But each of us has his own special talents, his own individual abilities. And for these, every one of us is valuable. And every one of us needs every other one for that special individual talent. No. No individual is everything the other guy's got. Something you need.

[Phil]

Sa.

[Guido]

Heard. In our cast tonight were Mason Adams and Donald Bucher. The script was by John Fleming, produced and directed by Sanford Marshall. Here in New York, this is Guy Wallace speaking. We pause now for station identification.