Countdown for blast off. X minus five, four, three, two, X minus one, fire. From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed tales of new dimensions in time and space. These are stories of the future, adventures in which you'll live in a million could-be years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Street and Smith, publishers of astounding science fiction, presents X minus one. The Night Story. Shanghai. Okay, okay, very funny, very funny. Take it over, boy. Tomorrow the old ball and chain. Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you commit matrimony. Come on, we came down here to Scully Square to have a little fun. We might as well be at my mother's musical and Beacon Street. Oh, the problems of the rich. Tell me, Jeff, just where does the coffin fortune come from? Pirate treasure? No, no, I guess it started in Antucket. My great, great something or other used to be a whaler. A whaler? The arse he blows. A dead whale or a stove boat? Watch my trusty harpoon. Hey, hey, hey, don't look out with the porn. Oh my. And where's the money now? Oh, I don't know. We've got a lot of commercial holdings, mills, import-export outfits, rocket lines, you know. Mere trivia. Now look, why don't we get out of this dump? We go up to the Copley Plaza. It may be stuffy, but at least the glasses are clean. Well, you're the condemned man. All right, you two go ahead and get in the car. I'll settle. All right, me too. Right. Excuse me. You want something, Buck? Yeah, the check. Okay, okay. Hey, Milton, check. It'll be right out. Right, thank you. Hello, mate. Nice night, eh? Oh, yeah, I suppose so. I've been watching you. Celebrating? Sort of. And so am I. Just got off a deep space run out to Centaurus. Oh, that's a 15-year run, isn't it? 15 and three blooming months. How'd you know? You a spaceman? No, no, not exactly. Where's that check, barkeep? Hang on to your hat, bud. Milton's slow, but he's sure. Fill it up, Charlie. Say, why don't you join me, matey? Here, Charlie. Oh, no, no, no, thank you. Oh, come on. We'll take off a move. Well, celebrate whatever it is you're celebrating on me. Pour it, Charlie. Well, all right, thank you. I guess I might as well. Cheers. Yeah, right. Cheers. Oh, what was that, Mark? Charlie's speech was red, eh, Charlie? Yeah. Well. Oh, say, look, Charlie, would you get that waiter out here? I've got to meet him. I, uh... What's your airy, matey? You got plenty of time. Sure. Sit down. Take it easy. You don't look so good. No, no, I don't feel so good. Yeah, now sit right here. You feel chipper as a blooming grasshopper in a sec. No, I've got to get outside. The car's in a hurry. Where's the check? Check? All right, matey. Up on your feet. Wakey, wakey, wakey. Oh, all right. Let go of me. What's the idea? Rise and shine and greet the dawn. What? Where am I? What's going on here? Come on now, matey. Up in there. Wakey, wakey, wakey. Wait a minute. So you were at that bar, Scholley Square. Come on now. Up on deck or you'll be in trouble. Deck? What are you talking about? Where am I? It's hard to say exactly. Off end, about eight hours out of Atlantic Spaceport. Atlantic Spaceport? Now look, what kind of a joke is this? If Alan and Peter think this is funny. What ship is this? R.S. Michael M. Rafferty, coffin line. Oh, coffin line. Well, that makes it easy. Now you've got to put back to port. Forget your toothbrush, Ben. No, no, listen to you. Why don't you take me to the captain or I'll tear you apart. Hey, hey, hey, hey. I'll take you to the captain. All right. Get moving. Sure, sure, matey. I'll take you to the captain. Bet you're going to be sorry. Morton, what the devil are you doing on the bridge? Get below before I... Roger, matey, sir. Only this gentleman asked to see you. That's right, captain. There's been a mistake made. I'm afraid it was supposed to be a joke. Oh? Yes, you see, I'm going to be married today and I suppose the boys thought it'd be funny to make me miss the ceremony. I'm sure it won't be too much trouble to have you drop me off back at the Atlantic Spaceport. What? Morton, what is this? Well, simple, captain. He wants you to turn the ship around, that's all. Now look, if there's any trouble with your superior, I'm sure I can fix it up. You see, I'm Jeff Coffin. Yeah? Well, you don't understand. My father is Cyrus Coffin. He owns this ship. Oh, he does, huh? Morton, get this drunk along. Now, just a minute. I can understand you're not believing me, but I can identify him. My... Hey, where's my wallet? I've been robbed. Now look, captain, wait a minute. All you have to do is radio back and check. Mr. Black, remove this man from the bridge. Yes, but... Aye, sir. You're the captain, buster. Now wait a minute. Let go of me. This is a joke. There's no way to treat a passenger. Passenger? Huh. Wake up, sonny boy. You're one of the crew. Now get below. All right now, mate. Grab yourself a buffer and get to work on those deck plates. But they can't get away with this. This is kidnapping. Perhaps, yes, perhaps, no. Now get this here deck nice and shiny. We might even see about some crap. I'll be back in two hours. And mind you, I want to be able to see me blooming reflection in it. You better polish that deck plate. They can't get away with this. The law says once you sign on, you're under absolute orders. I looked it up. Yeah, but I didn't sign on. I was kidnapped. You won't be able to prove it. Come on, mister, please. I didn't get anything to eat yet today, so give me a break, huh? All right. What do you do? Run the buffer over it? Yeah, that's right. Like this. You sign on? Yeah, I ran away from home. How old are you? 16. 30 when we get back. Yeah. What do you mean 30? We're headed for Mars, aren't we? Only to refuel. We're outbound to Centaurus. Oh, no, it can't be. Well, that's a 15-year run. Morton! I've got to get back. No use. I'm getting married. My bride-to-be will think I'm dead. Morton! Morton! What's up? You want me to call Mr. Blacker, guy? He'll give you what for. Listen, listen to me, Morton. Listen, I've got to get back to Earth. I can't disappear for 15 years. Oh, is that a fact? Look, we stop at Mars, right? Yes, and you'll be below decks and a lock and cage. Listen to me, if I can make it worth your while, will you get me off at Mars, port? Jump and shiver? That's real naughty, mate. $1,000? Why, what would I tell me poor old mother in better say? $2,000. Five in advance. What do you mean in advance? You're probably the one that rolled me for my wallet. I'll find a way. They don't believe you're young Coffin, but maybe I know better. All right, it's a deal. Look, Mr. Coffin, can you take me with you? I didn't realize what it would be like. I can pay my share. I could work it out for you or maybe borrow money. I couldn't stand 15 years. I'd go crazy. All right, all right, sure. What about it, Morton? Boy, it'll cost you another thousand. You cheap swine. Hear now, Mr. Coffin. I'm all what stands between you and a lovely pleasure cruise for 15 years. So I thank you to treat me with a respect and politeness what a gentleman like myself deserves. Stand by. Stand by for landing procedure. All right now, listen carefully. This is the cable locker for the grappling anchor. Right. When she lands this atchal open, cables go out. Don't get yourself caught in them. You'll be tore apart. All right, we've got that. Are you sure we can get out? Now you just do what I say. We drop down to the blast pit, nobody will be there. By low in the pit till dark. Got that? Right. Now look, Morton, I'll tell the patrol you helped us get away. That'll help you when they catch up with this game. Well, thank you, sir. Thank you kindly. I've got to get to my station now. Look. Thanks. Thanks, Mr. Morton. Well, there's the landing horn. Now keep clear of that cable, Joey. Here we go. Hold on tight. There goes the grappling cable. Yeah. All right, come on. Drop through the hatch. It's about six feet. All right, it's clear. Hurry up. Here I come. You all right? I twisted my ankle. It's all right. All right, there's the blast pit. Get going. Right. Now we're all right so far. The ship hides us. Here's the pit. All right, now get down so they can't see you. Wait a minute. I hear somebody coming. Keep still. Maybe we better look. Look, if we stick our heads up over the edge, they'll see us. Sure. Now keep down and keep still. I hear them. Well, well, well. Look what we have here. Two little babes in the wood. Now you two move and I'll shoot you in the belly. Morton, you got good eyes. I told you I saw them coming this way, Mr. Black. Jumping ship. My, that's a terrible thing to do. Mr. Black, inform the ship's company that these two men have been found guilty of attempted desertion. Desertion? You kidding at me, you dirty crook? Don't you talk like Captain Howe that way. I'm sending them to 24 Hours Hull Watch. Take them away. Morton, take them to the aft lock. Aye, sir. You're calmed down after 24 Hours Hull Watch. What's Hull Watch? Very simple. We put you two in space suits, shove you through the air lock on the end of a line. You sit out there and watch the Hull for 24 hours. No food, no water. And the eating units in those suits are just a little bit defective. Makes it interesting along about the 18th hour. Yeah, I'll bet. Here we are, gentlemen. The air lock. You get in there. Got five minutes to get into them suits before we blow the air out. See you in 24 hours. Maybe. Well, well. Welcome back to all it'llow. Water. Water. It's thirsty, eh? You should control these animal instincts. Get water. Right, yeah? Yeah. Sloppin' like a bloody animal. Joy. Joy passed out. Help him. He'll be all right. Teach him lesson, both of you. Take my advice and behave yourselves. You've got 15 years to go on this here ship. You might as well make the best of it. Hey, Morton! What do you call this mess? That's your super mighty food concentrates. What's the idea? Only two months out and on concentrates already? You're complaining, right? Yeah, I'm complaining. If Captain Howell's chiseling on the manifest, that's his business. But when he tries to take it out in our heights... You keep quiet or I'll turn you into Mr. Black. Concentrate is what you get to eat from your own head. I'll shove it into your face and keep quiet. Suppose I shove it into your face and see how you like it. You shove it into my face! What's going on in here? What's going on? Morton. He struck me. He struck me, Arch Watt. 48 hours hull watch. All right, what are you all looking at? Get back into your places. Morton, bring that man down to the aft airlock. It's murder. That's what plain murder. Space code gives a 30-hour limit for punishment. They didn't even have a burial. Just shoved him out the lock. If the owners knew about this, they'd stop it. Fat lot of good that's going to do us during the next 15 years. Wait a minute. If we could get the ship back to Mars... No, two weeks after we landed, we'd be hung. That's what space code says about mutiny. And if they catch you in the act, they shoot you down and no questions. All right, I'm willing to take that chance. We're gonna let Black and Howell kick us around for 15 years. Why don't we take over and head back? Right. Let's go. Going to rep something, gentlemen. Discussion. Talking about the captain... Grab him. Slug him, slug him. Have you all run into the other ships? Or seen your knife rations? Itch, who am I to rag Morton? Well, that's done it. He's an officer. Who cares? We've got to move now. Joey, you get up to the radio room and smash the set... ...so they can get a message out. Pop, you get aft. Tell the engine watch. The rest of us will go up on the bridge. How about this rat? Tie him up. Speed counts now. We've got to take over before they know what hit him. All right, careful. We've got to surprise him. Don't worry. We'll get him cold. Jeff! Sparks were sending when I got in, but I knocked them out and smashed the set. All right, come on. Right past the bulkhead. Look out! The blast bulkhead. We're cut off from the bridge. We'll never get through that. They must have found out somehow. The intercom. Black can turn it on from the bridge. You heard the whole thing. We'd better get out of here. What'll they do? I don't know. We've got all the controls up there. We can shut down the driver, but we can't steer. You'd better dog down the hatch behind us. All right, men. Captain Howell's giving you one minute to give up quiet. In a pig's eye, Black! You'll hang for mutiny, every one of you. What do we do now? Quiet. They can hear everything on the intercom. If I pull the jack out... That's it, boy. Look, we've got to get through to the bridge. It's a Mexican standoff. We can't get at them, they can't get at us. What's that? It's an air leak. The pressure's down. It's Howell. He blew the hatch on the mess hall section. Just open her up and let the air out. Morton, do you know what Black's going to do? He's going to bleed off the air down here. Save you all right. I admire we ought to see you all out on the earth till you froze stiff. You're forgetting something, Morton. You're back here with us. What do you mean? If Black and Howell blow out compartments one by one or bleed the air off, you'll get it too. They'll take care of me. Don't you worry about that. Oh, you think so, huh? Joey, plug that intercom back in. Right. Captain. Captain. Giving up? We've got Morton back here. Yeah? If you try anything on us, he'll get it too. What am I supposed to do, cry? You don't care if he dies? That's his problem. We're going to drop the archigan level five percent. Can't do that to me. Captain. Captain. It's unfortunate that you were captured, Morton, but the security of my ship comes first. You mean you don't care? You'd see me dead. Precisely. Well, you can't. It's murder, that's what. I'm not one of them. You can't kill me. You can't. Joey, pull the intercom plug. All right, there you are, Morton. They'd kill you just as soon as look at you. Now, listen, we've got to get through that bulkhead. You know this ship. There must be some way. Morton, we're your only chance. Get us through the bulkhead. All right. All right. Why shouldn't I? They killed me. Well, then there is a way to get through. An emergency release. Don't tell crewmen about it to keep them from breaking through with an engine blast and leaking radiation to the bridge. Well, then let's get going. We've got to get through that bulkhead before Howell cuts the air down and gets us all. Here's the bulkhead, Morton. Where's the release? Under the floor panel. You can pry it up. All right, hurry. I got it. I got it. She's up. Works on a K. Ready? All right, Morton. Open it up. Here goes. Morton. He's dead. Electrocuted and the bulkhead still closed. They didn't even get to turn that key. It killed him instantly. Harry. Yeah. Have you got your watch gloves? They're insulated. Sure. Get Morton out of the way. Don't touch him, Joey. He's got the current through him. I'll shove him away with the gloves. All right, now. Stand by. Here goes a key. All right, let's go get him. Come on. Stand back there. Come on. All right, flex the eye you like this guy. Grab the gun. Let go of that gun. All right, hold them both. You don't have to worry about Black. I got him square with a wrench. We better tie up the captain. Well, what do you think you're going to do now? We're going to turn around and go back home. I don't think so. I burned the navigation tapes and none of you can recalculate them. Why, you... You'll just wander in space till the fuel gives out. You'll die right here on this ship. Jeff, Jeff, the other separate screens went on. Meteor? No, no, it's a ship. A patrol ship coming up on us. Oh, they must have got an SOS off. Yeah. Wait a minute. We don't have to worry. We can just tell them the truth. You're not familiar with space code, young man. Mutiny is punishable by immediate execution. In other words, they don't ask questions. They just shoot. He's right, Jeff. That's true. Can we get away? Not from a patrol ship. They've already sent us a heave-to flash. If we run, they'll blow us out of space. I'm afraid your mutiny is about over with, gentlemen. They'll be aboard in an hour. Ten minutes after that, you'll all be dead. Nobody move. Sergeant, take a squad and secure the ship. Collect all weapons and post a guard in the engine room. Yes, sir. You, Brown, Williams, Osiski, Fowler. Come on. Well, I'm delighted to see you, Major. I wasn't quite sure my S.O.S. had gotten through. Oh, your Captain Howell? That's right. And I can swear out the affidavit of mutiny. I don't think a mutiny charge will stand up, Howell. Not with the relief of command warrant out for you. I think we'll just forget about it. But you can't do that. Space code is clear. You recorded my S.O.S. No, we didn't, Howell. Then how'd you get here? They sent us after you to get Jeff Coffin. Where is he? I'm Jeff Coffin. Jeff, we had a missing persons alarm for you. And then, when a check you signed turned up at Marsport. A check? Oh, that's right. I gave one to Morton to help me get away. And he sold it to a fence for half face value. We traced it back to the ship. Coffin, I've got orders to escort you personally. We're taking you back to Earth. Can I send out a message, Major? Of course. Oh, well, that reminds me, Jeff. I've got one for you from your fiancée. She said to tell you that she didn't object to a bachelor party in principle, but she did think six months was stretching it a bit. You have just heard X-Minus-One, presented by the National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Street and Smith, publishers of astounding science fiction. X-Minus-One was an NBC Radio Network production.
