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. Tonight's story, The Castaways by Ernest Kenoy. In the South Pacific, night comes on rapidly. The sun dips below the flat horizon, the sea is crimson for a moment, and then night falls. But on Tehane Atoll, giant arc lights turn night into day. Across the waters of the lagoon, within the barrier reef, launches and tugs skitter back and forth. While on the curving half moon of the island, army trucks and jeeps scuttle down the rough roads bulldozed by the seabees just six weeks ago. A low quonset hut stands near the beach surrounded by tangled wire. This is the preliminary command post. And inside is General Frank Gadasch, field director of the test. Operation destruction. Everything's on schedule General. Radiological surveys complete. Instruments placement checked. Well get me Navy and tell him H-Hour is as ordered. Send a periodic time check to Air Force on 90 week talk and observation control on the Missouri. Yes sir. I want a complete roster check on all personnel before H-Hour. Yes sir. Oh Nate Cohen wants to see you. Who the devil is he? AP man. He's been selected by the press radio pool to interview. I haven't got any time. Tell him to speak to Major Dwight Breedenberg. He's the PRO. I think perhaps you'd better see him sir. The directive on public relations from Washington was very clear. Well how on blazes am I supposed to run a bomb test and play mother hand to a bunch of reporters? Washington said. Alright, alright. Bring him in. Barely. Yes. Get me some black coffee. Yes. This is Mr. Cohen. General Gadasch. How do you do General? Lousy as a matter of fact. Is that an official statement? No. You can run some of that. The world is at the crossroads baloney. I wrote that yesterday. General what effect do you think the new bomb will have on the world situation? I can't tell you that even if I knew. My job is to set the blasted thing off and see that nobody gets hurt and collect the data. Can I speak to you a moment sir? Later Alan. Go ahead Cohen. Can you release anything on the scientific principles involved? I don't even understand them myself. Wait a minute. Dr. Muller. Yes. Come over here a minute will you? Cohen this is Dr. Fred Muller, civilian scientific director. He's the only one who knows what's inside that warhead. How do you do Mr. Cohen? How about a statement doctor? Oh I'm afraid all I'm allowed to say is that the bomb is new, it's extremely powerful and off the record it's very tricky and dangerous. What will happen if it goes off prematurely? I don't think we have to worry about that. In fact we wouldn't even know about it. If you'll excuse me now. How about the natives? Well what about them? Aren't they going to be evacuated from the island? They already have been. General Gadasch. I saw that the honey chief outside when I came in. The whole tribe squatting down at the motor pool having a conference. What? How? I've been trying to tell you sir that honey are still on the island. Why? The LCT's are ready aren't they? Yes sir but they won't go. They refused. A scheduled call for their evacuation to Maelani three hours ago. I realize that sir but I hoped we could still get them off without violence. Look Alan they're either on the island or off. Wait a minute. Cohen that's all. What are you going to do about the natives general? Never mind I'll issue a statement later. You're going to force them? Go on get out. I haven't got time. Alright general thanks. Thanks a lot. Alright Alan let's have it. Well sir. The Tahani have been kicking up all along. They won't leave. They won't. Do they know what's going to happen to the island? Do they know that we're going to blow it higher than a kite? I told the chief he just said they won't go. They'll go alright if I had to. Yeah hey get him in here. The chief? Yeah and that lieutenant who interprets. Yes sir. How do you like that Dr. Muller? I haven't got enough trouble. You know I feel rather sorry for the Tahani. Can't make much sense to them. We arrive and tell them they've got to get out. Look I appreciate your finer feeling. But I can't let the Kanakas hold up the bomb test. They're not Kanakas general. Captain Cook discovered the island in 1788. Well what's the difference? Lieutenant Gilbert reporting sir. Aloha. Hey look I haven't got time for ceremony Gilbert. Tell the chief he and his tribe have got to get off the island. We're providing homes for them on Maelani. Translate Gilbert. The chief says you do not understand. Maelani is a bad island. My people have lived on Tahani from the time that our ancestors were cast away on the island. The spirits of our ancestors are buried in the earth. Our fathers are buried here. Our fathers fathers. If he thinks I'm going to move his graveyard he's crazy. In our ancestors time the Tahani came in a great bird canoe. We were cast away on this island. We have made it our home. What right have you now to carry us over the sea to a strange land where we would die weeping for our homes. We will not go. By the waters of Babylon there we sat down and we wept when we remembered Zion. Well thank you Dr. Muller you're a great help. Say Gilbert. Yes sir. Tell him I have no choice. He's got till midnight to get his tribe on board those LCTs peacefully or I'll have the Marine Detachment carry him aboard. Yes sir. Isn't that rather harsh General. After all justice is on their side. We're preparing to blow up their island and we haven't asked them about it. Dr. Muller will you kindly confine yourself to the scientific aspects of this operation. I'll take care of administrative matters. If you could explain to them what's at stake here. Any further explaining I've got to do I'll do with the Marine Detachments. I'm not going to hold up my schedule. Well Gilbert. I told him sir. All right get him out of here. I've had enough. What the devil's that? Some kind of a curse sir. I can catch some of it. The island will remember the tears of its children and punish the invaders. The great destroyers will not destroy and the evil man who is the chief will travel far through the blackness of night. Even as the children of the island end so will he. All right Gilbert take him away. Colonel Allen. Get a detail from the Marine Detachment with tear gas and small arms down to the motor pool and in one hour have those natives on that transport and I don't care how they do it. Is that my coffee Varelli? Yes sir. They must know about the bomb. The great destroyer will not destroy. You worried about that curse. I should think you might be. He threatened you personally. If I were you I'd carry a pistol till they got off the island. The chief looked as if he'd cheerfully strangle you with his bare hands. I'm supposed to end the way they do. What's that? Probably the Tahunis saying goodbye to their island. I think I'll go down to the motor pool. Stay out of the way and get back here in an hour. You've got to have this wrapped up and headquarters moved out to the Missouri by dawn. Instrument room checking in sir. That's the last. Have the Missouri take over control and send for my jeep. Yes sir. Are the LCTs standing by for those natives? Yes sir they're on the beach. The bomb unit is assembled in place general. 2330 right on the nose. Robin start evacuation procedure. The Tahunis have stopped. Alan's probably moving them out to the beach. Check in with Navy and Air Force Varelli. Yes sir. What's that? Coming from the beach. The Tahunis are making trouble. Come on. General. Hey you Gilbert what is it? Colonel Alan ordered the Marines. Well what happened? The natives just got up and started marching. Did they embark? You don't understand sir. They marched up the cliff and right off into the lagoon. What? All of them. The women and the kids too. They didn't even try to swim. What were you doing all this time? Just standing around with your thumb in your mouth? There was a Marine detachment. We couldn't stop them sir. They just walked over the cliff. They didn't even scream. Not even the kids. We sent the crash boats out but we couldn't get them any of them. The crazy idiots. Were there any reporters there? Well Cohen and a live photographer. Well get his film and hold it till I release it. What are you going to do general? Prespawn H hour? It's too late for that now. Calling H hour off isn't going to bring the natives back. What? One hundred men, women and children just walking into the water. It's horrible. I know. I'm not happy about it either. There's nothing we can do now. I gave them a chance to get off. I was just thinking about the curse the chief put on you. Even as the children of the island end so will he. That's what he said to you general. I know I heard him. Your chief's waiting general. The great destroyer will not destroy. That must mean the bomb. Don't worry Dr. Muller. It will take more than a mumbo jumbo curse from a native witch doctor to stop this operation. At H hour that bomb goes off. It is now H hour minus one minute thirty seconds. H minus one thirty. Video screens hooked in sir. Alright check control stations. Observation station one. Radiation station. Test the firing circuit Dr. Muller. Alright general. Damage control station. All set. Communications. All check in sir. It is H minus one minute. H minus one. Take a good look at that island on that screen Dr. Muller. When you throw that key it just won't be there anymore. Nothing but an atom mushroom over the lagoon. Quite a funeral fire for the Tauhans. Stubborn idiots. They can't get in the way of progress. Progress? I wonder if it is general. It is H minus thirty seconds. H hour minus twenty nine. Twenty eight. Twenty seven. The great destroyer. That's what he called the bomb. Hold it Muller. Alan report. All check in sir. Cameras running. Sound fire warning. Stand by for firing. Ready Muller. Ready. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Fire. General. It didn't go off. The bomb didn't go off. Larelli. Signal standby. Condition read. Alan. Check readings. Muller what's wrong? What happened? I don't know. The bomb didn't go off. What do you mean? Why didn't it? I don't know except for one thing. The Tauhani chief said the great destroyer would not destroy. It didn't general. The bomb didn't go off. How about it general? What happened? Have you got a statement? Nothing you can use Cohen. Not till we find out what went wrong. Hey who let you come aboard this ship? I walked on. You don't know why the bomb failed? It didn't fail. It just didn't go off. What's that tank thing on the deck general? Undersea salvage unit mark four. They call it a bottom crawler. Somebody going down? Well that bomb is down there in the lagoon somewhere. Could go off at any second. Somebody's got to go down and find it and disarm it. That's a lovely job. Who's elected? I am. Wow. And Dr. Muller. He's the only one who knows how to dismantle it. All is ready general. All right. Come on Muller. I'm ready. Alan as soon as we hit shallow water get those gates open. We'll pull the crawler out. Then you get away in a hurry. If that bomb goes while we're working on it I don't want any casualties. Yes sir. Inside Muller. All right. I'm in. Now remember. Get this LST out of the lagoon in a hurry. You got that Alan? You do it. I'm going to take your orders from Admiral Yancy. Yes sir. Good luck. Closing the hatch. The radar and Geiger counter warmed up Muller. I was just thinking of something general. That curse. Part of it came true. The bomb didn't go off. Well the second part of that curse was that you would end where they ended. That was at the bottom of the lagoon. What are you trying to do Muller? Nothing. I was just thinking this crawler is going to take us right down there where the Tahani died. I'm not worried about a handful of dead natives Muller. I'm worried about that bomb. Okay they're opening the gate. Let's go. USU 4 to control. Depth 50 feet. Bottom sandy. Dropping off sharp. Anything on sonar Muller? School of fish. You ever been down in a crawler before? Only in the tank at New London. Think I've got a Geiger reading dead ahead. Hang on. Getting something on sonar now. Left of point. USU 4 to control. Over. It's a fine note. The radio's out. Get ahead. Looks too large to be the bomb. Can't see much on the forward vision plate. Hey wait a minute. That's part of the reef ahead. That's where the Geiger reading indicated. The bomb must have settled in the hole in the reef. We'll have to go after it in diving suits. The suits are in the locker. Let's get this over with. The less time I spend down here waiting for that bomb to blow the better I like it. Muller. Is your helmet clamped tight? You getting me all right on your headset? Okay. I'm going to fill the lock. Here goes the outer door. Let's go. This isn't like that diving tank at New London. Look out for that coral. It can cut you to ribbons. There's a hole of some sort there. Wait till I get the lighter. See if you can get a Geiger reading out of that hole. Just a...there. It's down there all right. Careful. I'll drop down first. See anything down there? Muller. Get down here fast. What is it? Find something? The bottom of this hole. It's metal and the side of it is a hole. What's inside? It's the coral reef. Look, welded joints. These are hull plates of some kind. Look out above us. It's closing. Grab it. Too late. A metal hatch. It just slid over the top. This is impossible. What's going on? It's like an airlock. It's been pumped out. General, do you realize what this means? I'm not sure. There's an inner door opening. Careful. It's a passageway. What do we do now? There isn't much we can do. We can take off our helmets though. The dial shows good air. All right. Come on. What is this? An undersea fort? What's it doing here? What does it mean? Whatever it is, our bomb must be down here. Wait. There's someone there. I can't see. There's a shadow. Who is it? Who's there? Welcome, Dr. Muller. Welcome to our ship. We've been waiting for you. General, it can't be. Do you see it? It's the Tahani chief. How long has the bottom crawler been down, Varelai? Four hours, sir. Two since we lost contact. Now keep trying. Yes, sir. I've given them enough time. I'm going to send another crawler down. What do you figure happened to them, Colonel? Well, there are a lot of things. Hey, how did you get in here? I walked in. When are you going to release this, Colonel? It's the biggest story since the election. Bomb are dead and Dr. Muller and General Gaye-Dush dead. They're not dead. At least we don't know they are. As long as that bomb doesn't go off, there's still a chance. What happened? Bomb. Girl, eight condition ramped. Gilbert, radiation control interaction. Get the hot squad into Tahani lagoon as soon as it's cleared and get me a PT boat with radiation screens. What is it, Colonel? What happened? Bomb must have blown. How about Muller and the general? If they were down there in that lagoon, you guess. Now get out of my way. I'm busy. Radiation readings 75 and steady. Take her in as close to the beach as you can. Steady as she goes. Is there any danger of any more? No. When she goes, she goes. Radiation 82. That's still safe. Cohen, is that something on the beach? Yeah. Looks like a body. Maybe you blew one of the Tahani back out of the lagoon. No, no. It's moving. Gilbert, glasses. Yes, sir. It's a man, all right. Head into the beach. Who is it, Colonel? I can't tell. He's in a diving suit. It's either Muller or General Gaye-Dush. Get his helmet off. Easy now. Twist to the right. It's Muller. Gilbert, help me get him out of this diving suit. We've got to get him to the medics. There are no radiation burns, superficial bruises, mild shock. He'll be all right, Colonel. Can he talk? For a while. Bomb go off. It didn't. Still out of his head. Quiet, Cohen. Go on, Dr. Muller. What did you find? A ship. A giant metal ship there under the lagoon. Submarine? No, no. It was a spaceship. Space ship? Camouflaged right next to the reef. When it was in the air, it was a spaceship. When we went inside, we found the Dhani chief and all the tribe alive. What? They drowned in the lagoon. I saw them. No, they didn't commit suicide as we thought. They just dived underwater into the rocket airlock. Rocket airlocks? Now look, Muller, I know you've suffered a shock, but... But it's true. It can't be. A spaceship built by Polynesian savages. But they're not savages. They're the castaways. They're from another planet. Don't you understand? Their spaceship was wrecked here 400 years ago. They've been waiting ever since for a chance to go home. He's out of his mind. Better give him a sedative, Doctor. No, no. Wait a minute, Colonel. Remember their story about the Great Bird Canoe? Maybe there's something to the legend. Not the legend. It's true. They'd exhausted their fuel, came down out of space, couldn't find anything here on Earth to replace their fuel source until we developed atomic power. Atomic power? You mean they stole our bomb? That's right. Fished it out of the lagoon, hauled it aboard. Yes, but how could they convert it to atomic drive? They made me dismantle it for them at the point of a gun. Then just before they blasted off, they let me go. But what about the General? Remember the Tahani curse? I see. You mean they killed him. You don't understand. I said I dismantled that bomb at the point of a gun. It was General Gadas who was holding the gun. What? He was one of them, one of their spies sent out to bring back the rocket fuel they needed. And the Tahani curse wasn't a curse at all. It said that when they left the island, so would he. I mean, he's with them now. Yes. And after 400 years, the Castaways are going home. You have just heard X-1 presented by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Street and Smith, publishers of astounding science fiction. Your announcer, Fred Collins. X-1 was an NBC radio network production.
