Countdown for blast off. X minus five, four, three, two, X minus one, fire. From the far horizons of the unknown come 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 Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine presents X minus one. Tonight, The Trap by Finn O'Donovan. Samish, I am in need of some assistance. The situation is potentially dangerous, so come at once. It shows how right you were, Samish, old friend. I never should have trusted a Terran. What a sorry mess, Samish, and the plot seems so foolproof. Hey, Thurston. Thurston, get up. Get up. Come on. Why? What's the matter? Why? Come on, it's daybreak. Now, there's good news. Let me alone. Oh, come on. You don't want to sleep through our vacation. The bird's on the wing. It's five o'clock in the morning. Five o'clock in the morning in the Adirondacks is the middle of the day. What's the weather out? It's raining. But crying out loud. Oh, don't go back to sleep. You know these rays are the first day of vacation. It's the rule of nature. Look, I got a little fly rod with a new plastic reel that I'm just dying to try. You know what the trouble with you is, Ed? You're in love with sporting goods equipment. Now, where do you see this rod? You take that rifle, I told you. You could shoot a rhinoceros with it, but you won't because then you're essentially a friendly man. The trouble with you is you don't like the woods. Well, how can you say that? Don't I come with you on a hunting trip every year? Sure, but you always manage to steer us over to Lake Placid to the cocktail lounges. Ah, now there's real hunting. Now, there are trophies to bring back to the city. None of you are paltry brown bears or black bears. Oh, come on. Now, Thurston, I came up here to the mountains to hunt. Have a drink. Well, it's awfully early in the morning. Well, look upon it as an extension of last night. Oh, all right. Think it'll stop raining? No, who cares? Well, come on now. Get dressed. It's a perfect day out there in the woods for bear. It certainly is. That's why I want to stay right here in the cabin. Ed. What? Pass the canteen. It's empty. Well, open up one of the bottles and pour it in. Why don't you take it straight from the bottle? What, on a camping trip? Pour it into the canteen. Okay. Hey, now this is what I call a hunting trip. Well, you haven't been outside the cabin. Oh, come on, Thurston. Can't we go out just to hunt something, even if it's just a little rabbit? Look, it's stopped raining. Now, close the door. Now, you let some of the fumes out. You feel like canteen yet? Hey, look at this. What? Right by the door. How many times have I told you not to leave your collapsible cook stove where I can step on it in the night? It isn't. What is it? I don't know. It's made out of metal. It's just sitting here in the doorway. It says, trap on the top. What? Trap. Where'd you buy that? I didn't. Well, I certainly didn't. Hey, there's a tag on it. Dear friend, this is a new and revolutionary design in a trap. To introduce the trap to the general public, we are giving you this model absolutely free. You will find it a unique and valuable device for the capture of small game, provided you follow precisely the directions on the other side. Good luck and good hunting. Well, now what do you think of that? Pass me the canteen. If this isn't the strangest thing, do you suppose it was left during the night? Who cares? Well, aren't you interested? No, particularly. It's just another gadget. I've got a hundred like it. That bear trap from Abercrombie and Fitch, the jaguar horn from Battler's, the crocodile lure. Well, I've never seen a trap like this. Ah, it's pretty clever advertising to just leave it here. I'll bill you for it eventually. You care for the canteen? Oh, thanks. Hey, look at this thing, Thurston. Do I have to? Well, there are instructions on the other side. Quote, take the trap to a clearing and anchor it to any convenient tree with the attached chain. Here's the chain. All right. Press button one on the base. This primes the trap. Wait five seconds and press button two. This activates the trap. Nothing more is required until a capture has been affected. Then press button three to deactivate and open the trap and remove the prey. Warning, keep the trap closed at all times except when removing the prey. Let's go, Faye. No opening is required for the prey's ingress since the trap works on the principle of osmotic suction and inducts the prey directly into the trap. Well, somebody's been at that canteen before us. No, no, no. That's what it says. What won't they think of next? Osmotic suction. Pass the canteen back. I'm going to set it. What, the canteen? No, the trap. Come on, help me. Ah, now that's a trouble with you. Well, you're always cluttering up a hunting trip with hunting. Come on, come on. Take this in. All right. All right. If it makes you any happier. Hey, boy, it's cold. Come on. We'll carry it over to that tree. It's heavy. Yeah. Here, let's put it down here. You think we really ought to fall with it? Of course. Maybe we can catch a fox. What will we do with a fox? Turn it loose. The fun is in the catching. Here, take me under the chain. Hey, look, you got your foot in it. Yeah, I guess it snaps in here. Oh, there it is. Let's get back to the cabin. The great outdoors depresses me. Wait a minute. I've got to press button one. Hey, it's glowing. Yeah. Three, four, five, now button two. Well, I guess we just leave it. Come on back to the cabin. All right. It is time for breakfast. It certainly is. Pass it to me and don't spill it. Samish, where are you? You are my oldest friend. I have already been to the beginning of the story. The Terrans accepted my trap as a trap, nothing more, and they began using it at once with no thought as to the consequences. I had counted on this. The fantastic curiosity of the species is well known. During this period, my wife was crawling giddily around the planetoid, redecorating our hutch and enjoying the change from city life. Everything was going well. Ed. What? Judd-san. Okay, here we go. Ready on the hunt. Ready on the left. The flag is up. The flag is waving. Target's up. You missed. Oh, Thurston, couldn't we just pull the cork out instead of trying to shoot off the neck? Certainly not. This is a hunting trip. We can pull a cork off in the city. I have often corked off in the city. Ed, why don't you shut your trap? Trap? Trap? Thurston, the trap. What about it? Maybe we caught something. Come on. Where are you going? The trap. There. Look. Look. We got something. We've caught something. Come on. Look inside. What is it, Ed? It's a rabbit. You sure? Well, look at it. That is not exactly a rabbit, Ed. It's the size of a rabbit. But it's bright green. Ed, no more rum before breakfast. No, siree. Starting tomorrow. Hand me the canteen. What do you think it is? Could be a rabbit. Green with lobster claws and eyes on stalks? Well, then again, it might not be a rabbit. I think it's a new species. We'll have to build a cage and then find out what it eats. As long as it doesn't drink. You don't suppose it drinks, does it? No, no. It doesn't look like a drinking type. Now, Ed, I'm not going to share my vacation with a green rabbit with lobster claws. Probably has dirty habits. There's something very unnatural about that trap. It's inhuman. I'll bet they said that about Ford's electric light and Edison's car and the telephone invented by Alexander's ragtime band. Are you sure about that? Oh, sure. I saw the movie. Come on. We'll build a cage and then we'll set the trap again. Okay. But we better go back to the cabin. What for? We better refill. That can't seem. Why haven't you come yet? Samish, don't you appreciate the seriousness of my situation? Think of your old friend. Think of the lustrous skinned freagle for whose sake I got into this mess. Communicate with me at least. The Terrans used a trap, which of course was not a trap at all, but a matter transmitter. I had the other end concealed on the planetoid and fed into it three small animals, which I found in the garden. The Terrans removed them from the transmitter each time for what purpose I couldn't guess, but a Terran will keep anything. After the third beast passed through and had not been returned, I knew that was all and that everything was in readiness. So I prepared for the fourth and final sending, the all-important one for which all else was mere preparation. Ouch. Well, that finishes the cage. You know what? No. What? Those things smell all three of them. Oh, I think they're very handsome. Well, here they are. One, two, and three. First, our green rabbit. Next, our bird with three sets of scaly wings. And this other thing, what does it look like? Well, it looks like a snake, except it has a head at each end. They eating anything yet? No, I've tried milk, mince meat, vegetables, caviar, potato chips. They haven't touched a thing. Maybe they're sick. Hey, what are you keeping them for? Well, they might come in handy someday. Oh, yeah? What for? Thurston. Have you ever desired fame? What? Fame. The knowledge that your name will go down through the ages. I am a businessman. I've never considered the possibility. Never? What do you have in mind? These creatures are unique. And they smell. We'll present them to a museum, the Daily Thurston exhibit of creatures hitherto unknown. They might name them after us. Our names will go down with Livingston, Audubon, Settie Roosevelt, Walt Disney. I was thinking of a wing on the Museum of Natural History that would go right across Central Park West. The Daily Thurston Wing. Thurston Daily. That's not alphabetical. That's true. That's true. But Ed, we only got three of them. We can't equip a wing with three exhibits. Well, there must be more where these came from. Let's examine the trap. Just a minute. The canteen? The canteen. We've got something. There it is. Look, it's about three feet tall. A big one. A small green head and a forked tail. Oh, look at him waving something on top of his head. Well, the rest were quiet. Maybe this one's dangerous. We'll handle it with nuts. Nuts? Nets. Oh, nuts. All right. And then we'll have to get in touch with the museum. Thurston, take a telegram. All righty. Museum of Natural History. Dear sir. Or madam. Have discovered at least four animals, which I suspect to be new species. Stop. Have you room for suitable exhibit? Stop. Signed. Your friend Ed. Wasn't that signature pretty informal? You're right. Make it your good friend, Ed. We better go back and build a cage for this latest one. It looks awfully exciting. I think we'll make this one strong. Oh, this last specimen is the cream of our collection. Look at it. Its head is turning pink. Looks mad, doesn't it? Well, you'd be mad too if you were trapped by osmotic suction. What? Say that again. Osmotic suction. Here, you take the canteen. I'm way ahead of you. What, Samish? The rest of the story. It's obvious enough. After three animals had passed through the transmitter, I knew I was ready. Now was the time to tell my wife. Accordingly, I asked her to crawl into the garden with me. Tell me dear, she said. Has something been bothering you of late? Have I displeased you? My dear, I said, you have tried your best, but it just isn't good enough. I'm going to take a new mate. She stood motionless. Her cilia swaying in confusion. Then she exclaimed, freagle. Yes, I told her. The glorious freagle has consented to share my hutch. And with a clever shove, I pushed her into the matter transmitter. Samish, you should have seen her expression. Her cilia wreathed and she screamed and was gone. I was free, free at last. Free to mate with the splendid freagle. Now you can appreciate the full perfection of the scheme. It was necessary to secure the Terran's cooperation since a matter transmitter must be manipulated at both ends. I had disguised it as a trap because Terrans would believe anything. And as a masterstroke, I sent them my wife. Let them try to live with her I never could. Foolproof, absolutely foolproof. No one could prove a thing. And then, Samish, then it happened. Did you get the cage finished? Yeah, our fourth animal is snug as a bug in a... in a... It doesn't matter. Boy, it's a mad one, though. I couldn't help feeling it was trying to tell me something. Come on, here's a trap. It's empty. Well, it is. It's empty. You suppose something's wrong with it? Maybe there's nothing else to capture. Oh, that's silly. Why would it capture four animals and then stop? I've pressed all the buttons in the right way. Maybe the battery's down. Osmotic suction doesn't work on batteries. How do you know? Did you ever hear of osmotic suction working on batteries? No. You see? There you are. Why have you got something like that? Oh, I know. What? Let's go to Lake Placid and forget the whole thing. No, no, this thing's got to work. It's got to. The first and daily wing of the American Museum of Natural History is at stake. Would you want that vast edifice across Central Park West to remain empty? No, no. Would you want the daily Thurston wing to be rented for a garage? Or a roller skating rink? Oh, Horace, no. It's got to work again. I'm going to open the top. Yeah, look out. No, let's just see what's inside here. Ah! My hand. It's gone. My hand. No, no, no. It's right there on the end of your arm. Oh, well, when I put it in the trap, my hand disappeared. You know, I would do you a lot of good. A little rest in Lake Placid. I know a fine restful cocktail lounge. No, no, look, look. I'll try it again with both arms. Ah, look. No hands. Very clever. I see how it works. Thurston, those animals didn't come from the Adirondacks at all. You mean they're imposters? They came from wherever my hand is. Where's your hand? I don't know. Do you realize there's a lot more where they came from? Thurston, the future of the daily Thurston wing is assured. Give me a hand up. And what are you going to do? I'm climbing into the trap. Oh, don't do that. You don't know what's in there. Here I go. There goes my feet. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Here's a canteen. Let's have one for the road. All right. Wish me luck. I still don't think you should do it. I do it for science and the daily Thurston wing. Why do you hold your nose? I got sinus. Here I go. Samish, if you don't come immediately, it'll be too late. I must stop beaming you. The enormous Terran has completely ransacked my little planetoid. He has shoved everything, living or dead, through the transmitter. My home is in ruins and now he's tearing down my hutch. Samish, this monster means to capture me as a specimen. There's no time to lose. Samish, Samish, what can be keeping you? You, my oldest friend, you... What's that? Samish, what are you saying? You can't mean it. No, not you and Freegal. Reconsider, my old friend. Remember our friendship. Remember... Sam! You have just heard X minus one presented by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, which this month features The Deep One by Neil P. Ruzik. A story which tells of a single mistake in the plan for survival. The biggest possible mistake. Galaxy Magazine on your newsstand today. Tonight by transcription, X minus one has brought you The Trap, a story from the pages of Galaxy written by Finn O'Donovan and adapted for radio by Ernest Kanoi. Featured in our cast were Donald Buca as The Voice, Ralph Bell as Thurston, and William Redfield as Ed. This is Fred Collins. X minus one was directed by Daniel Sutter and is an NBC Radio Network production. The world on a new hotline. Listen for news on the hour and the exciting hotline service all day every day on most of these stations.
