This is Nightline, your open door to people and places, and this is Walter O'Keefe. Nightline invites you to listen in on NBC's award-winning science fiction series, X-1. 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 a 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, Target One. But first, hear this. The presents have been opened, the gifts enjoyed, and in the case of the kids, a few are already slightly battered. But NBC has one more holiday package for you, and it'll be delivered over this weekend on Monitor. There'll be the music of such bands as those of Guy Lombardo and Richard Malfi, punctuated by the anticommentary of Monitor's own Bob and Ray and Fibber McGee and Molly, and underscored by the up-to-the-minute reports of NBC's newsmen at home and abroad. From Friday night through Sunday midnight, Monitor will bring you another weekend of drama, music, news, and interviews. Of special interest to sports fans will be NBC's coverage of the Friday night fights, Saturday's blue, gray, and north-south football games, and Sunday's National Football League Championship game. Use and enjoy Monitor, your weekend radio service. Yes, start your weekend right with Monitor on Friday nights, and stay with Monitor all weekend long over most of these same NBC stations. Now, X minus one, and tonight's story, Target One. Headquarters of the World Council was in the ruined United Nations building in New York. It took me an hour to reach it, picking my way across the red-colored rubble that had once been a proud city. I was ushered into the office of the president of the council, a former Russian scientist named Melkov. It was hard to realize that only a few decades ago, these people had helped us destroy the world in an atomic war that left less than a hundred thousand people on the face of the globe. Come in. Dr. Marin. Yes. Good to see you, doctor. Sorry I'm two days late. I had to land at Boston. It's the only airport operating. I understand. You have to sit down. Thank you. I suppose you are wondering what this is all about. Very little surprises me, Mr. President. Good. As you know, doctor, the Great War of 1960 left very little of the human race. What did it leave? Well, two billion corpses, three continents rotting and unlivable, and every survivor mutating. I believe you yourself have had children who could scarcely be called human. I'm sorry to be so blunt. Why did you send for me, Mr. President? Doctor, suppose I gave you an opportunity to do something extremely practical. Such as? A chance to prevent the destruction of our world, which took place 30 years ago. To prevent what has happened? To stop an atomic war? Yes. Would you do it? I'd sell my soul to the devil, Mr. President. You mean that? Yes. Doctor, what would you say was the most important scientific discovery of the 20th century? I suppose Einstein's equation. E equals mc squared. Exactly. This formula unlocked the atom. Without it, there would have been no atomic energy, and consequently no bomb, no war. The formula did not cause the war, Mr. President, nor did the man who discovered it. He was one of the finest human beings who ever lived. A man utterly dedicated to the pursuit of peace and harmony. Yes, exactly. That is what will make your task so abhorrent, Doctor. What is this task, Mr. President? Quite simply, it is the murder of Albert Einstein. Are you insane? Perhaps. Only history will record that. How in the name of heaven, Albert Einstein died in 1956? I am well aware of that. In order to commit this murder, Doctor, you will have to travel back in time. Travel back? You mean that... I mean that our scientists have succeeded in their experiments. Parachronon penetration has been achieved. It's fantastic. Yes, so were atomic energy and rockets to the moon and radio waves long before both of those. You're actually suggesting that I return to the early twentieth century to commit a... Murder? Yes. But why Einstein? Why not the men who took his contributions and twisted them into ghastly inhuman weapons? Why not them? Because others would replace them. There are many minds so filled with contempt for their own lives that they would be willing to destroy others. So what with hate, that they might even enjoy the job? No. No, it must be Einstein. Well then why me? Why not select some murderer, some fiend? Because you are a man of the highest morality. This task must not be performed by some twisted monster. It must be done by a man of integrity, who fully realizes his responsibility. To do otherwise would be to degrade ourselves and our victim. Come here to the window. Do you see that covered barge lying in the East River? Yes. That barge is the finest laboratory we could assemble. Inside it is the mechanism for complete k-misson penetration, maintaining a stable configuration. In effect, it is a floating time machine. You've tested it? It was tested last week. Professor Milton Waxman went back forty years in time and returned. We cannot afford another test because our energy sources are limited. Will Waxman accompany me? Yes. He and one other. Well, Doctor, I wonder what is your answer? All right. I'll do it. That afternoon I was taken aboard the barge in the East River. I was left alone in the laboratory to wait for Waxman, the physicist, to know how to operate the chronosphere. Waxman, I, uh, who is this? His name is John. John, this is Dr. Charles Moran. I know the doctor. I don't believe we've met. In my business I have to know a lot of people I've never met. John is security. I see. He's going with us. To see there's no mistake. That's right, Doctor. Very well. I don't suppose murderers can be choosy about their companions. Before we go any further, here are some clothes that will be suitable to the time and place which is our destination. Please put them on, Doctor. While you're changing, I'll give you some background on the, uh, subject. Born, ohm Germany, 1879. German citizen, religion Jewish. Came a Swiss citizen after graduation from Zurich Polytechnical Institution. Later migrated to the United States after Adolf Hitler came to power with a price set on his head by the Nazis. Nobel Prize for Physics, 1921. Copley Medal, 1925. Franklin, 1935. Personal habits. Must we do this? He's only doing his job. Go on, John. Personal habits. Works in a bare room with only a pencil and paper. Enjoys sailing, smokes a pipe, never drinks, is a violinist of construbility. All right, all right, I'm ready. Good. Now just strap yourself into the accelerator seat. Ready? Switch on. The sensation will be something akin to weightlessness. A disorientation and feeling of utter detachment. This will last until we have settled into a new orbital configuration. We will be able to monitor our time segment on the screen before us. May I ask our objective? Yes. The Polytechnical, Matsurik. Graduation ceremony in the year 1900. So young. He was already formulating the theory of relativity at this point, Doctor. We have no choice. It must be clean and thorough. Are you ready, gentlemen? Yes. Ready, Professor. Hold on. We will begin to whirl until we reach speeds where K-Mason penetration is possible. Now. The sensation was unlike anything I'd ever experienced. I felt bodyless, weightless. My consciousness seemed to float free. I was dimly aware of Wachsman at the monitoring controls, but otherwise I remember no sensation. Later he told me that it took exactly one half hour to vector in on the right time and place. That was right after the whirling stopped. Morin, are you all right? Yes. Yes, I think so. John, I'm all right. Where are we? According to the monitor, our barge is at a dockside on the Lake of Zurich. The year should be 1900. The time is two o'clock. We have exactly one hour to accomplish our mission. Open the hatchway, John. Well. Fantastic. A different world. We can't waste any time. The graduation ceremony is at three. Now let's go. Very well. Just a moment, gentlemen. Here, take these. What are they? Guns. We'll need them. We stepped ashore. It was strange to see the world green and happy again after our red radioactive ruins. Eventually we located a policeman who spoke some English. He directed us to the auditorium of the Zurich Polytechnical Institute where the graduation ceremony was in progress. Don't attract much attention. Take a seat in the rear. Now it gives me great pleasure to present the diplomas of graduation to the members of the graduating class of the Zurich Polytechnic Institute. First, Mr. Hans Kindler, cum laude. We will see him, John. We will have to wait until they call him to the platform. Mr. Heinrich Weiss, valedictor. Are you ready? Mr. Maren, you are the one who must do this. Are you ready? Yes, yes, I am. I'm ready. Mr. Albert Einstein. That's him. Maren, shoot, shoot. I can't do it. I can't. Give me that gun. Come on. We've got to get out of here. Now hurry. Another few minutes. What do you suppose it will be like? What? Our world, the one we left, without atomic fission, I mean. We will soon know. One thing is for sure. There will be no mass destruction. The people will be there. The people. Good Lord, there will be billions of them. And the trees, the green shrubs, and the beautiful tall buildings. He looked very young. We're vectoring in on our year. Now hang on when I start the negative penetration. Brace yourselves. According to calculations, we should be back in the East River on the same day we left. The world will be as it would have been if Einstein had never existed. Open the hatch, John. Look at that. This city. New York is whole again. No ruins. No rubble. Those buildings are magnificent. Look at the trees and the parks. Maren, we've done it. It was worth it. We've done it. Yes. We've done it. Suddenly from nowhere, an official boat, a police boat. Suspicious of the barge and our paracron and penetration equipment, we were arrested by federal agents. The barge and our time machines confiscated. We were drugged, tortured, questioned interminably. It went on for what seemed like days and weeks. Finally, when they decided that they had had every shred of information we possessed, we were taken before a huge beetle-browed man who seemed to be a combination scientist and civil authority. Sit him down. Well, Dr. Maren, we seem to have exhausted the possibilities. Tell me, is there anything you and your companions wish to tell me before you're disposed of? Disposed of? A euphemism for murdered. Murdered? Why, what have we done? You haven't done anything yet, but you have a thorough knowledge of nuclear physics, fission reaction, hydrogen bombs, et cetera. Lord, you mean you have the knowledge we tried to keep from you? You got it from us ourselves? Don't flatter yourself, doctor. We've known the principles of nuclear reaction ever since Kretschwood. Kretschwood? The Brazilian scientists. Discover of the equation E equals MC squared. I see. Then why are you going to destroy us? Because, my friend, you're too dangerous. You know too much. Information could lead to our enemies, important principles. Enemies? Oh, yes, yes, yes, I forgot. You have no knowledge of contemporary affairs. Beneath this building deep in the earth, there is a thorium pile going. Thorium? Oh, you, 235. Oh, would be better, yes. Our scientists are working that out, the problem of separation and so on. It's a highly secret project naturally. We called it only by the name Manhattan Project. Manhattan? Oh, no, it couldn't be. It's too coincidental. Yet I see it's true. You're going through exactly the same steps. In a year, you'll have an atom bomb. Then soon after, a hydrogen bomb. Then intercontinental missiles, and then... You seem to have great powers of prophecy, as well as great scientific knowledge. My friend, did you ever hear of a man named Einstein? Albert Einstein? Einstein? No. I never heard of him. Then the futility of it struck me. The futility of trying to place the guilt of all of us on any one man. The futility of trying to do something worthwhile by evil means. And finally, the futility of trying to murder an idea. As they led me to the execution cell, where I now wait, the words of a man whose books were destroyed in the war rang in my brain. The fault, dear Brutus, lies not with our stars, but with ourselves. Fred Collins again. I'll have another word about X minus one in just a moment. Fred, how you feel, blue and miserable with a deep down cold? Listen. Every second someone takes it for the miseries of a cold. Millions more take BromoQuinine. Every second someone takes it for the miseries of a cold. BromoQuinine. More people have taken more BromoQuinine cold tablets for more complete relief than any other cold tablet ever sold. You could use aspirin or cough syrups or nose drops all day and not get BromoQuinine's relief. BromoQuinine works to relieve stopped up nose, body, and headaches, fever, irregularity, the blues, and headache too. Yes, more complete relief for even virus colds. For BromoQuinine is the only cold tablet sold with Wonderworking Quinine and five other medicines, health-fortified with vitamin C. Remember. Every second someone takes it for the miseries of a cold. Millions more take BromoQuinine. Get BromoQuinine brand cold tablets. You have just heard X minus one presented by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, which this month features Kill Me with Kindness by Richard Wilson. What would you do if you found yourself in a place where your every whim was granted? Don't worry. You wouldn't be the first to spoil Utopia by attempting to improve it. Galaxy Magazine, on your news stand today. Tonight, X minus one has brought you Target One, a story from the pages of Galaxy written by Frederick Paul and adapted for radio by George Lefferts. Featured in our cast were Joseph Bell as Dr. Marin, Frank Silvera as President Malkov, Dean Almquist as Professor Voxman, Al Collins as Jom, Guy Rep as the official, with Charles Webster. This is Fred Collins speaking. X minus one was directed by George Butsas and is an NBC Radio Network production.
