In a moment, Act One of A Strange Day in May, starring William Mason, and written especially for suspense by Michael Healy.
This portion of suspense is brought to you by the makers of Marlboro cigarettes.
Why don't you settle back, and have a full flavored smoke? Settle back, with a Marlboro.
Make yourself comfortable whenever you smoke, have a Marlboro cigarette.
You get a lot to like with a Marlboro. Filtered, flavored, pack full of Marlboro.
Try Marlboro, the filter cigarette with the un-filtered taste.
It could have been yesterday or a hundred days before. I'm not sure anymore. Time has become just a word.
All I know for certain is that it began that bright morning in May.
I, Major Thomas Manning, U.S. Air Force on Special Assignment at Claymore Island, was on the verge of realizing a dream that would become a nightmare.
I was suited up, waiting to be put into the rocket Gibraltar III, saying goodbye to my wife, Mary.
I guess it was the quietest room at Claymore that morning.
Oh, Tom, I wish I felt more confident.
Oh, Mary, easy. They'll be calling me soon. Honey, it's hard enough.
I know, and I'm sorry.
You know, it's hard to believe. After all the training, conditioning, studies.
Oh, Tom, I'm frightened. It seemed like a dream until now. I haven't dared let myself think what could happen, but now I...
Honey, please, don't talk like that. It's really no more dangerous than driving a car.
Tom, you know what I'm talking about.
Look, Mary...
Will you listen? Two men before you have gone up there and disappeared. Just vanished. Vanished somewhere up there. What's going to happen to you?
Mary, we've been all through this. I don't know what happened to those other men.
We may never know, but we've got to try and find out. Somewhere there's an answer. Now, my mission is to try and find it.
Is it your mission to leave and never come back? What's out there as important as my love for you, my need for you?
I don't know. But remember last summer, the night you found me lying on the hammock staring up at the stars?
Well, the nearer this has come to happening, the more the fascination's grown until...
Yes, I remember. You were almost in a trance.
When I saw me, I felt possessed. The universe was calling me to explore its secrets. It's that simple. And Mary, I feel I'm going to learn what happened to the others.
This is Maurice Tarplin speaking to you from the Network Pool at Claymore Island Facility, just off the southern coast of California,
where astronaut Major Thomas Manning will blast off within the hour into the frontier aloft we know as space.
It seems fairly definite that this flight is more than experimental. From the beginning, there has been an air of mystery and considerable rumor about this venture.
We do know that it will be the furthest flight yet attempted. Here's a quick rundown.
Liftoff is scheduled for 0600 this morning here on Claymore Island, and it's turned into a fine morning, so the takeoff should be right on schedule.
I see Colonel Alvin Marks coming from central control. He's the head man in this operation.
We've been trying to get his eye all morning. If I can just get his attention now. Oh, Colonel Marks.
Yes?
Colonel Marks, sir. A few questions for our network audience.
Yes, but you'll have to be brief, sir. I just wanted to ask you if there's anything in the rumor that this is not just another experimental flight.
I mean, if there's something going on that...
Colonel Marks, launching pad report. OK for go.
Tell tracking stations to check out within it.
Oh, I'm sorry. I'm not going to comment on any of those rumors. I will say this. A great deal could depend on this shot, but you'll have to bear with us until it's over.
Colonel Marks, can we see over here for a minute, sir?
Will you excuse me?
One more thing, Colonel. Where is Major Manning now?
He's standing by. There'll be no interviews until after debriefing. He's saying goodbye to his wife. And that's what I'm saying to you. I've got to go into him now for our final word.
Oh, thank you, Colonel Marks. That was Colonel Alvin Marks in charge of today's space shot, whose comments just now have left us about where we were in the running tide of rumors. We return you now to...
...the station.
Hello, Colonel Marks.
Well, it's almost time. How do you feel, Tom?
Fine, sir. And anxious?
Good. Mary, you'll be able to watch the lift off from here if you like.
Colonel Marks, do you think there is life, I mean, hostile life, on any other planet?
We can only guess.
Possible? I'd say that if there is, it would be a far different kind of being than we know, but who can say? It'll be a long time before we know the answer to that.
Maybe they'd be like us.
Perhaps, but I doubt it. Tom, may I speak to you a moment privately?
I'll stand over by the window.
What is it, Colonel?
Tom, you remember what both the missing men reported just before they disappeared.
Seeing a strange, blinding light.
Yes, a blinding light coming at them out of nowhere that seemed to gobble them up.
Any new theory?
None. Maybe some celestial current powerful enough to...if you can see it, don't get too close. Just see what you can make of it and come back down.
I will, sir.
And we'll be waiting to pick you up in the desert as it rains. Goodbye, Tom. Good luck.
Thank you.
I'll be talking with you over the other com.
Well, honey, that's it.
Tom, hold me for a minute, please.
Now, now, it's going to be all right. I'll be down before you know it.
Come back to me, Tom. And Tom, I'm very proud, too.
This is Maurice Tarplin at Network Pool, ladies and gentlemen.
Astronaut Tom Manning is in the spaceship Gibraltar 3, which is being given a final check by the launching crew.
This is a precision operation, the climax of checkout procedures that have touched every operational aspect of all systems.
Excitement is mounting here. There is an ominous mixture of anxiety and hope in the air.
Unless something unforeseen looms now, the flight will definitely go on schedule just a few moments from now.
We switch now to operations control and Colonel Marks will be in continuous touch with Major Manning during his flight.
Come in, Colonel Marks, and operations control.
This is Colonel Marks. Hello, Gibraltar 3. Come in, Gibraltar 3. Can you read me? Over.
All systems are go here, Tom. Good, loud, pressure. Over.
Our vast audience is now linked with ground control and its connection with Major Manning.
It's your baby, Tom. I'm switching you over to countdown. Any final questions?
No questions, sir.
Over and out.
One, zero, ignition.
Lift off.
Colonel Marks here, Tom. Lift off was perfect. You are climbing nicely. How do you feel?
Feeling fine. G's are building.
You're programming well. Pressure OK, oxygen OK. You'll be entering maximum G's in a very few moments.
Roger. She's beginning to vibrate now. Standing well. Altitude 36,000 feet.
She's suddenly down. Cabin temperature building. Otherwise OK.
You're still climbing nicely. Climbing nicely.
Tom, Manning, it's two plus six hours eight minutes. Can you read me? Over.
Yes, Colonel Marks. Time check's here. Colonel?
Yes, Tom.
I thought I ought to describe what I'm feeling. It's so still and quiet.
I've been trying to think of words to express what I see and feel.
The nearest I can come is blue rapture. I'm in a blue rapture.
Maybe that has no meaning down there. I don't know.
Colonel, something new is happening, or seems to be. I keep thinking I'm seeing something darting out ahead of me.
Probably my imagination, but...
That's right, Tom.
...have been spotting something, but I couldn't tell what it was. I can see it kind of glowing out there.
It seems to be getting closer.
Tom, what's wrong?
I suddenly feel very strange. Hard to get breath, yet oxygen pressure is fine. Don't understand.
Tom, you're being pulled off for good. Check your control.
I'm trying, but they're bowled somehow. Can't understand it.
I'm trying. We can't guide you. You're not responding to Colonel's control.
Can't do it, sir. Blast control here, too.
Our tracking station reports have been pulled off course 30 degrees. Can you see anything more?
No, I... Wait. I do see something now. It's coming closer. Closer and closer.
Try to get away, Tom. Try and take control again. Hurry before it's too late.
Do it. No use. Coming closer.
What is it?
Great, blinding light. Like an aurora gloriae. I can't see.
What is it, Tom?
You blinded me. What's happening?
Tom, Tom, can you hear me? I'm not getting you.
Colonel.
Can you read me?
Colonel.
Can you read me?
Colonel.
Can you read me?
Colonel.
Can you read me?
Colonel.
Can you read me?
Colonel.
Can you read me?
Mr. Grover III, any station in contact with your Grover III reports in now, please.
Oh, no! They've all lost me!
When I realized I'd lost contact with the Earth, I blanked out.
How long I was out, how my ship landed, how I survived, Major.
I'll never know.
Never learn, Major Manning. But I did come to. Major Manning, can you hear me?
I'm moving now.
Oh, my head.
It's throbbing. It feels like somebody's swinging a twelve-pound sledgehammer against my brain by the numbers.
Major.
Make the hammer stop. Somebody, please make them stop.
How are you feeling, Major?
Coming around now.
Oh, I thought I heard a voice.
How does it look, Doctor?
You'll be all right, Colonel March.
Good.
Well, Mary Manning, what do you think now?
I can't quite believe it, Colonel March.
Just proved out our theory again.
I don't know about the others, but I'll give it a try.
Where am I?
Right now you're lying on a cot at the base medical station.
Colonel March?
Is that you?
Yes.
Mary.
Oh, Mary, it's good to be back.
Hello, darling.
Hello.
Just hello?
You know, what kind of a greeting is that?
Sorry, but that's the best I can do.
What do you mean?
Colonel, I can't stay here any longer.
I understand. It's all right. Go ahead.
Mary.
Mary, where are you going?
Now, now, settle back, please, Major.
That's my wife.
What's the matter with her?
Colonel, what is it?
Why, nothing, Major.
Really, it's remarkable, Colonel March.
I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it.
You forget I've seen it twice before, and I heard about it.
Colonel March, how did I get here?
We found you suspended on the fringe of the atmosphere and brought you down.
But how did I get there?
Possibly you were picked up and hurled there by what we sometimes call a celestial storm.
Must have been quite a shock.
I mean, you probably thought you'd never see me again.
Uh, yes, of course.
Doctor, I have to get back to my office now.
I have to make the arrangement.
How soon before you'll be ready?
Another hour, I'd say.
Fine, fine. That'll be perfect. Just perfect.
Perfect.
And about an hour later, I was taken somewhere by two men from the rescue crew.
I can't remember their names, but I know their faces from all the pre-flight tests.
Strange though, if I didn't know better, I'd say they were more like guards,
something in the grimm to their faces.
I'll be right in.
Here he is, Colonel.
Come in, Major. Come in.
Anything else, sir?
That'll be all.
Take a seat, Major. Smoke?
Well, you know I don't smoke, sir.
Oh, yes, of course. You, uh, you do have friends that smoke, so don't you?
Well, sure. So what? What are you jutting down to?
You've seen me smoke before, haven't you?
Yes, many times. Why?
Colonel, I was a trip, Major.
Well, everything was fine until I saw it.
Until you saw what?
The blinding light.
Blinding light?
The blinding light that the other two astronauts saw just before they disappeared.
Sir, if you'll pardon me saying so, this questioning seems a little odd, considering...
I do not pardon you, Major. There is an infinite variety of answers to even the most minute questions.
It's only a matter of choosing the most correct ones.
Well, I'm afraid I don't follow, sir.
Perhaps you will in time. May we continue?
Sorry, sir.
It doesn't matter about this blinding light. That was the celestial storm I mentioned.
There is another more important point.
What's that, sir?
I'm getting to it. But first, at what speed were you traveling when you saw this light?
As I sat here and listened to this familiar voice and tone, and stare about these familiar walls, I kept thinking...
This is unreal. Something's wrong. Something's off-pitch.
I was part of a plot. The pieces that messed up the picture match, but do not quite fit.
And I wonder if perhaps it isn't me. Maybe my mind was affected somehow.
I'm waiting for an answer, Major. What was your speed?
I'm not sure, sir. The gauges seem to be off on my last reading.
Are you sure you don't know, Major?
Sir, if I knew, I would tell you.
Maybe, maybe not.
But why shouldn't I, sir?
You might have reason of your own.
What reason could I possibly have for withholding information from you?
What time did you lift off this morning?
What time did I lift off?
I'm waiting for your answer.
Oh, six hundred hours.
And now to the point, Major. What was your mission?
My mission? You mean the space probe?
Come, come now, Major. Let's get down to Casey.
Call it a space probe or anything else, but wasn't your mission to get information about our installations here?
I don't get it. It's as if you didn't even know me. My mission was to learn what happened to the other two men.
I see.
What are you doing, Colonel?
Calling the guards. I'm finished with you. It's up to the doctors now.
The guards? Well, exactly why do I need to be guarded?
Colonel! The doctor!
Hello, thank you.
Colonel, I'll kill you with your own gun.
Oh, now look, Doc. Be sensible. Return that revolver. It won't help you.
No, thanks. I know exactly what's going on.
You're only making it hard on yourself, son. We'll try and help you if you let us.
Colonel, sir, are you all right?
Tell him yes.
Everything is all right. Return to your post.
Yes, sir.
He's gone. Now what?
I don't know. I've got to think.
Nothing. I've got to get home and tell her what's happened.
Sorry, Colonel, but I'll have to belt you one.
Give yourself up. The authorities will get you sooner or later.
There. See you, Colonel.
Now, this is my house. Now, don't get panicky. Just sit tight.
Run into the house. Get the money out of my wallet.
Now, hold on just a minute.
Now, now let's see where I leave my wallet. Oh, yeah, I remember.
It must be in this drawer somewhere.
What are you doing?
Oh, oh, Mary, am I glad to see you. You've no idea what I've been through.
Here, let me pay the cab driver and I'll...
There's no need for that. It's been taken care of.
Oh, oh, I see. Mary, I...
Please don't touch me.
Oh, Mary, aren't you glad to see me?
Oh, yes, of course. It's just that I...
Mary, look at me. Mary, this is your husband, Tom Manning.
Mary, what's the matter with you? What's the matter with everybody?
Nothing. Nothing at all.
Well, then why do you look at me like I was some kind of a bug or something?
It's... it's like you're not even the same person I said goodbye to this morning.
Mary, don't you remember how you said goodbye to me just before I took off?
Mary, you said, please come back to me.
Listen to me, please. I don't know you.
Oh, I'm Major Thomas Manning's wife, but you're not my husband.
What are you saying?
They've tricked you. I don't know whether I'm doing right or not,
but I'm warning you to get out of here before it's too late.
Mary, what are you saying?
Just say he can let me go.
All right, let her go.
Colonel Marks.
Grab him.
Please, oh, take it easy now.
No, no, no, this can't be. This is... this is my house. This is my wife.
I'm afraid that's where you're wrong. You have no right here whatsoever.
For the love of...
Colonel Marks, what is happening?
You'd better come with us, Major.
Major, we're going to take you to a nice place where you'll get lots of care.
No, no, now let go of me.
Come along quietly.
No, you're wrong. You're all wrong. Something is out of whack here.
Well, that's that. I'm sorry you had to go through this, Mary.
It's all right, sir.
I saw them taking him away. He didn't see me, though.
Sorry about this, Major Manning, especially the day before your flight into space.
No trouble. Well, goodbye. See you tomorrow morning.
Goodbye, Colonel.
Well, that was certainly a fright, Tom.
Hysterical creatures are counterparts on Earth.
I'm so sorry for him. I wonder if they all act that way.
Oh, at first, I think. But he'll calm down when he finds he won't be harmed.
Strange, isn't it, knowing that for every one of them, there's one of us up here, and so alike.
Why, that man has a wife down there who's exactly like me. What will they do with him?
Oh, take him to the Institute, study him along with the other two.
Well, he'll get good care there.
Yes. And don't forget, there's, well, there's something to be learned from Earth creatures.
Or people, rather. I think we'd have to call them people. Eventually they probably will be.
Now, the way I look at it, it's a small universe.
Sooner or later, darling, we may need each other.
We here and our, well, somewhat retarded twins on Earth.
The Fence.
You've been listening to Strange Day in May, starring William Mason, and written especially for The Fence by Michael Healy.
The Fence is produced and directed by Fred Henriksen.
Heard in tonight's story were Tony Darnay, Reynolds Osburn, Bill Lipton, Herb Duncan, Maurice Tarplin, and Bill Smith.
Music supervision by Apple Hubert, sound patterns by Walter Otto, technical direction by Michael Choskis.
This is Stuart Manc speaking.
Listen again next week when we return with another tale well calculated to keep you in.
John Fence.