 Family Theater presents Gene Hagan and tonight's special guest, General Carlos Romulo. From Hollywood, the Mutual Network in Cooperation with Family Theater presents The Last Smash, starring Gene Hagan. And now here is your host, the former Ambassador from the Philippines and President of the United Nations General Assembly, General Carlos Romulo. Thank you, Tony Lafranco. Family Theater's only purpose is to bring to everyone's attention a practice that must become an important part of our lives if we are to win peace for ourselves, peace for our families, and peace for the world. Family Theater urges you to pray, pray together as a family. And now to our transcribed drama, The Last Smash, starring Gene Hagan as Anne. Everybody's got a monster. To one person it might be a war. To another a boss. Maybe yours is a business worry or a mortgage on your house. But everybody's got one. Mine was a cyclotron. You can hear it now. 200,000 tons of concrete and mica and steel and whatever other elements it took to build it. And I suppose you'd have to think of the building housing it and its brain, the Mark 14 computer as part of the Monster 2. It inspired nightmares, that machine. Nightmares full of scenes that made Hiroshima and the great and terrible test explosions of the 1950s and 60s look pale by comparison. And toward the end, I would look at my monster in the daytime and see visions of the end of the world. Remember the day I first thought it was September the 26th, 1975. I had just been accepted for the position of recording secretary of the Governor of the Subatombe Research Foundation. Took a long time to build this Machabar machine. It must have taken a long time to build, Doctor. It's been in construction since 1971. This is the largest cyclotron built to date, you know. It's certainly impressive, Doctor. Marvelous scientific achievement. I suppose they gave you a general idea of what we're going to do here. Well, it was quite vague, Doctor. They told me this is one of the five organizations in the world licensed by the International Bureau of Atomic Controls and that you're engaged in some new research project. That's the gist of it. Won't take you long to get in the swing of things. Of course, it'll be some weeks yet before we run our tests. Until that time, you won't have too many people telling you what to do. There are only five of us. Only five? Yes, we really have no need for a large staff with the Mark 14 around. That's the computing machine you saw in the other building. Oh, yes, but I thought with something as important as atomic research, there'd be... well, there'd be hundreds. Back in the old days, in 1950 and 60, there were. What a headache that was. You know, I'm surprised science made any progress at all with so many restrictions, so much supervision. But now, thank heaven, we've outgrown that one. I suppose so, Doctor. Of course, when we begin the test, there'll be representatives here from almost every country in the world as observers. Things might become a little confusing then, but until that time, you'll have just the five of us to contend with. Come along, I'll show you the office that you'll be using. Does your cyclotron always make that sound, Doctor? It's in operation, very seldom. That's a relief. Well, they seem to be shutting it down, no wonder why. Oh, Hanson, as well as our chief electrician, he's working on installing both... may as well meet him, he'll be here for quite some time. Oh, Hanson. Call me, Doc. Yes, please. This young lady is our new recording secretary. Miss... Alice, Doctor. Oh, of course. Miss Alice? This is Alan Hanson. How do you do? How do you do? This will be acting as recording secretary when we begin our experiments. It's just showing around a bit. We're all through with our phase tests, Doc. Want me to take over for you here? Oh, that's why you shut down, Rosa. That's right. Well, then you might as well. No trouble. It'll be a pleasure. Thank you. All right, then. I'll be in the mark shed if you need me for anything. Oh, nice talking to you, Miss Ellis. You seeing you in the morning? Yes, Doctor. He's a little confusing, isn't he? I just thought it was me. You want to take a look around? This is certainly a strange place. That's a little disorderly right now. I haven't quite finished putting everything together yet. Oh, it's not finished yet, Doctor? I suppose it makes me a little unique around here, but I'm not a doctor or a professor. Answer best to Al. Al? Your first name? Anne. That's pretty. Thank you. You see these cages along here? Yes. In the morning? Well, 34,000 volts. Keep away. Mm-hmm. It'd be a good idea to steer clear of them. 34,000 volts. That's a lot of juice, isn't it? It certainly is. Oh, we'll be having volts in the billions around here before long. Make for an interesting light bill, huh? It's a very dangerous place. Yeah, touch the wrong thing. There'd be a flash just a little bit bluer than your eyes. Not nearly as pretty. Well, that's the first time I've ever been complimented and frightened at the same time. You've never worked around anything like this before, have you? Oh, as a matter of fact, I haven't. Here, let me open the door for you. This cyclotron, it's an atom smasher, isn't it? You could call it that, I suppose. Then what's the point in all this? I mean, the atom has been smashed, hasn't it? Yes, it has. Well, then what... Seems there's something left to smash. Remember back a few years, 1953, 1954, 1955, somewhere along in there? Some school out on the coast built a cyclotron? Yes, vaguely. Well, they were trying to break up the messon. The... the messon? The atoms are the substance of the elements of the universe. Everything's made out of atoms. Well, messons, you might call them the fundamental glue of the universe. They're the things that hold everything together. Did they break one up? We never heard anything more about it. Maybe so, maybe not. It's a little different then. Things are under government control, not licensed to private organizations. But what is all this to do with... Well, I'm getting at that. You see, this outfit's got its heart set on breaking up the photon. Hmm? According to theory, certain kinds of subatomic particles moving at 186,000 miles per second change into electromagnetic waves of photons. What you might call units of light. And they want to break up one of these? That's why we're all here. You, these scientists from every nation. Well, I'm here. But... but why? That is a question you must never ask. Some think it's sacrilegious to question science, you know. Are you making fun of me? Just a little, I'm sorry. But you had better not let me start my lecture on science. Nice evening, isn't it? Very nice. You ever ride home? Yes, thank you very much. I have my car here. Fine. If you'll take me home, I'll buy us some dinner. All right, that sounds fair enough. There wasn't much for me to do at the foundation during the following two weeks. Oh, I made out a few purchase orders and typed up a few letters, but it really didn't take much work. Then one day I was doing some copy work with one of the scientists. I never realized there'd be so much mathematics to copy. You should be happy or not Mark. Mark? Mark 14. It's an electronic computer. Oh, Mark, he really has the numbers to handle. I suppose so. It would take a scientific miracle, a hundred men, a thousand years to solve the problems he handles in a day. Never makes a mistake, never gets tired. Without him, this whole series of experiments would be impossible. You speak of the Mark 14 as if it were human, doctor. Do I? I suppose I should not. No human could handle the great balances and stay sane. It is a balance, isn't it? I hadn't thought of it that way before. I mean the universe. Everything in it kind of balances everything else. Oh, yes, that's right. Then everything in the universe depends on everything else for existence. Theoretically. But then if you manage to destroy even one atom... The results could be catastrophic, worse than any chain reaction the world has seen. End of the world, perhaps. I would not worry, though. It is very unlikely that we will blow up the world. Unlikely. One chance, you know, ten thousand anyway. Doctor, you can't mean that. You think the scientific minds of every nation on Earth and they are all here for the test. You think they are all coming to gamble with the world's future. Oh, I have seen you looking at Bertha. You are afraid of what she might do. Well, you can stop being afraid. You see, matter cannot be destroyed. Transformed, yes, but never destroyed. Things will continue in balance. You can stop worrying. It has been scientifically proved. I hope you're right. You two can stop trying to out-guess the fundamental murmur of the universe long enough. I'd like to take my girl to lunch. Oh, hi, Art. Hello, Cookie. How about a duck? Please, do not call me duck. May I go now, Doctor? I suppose you have to eat. Well, you can join us. You run the log. I will eat with the others. At least they have a little respect for my scientific standing. Go on, you fellas don't eat lunch. You just sit around and respect each other's standings. Come on, Cookie. I won't take long, Doctor. The end with that fellow is wasted. But take as long as you like. Sometimes when you two joke with each other, it doesn't sound like joking. Ah, so nice it isn't. But isn't that dangerous, Al? Tony, I'm the electrical engineer. Probably the only man here who can keep the monster running. I don't think I'm putting my job in jeopardy, if that's what you mean. Sounds like you've got it running again. I got the boys checking a few circuits, that's all. Al, let's go out this door. But parking lots on the other side of the building? I know. I just don't want to listen to that thing. Okay. Al, did you hear Dr. Schmidt? I heard what you were talking about. A little frightening, wasn't it? Very. But then he said it had been scientifically proved. Before Galileo, the earth was scientifically proved to be flat. Such and such a cigar is scientifically proved to be better for you than some other cigar. And such and such a gasoline is scientifically proved to give you a better mileage. It's the same with everything from dog food to perfume. Some scientific minds would even have us believe the earth and everything on it is the result of a happy series of coincidence. Pardon me, Ann, but I'm a little fed up with the whole routine. Science never makes mistakes. Science is truth. Science is God. It's hogwash. You're a very cheerful fellow. Honey, I've been working with these boys a long time, long enough to know that science is a word. That's all. It's just a word describing the occupations of a certain group of human beings. And human beings make mistakes. Do you think they might be making a mistake now, Al? I don't know. But I do know it's possible. And the possibility frightens you. Frightens me too. Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, science is a good piece of furniture for a man to have in an upper chamber provided he has common sense on the ground floor. You think it's growing faster than wisdom? If it is, if they find that they've been wrong, matter can be destroyed. And we're likely to have a lot of fireworks in this neck of the solar system. And there won't be any place to hide. It wasn't long after that Al and I began taking long lunch periods. I remember once we went to a restaurant about 20 miles away. We took an even longer lunch hour than usual that day. Oh, you know, it's a beautiful world Al. Yeah, it is. It is. All the trees and their wonderful autumn colors. Green leaves turning golden and brown. And they fall off the trees and make bonfires. I hate to see that happen all in the same instant. I'd like my kids to have a chance to look at the world and just the way it is, no changes. Autumn's like this one with the wonderful colors and the crispness to the air and winters with a tang and snow piled white on the rooftops. It's raining, snowman. And then the rich green smells of spring when it's first budding and then the earth looking clean and rich. Yeah, just the way it is, no changes. Let's talk about something else Al. And now these children. Oh, the children I'd like to have? What will they look like? Well, the boys, poor fellas, will probably look like me. And the girls? Ah, the girls. Well, I'd like to have them look like you. Like me? No one else. What's wrong? I guess I picked the right time to run out of gas. Sure, sure. I can let you have a few gallons. How far away did you run out? Only a couple of miles. Is it that far? Well, I'll run you back to your car. Hey, don't mind riding in the truck? Oh, not at all. This is certainly a beautiful ranch you have here. Well, thank you, miss. I'm a little bit proud of it. You people work around here? Yeah, about 20 miles. At the Gufford Foundation? Oh, the Adam people. Yeah, there was some outfit out here not more than a week ago trying to get me to switch from my regular power company. They get me to get one of them atomic power suppliers. But me, the power and light company have been working together pretty good for a long time. Might have missed a good thing. I don't know. I don't trust those Adams like a lot of people. Yeah, I got a lot of incubators to run here and a man don't take chances with his livelihood to save a few cents. You raise chickens here? Chickens, geese, turkeys. Come out in the house while I find something to carry your gas in. You folks engaged? What? Oh, yes. It only happened a few minutes ago. How'd you know? Well, a man who lives close to the soil gets to know the signs. That's amazing. Sometimes my wife, well, sometimes she reads the signs wrong. So before you come inside, mister, might be a good idea to wipe the lipstick off. Life got pretty confusing after that. The test date was getting close and the foreign scientists were starting to arrive. I didn't see much of Al in those last days before the test till one evening when I was showing an elderly French scientist around. You, mademoiselle, you do not care for this, do you? I didn't know it showed. You are afraid. You are very much afraid of all this, are you not? Yes. Yes, I am, doctor. That perhaps Gofford and the others, they do not know what they are doing. I had that fear when I was young and I am not sure I am without it now. Doctor, this business of the photon... Yes. Science is a question when it starts thinking of itself as the answer, things can become very frightening. Well, I am indebted to you for showing me around. Now I must go. This is the right door, yes? Doctor, it... Mademoiselle, I am an old man and I have lived long and learned much. There is nothing to fear. There is only one theory I trust. It is beyond hypothesis, beyond theory. It is common practice. God will take care of us. I hope so, doctor. Good night. Good night, doctor. Well, I have checked it over and over again. What you are trying to tell me is scientifically... You don't have to use your double talk on me, doc. I tried the thing and it was wrong. The problems in the test book? I fed half the problems in the book in a mark last night and a couple of my own. I've been checking the answers most of the day with slide rule and mechanical calculators. The results? All right. But... So, today I put in a simple problem in arithmetic. Arithmetic? Here's the take. The problem in the answer is Supermark 14 gave me. It reads and I quote, two and two is five. The answers to the other problems were right. On the strength of this little thing, you want me to call off the test. The Mark 14 made one mistake. It could have made others. It could have led you on a whole train of false logic. Oh, it's getting late, Hans. And we have to be up early to get things warmed up to the test. What? And you're going through with it, huh? In spite of this? Good night, Hans. Alan. Aunt. Oh, how long have you been here? Is it true? It's true, all right, that machine works problems you could never imagine as words nightmares. But two and two do not make five. That computer can make mistakes. Where are we going? Here, at this store. Going to the parking lot. Parking lot? Got your car there, haven't you, honey? Yes, yes. I gotta run a little errand. I'll drop you home on the way back. You're coming back here tonight, Al? You still got about 11 hours before that test comes off. Al, if you're going to stay up all night working on the Mark 14... Not tomorrow, honey. Even if I could make that thing work right, it would take weeks to check all those problems again. Al. Yeah. Al, if you can't do anything, and if something might go wrong with the test tomorrow, couldn't we just have one last evening together? And... maybe I can do something. But what? It might not work, but I'll have to try anyway. And maybe we'll have a lot of evenings to get in. Is there anything I can do? A little out of your line, honey. Not if it does work, unless you know about it the better. Tonight, I'm going to work on the monster. I don't think anyone connected with the foundation got any sleep that night. The scientists were too excited. Al was too busy, and I... I was frightened. The next morning, everything seemed in a state of complete confusion. Miss Ellis? Yes, Dr. Schmidt? Only a little while now. All the seats have been assigned. Yes, doctor. 138. 138? I thought... The group from Argentina couldn't make it. Their plane was grounded in Colombia. I suppose they will see the pictures. The press section... It's full, doctor. Doctor, did Alan tell you about... The arithmetic foolishness, of course. Of course, where is he? Oh, there he is. Hansen! Hansen! Call me, doc. Is everything ready? Have we pumped a vacuum? The work is as empty as outer space. You've tested the primary circuits. Miss Ellis, I hope the press people will be able to see everything from their platform. Yes, sir. They'll be able to see everything that happens. About the primary circuits, Hansen. They haven't tested everything's ready to go. Got that tape, doctor? The tape? The tape with the problem punched on it for the Mark 14. Oh, yes, yes. Here it is. You'd better thread it right away. Yeah. Don't worry about it. I think everything's going to be all right. Your attention, please. The experiment will take place at 100 hours, which is just five minutes from now. The cyclotron will be operated automatically during all phases by the Mark 14 calculator operating from a perforated tape. We will please take your seats in the viewing auditorium. The scientists took their seats in the auditorium, which was actually just an extension of the housing for the cyclotron. On the screen before them were the projected images of many of the hundreds of gauges and meters that described what was going on inside the great machine. And in the lower right-hand corner of the screen there was a view of the interior of the target chamber. One minute. One minute. Mademoiselle, young lady. Yes, doctor. Still frightened? Yes. Yes, I'm afraid I am. Don't be. Everything will be all right. Thirty seconds. We make some insurance, huh? Insurance? We say our prayers, huh? Fifteen seconds. Ten, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Auditorium rows at the same time. For a moment I couldn't see what had gone wrong. And then I saw it on the screen. Something white had rolled from the side of the target chamber and came to rest in the center. Miss Alice. Yes, coming, doctor. But what is it? An ellipsoid of some sort. Who knows? Hansen. Yes, sir. Has anyone been tampering with the machine? You checked things yourself yesterday afternoon, doctor. I saw the die, but what is that thing in there? How did it get there? Could someone have gotten into the chamber? Someone could have gotten in through one of the pumping chambers. Overnight, doctor? It would take a man ten hours to move enough equipment to do that. That's true. A very good man. But what is that thing in there? Gentlemen, may I make a suggestion? Of course, doctor. Why don't we go in and get it and find out? Cook them five hours to get into the machine. Then they approach the white object with geiger counters and radiation suits. Picked it up and brought it out. It registers nothing. But still what is it? May I see it? Hansen, give it to him. Here you are, doc. I have seen things like this before. This is a miracle. Dr. Gufford? Yes. This cyclotron, it costs how much? Eighty-three million dollars. Then I am afraid it is not practical to make any more of these white things. The cost per dozen would be too much. Cost per dozen? What are you talking about, man? Your machine, your great, big, beautiful cyclotron, it have laid the egg of a goose. That means something in your language, yes? Your machine have laid a goose egg. A moment of 1975 ended that way. Shortly after that experimentation in atomics and subatomics went back under government control. About five years later, while I was putting the children to bed, Al ran across something in the paper about the monster. It seemed that government researchers checking the Mark XIV's mathematics on a more reliable machine found that a whole new hypothesis had been discovered. It will never be a theory, though, because it can never be tested. It seems that matter can be destroyed and will be someday far away when the world comes to an end. This is Carlos Romulo again. In a newsreel not long ago, a distinguished American, my good friend General Mark C. Clarke, made a speech opening your National Brotherhood Week. In this speech, he said something that appealed to me. It was a great truth which most of us are inclined to overlook. He said, the brotherhood of man can exist only under the fatherhood of God. I believe we need more of that kind of thinking in the world today because it is a logical kind of thinking. You see, there have been many times in the history of the world when organizations have been formed to bring human beings and nations into a closer understanding, a kind of brotherhood. But when men tried to leave God out, these organizations failed. And such efforts will always fail as long as those who organize them ignore our dependence on our Heavenly Father for everything, even as children are dependent on their earthly parents. It doesn't matter whether a man lives in the United States or in my country, the Philippines, by daily acknowledgement of the fatherhood of God, he actually joins an organization for world peace because he comes into a kind of brotherhood with every other human being. That kind of an organization will work. And if I expand on something said by your 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, then this world under God shall have a rebirth of freedom for a world that prayer will be a world at peace. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. This series of Family Theater broadcasts is made possible by the thousands of you who feel the need for this type of program by the mutual network which has responded to this need and by the hundreds of stars of state screen and radio who give so unselfishly their time and talent to appear on our Family Theater stage. To them and to you, our humble thanks. This is Tony LaFranco expressing the wish of Family Theater that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home and inviting you to be with us next week when Family Theater will present Strangers starring Stephen McNally. Donna Atwood will be your hostess. Join us, won't you? You're invited to stay tuned now for the latest news on the newspaper of the air with John Holbrook. This is the Mutual Don Lee Broadcasting System.