 He turned and started to walk across the room, and as he turned, Martell moved. His face stayed dead, expressionless, but he moved. He picked up a heavy wrench, followed him, and then as Roy reached for the switch, he hit him. No! I heard his skull go like a rotten pumpkin shell, and he went down. Then, Martell picked up a hacksaw and... No, no, I don't want to remember the rest, it was too awful, too horrible! Midnight, the witching hour when the night is darkest. Our fears the strongest, and our strength at its lowest ebb. Midnight, when the graves keep open, and death strikes. How? You'll learn the answer in just a minute in... Terror Out of Space. Later at midnight, tales of mystery and terror by radio's masters of the Macabre. Our story, which we prophesy will be long remembered as a classic, is by Robert Newman. A tale out of the news, and out of man's deepest fears called... Terror Out of Space. I sat up in bed, straining my ears, listening. The surf was rolling and pounding on the beach at the foot of the cliff. One of the dynamos was pouring away next door in the experimentation shack. And that was all. Had I really heard anything, or had I just imagined or dreamed it, I didn't know. All I knew was that I was in a cold sweat, shivering even though it was a hot summer's night. But that wasn't surprising after what had happened. Just what had happened? Maybe I could get it all straight, fill in the gaps that had been bothering me if I went back over it again from the beginning. I hadn't wanted to before this. I'd fought against even thinking about it. But now... Now it was as if something was making me think about it. Stop way back. In the beginning. Then maybe you will remember. When was the beginning? When they assigned me here, I guess, miles from anywhere on the Jersey coast. I knew it was some kind of hush-hush project and I'd been in the Army long enough not to ask questions. I had some ideas, though. When I walked into administration and found Professor Martell there, I was pretty sure they were right. We're gonna log on reporting for duty, sir. Hello, John. How are you? Fine, Professor. I mean Major. Well, let's forget the Major. I've been trying, Joe. I think the Army's a little sorry about the whole thing also. That's not the way I heard it. Some of the things you worked out in the last few years was something. Quite a break, my, getting assigned here. You think it was an accident? You mean you requested me? Of course. Where did I take you away from, by the way? Oh, nothing very much. Straight communications, a little radar. No chance to continue any of the research you started when you were at the University, huh? No. The parade I've gotten, Rusty? Not really. But there are just going to be the three of us to do the bulk of the work. Joe, myself, and a chap named Roy Fields. He worked with Ramsey at Tech. And what's the project? Something big? I think so. We're going to try and establish radio contact with the moon. Why? Theoretically, it shouldn't be too difficult, you know. Of course. And with the progress we've made during the war, Professor, it's terrific. One of the most exciting things I've ever heard of. I think so. Well, don't you? Don't you remember when we used to talk about it in the lab? What it would mean to the astronomers, the astrophysicists, but they've never even been able to say before. Yes, John, I remember. Well, then? I don't know. Somehow it... Well, it worries me. Are we going to do it? No, that's all cut and dried. What's going to happen when we do do it? What do you mean? We're reaching out, John. Reaching out at a place where man has never been before. We're pretty close to the secret of matter, to the origin of life and to the mystery of the universe. Sometimes... Sometimes I become a little afraid. Afraid that we may stumble on something that's too much for us, too big. That's silly. Go pick out a bunk and get some rest, John. Tomorrow we go to work. I remember that all right weeks of it. And finally, the big night. The night we were ready for our first test. It was clear and cool, the ocean still, not thundering but whispering at the base of the cliffs as if it were waiting. Every star separate and distinct like signposts on the road to the infinite. Mark Tell at the table in the center of the laboratory with the charts and diagrams doing the computing. Roy at the power controls and I at the director. Time, 23.02. 15 seconds. Power, 10.12. Check. You're eating, John. 93 degrees. Make it plus 0.2. Check. Time, 23.02.10. Power on. Three seconds. Power. Now, going to wait. We should get it almost immediately. I'm not more than... There, listen. That's it. That's it. We've done it. We're in contact with the moon. Yes, we've done it. Reached out into space and done it. For the first time since man had walked erect, we had established contact with another heavenly body. Bridge to the infinite with man-made electrical impulses. There was no work done during the next two days, just excitement. Public relations broke the story the next morning and we were swamped. Newspaper reporters, photographers, interviews, commentaries, prophecies. Finally, we got back to normal. And a couple of nights later, yes, it's starting to come back to me now. I remember. I remember. It was the sound of the generators that woke me. I looked at my watch almost midnight. Roy was asleep in his bunk and I didn't wake him. I patted out along the duct boards to the laboratory. The lights were on. I went in and there was Professor Martel. He was sitting at the control table and he was... Well, he was funny. His eyes were open, but he didn't seem to see me. I said, Hello, Professor. He didn't move. He didn't answer. I took a quick look at the control board and the frequency had been changed. A little uneasy, I tried again. Professor, what are you doing? Then something very strange happened. Half of him came alive. His right side first. His right eye lighting up. His left eye stayed dead. His right hand twitched. His left one remained stiff. It was just for a fraction of a second. Then... Hello, Professor. Anything to matter? I'm doing him here. No, sir. I heard the generators go on. I came in and found you here. I went to bed about 10.30. Ever walked in your sleep before? No, not that I know of. Because I haven't been sleeping too well lately. Very disturbing dream. Did you change the transmitter frequency that way? No, sir. You must have done it yourself in your sleep. I may. That would make it more of a carry answer of a transmitter way. Shall I shift it back? No, leave it. I'd like to take a look again in the morning. The next morning somehow. Neither of us mentioned it. I can't be sure now whether we didn't remember or just didn't think it was important. But that night... Yes. Yes, it was that night that we discovered what it meant. That we knew. It was the sound of the generators that woke me again. I looked at my watch a few minutes before midnight. And it was then that I noticed that Roy wasn't in his bunk. I lay there. And for some reason I was terrified, trembling. There was something in the air, a feeling of menace that made myself get up. I slipped on a pair of sneakers and went out along the duckwalk to the laboratory. The lights were on again. I didn't go in this time, but I looked in the window. There was Roy. And there was Professor Martell again. He was sitting at the control table with that sane, dead look on his face. And I was standing in front of him, talking to him. I could hear him through the window. What is it, sir? Walking in his sleep. I better get Larkin and... I can't leave the generator on, though. Gotta shut that off first. He turned and started to walk across the room toward the master switch. And as he turned, Martell moved. His face stayed dead. Expressions. But he moved. He got up without a sound, took a heavy wrench from the work table and followed Roy. And then Justice Roy put out his hand and switched. He hit him. I heard his skull go like the shell of a rotten pumpkin. And he went down dead. I couldn't move. I couldn't make a sound. I just stood there, frozen with horror. Martell looked down at him without batting an eye. And then, like a zombie, he walked over to the bench, picked up a hacksaw and went back. And then, bending over Roy's body, he started cutting off the top of his head. A voice from the void. And the midnight waking. Memories. Things best forgotten. Coming back again. Memories of the terror that came out of space and of murder. That's midnight and terror out of space. That's all I remember then. When Professor Martell bent over Roy's body with a hacksaw on his head, he must have fainted. When I opened my eyes, I was lying on the sand outside the shack. And there was Martell bending over me. No, Professor, no, no, don't. Don't, John. What's the matter? Leave me alone. Look, I mean, don't touch me. I saw what you did in there. And where? Where? Just now on the shack to Roy. Aren't you well either, John? What do you mean? I just came up here from the cartridge. I had a bad dream. I've been having quite a few of them lately. And I woke up with a very annoying headache. I came out to take a walk at the mare. I found you lying here. I'm telling you, I saw you. I saw you in there with Roy and... And what? Well, I don't even want to think about it. But you killed him. Killed him? Get back from the bunkhouse, John. Take a look. The bunkhouse? Yes. When you see that Roy is where we should be in bed, maybe he'll convince you that you either dreamed or imagined the whole thing. He led the way to the bunkhouse. And I followed. Still shaken, but starting to feel a little foolish. This was the professor Martell I had studied under, known for years, the man who wouldn't hurt a fly. We went into the bunkhouse, and Roy's bed was empty. He wasn't there. Martell gave me a funny look and started calling. Roy! We hurried back to the laboratory, and there was no sign of him there either. Nothing. Wait. He must have gone out for a walk, too, professor, or maybe jeeped into town. If it was true, there'd be something here. His body, blood, there, John. Well, right there, in front of the switch. But there's nothing there. No. Except that it looks as if this floor was just scrubbed. The floor? What? Huh? Did you change the transmitter frequency this way? No, sir. You must have done it. Just the way you did last night. Last night? You knew something happened last night, too? You don't remember? No. Tell me what just all happened tonight. Everything you'll remember, whether you believe it now or not. Well, it was... It was pretty terrible, professor. As if you were a laboratory specimen. You took a hacksaw and started to cut off the top of his head. Merciful heavens. I was talking to you now. I know the whole thing's mad, impossible, but... Yes, mad, impossible, but... You mean it could have happened some way without your knowing it? Sit down, John. Relax. Tell me what you know about the moon. Huh? The moon is a satellite, stellar body, probably formed by our son in an encounter with some other stellar body. Yes, yes, probably formed at the same time as the Earth. But it may very well have supported life long before there was life here. Life? But we know what its atmosphere is. We know what it is now. But how do we know what it was a million, several million years ago? Suppose, just suppose, that there was life there millions of years ago. Life that reached a level of development we cannot even imagine. Suppose it died out as a form of life that we could recognize, but remained in a form that is eternal. What? What do you mean? In the form of electrical energy. We know that thought is an electrical process. An electrosyphalograph will give a definite reading when a man is thinking. Yes. Suppose intelligence has continued to exist on the moon in the form of complex electric charges. And suppose a channel is suddenly opened between the moon and some other planet. The beams we set out are radar beams. You mean they could come down the beam, take hold of someone, you, and make you... I'm supposing, John, the prophesizer, that the fact is that the transmitter was set at carrier frequency and none of us did it consciously. Of course, even if it's true, we have no way of knowing whether these entities are dangerous, malevolent or not. No way of knowing, but they killed. They made you kill. Made you kill Roy. Because he was going to shut off the transmitter, cut off contact with the place they came from. As for the rest, well, they would be intensely curious about the human body, particularly the brain. They would want to examine it. Good Lord, Professor, do you realize what you're saying, the taking over of a person's body? Yes, John, I do realize what I'm saying. Well, I don't believe it myself. Have you a gun? Well, yes. Yes, I never carry it. Well, start carrying it. And if you notice me doing anything strange, incomprehensible, don't hesitate. Shoot. I didn't sleep that night. I remember that now. And I was convinced that I would never sleep again. Because it was there then, the moon. It was there all the time, of course, day and night, but it was during the night when I was asleep that it would be easiest for them that they might try and... No, I can't think about it. I won't even now. For the daylight, I felt a little better. Roy hasn't come back, but, well, there were a dozen possible explanations for that. I went to have another talk with Professor Martell. And he was gone too. His bed was empty as if it had never been slept in. I waited until about noon. Then I called headquarters. I had decided that I was going to tell them only facts, things I could believe myself. Hello, Colonel. This is Larkin over at Radar Experimental. Oh, yes, Larkin, hi. Pretty good, sir. I'd like to report that both Sergeant Shields and Major Martell are missing. I don't know, sir. They were both gone when I got up this morning. Oh, no, sir, I couldn't, not right now. I was the most awful, terrible week of my life. Only the wind, the pounding of the surf, and my fears, fears that were with me constantly. There was work I had to do, but I had to force myself to go into the laboratory. Then on Friday, they found Roy's body. A phone call took me to town to the local furrow parlor. When I got there, the Colonel was waiting. You knew Sergeant Shields pretty well, didn't you, Larkin? Yes, sir. Some fishermen found a body in their nets this morning. I wish you'd look at it. Of course, sir. Right here. Oh. Evidently, the fish were pretty hungry. Well, no one could be sure, sir, but I think that is Shields. All right, Larkin. Thank you. They found Roy's body. And that night, Martell came back. I'd taken something to make me sleep. It was the only way I could sleep. The sound of the generator's woke me again. I lay there listening, unbelieving, but terrified because there was no sound. Then, picking up my gun, I went down the duck walk to the laboratory. I opened the door, and there he was, Professor Martell. His face was thin and haggard. His eyes were dead, black, luster, the way they'd been those other two nights. And when he spoke, his voice was hardly human, as if someone was using him, speaking through him. Who the hell do you think might have come in here? What do you mean, Professor? We have been looking over your planet, studying it. Very interesting. And now we are ready to go. Go? Go where? What are you talking about? What are you... You said we. Professor Martell, have they... Just a few preparations to make. Roy stopped, and Martell swayed as if he were going to fall. I grabbed him. I grabbed him. He opened his eyes. He was himself again. And when he spoke, it was with his own voice. John, John, for heaven's sake, help me. Help me. How, Professor, how? Look, I'm... What I told you, don't you remember? Don't you understand? They've got me. They took me that night, took me all over the country, looking, examining, studying. They picked my brain. They sucked me dry. And now, now they're going to take me back with them, back with them, back to where they came from. Not my body. They're not interested in that. But the essential me, the... The... It's heaven's name. Shoot, John. Shoot and... They had him again. He stood there, frozen, still holding on to Martell. Like a sleepwalker with superhuman strength. He pushed me away. I staggered back against the wall. Stiffly and mechanically, he walked to the door. Opened his... And went out. The surf was thundering. The wind blowing. Straight to the edge of the cliff he walked. And then... Went over. But before he fell, he seemed almost to hover for a moment. As if something in him was going not down. But I... You remember, John? Now, do you remember? You've got to remember. You've got to. I tricked them. Sold them. That's how I was able to get told to you. But they'll be coming for me any minute back again. What happens? They... They're coming. They're coming. They're coming. They're coming. They're coming. Found this all written out on the pad I keep next to my bed. Written out in my own handwriting, but a little scrawl and jerky as if my hand wasn't quite steady. Some of it I remember. Other parts like Roy's murder, Professor Martell's suicide. I don't recall it all. Either I'm mad, completely mad, or I can't think about it. I mustn't. Anyway, if I show this to anyone, the world would think I'm mad. So now I'm going to burn it. Burn it up, completely. He shares the scrawled pages from his notebook, crumples them into an ashtray, and puts a match to us. There disappears into ashes. The only remaining evidence of the terror from out of space and of murder comes in some unknown form. In the clocks, strike 12 for... Murder! With music by Charles Paul, Murder at Midnight was directed by Anton M...