 Adventures in Time and Space, transcribed in future tense. The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Street and Smith Publishers of Astounding Science Fiction, bring you Dimension X. Tonight's story, First Contact by Murray Limester. They had been in space six months now, moving with the incredibly faster-than-light speed of the overdrive. In six months, they had gone from Earth outward and outward to the crab-like nebula with the twin stars. A routine flight of exploration and scientific research. Solid object about 90,000 miles away, sir. Located toward exactly identified. A small object, sir. Captain, I've never seen anything like this before. Whatever it is out there is coming toward us at an incredible speed and retreating to zero just as rapidly. What's the mass of the object, Dort? Well, it varies with the distance from us, sir. Step up the scanners. Nothing, sir. Absolutely nothing shows out there. And yet there must be something. Those alarms are foolproof. Action stations, manual weapons, condition of extreme alert in all departments immediately. Captain, what is it? Dort, I ran into the same thing once before on the Earth Mars run. We were being located by another ship and their locator beam was the same frequency as ours. Every time it hit, it registered to something solid and monstrous. But, Captain, we're the only Earth ship in 18 light years around. How? I didn't say it was another Earth ship out there, Dort. Another race? That's right. There's a space ship out there, all right? It's not man by human beings. It had been contemplated and speculated upon. Mathematically, it was almost a certainty that such a race existed. But in 18,000 Earth years, no human space ship had ever encountered them. Now the situation was precipitated. And somewhere outside the Earth vessel, there was an alien race. Of what shape? Of what quality? Of what psychology? It's moving, sir. Heading right for us. That speed will be in touch in 10 minutes. Heading right for us, huh? Just what we'd do if a strange ship appeared in our hunting grounds. Friendly? Well, maybe. We'll try to contact them. We have to do that. But friendly, thank the Lord for the blasters. They may not be hostile, sir. They may be. That's what I'm paid for. Put on this job for to worry about the troubles that may never happen. To all hands, now hear this. A ship is approaching man by an alien race. I'll give the signal for attack or defense if it be necessary. There'll be no move made unless I give the order. I do not wish to provoke trouble. Stand by. Their ship is slowing down, sir. It's stopped. Weapons department report. Weapons department report. Alien ship remark. Target fixed. Weapons alert. Communications department report. Communications department report. We're receiving a modulated shortwave, sir. Frequency modulated. Apparently a signal. Not enough power to do us any harm. We'll try to make some sense out of it. Report any progress to me immediately. One thing in their favor, sir. They didn't attack immediately without question. They're trying to establish contact. That seems to indicate they're reasonable. We'll see. We'll see. What are they doing now? Can you make out the locator screen? Bring that power up. They're doing something now, sir. There's a section of the hull opening. Probably an airline, sir. If they breathe there. They're letting something out. Wait, it's round. A bomb, sir. Unknown object, release from alien ship. Observed by weapons department and targeted. See what they're doing, sir? They've left the object out there right where they were. And now they're withdrawing the ship. There's no reason why that object couldn't be a bomb, Mr. Dort. Intended to let us think precisely as you're thinking right now. I just have a hunch, sir. I think they're friendly. I think whatever it is out there is a means of communication. You're probably right, but I won't gamble the ship on a probability. Sir, I'd like to volunteer to go out there and look that thing over. You understand. Whoever does examine it is expendable. Yes, sir. Requisition and lifeboat. If it's all right with you, sir, I'd prefer just a suit with the drive in it. It's smaller and the arms and legs won't make me look like a bomb. And I'll carry a scanner, sir. You may leave when you're ready. Thank you, sir. I've been reporting to the captain. Mr. Dort is targeted. Stand by. That object out there is a device to capture one of our people for observation and questioning. It'll be blown out of existence, including Mr. Dort. Stand by. Mr. Dort. Mr. Dort, report. Object, as you can see on the scanner, sir, is covered with many small horns, like the detonating horns of the obsolete mines formerly used in naval warfare. Is that their purpose? Do you assume, Mr. Dort? I'm going to find out, sir. I'm going to grab one. Mr. Dort. I'm here, sir. I don't think this is a mine. Circle it so we can see it completely through your scanner. Deadlock, sir. Nothing to report that the scanner hasn't shown you. Oh, wait a minute, sir. A section of the outer hull seems to be opening. Do you see it? Very good, Dort. Hold that. I'm sure it's a communications device, sir. It looks like it. Fix your scanner so it'll focus on that communications device. Return to the ship. We've established communication, sir. Is there a psychologist on the team down there with you? Yes, sir. Mr. Burns is working with us. Will both of you please report to the bridge at once? We've established fairly satisfactory communication, sir. They seem to have highly developed thought patterns. We got a satisfactory translation from the machine on the fourth attempt. We can say almost anything we want to say to each other now. Of course, how much of what they tell us is the truth. We have no way of knowing. Mr. Burns, you're the psychologist. What do you think? I don't know, sir. They seem to be completely direct. They haven't let slip even a hint of the tenseness we know exists. They acted as if they were setting up a means of communication for friendly conversation, but, well, there's an overtone that... Well, Mr. Burns, I have a decision to make. On the one hand, opening contact with the friendly people of a vastly different culture could only be beneficial to us of Earth. On the other hand, if they're hostile, I ought to blast them out of existence without any other preliminaries. But, sir, you can't... I'm not talking to you, Dor. It's not warranted yet, sir. Yes. Now, hear this, all departments. Hear this, all departments. This ship is on an extended alert. Provisions will be made so that personnel can have maximum rest and nourishment. Communication continued by means of the artificial language set up arbitrarily between the Earth men and the aliens, decoded by the mechanical decoders. Dorp disobeyed orders. He lived on powerful stimulants so that he could stay with the communications machine. Talking, talking, talking to the aliens. Other people. Other people. Are we being received? We are receiving your message. The chief of this ship wishes to speak with the chief of your ship. The message is heard by the chief of this ship. The chief of this ship communicates that he will hear the message of the chief of that ship. Go ahead, sir. People of the other ship, I'd like to say the appropriate things about this first contact of two dissimilar civilized races and of my hopes that a friendly intercourse between the two peoples will result. It's all very well. But is there any way for us to let each other go home alive? That's all, sir. They've stopped sending. Very direct people. Very direct. But, sir, I don't follow. I didn't know what that meant. You know, is there any way for us to let each other go home alive? It means what it says, Dorp. Watch to stop us from just cutting communication and leaving, and they can do likewise. Watch to stop us? Simply that whichever ship leaves first will be followed by the other. If they find Earth and get back to their own planet and we don't know where that planet is, Earth will be completely their mercy. If they leave first, we'll follow them. We'll attempt to find their home planet. Dorp, could you swear to any decision that the policy makers on Earth will come to? Sir, even if they do follow us, the closer we get to home the more of our ships and weapons they'll face. They'd never get away. How do you know that they can't communicate with their home planet without returning? We can, sir. How do you know they can't? I don't, sir. So that's the situation? We'll sit out here facing each other, trying to out-guess each other until time wears us out. And we'll have to face the fact either they destroy us or we destroy them. Navigation officer attention. Navigation officer attention. Every star map on this ship is to be prepared for instant destruction. The chief of this ship wishes to know whether the chief of that ship can suggest an answer to the problem concerning us both. Do you want me to answer that, sir? I'll answer it myself. Tell me when to talk. Now, sir. I am giving that matter personal attention. Every effort will be bent to the solution of this problem. Will you consider a temporary truce in the meantime? A truce game. Could we trust you? Would you trust us? I suggest that we continue as we have up to this particle of time. I agree. Sign off, George. Weeks went by, and during the week steaks change of information continued without let-up. What particle of time are the people on that ship at? The resting time. All rest except myself and others on alert duty. Same on this ship. Your people of that ship are very similar in many ways. Do you have a family? I have a mate. I have just too bad for them as well as us to have to kill each other. This ship can't see any way out of it. Can that ship? If we could believe each ship, yes. Our chief would like it. But we can't believe you, and you are afraid that we do not tell truth, although we do. This ship would trail you home if this ship were able to. That ship would do the same. Feels sorry about it. I believe you're a friend. I share your belief there is a possibility that you were put to make a trap for me. I will stop now and think it over. Calm down, Dordd. Control yourself. We're all under tension. It doesn't do any good to pace like some caged animal. Yes, sir. All right. Now I've read the complete transcription of your conversations with this one alien. What does it prove, Dordd? Sir, these people are so much like us and they're thinking... Well, sir, they're likable. They're likable and they breathe oxygen. Their air is 28% oxygen instead of 20. But they could do very well on Earth. It would be a highly desirable conquest for them. They're against violence as you are. I don't see any way out of this. And I think we've got to break this status quo. So if in 70 hours we don't see any other way, then I have no further choice. I'll blow them to bits. That ship received communications? This ship is listening. It seems to me better to communicate than to sit by the machine silently. I would have called you, but you signed off before. The problem, Bouncer. Perhaps we could turn our thoughts to other things. The psychologist of this ship tells us that you people on that ship have a threshold of tolerance to tension. He tells us that you will be forced to take one action or another in a period of less than a hundred time particles. I have no communication on this matter. Though this ship is not trying to extract unwilling information from that ship, a truth is mentioned in passing. A report of this conversation will be carried to the chief of this ship. It would be so. We are prepared. If only the people of this ship could meet in direct contact with the people of that ship, it might be better. We could not communicate then. The communications machine is too large to carry from place to place. In direct contact, the peoples of the two ships would be further apart than now. That's true. I am sad. Much that is pleasant has passed between us. I am sad too. We are not yet ready for each other. We are not yet ready for each other. It's hard, isn't it, Dot? Well, Captain, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were here, sir. I've been here for quite a while. Eve's dropping, I'm afraid. It's all right, sir. Nothing can be personal in a situation like this. That's right. How long is a hundred-time particles, Dot? Pardon, sir? That reference he made to us not being able to stand tension. It's interesting. Their psychologists seem to make more out of us than we do out of them, don't they? Yes, sir. They hit the nail right on the head. Yes, they do. I think, Dot, we'll just have to push our timetable up a bit. No further communication with the aliens under any circumstances. That's clear, isn't it? Sir, if they know so much about our psychology, isn't it possible that remark was intended to make us act more quickly? Probable, Dot. Probable. Why would they do that, sir? Why? You tell me why, Dot. All of a sudden I have an idea, sir, and that's crazy. It doesn't matter how crazy. I'll listen to it. Sir, I think these people are playing some kind of a joke on us. A joke? A joke, Dot? Over and over again, I've noticed what I think is a sense of humor. A highly developed sense of humor. Do you recall when we went to all the trouble to set up a fictitious star map and then they just sent us back a mirror image of the same one? I think somehow they're playing a joke on us. You may be all right. In which case, you've seen practical jokers, Dot. Their jokes aren't always funny. Sometimes they hurt people. All departments, man, instant alert. All departments, man, instant alert. Report instantly. Report instantly. My business department alerted. Target, the enemy ship. On target, sir. Stand by. They're gone, sir. Not a trace of them left. Not a tiny trace. Now we can go home. Possible that ship was destroyed. I'm receiving signal, sir. Set the machine up. We'll be down there in a minute. Mr. Dort, come with me, please. I suppose we'll ever figure out what happened. I suppose they couldn't figure a way out of the situation. An unstable people. They had no sense of humor to cope with the situation. They put themselves out of existence. It seems reasonable. They must have had powerful weapons to destroy themselves so completely. Yes, what a shame. Who to like then? This isn't meant for us, sir. I don't know what's happening, but I think we're overhearing a private conversation. I understand, Dort. Be quiet, will you? Many things might have come out of a relay describing the disease they call cancer. I think it is similar to the Frogan syndrome. Parts of such a chance meeting in the vast space of the whole universe. There are no figures for such a chance. Turn it up, Dort. Turn it up louder. That's all there is, sir. The signal stopped there. Sir, I don't know how, but somehow when we fired at them, we didn't destroy them, but we did set up a condition whereby they've become invisible to us and we've become invisible to them. Captain to engineering department, halt forward motion. Captain, why are we stopping? Listen, Dort, you say they're invisible. All right, they are, but they're not destroyed because we just heard them. They're out there somewhere, invisible. You heard them, sir. They're heading for home. We're invisible to them, too, sir. How do you know, Dort? How do you know this whole thing isn't a setup? Well, suppose that's true, Captain. You heard their conversation. They weren't talking like any monstrous people. They seemed decent and warm, just as decent and warm as we are. The conversation wasn't planted. Deliberately set up for us to hear. How do you know that, Dort? Yes, sir, you're right. They may be out there and they may not. They may be telling the truth or they may be trying to trick us. They may be friends or they may be the most deadly enemies. You said they had a sense of humor, Dort. What a joke to play. To deliberately set up a situation where we wouldn't know fact from fantasy, truth from lie. Wouldn't that be a joke, Dort? Yeah, but we don't know that they did that, sir. And we don't know that they didn't. We don't know anything. Sir, does that mean we never go home again? I don't know. I have to think about it. I have to think about it. You have just heard another adventure into the unknown world of the future. The world of... Dimension Axe is presented each week by the national broadcasting company in cooperation with Screed and Smith, publishers of the magazine Astounding Science Fiction. Your host was Norman Rose, music by Albert Berman. Dimension Axe is produced by William Welch and directed by Fred Way. First contact, written by Murray Leimster and adapted for radio by Howard Rodman. Featured in the cast were Wendell Holm, Bob Hastings, Frank Gordon, William Malley and Stanley. Your announcer, Fred...