Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, It's Megan Klinicky. Usually AJ Carry is the
one to do the openers, but this has landed on
me because unfortunately one of AJ's laptops is on its
last legs. I say one of his laptops, because he
thankfully has a very older model that he's able to
still edit and record on. But I'm just here to
give a warning and kind of an apology that the
audio quality for this episode, especially with his voice and Mike,
might not be the best. But the show must go
on and we'll do our best. And without further ado,
let us fade into a tale by Isaac Asimov, which
was adapted for Radio Nightfall.
Speaker 2: Ralph Waldo Emerson speculated, if the star should have peer
one night in a thousand years, how would man believe
and adore and perceive for many generations the remembrance of
the city of God. This was philosophically interesting. But on
the edge of the galaxy, a planet swings on its
orbit in a cluster of six suns. These suns hang
in the sky above, never less than two shine down
through the entire twenty three point eight hours of the
planet's day. The yellow light has burned down on the
planet continuously into the past, till the memory of Man
runneth not to the contrary, lyele Thereman was a reporter
for the Cero City Chronicle. He'd covered them all, from
the beat of the night police to politics to the
sports pages, and the city editor wanted him to cover
the biggest story of the year, perhaps of all time.
It was an interview, a particularly difficult interview. But then,
since his first days as a Cub reporter, Thurman had
specialized in difficult interviews. It cost him bruises, black eyes,
and broken bones, but it had gotten him an ample
supply of coolness and self confidence. He didn't expect violence,
though not from an astronomer.
Speaker 1: You're from the newspaper. Well, you've got a lot of
goll coming here now.
Speaker 3: Look, doctor Anton, it's only a job.
Speaker 1: I've read your paper. You've been writing this Observatory for
two months. Now, you've attacked me personally. I have nothing
to say to you.
Speaker 3: Well, this is your chance to get your side into
the paper. Look, doctor Anton, I'll give it to you straight.
Two months ago, the Observatory issued a press statement that
the world was coming to an end. Now that's the
same story. The cult of the Book of Revelations has
been preaching. Now when a scientist backs that up, it's news.
Speaker 1: Our conclusions have nothing to do with the cult. The
cult is full of superstition and mysticism. We're scientists.
Speaker 3: You've got the people pretty angry.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter.
Speaker 3: If I can't get the story from you, I'll have
to go somewhere else. Go ahead, the paper can be
pretty tough on someone who doesn't cooperate, Doctor Anton.
Speaker 1: Young Man, If you're not out of the observatory within
five minutes, I shall call the police. Now get out.
Speaker 2: The reporder walked down the long haul from the observatory.
The light filtered through the high, clear story windows. The
yellow light of Gamma, the brightest of the six suns,
and the planet Sky Beta is almost at its zenith.
Its red light flooded the landscapes to an unusual orange.
The planet's sun Alpha is at the antipodes, and now,
as Gamma sings below the horizon, the red dwarf sun
Beta is alone, grimly alone. It's a short drive from
the observatory to Sero City, and the red light glares
from the highway. The temple of the cult stands hewn
from the solid rock of the dormite mountains outside the city,
and in the inner courtyards stands sore. The priest of
the cult.
Speaker 1: Wow to the unbelieve us. Their souls will rot with
the absence of light.
Speaker 3: Tell me difference, What will happen? What are you waiting for?
Speaker 1: The day? The day of the coming? It is written
in the Book of Revelations. It came to pass that
the sun Beta was alone in the sky, and the
world was shrunken and cold, And men did assemble in
the public squares and highways. Their minds were troubled and
their speech confused, for the souls of men awaited the
coming of the stars. And the lip of the cave
of darkness passed the edge of Beta, and loud were
the cries of men, and there was no light on
the surface of the world. And in this blackness there
appeared the stars and countless numbers. And in that moment
the souls of men departed from them, and their abandoned
bodies came became even as beasts from the stars. Then
reached down the heaven's flame, and where it touched the
cities of the world flamed to destruction, So that of
man and all the works of man not remained, so
it has written.
Speaker 3: Doctor Sheeron, You're the only scientist I could find in
this city. Where is everybody?
Speaker 2: Oh? In the hideout? The hideout, Yes, but the place
bored me. I wanted to be out here where things
are getting hot. I want to see the stars the
cultists are always talking about. Besides, they don't want me
at the hideout. I'm too scrawny to survive.
Speaker 3: What is this hideout?
Speaker 2: We professors have managed to convince a few people that
our prophecy of doom is valid. We've got about three
thousand people there. They're supposed to hide where the darkness
and the stars can get at them. We hope they'll
survive and leave records.
Speaker 3: Survive, survive what.
Speaker 2: Oh, there's a lot of names for it. The cultists
have their myths. But I'm a psychologist, not an archaeologist.
How true it is, I can't say. But the cultists
say that every two thousand and fifty years, all the
suns disappear and there's total darkness, and then they say
things called stars will appear. Of course, men go mad.
They mix all this up with the religioistical notions, but
that's the central idea. As it is.
Speaker 3: But that's impossible, isn't it. I mean, there are always
at least two suns in the sky, most of the
time four or five.
Speaker 2: But there aren't now are there only Beta?
Speaker 3: You mean that there is going to be a worldwide
darkness tomorrow, that all mankind will go violently insane. What's
behind that?
Speaker 2: Well, for one thing, the history of civilization of the world,
we have located a series of cycles of civilizations comparable
to our own, all of which, without exception, were destroyed
by fire at the very height of their culture.
Speaker 3: But is there any scientific theory behind this which would
also explain it?
Speaker 2: The University Observatory finished their calculations two months ago, and
tomorrow there will be an eclipse of Beta, so that
the planet will become dark. That eclipse comes every twoenty
and forty nine years, roughly, Darkness comes and maybe those
mysterious stars that no man has seen, and then then
comes madness and the end of civilization.
Speaker 3: And you the scientists expect to live through all this
at the height out.
Speaker 2: Oh, they planned to photograph the eclipse and leave records
from then the rest of mankind will know what to expect.
Speaker 3: Well, what is there in darkness to drive men mad.
Speaker 2: Have you ever experienced darkness, young man? Well?
Speaker 3: No, but I know what it is. It's just no light.
Speaker 2: Oh oh, dear, Then draw the curtain.
Speaker 3: Why what four? If we had four or five sons
out there, we might want to cut the light down
for comfort.
Speaker 2: But with only beta, that's the point. Just draw the
curtain and then come here and sit down.
Speaker 3: All right. I can't see you.
Speaker 2: Feel you away, but I.
Speaker 3: Can't see you. I can't see anything.
Speaker 2: And do you like it?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 3: It's awful. The walls seemed they seem to be closing
in on me. I keep wanting to push them away.
Speaker 2: All right, all right, all right, calm down, draw the
curtain back again.
Speaker 3: Sh oh, the light? The light? Hi? Do you have
a drink?
Speaker 2: Right here? My friend? Right here? Now? How about that?
That was just the taste of a dark room.
Speaker 3: Yes, but it really wasn't that bad.
Speaker 2: You're afraid still though?
Speaker 3: Just darkness could do that.
Speaker 2: This isn't just a metaphysical theory, young man. It's promulgated
from observed data. You know what? Come with me?
Speaker 3: Where?
Speaker 2: Well? The locked ward down the corridor? By chance, were
you at the Saro City Centennial Exposition? Two years ago
I was overseas on assignment. Well you remember hearing about
the Tunnel of Mystery that broke all records at that
amusement area.
Speaker 3: Oh yes, there wasn't there some fuss about that. The
Anti Vice Society had it shut down.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, it was shut down all right. But the
Blue Noses had nothing to do with it. That tunnel
was nothing but a mile long passage through darkness. You
rode in a little car and it took fifteen minutes
to get through. It was very popular. While it lasted popular. Well,
there's a fascination to be frightened when it's part of
a game. Absence of light is one of the instinctive
human fears. People come out of that fifteen minutes of
darkness shaking, weeping, and half dead with fear.
Speaker 3: Weren't there are some depths?
Speaker 2: Oh yes, the bad hearts, But that wasn't the biggest danger. Ah.
Now which key is of it? Ah?
Speaker 3: Where are we going?
Speaker 2: Oh you'll see. No, the heart attacks were actually good
for business. But there was something else here. I'll show you.
Uh huh uh. I want you to see somebody. Latimer, Latimer,
goy Latimer. I want you to meet somebody. This is
mister Theramid. He's a reporter.
Speaker 3: No go.
Speaker 2: Hello, he's pushing me.
Speaker 3: Make us stop, make him stop pushing me. Goy, I'm
not touching him. What's wrong?
Speaker 2: Latimer is just afraid, aren't you, Latimer?
Speaker 3: The wolves. They're falling in on me, the wolves. I
gotta get out. I gotta get out.
Speaker 2: You know you can't go out, Latimer. It's all right.
At sleeping period. We have to give him a shut
of morphine. Otherwise he'd bash his brains out againsto the wall.
Speaker 3: What in the world is wrong with him?
Speaker 2: Nothing? Well, nothing physically. Only fifteen minutes in the darkness
of that tunnel. Oh, that's impossible. One person out of
ten came out of that tunnel that way. That's why
we had to shut it down. But why should darkness
do that? It's odd FEUs Man cannot exist without light.
Longer periods of darkness would obviously be fatal for more
and more people. The scientific theory is that the consciousness
of light is necessary for mental activity.
Speaker 3: Hindsight. I can't I can't breathe. They're always pushing I
can't stand.
Speaker 2: Well, there you go, thereh man, that's what fifteen minutes
of that darkness will do? Man just wasn't built to
operate without light. There's always at least two suns in
that sky most of the time. More just fifteen minutes darkness. Now,
look out of that window. Imagine darkness everywhere, no light
as far as you can see, black everything black, and
stars whatever they are. Can you conceive it? Light so
far away that you can see it, pinpricks in the
sky so far, but still only darkness?
Speaker 3: Truly?
Speaker 2: Could you conceive it?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 2: Your mind wasn't built for that conception. No, humans was.
When the real thing comes, you, young man, will go
mad completely and permanently, There is no question of it.
Tomorrow there won't be a city left standing in the world.
Why should cities be destroyed? Well, if you were in darkness,
what would you want more than anything else? What would
it be that every instinct in your body would call
for naturally light? And how would you get light?
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: You'd burned something. They've got to have light. They've got
to burn something, and every city in this world will
go up in flames. Well, shall we retire back to
my office, mister Freman, and have another drink?
Speaker 1: We interrupt this dramatic tale with our not an ad
shout out. Hey guys, it's Megan and I'm giving a
quick shout out to one of my favorite podcasts, Cultish.
Cultish is a Christian based podcast hosted by Jeremiah, Jerry
Roberts and Andrew stonecran aka the Super Sloop. Through theological
and biblical lens. Cultish will have you learning and thinking
about cults, fringe topics, politics, true crime to the occult.
Check out their latest and longest series, which is a
ten parter called Alien Revelations. You can find Cultish on
all major podcast platforms like Spotify and Apple to their
website of the cultisshow dot com. They even now have
their own YouTube channel, and of course you can find
them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter x whatever we're calling that.
So if you're curious, I welcome you to take a
listen and enter into the Kingdom of the Cults with Cultish.
And now back to our own Cultish episode to see
how much time we have left until total darkness.
Speaker 2: Through the skies, the red sun Beta shines alone, the
winds howl across the city. It is cold, colder than
man could remember, and as the hour approaches The reporter
gets out and speaks to a man in the street.
Excuse me, I'm from the Chronicle.
Speaker 3: I'd like to talk to you, oh reporter.
Speaker 2: Huh, Well, my name's Palette with two wells. Remember the
two wells My auntie had to work with the paper
and they didn't get no two wells. They have a
two teas. We're not too teas Palettes, We're two l palettes.
Speaker 3: Got it all right, mister Palette. What's your occupation?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean power technician over at North Division Plant.
Uh huh uh you making some kind of survey? Yeah, yeah,
in a way. Where are you going now? Home for supper?
Speaker 3: How about uh? Well, I mean what you can do tonight?
Speaker 2: Oh you mean about this whole star stuff. Look, it
tells you, mister, I got nothing against religion, okay, but
it doesn't stand the reason that if the end of
the world is gonna come boom, just like that, you
just don't stand a reason.
Speaker 3: Have you read what the scientists say?
Speaker 2: Nah, I don't read stuff like that, only the headlines.
Mostly don't have time, you understand.
Speaker 3: How about the cult?
Speaker 2: Well, now, like I said, I don't got none against religion.
Speaker 3: But you don't believe them either. Uh.
Speaker 2: They always shout about doomen sin. You know, listen, when
you've been around as long as I have, you gotta
know the school. It's all right to preach. Judgment day
is coming in all but just the same, I'm putting
my money into bank.
Speaker 3: How about darkness? About what how would you feel if
there was no light?
Speaker 2: Okay, you gotta be a little crazy here. How could
there be no light?
Speaker 3: Well, suppose that all of the suns went down at once.
Suppose everything was black?
Speaker 2: Well, that's crazy. What's the use of supposing something like that.
That couldn't happen. That'd be crazy. Yeah, that's all, thank you, Sure, sure, yeah,
not a problem. Hey, look, mister, remember talent with two els.
Speaker 3: Excuse me, ma'am, but uh huh. I represent the Chronicle
and we're conducting a poll to determine public opinion with
regard to the predicted.
Speaker 2: End of the world.
Speaker 3: How do you feel about it?
Speaker 1: Oh, this talk of scientific explanation, it's sinful, that's what
it is.
Speaker 3: Are you a member of the cult, ma'am?
Speaker 1: Sure, been a member since I was a girl. My
daddy was a member too. I've seen the books. It's
all written down in the books.
Speaker 3: Don't you believe the scientist's explanation.
Speaker 1: Don't need it. I'm gonna save my immortal soul. I'm
gonna stay on the mountaintop in a white robe while
the stars carry me way to glory. Blessed be the stars. Amen?
Speaker 3: What are the stars?
Speaker 1: The glory, the breath of the heavens, the spirit of
the ultimate, That's what they are.
Speaker 3: The observatory has announced that it intended to take pictures
of the stars.
Speaker 1: Blasphemy. I sold my house, I gave all my money
to the poor, won't need it anymore. I'm going to
heaven with the stars. Glory, glory, Sorry, going with the stars.
Speaker 2: The reporter checked the stock exchange. The stores business was
all at a standstill. Doesn't pay to buy anything today,
not if the world is going to end tomorrow. There
are predictions of economic collapse in the financial section, layoffs
at the factories on the edge of the city, and
through the streets. The people will mill and turn unsure,
crying in fear or shouting with bravado. The story isn't
here in the city, and so as the hour approaches,
the reporter goes again to the observatory high in the hills.
Speaker 3: Now, look, doctor Anton, If you are right and the
world is going to be destroyed, what's the difference if
I stay here and observe and take a few notes nothing.
Speaker 1: I suppose you will be in the way. We have
work to do.
Speaker 3: If I stay out of the way. Hello, hello, ooh.
Speaker 2: This place is like a morgue. It's freezing outside as well.
The wind is enough to hang icycles on your nose.
Beta doesn't seem to give any heat at all the
distance it is away.
Speaker 1: You know, why aren't you in the hideout? Sharon me.
Speaker 2: I'm part of the race that isn't worth perpetuating. Eh,
who's got a bottle?
Speaker 1: No alcohol today? It'd be too easy to keep my
men drunk. I can't afford to tempt them. All right thereman,
you can stay keep out.
Speaker 3: Of the way, thank you.
Speaker 2: Doctor.
Speaker 1: Well, gentlemen, I think it's time we took our positions.
The observatory dome is up these.
Speaker 3: Stairs, after you, doctor, What is that?
Speaker 1: Open the dome? Quick?
Speaker 3: What is it?
Speaker 1: It's the plates, the photographic plates. They're all smashed.
Speaker 2: There is the rope. He's a cultist.
Speaker 1: He's going for the telescope after him.
Speaker 3: All right, I've got him.
Speaker 1: Let go. No, let go must be destroyed. It must be.
It's all right. He didn't harm anything. Let him up.
Speaker 3: That's the high priest. I was talking to him yesterday.
Speaker 1: All right, what do you want? Nothing that you would
give me of your own free will. I made a
bargain with the cult to give me certain data that
you had. In return, I promised to prove the essential
truth of the creed. There was no need to prove
that it stands proven by the Book of Revelations. I
offered scientific backing for you believers. You made of the
darkness and the stars a natural phenomenon and removed all
its real significance. That was blasphemy. The facts exist. Your
facts are a fraud and a delusion. How do you
know I know? I suppose you think in trying to
warn the world against the menace of madness, we are
placing souls in jeopardy. Huh, Well, we haven't succeeded. If
that makes you feel better, Your devilish instruments must be destroyed.
We obey the will of the stars. Someone called the
police in Sorrow City.
Speaker 2: There's no time for that. Let me handle this please.
The eclipse is only a few minutes away. Look you
in the yellow rope, will you give your word of
honor to cause no trouble?
Speaker 3: I will not listen.
Speaker 2: Just as soon as the eclipse starts, we're going to
take you and put you in a closet with the
door closed, and you will be locked in there. Then
you won't see the darkness and you won't see the stars,
and that means the loss of your immortal soul, according
to your cultiness. All right, if you would like to
see this as we all do, will you give your
word of honor?
Speaker 1: You have it. You will all be damned for your
deeds of today.
Speaker 3: Look look at Beta.
Speaker 1: The eclipse started. You can see the blackness against Beta.
Get busy on those cameras. Check the exposures very carefully.
Speaker 2: You're shaking, mister thereman, you're not losing your nerve, are you.
Speaker 3: No? No, I'm just not used to it.
Speaker 2: You could probably make the hideout if you start now.
Speaker 3: I have been assigned to cover a story. I intend
to cover it. Oh professional ana e, yes, what is that?
Speaker 2: It's the cultists. That's the Book of Revelations.
Speaker 3: I don't understand.
Speaker 2: It is chanting some old cycle language. The Book of
Revelations was originally written in it. There are probably two
million people in Sero City who are trying to join
the cult right now, one gigantic revival.
Speaker 3: How do the cultist manage to keep the Book of
Revelations going from cycle to cycle if everyone goes mad?
Who wrote the book?
Speaker 2: There are some people who don't see the stars, the blind,
those who drink themselves into a stupor, and children to
whom the world as a whole is too new and
too strange for them to be friend at stars and darkness.
They would have memories, and that, combined with the confusion
incoherent babbling of the mad, form the basis for the
Book of Revelations. Oh, the cult will be riding high
down there in the city. I hope they make the
most of it as it lasts.
Speaker 1: Doctor Sharon, I've just heard from the hideout on the
private line.
Speaker 2: Oh, they're in trouble.
Speaker 1: They are safe, but the city is as shambles. You
have no idea.
Speaker 2: Oh well it'll give us. What are you shaking about,
Doctor Anton?
Speaker 1: How do you feel you don't understand the cultists arousing
the people to storm the observatory, promising them a media
entrance into grace promising them salvation, promising them anything.
Speaker 2: How long until the total eclipse an hour?
Speaker 1: I'm going to check those cameras.
Speaker 2: Well. It is a gamble. It'll take time to get
a mob out here if the darkness comes first. Hey,
we're all right for now. Oh look at bait, don't you.
Speaker 3: It's cut in half. Half of it's black.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's getting darker, an interesting phenomenon. Oh oh my
my collar is suddenly tight. Any of you having difficulty breathing?
Speaker 3: No know why?
Speaker 2: Well, difficulty in breathing is one of the first symptoms.
We've done experiments.
Speaker 3: Who I am cold? It seems to be getting colder.
Speaker 2: Yes, we better keep our minds on something else. One
of the astronomers had a theory about the stars. He
thinks that there may be suns that are too far
away to see in the light. He developed a fantasy
about a planet revolving around just one sun, and it's
a mathematical possibility. Of course, there couldn't be any life
on it. Part of the planet would always be dark
and without light. It's obvious. Without light it can be
no life.
Speaker 1: It's time for the artificial light. We can't read the instruments.
Speaker 3: Artificial light.
Speaker 2: One of our researchers at the university worked it out.
It's animal grease packed around a wick. Here a light
one with this spark.
Speaker 3: Why it's beautiful yellow light after four hours of red,
it's beautiful light light.
Speaker 2: The dome is quiet. The priest in his yellow robe
sways slowly as his lips move in an ancient tongue.
Over and over he whispered the invocation to the stars.
The technicians hunched over the instruments, and the sky gradually
turned a horrible, deep purple red, and the air grows denser.
Dusk like a palpable entity, enters the room, and the
dancing circles of yellow light about the torches etches itself
into the ever sharper distinction against the ever gathering grayness beyond.
Outside Beta is a mere, smoldering splinter, taking a last
look at the world. The western her in the direction
of the city, is lost in darkness. Along the highway
to the observatory surges a menacing, shadowy mass, the.
Speaker 1: Mob from the city. They're coming.
Speaker 2: How long till total eclipse?
Speaker 1: Fifteen minutes, but they'll be here in five.
Speaker 2: We'll hold them off. Come on, phah Man downstairs, there's
no light down there. We have to block the door.
Speaker 3: Come on, hey, I can't, I can't, I can't breathe,
I can't go down there.
Speaker 2: Take a torch. We'll take a light with us. Come on,
Anton and Ton.
Speaker 1: I'm here. Did you borrow the door?
Speaker 2: They won't be getting in.
Speaker 1: All right now, everybody, one minute till totality. One minute,
just before totality, I'm changing the plate that will leave
one of you for each camera. You know all about
times of exposure. Now remember don't try to look for
good shots. And if you feel yourself going, get away
from the camera.
Speaker 3: It's dark. It's getting dark. Sharin, Sarin, where are you?
I can't see you, Sharon.
Speaker 2: I'm right here and.
Speaker 1: I haven't moved thirty seconds.
Speaker 2: Lookout. The coultists and the.
Speaker 1: Wicked shall perish, and the souls of the true believers
shall be transported in glory to the stars.
Speaker 2: There you can see him against the torch light.
Speaker 1: Don't let him get to the telescope. From the stars,
they're reached down the heavenly flame, and where we're touched,
the cities of the world flamed to utter destruction. Him
grab him. You shall not blaspheme the world must be
destroyed by the stars. It must be Let me go,
I'll take care of him. The stars, the stars come,
the stars five seconds till totality four three two one.
Speaker 2: The sky is black, and through it shines the stars.
Thirty thousand minute suns shine down in the soul searing splendor.
It is more frightening and its awful indifference than the
bitter wind that shivers across the horrible, cold, bleak world.
Speaker 3: The stars, the stars, the stars, It star a dark dark,
the walls, the walls are coming. The walls are coming
in on me. They're coming in light. Light, light, light.
Speaker 2: On the horizon in the direction of the city. A
crimson glow begins growing. A thousand fires, strengthened in brightness
to match the glow of the fading sun. A million
fires as the world, mad in darkness, screams in terror
for the light. The night has come, and.
Speaker 1: With that we fade away from the darkness and madness
of a world without light. If you enjoyed this episode,
then fear not. We have other tales of suspense coming
up in a month or so. With the House in
Cyprus Canyon. We also have a fantastic back catalog of
sci fi with Parigi's Wonderful Dolls and Rave Bradbury's Marionette's Inc.
Plus the infamous classic War of the Worlds, And of course,
our kofee is where you can hear the full unedited
table read of Nightfall and most other of our previous
episodes for even one dollar. Our Koffee is also there
in case you want to just support the show or
maybe help us out with some audio quality. Next week
we will have a trailer out for whatever our episode
is in two weeks. If Aj can get his laptop
situation figured out, then it'll be the Lone Ranger. If not,
then it'll be Duffy's Tavern. Since we recorded that earlier,
we don't know. It's going to be a surprise. Let
us know which one you hope it is on our
social media's like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter x whatever that is.
Until then, I'm Megan Kleniki and this has been retrostatic radio.
Good night and God bless