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Speaker 1: Mm hmmm.

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Speaker 2: Contdown for blast off x minus five four three two

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x minus one fire from the far horizons of the

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unknown come transcribed tales of new dimensions in time and space.

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Speaker 3: These are stories of the future adventures in which you'll

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live in a million, could be years, on a thousand,

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maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Street

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and Smith, publishers of Astounding Science Fiction, presents.

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Speaker 4: He minus.

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Speaker 5: Tonight's story Nightfall by Isaac Asimov.

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Speaker 1: Ralph Waldo Emerson speculated, if the stars should appear one

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night in a thousand years, how would man believe, and

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adore and perceive for many generations the remembrance of the

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city of God. This was philosophically interesting. But on the

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edge of the galaxy, a planet swings on its orbit

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in a cluster of six suns. These suns hang in

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the sky above, never less than two shine down through

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the entire twenty three point eight hours of the planet's day.

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The yellow light has burned down on the planet continuously

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into the past, till the mind of man runneth not

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to the contrary, Therremon was a reporter for the Sarow

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City Chronicle.

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Speaker 6: He covered them all from.

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Speaker 1: The night police beat, to politics, to the sports pages,

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and the city editor wanted him to cover the biggest

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story of the year, perhaps of all time. It was

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an interview, a particularly difficult interview, but then, since his

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first days as a cub, Therremont had specialized in difficult interviews.

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It cost him bruises, black eyes and broken bones, but

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it had gotten him an ample supply of coolness and

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self confidence. He didn't expect violence though, from an astronomer.

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Speaker 7: You're from that newspaper. You've got a lot of gall

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coming here.

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Speaker 8: Now.

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Speaker 6: Look, doctor Ayton, it's only a job.

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Speaker 7: I've read your paper. You've been writing this Observatory for

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two months now. You've attacked me personally. I have nothing

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to say to you.

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Speaker 9: If this is your chance to get your side into

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the paper, look, doctor Eyton, I'll give it to you straight.

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Two months ago, the Observatory issued a press statement that

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the world was coming to an end. Now that's the

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same story the cult of the Book of Revelations had

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been preaching. Now when a scientist backs that up, it's new.

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Speaker 7: Our conclusions have nothing to do with the cult. The

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cult is full of superstition, mysticism. We're scientists, you've got

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the people pretty angry. It doesn't matter.

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Speaker 6: If I can't get the story from you, I'll have

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to go somewhere else.

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Speaker 7: Go ahead.

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Speaker 6: The paper can be pretty rough.

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Speaker 9: On someone who doesn't cooperate, Doctor Ayton, young man.

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Speaker 7: If you're not out of the observatory within five minutes,

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I shall call the police.

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Speaker 6: Now get out.

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Speaker 1: The reporter walks down the long hall from the observatory.

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The light filters through the high, clear story windows. The

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yellow light of Gamma, the brightest of the six sons

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in the planet Sky Beta, is almost at zenith. Its

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red light floods the landscape to an unusual orange. The

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planet's sun Alpha is at the antipodes, and now, as

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Gamma sinks below the horizon, the red dwarf son Beta

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is alone, grimly alone. It's a short drive from the

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observatory to Sarow City, and the red light glares from

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the highway. The temple of the cult stands hewn from

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the solid rock of the Dormite mountains outside the city,

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and in the inner courtyard stands sore the priest of

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the colt.

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Speaker 10: Whoa to the unbelievers their souls will rot with the

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absence of light.

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Speaker 6: Tell me your reverence, What will happen?

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Speaker 11: What are you waiting for?

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Speaker 6: Here?

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Speaker 12: The day, the day of the coming, It is written

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in the Book of Revelations. It came to pass. The

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sun Beta was alone in the sky, and the world

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was shrunken and cold, And men did assemble in the

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public squares and highways. Their minds were troubled and their

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speech confused, for the souls of men awaited the coming

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of the stars. And the lip of the cave of

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darkness passed the edge of Peter, and loud were the

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cries of men, and there was no light on the

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surface of the world. And in this blackness there appeared

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the stars in countless numbers. And in that moment, the

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souls of men departed from them, and their abandoned bodies

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became even as beasts from the stars. Then reached down

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the heaven's flame, where it touched the cities of the

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world flamed to destruction, so that of man and all

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the works of man not remained.

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Speaker 9: So it is written, doctor Sharon, You're the only scientist

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I could find in the city.

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Speaker 13: Where is everybody in the hideout? The hideout, yes, but

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the place bored me. I want it to be out

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here where things are getting hot. I want to see

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the stars the cultists are talking about. Besides, they don't

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want me at the hideout. I'm too scrawny to survive.

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What is the hideout? Well, we professors have managed to

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convince a few people that our prophecy of doom is valid.

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We've got about three thousand people. They're supposed to hide

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where the darkness and the stars can't get at them.

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We hope they'll survive and leave the records. Survive, survivee

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what well? How true it is?

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Speaker 6: I can't say.

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Speaker 13: But the cultists say that every two thousand and fifty

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years all the suns disappear and there is a total darkness,

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And then they say things called stars appear.

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Speaker 6: Of course men go mad.

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Speaker 13: They they mix all this up with a lot of

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religious mystic notions.

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Speaker 6: Eh, but that's the central idea. But that's impossible, isn't it.

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Speaker 9: I mean, there are always at least two suns in

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the sky, most of the time, four or five.

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Speaker 6: There aren't now only beta.

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Speaker 9: You mean that there is going to be worldwide darkness tomorrow,

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that all mankind will go violently insane.

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Speaker 6: What's behind that?

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Speaker 13: Well, for one thing, the history of civilization of the world.

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We have located a series of cycles of civilizations comprouble

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to our own, all of which, without exception, were destroyed.

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Speaker 6: By fire at the very height of their culture.

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Speaker 9: But is there any scientific theory behind us which would

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explain it?

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Speaker 6: Well?

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Speaker 13: The University Observatory finished their calculations two months ago, and

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tomorrow there will be an eclipse of Beta, so that

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the planet will become dark. That eclipse comes every two

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thousand and forty nine years.

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Speaker 6: Darkness and maybe.

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Speaker 13: Those mysterious stars that no man has seen, and then

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madness and the end of civilization.

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Speaker 6: And you expect to live through this.

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Speaker 13: At the heighthout they plan to photograph the eclipse and

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leave the records, and then the rest of mankind will

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know what to expect.

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Speaker 6: What is there in darkness to drive men mad? Have

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you ever experienced darkness? Young men? Oh?

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Speaker 9: No, but I know what it is. It's just no light.

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Oh uh? Draw the curtain?

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Speaker 6: Why what for?

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Speaker 9: If we had four or five sons out there, we

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might want to cut the light down for comfort, But

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with only Beta, that's the point.

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Speaker 13: Just draw the curtain and then come here and sit down,

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all right?

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Speaker 9: I can't see you feel your way, But I can't

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see you. I can't see anything.

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Speaker 6: Do you like it?

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Speaker 10: Oh?

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Speaker 6: It's awful.

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Speaker 9: The wall seem they seem to be closing in on

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me eye. I keep wanting to push them away. All right,

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all right, draw the curtain back again.

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Speaker 6: Oh the light, the light? Do you have a drink

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right here?

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Speaker 8: Now?

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Speaker 9: That was just a dark room. Yes, but it wasn't

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really so bad. You're afraid just darkness could do that.

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Speaker 13: This isn't just a metaphysical theory, young man. It's promulgated

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from observed data. Well, come with me, where the locked

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ware down the corridor? Were you at the Saraoh City

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Centennial Exposition two years ago?

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Speaker 6: I was overseas on assignment.

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Speaker 13: Well you remember hearing about the Tunnel of Mystery that

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broke all records in the amusement area.

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Speaker 10: Oh?

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Speaker 6: Yes, wasn't there some fuss about that? The Anti Vice

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Society had it shut down.

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Speaker 13: Oh, it was shut down, all right, But the Blue

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Noses had nothing to do with it. That tunnel was

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nothing but a mile long passage through darkness. You rode

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in a little car and it took fifteen minutes to

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get through. It was very popular, while it lasted popular, well,

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there's a there's a fascination to be frightened when it's

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part of a game. Absence of light is one of

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the instinctive human fears. People came out of that fifteen

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minutes of darkness shaking and half dead with fear?

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Speaker 6: Or weren't there some deaths? Oh? Bad hearts? But that

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wasn't the big danger. Now, which key is this? Ah?

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Where are we going? You'll see?

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Speaker 13: No, the heart attacks were actually good for business. But

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there was something else. Yeah, I'll show you. I I

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want you to see somebody. Latimer, Latimer, go away, Latimer,

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I want you to meet somebody.

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Speaker 6: This is mister thereman. No, no, go away. Hello, he's

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pushing me. Make him stop pushing me.

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Speaker 10: Go away.

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Speaker 6: I'm not touching him. What's wrong? Latimer is afraid? Aren't you?

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Speaker 14: They're falling in on me the walls.

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Speaker 6: I've got to get out. I've got to get out.

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Let me out. You can't go out let him, It's

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all right, I got to get out, Let me out.

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Let me.

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Speaker 13: At at sleeping period. We have to give him a

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shot of morphine. Otherwise he'd bat his brains against the wall.

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Speaker 6: What's wrong with him? Nothing?

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Speaker 13: Nothing but fifteen minutes in the darkness of the tunnel

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of mystery.

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Speaker 6: Well, that's impossible.

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Speaker 13: One person out of ten came out of the tunnel

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that way. That's why we had it shut down.

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Speaker 6: Why should darkness do that?

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Speaker 13: It's obvious men cannot exist without light. Longer periods of

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darkness would obviously be fatal. The scientific theory is that

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the consciousness of light is necessary for mental activity.

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Speaker 6: Please let me outside, Let me out. Please. I can't breathe.

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They're pushing me. They're always pushing me. I can't stand here.

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Speaker 13: Well, there you are, freman. That's what fifteen minutes of

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darkness will do. Men just wasn't built to operate without light.

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There are always at least two suns in the sky

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most of the time.

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Speaker 6: More just teen minutes of darkness. Now, look out of

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that window.

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Speaker 13: Imagine darkness everywhere, no light as far as you can see,

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black everything, black, and stars whatever they are. Can you

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conceive it? No, your mind wasn't built for that conception.

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When the real thing comes, you will go mad, completely

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and permanently. There is no question of it. Tomorrow there

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won't be a city left standing in the world.

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Speaker 6: Why should the cities be destroyed?

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Speaker 13: If you were in darkness, what would you want more

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than anything else? What would it be that every instinct

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would call for light? And how would you get light?

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Speaker 6: I don't know.

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Speaker 13: You'd burn something. They've got to have light. They've got

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to burn something. Every city in the world will go

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up in flames. Well, shall we go back to my office,

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mister Federman, and have another drink?

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Speaker 1: Through the skies, the red sun beta shines alone. The

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wind howls across the city. It is cold, colder than

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man can remember. And as the hour approaches, the reporter

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goes out and speaks to the man in the streets.

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Speaker 6: Excuse me, where are you going now?

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Speaker 11: Home for supper?

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Speaker 6: How about well, I mean, what are you going to

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do tonight?

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Speaker 11: You mean about this star stuff?

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Speaker 8: Like?

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Speaker 15: I'll tell you, mister, I got nothing against religioncy but

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it don't stand a reason.

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Speaker 11: At the end of the world is going to come

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boom like that. It just don't stand a reason.

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Speaker 6: Have you read what the scientists saying.

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Speaker 11: I don't read stuff like that, only the headlines.

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Speaker 6: Or how about the.

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Speaker 15: Cold Well, like I say, I've got nothing against religion.

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Speaker 6: If you don't believe them either, they've.

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Speaker 11: Always been shouting about doom and sin.

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Speaker 15: Listen, when you've been around as long as I have,

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you get to know the score. It's all right to

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preach judgment, there is coming and all that, but count.

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Speaker 6: Just the same.

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Speaker 11: I'm putting money in the bank.

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Speaker 6: How about darkness?

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Speaker 11: About what?

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Speaker 6: How would you feel if there were no light?

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Speaker 11: You crazy? How could there be no light?

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Speaker 9: We'll suppose all the suns went down at once, suppose

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everything was black.

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Speaker 11: That's crazy. What's the use of supposing something like that.

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It couldn't happen.

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Speaker 6: It's crazy, that's all, thank you? Sure, sure?

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Speaker 15: Oh look mister, remember palette with two l's.

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Speaker 16: All this talk of scientific explanation. It's sinful, that's what

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it is.

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Speaker 6: You're a member of the colts, sir.

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Speaker 16: Sure I am. Then the memberships. Who was a boy

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and daddy was a member too. I've seen the books.

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It's all written down in the books. Leave the scientist's explanation,

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don't need it.

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Speaker 6: Going to save man mortal soul.

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Speaker 16: I'm going to stay on the mountaintop in a white

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room while the stars came away to glory.

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Speaker 6: Bless it be the stars? Amen? What are the stars?

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Speaker 16: The glory that the breadth of the heavens, the spirit

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of the Ottomate, that's what they are.

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Speaker 9: The observatory has announced that it intends to take pictures

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of the stars leash.

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Speaker 16: I sold my house and give all my money to

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the poor. Won't need it anymore. I'm going to heaven

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with the stars. Glory, glory, going.

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Speaker 6: With the stars.

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Speaker 1: The reporter checks the stock exchange. The stars business at

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a standstill. Doesn't pay to buy anything today, not if

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the world is going to end tomorrow. There are predictions

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of economic collapse in the financial section, layoffs at the

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factories on the edge of the city, and through the streets.

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Speaker 6: The people will mill and.

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Speaker 1: Turn unsure, crying in fear or shouting with bravado. The

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story isn't here in the city, and so as the

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hour approaches, the reporter goes again to the observatory high

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in the hills.

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Speaker 9: I look, doctor Ayton, if you are right, if the

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world is going to be destroyed, what is the difference

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If I stay here and observe and take notes and nothing.

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Speaker 6: I suppose you will be in the way. We have

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work to do. If I stay out of the way.

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Speaker 13: Hello, Hello, whose place is like a morgue? It's freezing

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outside the wind is enough to hang icicles on your nose.

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Data doesn't seem to give any heat at all, the

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00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:37,119
distance it is.

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Speaker 6: Why aren't you in the hideout? Shir me?

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Speaker 13: I'm part of the race that isn't worth perpetuating.

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Speaker 6: Who's got a bottle?

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Speaker 7: We know alcohol today be too easy to get my

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men drunk. I can't afford to tempt them. All right, term,

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and you can stay time. We took our positions. The

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00:17:54,039 --> 00:17:58,920
observatory dome is up these stairs after you. What is

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00:17:58,960 --> 00:17:59,680
that up in the dome?

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Speaker 6: Quick? What is it?

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Speaker 7: It's the plates? The photographic plates are all smashed.

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Speaker 13: Ha.

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Speaker 6: There he is. A countess is going for.

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Speaker 7: The telescope after him.

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Speaker 11: All right, I've got it.

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Speaker 10: Let go.

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Speaker 6: Must be the stride, it must be. It's all right.

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Speaker 7: He didn't harm anything up that's the high priest.

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Speaker 6: I was talking to him yesterday.

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Speaker 7: All right, what do you want?

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Speaker 12: Nothing that you would give me of your own free will?

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Speaker 7: I made a bargain with a cult to give me

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certain data that you had. In return, I promised to

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prove the essential truth of the creed.

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Speaker 12: There was no need to prove that it stands proven

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by the Book of Revelations.

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Speaker 7: I offered scientific backing for you believers.

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Speaker 12: You made of the darkness and the stars a natural

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phenomenon and removed all its real significance.

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Speaker 6: That was blasphemy.

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Speaker 7: The facts exist, the effect her of fraud and the delusion.

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Speaker 6: How do you know?

332
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Speaker 8: I know?

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Speaker 7: I suppose you think in trying to warn the world

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against the menace of madness, we are placing souls in jeopardy. Eh, well,

335
00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:05,960
we haven't succeeded. That makes you feel better.

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Speaker 12: Your devilish instruments must be destroyed. We obey the will

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00:19:09,839 --> 00:19:12,160
of the stars. Someone call the police in Sarah City.

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There's no time for that. Let me handle this. The

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00:19:15,119 --> 00:19:19,759
eclipse is only a few minutes away. Look, you will

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you give your word of honor to cause no trouble.

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Speaker 6: I will not listen.

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Speaker 13: Just as soon as the eclipse starts, We're going to

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take you and put you in a closet with the

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00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:32,000
door closed, and you will stay there. Then you won't

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see the darkness and you won't see the stars, and

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that means the loss of your immortal soul according to

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00:19:37,799 --> 00:19:38,119
the cult.

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00:19:39,599 --> 00:19:42,599
Speaker 6: All right, will you give your word of honor?

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Speaker 7: You have it.

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Speaker 12: You will all bit damned for your taser Today look

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00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:48,319
at Beta.

352
00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:50,960
Speaker 7: The eclipse is started. You can see the blackness against Beta.

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Get busy on those cameras. Check the exposures.

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Speaker 13: You're shaking, mister Fairman. So I don't feel very well.

355
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Speaker 6: You're not losing your nerve? No, no, I'm just not

356
00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:05,119
used to it. You could probably make the hideout. I

357
00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:07,160
have been assigned to cover a story. I intend to

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cover it.

359
00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:10,559
Speaker 13: Oh professional honor, Yes.

360
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Speaker 7: Yes, alas of thanet? What rock a loss of?

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Speaker 6: What is that cultist? That's the Book of Revelations?

362
00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:24,079
Speaker 13: I don't understand it. He is chanting some old cycle language.

363
00:20:24,519 --> 00:20:27,720
The Book of Revelations was originally written in it. There

364
00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:30,480
are probably two million people in Sarah's city who are

365
00:20:30,519 --> 00:20:34,279
trying to join the cult one gigantic revival.

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Speaker 9: How do the cultists manage to keep the Book of

367
00:20:37,079 --> 00:20:40,039
Revelations going from cycle to cycle if everyone goes mad?

368
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Speaker 6: Who wrote the book?

369
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Speaker 13: There are some people who don't see the stars, the blind,

370
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those who drink themselves into a stupor, and children to

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whom the world as a whole is too new and

372
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too strange for them to be frightened at stars and darkness.

373
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They would have memories, and that combined with the confused,

374
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incoherent babbling of the mad formed the basis for the

375
00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:12,200
Book of Revelations. Oh, the coult will be riding high

376
00:21:12,279 --> 00:21:15,400
down there in the city. I I hope they make

377
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the most of it.

378
00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:18,880
Speaker 7: Doctor Sharon, I I just heard from the hideout.

379
00:21:18,519 --> 00:21:20,160
Speaker 6: On the private line. Oh, they're in trouble.

380
00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,480
Speaker 13: They are safe, but the city is it's the shallows.

381
00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:28,240
You have no idea it'll get worse. What are you

382
00:21:28,359 --> 00:21:29,960
shaking about, Doctor Ayton?

383
00:21:30,599 --> 00:21:33,920
Speaker 7: How do you feel You don't understand the coloists arousing

384
00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:37,240
the people to storm the observatory, promising them immediate entrance

385
00:21:37,279 --> 00:21:40,720
into grace, promising them salvation, promising them anything.

386
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Speaker 13: How long till the total eclipse an hour? H it's

387
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:49,160
a gamble. It will take time to get a mob

388
00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:52,960
out here. If the darkness comes first, we're all right.

389
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Speaker 6: Oh look at Bata's cotton. Half half of it is black.

390
00:22:00,519 --> 00:22:09,240
Speaker 13: Yes, it's getting darker. An interesting phenomenon. Oh, my color

391
00:22:09,319 --> 00:22:13,839
is suddenly tight. Are you having any difficulty in breathing?

392
00:22:14,559 --> 00:22:15,240
Speaker 6: No? No, why?

393
00:22:16,359 --> 00:22:21,359
Speaker 13: Difficulty in breathing is one of the first symptoms we

394
00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:22,599
have experimented.

395
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:27,440
Speaker 6: I'm cold. It seems to be getting colder.

396
00:22:27,559 --> 00:22:29,880
Speaker 13: Yes, so we'd better keep our minds on something else.

397
00:22:30,799 --> 00:22:34,200
One of the astronomers has a theory about the stars

398
00:22:34,759 --> 00:22:37,880
are a way to see in the light. He developed

399
00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:43,640
a fantasy about a planet revolving around one son. It's

400
00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:47,519
a mathematical possibility. Of course, there couldn't be any life.

401
00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:52,720
Part of the planet would always be dark and without light. Well,

402
00:22:52,799 --> 00:22:57,640
it's obvious. Without light, there can't be any life.

403
00:22:57,839 --> 00:23:02,359
Speaker 7: It's time for the artificial light. Read the instruments artificial light.

404
00:23:02,799 --> 00:23:05,079
Speaker 6: One of the researches at the university worked it out.

405
00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:12,000
It's beautiful yellow light after four hours of red. It's

406
00:23:12,079 --> 00:23:14,279
beautiful light.

407
00:23:15,559 --> 00:23:23,279
Speaker 11: Light.

408
00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:26,640
Speaker 6: The dome is quiet.

409
00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:30,599
Speaker 1: The priest in his yellow robes sways slowly as his

410
00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:34,359
lips move in the ancient tongue. Over and over he

411
00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:39,799
whispers the invocation to the stars. The technicians hunch over

412
00:23:39,839 --> 00:23:43,839
the instruments, and the sky gradually turns a horrible, deep

413
00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:46,440
purple red, and the air grows denser.

414
00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:49,799
Speaker 6: Dusk like a palpable entity enters the.

415
00:23:49,799 --> 00:23:52,799
Speaker 1: Room, and the dancing circle of yellow light about the

416
00:23:52,839 --> 00:23:56,559
torches etches itself into ever sharper distinction against the ever

417
00:23:56,640 --> 00:24:02,839
gathering grayness beyond outside. Beta is a mere smoldering splendor.

418
00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:07,000
Taking a last look at the world. The western horizon

419
00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:09,960
in the direction of the city is lost in darkness,

420
00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:14,200
and along the highway to the observatory surges a menacing,

421
00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:17,599
shadowy mass.

422
00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:19,119
Speaker 7: Pob from the city.

423
00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:21,960
Speaker 6: They're coming How long till totally clips?

424
00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:24,440
Speaker 7: Fifteen minutes, but they'll be here in five.

425
00:24:24,519 --> 00:24:25,400
Speaker 6: We'll hold them off.

426
00:24:26,079 --> 00:24:30,039
Speaker 13: Come on, felemen downstairs, but there's no light down there.

427
00:24:30,079 --> 00:24:33,200
Speaker 6: We have to block the door. Come on, yup. I

428
00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:34,839
can't breathe. I can't go down there.

429
00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:37,200
Speaker 13: Take a torch. We'll take light with us. Come on,

430
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:53,119
athen aythen I'm here. Did you bar the door?

431
00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:56,599
Speaker 7: They won't get in all right now, everybody, one minute

432
00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:02,240
till totality. One minute, just before totality, I'm changing the

433
00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:04,920
plate that will leave one of you for each camera.

434
00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:09,960
You know all about times of exposure. I remember, don't

435
00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:12,400
try to look for good shots. And if you feel

436
00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:16,960
yourself going get away from the Camera's God, it's getting.

437
00:25:16,759 --> 00:25:19,720
Speaker 6: To Sharon, Sharon, where are you? I can't see you.

438
00:25:19,759 --> 00:25:20,920
Sh I'm right here.

439
00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:21,839
Speaker 7: Thirty seconds.

440
00:25:22,799 --> 00:25:26,319
Speaker 6: Look out the priest, I can't see him.

441
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:28,920
Speaker 14: And the wicked shall perish in the souls of the

442
00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:32,519
true believers shall be transported in plight to the stars.

443
00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:33,920
Speaker 6: You can see him against the torch.

444
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:34,799
Speaker 7: Don't let him get to the.

445
00:25:34,759 --> 00:25:38,160
Speaker 14: Torso does there still the heavenly flame? And where it

446
00:25:38,279 --> 00:25:41,000
touched the cities of the world. Blame to what the

447
00:25:41,079 --> 00:25:44,079
destructs have him? You shall not have as flames. The

448
00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:46,240
world must be destroyed by the stars.

449
00:25:46,519 --> 00:25:47,359
Speaker 11: It must be.

450
00:25:47,839 --> 00:25:49,440
Speaker 6: Let me go, I'll take care of his.

451
00:25:57,160 --> 00:26:04,839
Speaker 7: I have seconds to totality four three two.

452
00:26:06,599 --> 00:26:06,920
Speaker 8: One.

453
00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:21,440
Speaker 1: The sky is black, and through it shine the stars.

454
00:26:22,039 --> 00:26:26,240
Thirty thousand minute suns shine down in a soul searing splendor.

455
00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,160
It is more frightening and its awful indifference than the

456
00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:34,079
bitter wind that shivers across the horrible, cold, bleak world.

457
00:26:34,799 --> 00:26:46,440
Speaker 8: The stars, the stars, the stars. It's dark, dark.

458
00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:53,680
Speaker 6: Dark. The walls, the walls are coming in on me.

459
00:26:54,960 --> 00:27:05,240
They're coming in white light, white darkness forever light, however, light,

460
00:27:05,759 --> 00:27:07,480
and the walls breaking in.

461
00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:12,039
Speaker 7: We did not know, We did not know, we did

462
00:27:12,039 --> 00:27:12,400
not know.

463
00:27:24,559 --> 00:27:27,079
Speaker 1: On the horizon, in the direction of the city, a

464
00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:31,720
crimson glow begins growing. A thousand fires strengthen in brightness

465
00:27:31,799 --> 00:27:35,160
that is not the glow of the sun. A million fires.

466
00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:39,160
As a world mad in the darkness, screams in terror,

467
00:27:39,519 --> 00:27:40,000
or the light.

468
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:53,119
Speaker 5: The night has come again. You have just heard X

469
00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:56,960
minus one, presented by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation

470
00:27:57,079 --> 00:28:01,720
with Street and Smith, publishers of astounding science fiction Tonight

471
00:28:01,759 --> 00:28:05,359
by transcription, X minus one has brought you Nightfall by

472
00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:09,799
Isaac Asimov, adapted for radio by Ernest Cannoy. Featured in

473
00:28:09,839 --> 00:28:14,519
the cast were Wendell Holmes, John Lockin, Santos Ortega, Mercer MacLeod,

474
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:18,720
Alan Collins, Bob Hastings, and Roy Fent. Your narrator was

475
00:28:18,759 --> 00:28:23,119
Floyd mack Fred Collins speaking. X minus one was directed

476
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:27,519
by Daniel Sutter and is an NBC Radio Network production.

477
00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:46,279
Speaker 6: It's groomed for your interests. Weekday NBC Radio

