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Speaker 1: Mm hmmm.

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Speaker 2: God down for blast off x minus five four three

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two x minus one fire from the far horizons of

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the unknown come transcribe tales of new dimensions in time

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and space. These are stories of the future adventures in

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which you'll live in a million, could be years, on

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a thousand, maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation

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with Street and Smith, publishers of Astounding science Fiction, presents.

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Speaker 3: He he he minus minus minus one.

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Speaker 4: On the Night Story Cold Equations.

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Speaker 5: There is no margin of safety along the rim of

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a frontier. There can't be any until a way is

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made for those who come later. Until then, the penalty

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for mistakes is a grim one. The laws of physical

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nature operate with irrevocable certainty, with no room for mercy, kindness,

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or sentimentality. In space, life becomes a cold equation, and

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the equal sign is often followed by death. I know

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I'm the pilot of an EDS. Come in, you said

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for me, commander, Yes, sit down, Barton. We just got

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an E D from the Territorial Space Station on Wolden,

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uh Wolden. That's in the crab nebula, isn't it. That's right.

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Speaker 1: There are two exploration parties there on Manning's continent, eight

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man each. They've got Kala fever in one of them

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and no serum. Oh and I thought this was gonna

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be a nice quiet passenger run. Computers are working out

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your payload and your course right now. In exactly ten minutes,

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we'll drop in a normal space and launch your ship.

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Speaker 5: I'll get her ready.

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Speaker 1: One thing, what's that Woden is at the maximum pay

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limit for an DS. Figuring the weight of the serum,

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we'll be able to give you just enough fuel to

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land on Manning's continent if you'll make it the first pass.

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Otherwise you'll burn out in mid air.

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Speaker 5: Standard procedure.

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Speaker 1: Report to launching control right, Good luck Barton.

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Speaker 5: Thanks. Oh by the way, yes, when can I expect

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to be picked up.

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Speaker 1: We'll make a stop on the run back to Earth

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sometime next year.

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Speaker 4: You'll be notified by radio.

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Speaker 5: Okay, sorry, we can't make it sooner. That's what happens

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when you sign on for EDS work. I'll see you

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next year, commander. Down in the belly of the stardusk,

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the crew was working like Beaver's to get the EDS

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the emergency dispatch ship ready. Mechanics and technicians were swarming

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all over the place. Girls and inspector's uniforms were checking

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the gauges in the supply cabinet. Nine minutes later, the

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exact course was in the computer, the serum was stowed

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in my supply cabinet closet, and little EDS four G

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three was ready to be born into space.

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Speaker 6: Martin. Yes, sir, thirty seconds to blast off.

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Speaker 5: All sets, All set. I'm turning you over to traffic ready.

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Speaker 6: Traffic control.

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Speaker 5: Come in he DS four G three ready, twenty.

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Speaker 3: Seconds, lock open, fifteen seconds, space drive on, space drive

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on ten seconds, gravity neutralizer on, neutralizer on five seconds

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or three two one blast off.

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Speaker 5: I don't remember how long it was afterwards that I

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first noticed something wrong, maybe an hour, maybe two. There

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was nothing to show it except the needle in the

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heat gage. It was on zero when we left the Stardust,

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and now I noticed that it had crept up toward

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the thirty mark. That meant something inside the ship was

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radiating heat. That's something was in the supply closet and

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it was alive. All right, come out, whoever or whatever

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you are. If you don't come out in five seconds,

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I'm going to blast you one two. Well, that'll be.

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Speaker 7: I'm Marilyn Lee Craw.

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Speaker 5: What are you doing in there?

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Speaker 7: I'm a stowaway?

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Speaker 5: Oh what's the matter?

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Speaker 7: Do I have to pay a fine or something?

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Speaker 5: What are you doing here?

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Speaker 7: I wanted to see my husband.

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Speaker 5: Who's your husband?

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Speaker 7: He's with the government survey crew on Wolden. I haven't

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seen him since he left Earth four years ago.

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Speaker 5: Okay, but what made you hide in my eds?

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Speaker 7: I have a job waiting for me on the mirror.

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But I heard you were going to Wolden and there

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was plenty of rooms, so I hid. Oh I knew

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I'd be breaking some kind of rule. But what's one

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little rule?

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Speaker 5: Huh? What's one little rule? Humount of fuel will power

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an EDS with a massive M safely to its destination.

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Hum Out of fuel will not power an EDS with

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a mass of M plus x safely to its destination.

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How could she be expected to know? She was five

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to two with brown, curly hair in the faint, sweet

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smell of perfume. She was five two and she smelled

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like apple blossoms, and her name was X in an

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equation that would have to be balanced.

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Speaker 6: Stardust, Come in, ads, come in.

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Speaker 5: This is Barton Emergency dispatch Pilot four G three, go ahead,

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give me Commander del Heart.

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Speaker 6: What's the message? GDS.

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Speaker 5: I have to consult Commander del Heart.

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Speaker 6: The commander is busy.

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Speaker 5: Listen you squirt. Give me Commander del Heart one moment.

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Speaker 6: For G three Command of dell Heart.

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Speaker 5: Emergency message from ETS four G three.

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Speaker 6: This is del Hart.

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Speaker 5: What is it? At eight hundred hours? I discovered a

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stowaway aboard my ship?

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Speaker 6: Stowaway?

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Speaker 5: Yes, sir?

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Speaker 6: Well, have you know the FIKE ship's records?

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Speaker 5: Not yet, sir.

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Speaker 6: You know the regulations as well as I do.

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Speaker 5: Of course I know the regulations. That's why I'm called.

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Speaker 6: What's going on?

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Speaker 5: Sir? This is a girl, a young woman. Oh, she

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wanted to see her husband on wooden. She didn't know

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what she was doing. I see, I wondered, sir. Maybe

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the cruiser could change course or something.

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Speaker 6: I'm afraid not. We're hundreds of light years apart.

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Speaker 1: Now we have a limited fuel supply ourselves with nine.

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Speaker 5: Is there any chance, no, okay, Skipper.

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Speaker 6: That I get the information to ship's records?

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Speaker 5: Okay, button skipper, I'm sorry. Yeah, sure.

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Speaker 7: We've got our acceleration, didn't you?

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Speaker 5: Yes? Why save fuel for a while, How did you

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manage to stow away?

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Speaker 7: I was taking a language lesson in memory is from

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a girl in the inspection corps. The order came in

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for your trip. I just went long on an impulse.

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That was easy. I'll be a model prisoner, I promise.

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Speaker 5: If you're only a thief or a spy, it would

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make it easier, make what easier? Forget it. Why couldn't

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she have been somebody with some ulterior motive, a fugitive

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hoping to lose himself in a raw new world, about

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the crackpot with a mission. Why did she have to

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be a woman, A beautiful, kind, trusting woman. Starts Barton,

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Eds four, G. Three.

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Speaker 6: I had three identify a stowaway.

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Speaker 5: Give me your identification discuss cross here?

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Speaker 7: Why?

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Speaker 5: Well, it's for ship's records, uh identification number T eight

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three seven four.

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Speaker 6: Moment this is for the gray card.

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Speaker 5: Of course, Yes, I'll need the time. I'll tell you later.

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That's highly irregular, and we'll do it in a highly

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irregular manner. The subject is a young woman. She's listening

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to everything that's said. Are you capable of understanding that?

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Speaker 7: Oh?

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Speaker 6: Go ahead?

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Speaker 5: Forty three number T eight three seven four dash y

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five four. Name Marilyn Lee Cross, female, married born July seventh,

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twenty one sixty. Good lord, you're only a child. Height

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five feet two inches. Wait one hundred and ten hair,

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brown eyes, blue complexion, light blood type. Oh original destination

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Port City, Mimir. Listen, I'll call you back later. Look,

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miss Marilyn. Look, Marilyn, I guess you don't know what

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you got yourself into here. Well, it's like this. This

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ship is carrying cala fever serum to the survey group Woden. Yes,

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their supply was wrecked in a tornado. The fever is

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always fatal unless the serum is given in the first

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forty eight hours. Now, these little ships have exactly enough

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fuel to reach their destination. If you stay aborder, your

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added weight will cause it to use up all its

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fuel before it can land.

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Speaker 7: What happens then we crash?

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Speaker 5: You die, I die, and six fever victims on Woden die.

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Speaker 7: Can't they send out another ship to meet it?

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Speaker 5: There are no ships to send.

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Speaker 7: No, no, you couldn't do that.

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Speaker 5: That's how it has to be.

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Speaker 7: But that's crazy. I haven't done anything. I haven't heard

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any pod.

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Speaker 5: Sorry I should have told you before, but I wanted

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to make sure there was no other way.

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Speaker 7: You mean it going to make me leave the ship.

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Speaker 5: That's how it is.

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Speaker 7: We'll die, I'll explode. I'll be like those horrible.

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Speaker 5: Pictures about try to understand.

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Speaker 7: I do understand. You're going to kill me. And I

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didn't do anything.

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Speaker 5: I know you didn't. I know you didn't. That has

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nothing to do.

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Speaker 7: With it, has everything to do with it. Nobody just

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dies like that for no reason. Oh, listen, maybe there

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are other cruisers, cruisers you don't know about. Maybe the radio.

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Maybe it isn't.

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Speaker 5: No, listen to me. It's different here, different from anything

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you've ever known. On Woden. There are sixteen men, sixteen

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men on an entire world. They're fighting, fighting an alien environment.

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The environment fights back. You can only make a mistake. Once.

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Speaker 7: I made a mistake.

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Speaker 5: Yes, yes, no, Hope, absolutely none. You have to be

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put out of the ship. It was better so with

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the going of all, Hope would go to fear. Then

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would come the resignation. She needed time and there was

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so little.

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Speaker 3: Eds Starship to Eds need pertinent data.

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Speaker 5: All right, starship, when do you expect to complete your report?

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I I need a computer check. I'll give you statistics statistics.

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This is EDS four G three. I'm intersecting course vector

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seven point three at eight three one deceleration seventeen fifty

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Wait one ton. I would like to stay at point

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ten as long as the computers allow. Will you give

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them the question?

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Speaker 4: Check, I'll call you back.

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Speaker 5: We wouldn't have longer wait. The new factors would be

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fed into the steel mall of the computer bank, and

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the electrical impulses would go through the complex circuits. Here

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and there a relay would click, a tiny cog turnover,

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but it would be the current formless, mindless, invisible, which

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would determine with utter precision how long the pale young

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girl beside me would live. Little segments of metal in

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the second bank would trip against an inked ribbon, and

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the machine would spit out the answer, he will.

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Speaker 4: Resume deceleration at nineteen ten.

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Speaker 5: It was eighteen ten when he spoke one hour. She

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has one hour to live.

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Speaker 7: One hour.

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Speaker 5: That's it.

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Speaker 7: All I did was hide in a closet, And now

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you tell me I have to die. I don't believe it.

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Speaker 5: You might as well get used to it.

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Speaker 7: This happened back on Earth. A thousand ships would fill

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the sky, the whole world would know about it. They'd

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do everything to say.

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Speaker 5: This isn't earth.

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Speaker 7: It's such a big dream. Jerry and I separated almost

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five years ago. We were too young, and I was

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going to see him to try to everything all right again.

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I are you married?

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Speaker 5: I was, Oh, she ran off with some guy in

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the weather Service.

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Speaker 7: Do you still think about it?

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Speaker 5: I don't let myself. Where is she back on earth? Look,

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if you don't mind, I'd just as soon talk about

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something else.

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Speaker 7: Okay, what do you do when you've got an hour

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to live? What do you talk about?

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Speaker 5: What's Jerry like?

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Speaker 7: Jerry? Oh he's a funny guy. Well he found out

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I mean about the other fella. He didn't get mad.

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He cried. That was all he felt, sadness.

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Speaker 5: So you walked all over him.

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Speaker 7: I thought I wanted him to get mad at me,

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to be jealous. No thinking about him for five years.

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So when I heard this ship was bound for Woden

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and I knew Jerry was there, I stowed away. I

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didn't know about the fuel. I didn't know this would

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happen to me.

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Speaker 5: She had violated a man made law that said keep out.

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The penalty was not of man's making or desire, and

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it was not a penalty. Man could revoke h amount

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of fuel will power an EDS with a mass of

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m safely to its destination. The time was eighteen thirty

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forty minutes. It was beginning to get me. A space

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frontier is a rough place, and I'd seen a hundred

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men die since I left Earth, but this was different.

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I watched her as she wrote a message to her folks.

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I watched her as she fought her way through the

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black horror of fear toward the calm gray of acceptance.

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And then there it was on the view screen, the

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planet Woden, a red enshrouded in the blue haze of

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its atmosphere, swimming in space against the background of star

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sprinkled blackness. The chronometer on the instrument panel said eighteen

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forty five. Listen, we're in radio range of Woden. Now,

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I mean, would you want me to try to contact

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your husband, Jerry? It'd mean he would know you're going

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to die. There'd be nothing anyone can do.

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Speaker 7: Yes, I would like to talk to him. Do you

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think we can?

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Speaker 5: The planet is turning. If his group is on the

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side facing us, we might be able to reach it.

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All right, Hello, hello Woden, DS to Government survey group.

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Can you hear me? Come in Woden. They may not

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be monitoring. Hello, hello, hello, identify yourself please?

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Speaker 6: Is this Government Survey group one on planet?

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Speaker 7: Won't?

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Speaker 5: This is John Barton EDS pilot.

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Speaker 6: You have the serum?

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Speaker 5: Yes? How bad is it?

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Speaker 1: One man died last night?

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Speaker 5: Six have the fever?

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Speaker 6: How long will it take them?

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Speaker 5: I start deceleration at nineteen ten hours. I should be

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able to land at nineteen thirty, Thank god. Look, do

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you have a Gerald Cross in charge of the.

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Speaker 6: Group Command of Cross?

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Speaker 5: Yes, we do, but I speak to him.

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Speaker 6: He isn't here, he's out with the survey team.

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Speaker 5: When do you expect him?

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Speaker 6: I can't say.

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Speaker 5: How do you read me? How much time do we

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have left for communication?

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Speaker 6: Less than fifteen minutes?

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Speaker 5: All right? If Commander Cross comes back before we lose

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radio contact, will you have him buzz me? It's important? Okay, DS,

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I'll keep a set open.

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Speaker 6: Check.

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Speaker 5: The minutes passed like small bits of eternity. On the

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view screen, I could see Manning's continents sprawled like a

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gigantic hourglass in the eastern sea. There was a thin

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line of shadow where it was beginning to disappear as

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the planet turned on its axis. I looked at the

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pale woman next to me, and I thought of another

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woman long ago who had sat next to me and

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cried because I wouldn't try to understand. What had she

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written in those letters back home? What would they think

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of the faceless, unknown pilot who'd sent her to her death?

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What would I think of myself alone nights reliving this voyage?

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Speaker 7: Cold, isn't it?

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Speaker 5: I'll turn up the thermostadic.

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Speaker 7: Nothing from Jerry.

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Speaker 5: We have about two minutes of radio contact left.

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Speaker 7: Maybe it's better. I mean, suppose it were you and

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your wife tried to call you. How'd you feel?

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Speaker 5: I don't know.

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Speaker 7: Do you ever hear from her?

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Speaker 5: I got a letter about a year ago. I tore

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it up. That was foolish, yeah, it was.

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Speaker 7: Life is so terribly short to be wandering around alone.

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Speaker 5: Well I had wait a second, we're getting something.

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Speaker 7: How much time before I have to leave the ship?

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Speaker 5: How about ten minutes?

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Speaker 7: Slow?

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Speaker 6: EDS? Hello?

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Speaker 5: DS, come in, come in DS.

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Speaker 6: This is woton. I have command a cross.

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Speaker 5: All right, go ahead?

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Speaker 4: Hello, this is command a Cross.

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Speaker 5: Jerry Cross. Yes, I have someone for you. Go ahead,

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Hello Jerry.

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Speaker 7: Hello, Jerry, who is it? It's me, Marilyn. Marilyn, I

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wanted to see you again. I stowed away on the EDS.

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You what, But Marilyn, it doesn't matter, Jerry. All that

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matters is that I can tell you all the things

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I've kept inside for so long. Jerry, I want you

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to know it. I've never forgotten.

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Speaker 6: It's been so many years.

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Speaker 7: I can't believe it. I thought i'd see you again,

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but no, I can't, Jerry. You don't hate me? Do

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you hate you?

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Speaker 6: Arlyn?

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Speaker 5: I've never stopped loving you, not for an instant.

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Speaker 7: Jerry.

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Speaker 4: Listen, we don't have much time to train. This mission

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is getting fuzzy.

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Speaker 6: Marilyn. I've got to see you.

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Speaker 4: There's got to be some way there is. Let me

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talk to the pilot.

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Speaker 5: Give me hello, Pilot.

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Speaker 4: Have you called the mother ship?

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Speaker 6: Did you have them.

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Speaker 4: Checked with the computers.

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Speaker 5: I've done everything. You've been on the frontier long enough

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to know the setup in an DS.

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Speaker 6: Oh, dear God, there must be something some way.

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Speaker 5: Do you think i'd let this happen if I wasn't sure?

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Speaker 7: He tried to help me, Jerry. He tried, And it

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really doesn't matter. I'm not frightened anymore, not now.

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Speaker 6: But how did you get here?

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Speaker 1: I don't understand.

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Speaker 7: I was going to be there to take a job,

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I thought. Now I realized it was I was just

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going because i'd be closer.

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Speaker 5: To where you were.

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Speaker 7: Oh, Jerry, all this time.

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Speaker 4: Let me tell you something, Marilyn.

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Speaker 6: I've always known you'd come back to me. I've known

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it every minute.

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Speaker 4: It's what's kept me alive.

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Speaker 6: I want you to hold that in your mind.

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Speaker 7: Jerry. I can't hear you.

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Speaker 6: We haven't much time.

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Speaker 7: We're losing radio concent Jerry, don't cry, darling.

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Speaker 4: Just know how I feel.

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Speaker 8: I do.

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Speaker 7: There was so many things to say, Jerry. If you

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can still hear me, maybe I'll come to see you again.

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Maybe I'll come to you in your in your dreams.

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Or I'll be the touch of a breeze or one

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of those golden winged little birds singeing my silly head off.

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Maybe I'll be nothing you can see or hear, but

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you'll know I'm there. Think of me like that, Jerry. Goodbye.

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Speaker 5: She sat motionless in the hush that followed, and then

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she looked at me. No, No, I pulled down the

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black lever and the inner door of the lock slid open.

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She walked with her head up and the brown curls

385
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brushing her shoulders. I let her do it alone. She

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stepped into the lock and turned to face me, and

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I could see the pulse in her throat.

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Speaker 7: I'm ready.

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Speaker 5: I pulled a red lever and there was a slight

390
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waver as the air gushed out. I thought I sensed

391
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a bump, as if something had bumped the outer door,

392
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and then there was nothing. The white hand of the

393
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closet temperature control was back at zero. A cold equation

394
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had been balanced, and I was alone in the ship.

395
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Speaker 8: You have just heard X minus one, presented by the

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National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Street and Smith, publishers

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00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:53,960
of astounding science fiction. Tonight by transcription, X minus one

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00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:57,559
has brought you Cold Equations, written by Tom Godwin and

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00:22:57,599 --> 00:23:01,400
adapted for radio by George Lefforts. Featured in the cast

400
00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:05,960
were Court Benson as Barton, j. Meredith as Marilyn Myle

401
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of Bolton as Commander Delhart, Bob Hastings as.

402
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Speaker 5: Jerry Cross, Jack Arthur as traffic.

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Speaker 8: Control officer, and Walterkinseller as the Woden Monitor. Your announcer,

404
00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:18,960
Bill Rippi X minus one was directed by Ken mc

405
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gregor and as an NBC Radio Network production.

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Speaker 4: And now next week.

407
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Speaker 8: In the days of the wind jammers, Whaler sometimes went

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on cruises that lasted as long as two years, and

409
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so sometimes they had to resort to rough methods to

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gather a crew. But one of the future, when a

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cruise to a destant star may last for fifteen years

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or more, we hear of such a voyage next week

413
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on X minus minus minus minus one one one one