Martians Never Die - Lucius Daniel

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Martians Never Die by Lucius Daniel. It was a wonderful bodyguard.
No bark, no bite, no sting, just conversion of the enemy.
At three fifteen, a young man walked into the circular
brick building and took a flattened pack of cigarettes from
his shirt pocket. Mister Sterne, he asked, throwing away the
empty package. Sterne looked with hard eyes at the youthful reporter.

(00:24):
He recognized the type. So they're sending around cubs now,
he said, I'm no cub. I've been on the paper
a whole year. The reporter protested, and then stopped, realizing
his annoyance had betrayed him. Only a year the first
time they sent their best man. This ain't the first time,
said the young man, assuming a bored look. It's the

(00:45):
fourth time, and next year. I don't think anybody will
come at all. Why should they? Why because they might
be able to make it. Burle spoke up. Something must
have happened before Stern watched the reporter drink in Berle's loveliness. Well,
missus Curtis, the young man said. Everyone has it figured
out that doctor Curtis got stuck in the fourth dimension

(01:05):
or else lost or died. Maybe even Einstein can't work
out the stellar currents your husband was depending on. It's
very simple, replied Burle, but I can't explain it intelligibly.
I wish you could have talked to doctor Curtis. Why
is it that we have to come out here just
once a year to wait for him? Is that how
the fourth dimension works? It's the only time when the

(01:27):
stellar currents permit the trip back to Earth, and it's
not the fourth dimension. Fide was always irritated when any
one would talk about his traveling to Mars in the
fourth dimension. It's interdimensional, Sterne put in. And you're his broker,
asked the reporter, throwing his cigarette down on the brick
floor and stepping on it. You're his old friend from
college days, handled his financial affairs and helped him raise

(01:50):
enough money to build his machine. Yes, Sterne replied a
little pompously. It was through my efforts that several wealthy
men took an interest in the machine, so that doctor
Curtis did not have to bear the entire expense himself.
Yeah yeah, the reporter sighed, I read an old story
on it before I came here. Now I'm out of cigarettes,
he looked hopefully at stern Sterne returned the look coldly.

(02:14):
There's a store where you can buy some about three
blocks down the road. Is that the room where he's
expected to materialize with his machine? The reporter pointed to
an inner door. Yes, Doctor Curtis wanted to be sure
no one would be injured. This inner circular room was
built first. Then he had the outer wall put up
as an added precaution. The circular passageway wherein leads all

(02:37):
around the old room. But this doorway is the only entrance.
And what are those holes in the top of the
door for If he returns, we can tell by the
displaced air rushing out. Then the door will open automatically.
And what is the return scheduled for, asked the reporter.
Three forty seven and twenty nine seconds. If it happens,

(02:58):
the reporter added, skeptically. And if it doesn't, we have
to wait another year. Optimon conditions occurred just once a year. Well,
I'm going out to get some cigarettes. I've got time
and probably nothing to wait for. I'll return, though, he
walked briskly through the outer door. This is the hardest
part of the year, especially now suppose he did come back,

(03:20):
Burle said, plaintively. You don't have to worry, Sterne assured her.
Clyde himself said that if he didn't come back the
second year, he might not make it at all. Sterne
opened his gold case now and offered Burle a cigarette.
She shook her head. But he made two trial runs
in at first and came back. That was for a
short distance only. That is a short distance astronomically. Figuring

(03:43):
for Mars was another story. Maybe he missed the planet,
and oh don't. It's just not knowing that I can't
stand well, he said dryly. We'll know in He stopped
and looked at his wrist watch. In just about fifteen minutes.
I can't wait, she moaned. He put his arm around her. Relax,
take it easy and stop worrying. It'll just be like

(04:05):
last time, not the last time at all. We hadn't.
As soon as we are able to leave here, he said,
drawing her close and squeezing her gently, I'll take steps
to have him declared legally dead. Then we'll get married.
That's not much of a proposal, she smiled. But I
guess I'll have to accept you. You have Clyde's power
of attorney, and we'll be rich, richer than ever. I'll

(04:27):
be able to use some of my own ideas about
the investments. As a matter of fact, I have already,
and he frowned slightly. We have enough, Burle said, quickly,
don't try to speculate. You know how Clyde felt about that.
But he spent so damn much on the machine. I
had to make back those expenses. Somehow, steps sounded outside,
and they drew apart. The reporter came in with a

(04:49):
companion of about his own age. Better wipe the lipstick off,
he grinned. It's almost time for something to happen. Sterne
dabbed at his mouth angrily with his handkerchief. At first,
the sound was so soft that it could hardly be heard,
but soon a whistling grew until it became a threat
to the ear drums. The reporters looked at each other
with glad, excited eyes. The whistling stopped abruptly and slowly,

(05:12):
the door opened. The reporters rushed in immediately. Burle gripped
Stern's hand convulsively. He's come back, yes, but that mustn't
change our plans, Burrell, dear, but al oh, Why were
we so foolish? Not foolish, deer, not at all foolish.
Now we have to go in. Inside the room was
the large sphere of metal oi. It had lost its

(05:35):
original gleam and was stained and battered, standing silent, closed, enigmatic.
Where is the door? Called the first reporter, The sphere
rested on a number of metal stilts reaching out from
the lower hemisphere, which held it about three feet from
the floor, Like a great pincushion turned upside down. Slowly,
a round section of the sphere's wall swung outward, and

(05:58):
steps descended as they touched the floor. Both reporters, caught
by the same idea, sprinted for it, and fought to
see which would climb at first. Wait, shouted Sterne. The
reporter stopped their scuffling and followed Stearne's gaze. Something old
and leathery and horrible was emerging from the circular doorway.
Several tentacles, like so many snakes, stood around the hand rail,

(06:21):
which ran down the steps. Then at the top it paused.
Sterne felt an immediate and unreasoning hate for the thing,
whatever it was, a hate so strong that he forgot
to feel fear it seemed to him to combine the
repulsive qualities of a spider and a toad. The body,
fat and repugnant, was covered by a loose skin, dull

(06:42):
and leathery, and the fatness seemed to be pulled downward
below the lower tentacles, like an insect's body, until it
was wider at the bottom than at the top, like
a salt shaker. Sterne thought it turned its head. It
had no neck. The loose skin of the body just
turned with it and looked back inside the sphere. The

(07:02):
head resembled the toads, but a long trident tongue slid
in and out quickly, changingly, resemblance to that of a
malformed snake. From the interior. Doctor Curtis appeared beside the
creature and stood there vaguely for a moment. Sterne noticed
that his clothes seemed just as new as one he
had left, but he had grown a long, untrimmed beard,

(07:23):
and his face had a vacant expression, as if he
were hypnotized. The creature looked upward at Curtis, who was
head and shoulders taller, and its resemblance changed again in
Sterne's mind, so that now it looked like a dog,
at least in attitude. From its mouth came a low,
hissing noise. Curtis looked down at the dog's spider toad,

(07:43):
his eyes slowly beginning to focus. The creature wriggled like
a seal with a fish in sight, then slid and
bumped down the steps, with Curtis following him. Clyde cried
Burle and rushed toward Curtis. The outstretched tentacles of the
beast stopped her, but at a touch and Curtis, they
fell away and Burrow was in his arms. Sterne watched

(08:04):
the scene sourly and with rage in his heart. Why
hadn't Clyde waited another year? Then nothing could have changed things.
Now he would lose not only Burrell, but the management
of the money that was left and the marketing of
new patents on the machine. Curtis did not approve of speculation,
especially when it lost money. You've changed Clyde. Burle was saying,

(08:25):
as she hugged him. What is the matter. Do you
need a doctor? No? I don't want a doctor, but
I have to get home, said Curtis. Sterne felt anger again,
beating in his brain like heavy surf on a beach.
Curtis was sick. The least he could have done was die. Well,
maybe he still would, and if he didn't, he could
be helped to. Sterne saw the beast looking at him intently, malvolently.

(08:50):
Its face might have looked almost human now that it
was so close, if it had possessed eyebrows and hair
as it was. Its nose rose abruptly and fled into
two really enormous nostrils, but its mouth looked small and wrinkled,
like that of an old grandmother, without any teeth. They
turned to the doorway without noticing the absence of the reporters,

(09:11):
who had long since run off to telephone and get photographers.
Curtis walked slowly. He would stop for a moment, look about,
as if expecting something entirely different, and then he would
move forward again. They all got into the car, Curtis
and Burle on the front seat, with Burle driving and
Sterne and the creature in the rear. As Burle drove,

(09:33):
Sterne looked savagely at the back of Curtis's head, but
he felt the beast staring at him balefully. Could it
be a mind reader? That was ridiculous. How could anything
that could speak read a person's mind? He turned to
study it. The Martian, if that was what it was,
had only six tentacles, three on each side. The lower

(09:53):
ones were heavy and almost as thick as legs. The
upper ones were small and were obviously used as hands,
while it was possible that the middle ones could be
used either way. A series of suction cups or sucking
paths were at the end of each tentacle. With equipment
like this, it could walk right up the side of
a building, except perhaps for the higher gravity of Earth.

(10:14):
Stern could smell it now, a dry desert smell, and
that made it more revolting than ever. They were born
to hate each other. When they got home, Burrell was
all soliciousness, the way a woman is when she has
a man to impress. Stern thought, just sit right here
in your old chair, she told Curtis, and I'll call
a doctor. Then i'll put some water on to heat.

(10:35):
But first she knelt by his side and laid her
head on his breast. Oh, darling, she said, with a
sob Why did you wait so long? I've missed you
so a very good ax. Sterne told himself bitterly, without
believing it at all. She got up and turned towards Stern.
Will you help me get some water on owl? She asked,
I'm going to phone. He went into the kitchen. He

(10:58):
knew where the kettle was, the refriger the mixings. He
could hear her dialing, and then before he got the
kettle on the burner, she came inside and closed the
kitchen door. Clyde's sick and I have to take care
of him, she said anxiously. It wasn't entirely the money,
he confessed to himself. Now he hated the situation, but
he had to give in on the surface anyway. Ok,

(11:20):
let's forget the whole thing, he said. Oh all, dear,
I knew you'd understand. I've got to go back now
and try the phone again. I got a busy signal.
Sterne followed her, still rankling at the way Curtis had
forced Burle to live while he spent so generously on
his own expensive interests. Shortly after their marriage, he had
built a home for Burle and himself in an exclusive

(11:41):
suburb on a hilly bit of land with a deep
ravine at the back. But it was small and Berle
had not even been allowed maids except when they entertained,
which was seldom. Soon he would change all that, Sterne
told himself. They had not dared to. While Clyde was
away in the modern living room, and Curtis sprawled in
his easy chair as though he hadn't moved since they

(12:03):
had placed him there, but his air of abstraction seemed
to have increased. Before him sat the beast, looking, Stern
thought more like a dog than ever. Its head wasn't
cocked to one side, but that, less than its alien appearance,
was the one thing to spoil the illusion. Tires screeched
in the driveway. While Burrell was still at the telephone,

(12:23):
Stern went to the front door, closed it, and put
the chain bolt in place. The back door would still
be locked, and they would hardly try to force the
screen windows. Heavy steps pounded up the front walk. Did
doctor Curtis really get back? The first man shot out
the one who followed at a camera. Doctor Curtis has returned.
Stern spoke through the opening of the front door, which

(12:45):
the chain permitted, but his physical condition won't permit questioning,
at least until his doctor has seen him. Did he
really bring back a Martian. We want to see the
martian anyway. We can't have doctor Curtis disturbed in any
way until after his physician has examined him. Sterne said, bluntly,
is he in there? We'll give you a report when

(13:06):
we're ready. A second car pulled up to the house
as Sterne shut the front door and went to check
the rear one. When he came back, flashes from the
window showed the cameraman was trying to take pictures through
the glass. Stern drew the shades. Well, poor shot Al,
so you had to come with me, Curtis was saying
to the monster. The beast wiggled again, as it had

(13:27):
on the steps of the machine. A tail to wag
wasn't really necessary, Sterne decided, when there was so much
body to wiggle Shot Owl. As Curtis addressed, it seemed
to brighten in the darkened room. Poor dear shot Owl,
said Curtis gently. It was unmistakable now The skin actually
brightened and emitted a sort of eerie, luminous glow. Curtis

(13:48):
leaned over and put his hand on what would have
been shot Al's neck. The loose skin wreathed joyously and snakelike.
The whole body responded in rippling waves of emotion. Gull Up,
the monster said, wasn't the right word, but it was
not a bark, growl, mew, cheap squawk or snarl. Gulp
was as close as Stern could come, a dry and

(14:11):
almost painful gulping noise that expressed devotion in some totally
foreign way that Sterne found revolting. He realized that the
phone had been ringing for some time. He disconnected it
and then heard loud knocking. It's doctor Anderson. He heard
a man's voice calling impatiently and angrily. Cautiously, Stern opened
the door, but his care was needless. With a few

(14:33):
testy remarks, the doctor quickly cleared a space about the
door and entered. He went at once to Curtis, with
only a single shocked glance at shot out. Where the
devil have you been? And where in hell did you
get that thing? He asked, as he unbuttoned Curtis's coat
and shirt. Since playing with his pet, Curtis seemed more awake.
I went to Mars, he said, there incredibly advanced in

(14:55):
ways we hardly guess. We're entirely off the track. I
just came back to explain how your friend doesn't look
very intelligent. The doctor answered, busy with the stethoscope. Animals
like shot owl are used for steeds or pets, said Curtis,
The Landoni are pretty much like mankind, only smaller. Why

(15:16):
did you stay so long? After I left? The Landoni
told me they were going to shut off any possible
communication with Earth until we advance more. They think we're
at a very dangerous animal like stage of development. Once
I came home, I knew I couldn't go back, so
I wanted to learn as much as I could before
I left them. Stand up for a minute, ordered the doctor.

(15:38):
Not right now, said Curtis. I'm too tired. You'd better
get to bed. Then, I think not. It's merely caused
by the difference in gravity and heavier air. The Landoni
told me to expect it, but not to lie down.
After a while, I'll try to take a short walk.
So Clyde wasn't going to die after all. Sterne thought
he had come home with a message, and remembering the

(16:01):
determination of the man, Sterne knew he wouldn't die until
he had given it. But he had to die. He
would die, and who was confident enough to know that
it wasn't from the shock of having come home to
denser air and a heavier gravity. There were ways an
oxygen tube, for example, pure oxygen to be inhaled in
his sleep by lungs accustomed to a rarefied atmosphere, or

(16:24):
stimulants in his food, so that it would look like
a little too much exertion on a heart already overtaxed.
There were ways. Sterne's scalp tingled unpleasantly, and he saw
the Martian looking at him intently, coldly. In that moment,
stern knew without question that his mind was being read.
Not his idea, perhaps, but his intent toward Curtis. The

(16:46):
Martian would have to be attended to first. Is it true,
doctor Anderson? Will he be all right? Burle was sitting
on the arm of the chair next to shot Owl,
and she was looking at Clyde almost as adoringly as
the Martian. A few hours had undone all that Sterne
had managed to do in four years. If Sterne had
been uncertain, that alone would have decided him. I think so,

(17:09):
said the doctor. He seems to be uncomfortable rather than
in pain. I'll send you a prescription for his heart
if he breathed too heavily, be sure, though not to
give him more than one pill in three hours. Of course,
burrough was never that solicious towards Sterne, and you'll be
in quarantine here until the government decides what if any
diseases he and the martian may have brought back with

(17:31):
them none at all. Doctor Curtis's voice was markedly more slurred,
and he stared intently with unblinking eyes at the blank wall. Well,
that's something we can't tell yet. We'll have to keep
out the press and television men anyway, because of your health.
If I'm not detained, I'll be back tomorrow morning, call
me if there's any change. On his way out, the

(17:53):
physician was besieged by reporters and photographers balked of better subjects.
Shortly after the doctor's departure, police sirens came screaming up.
The men waiting around the house were moved outside the gate,
and a guard was set at every entrance. Later, a
messenger came was interrogated by the police sergeant, who took
a small package from him and brought it to the

(18:14):
house medicine. The sergeant said handing it gingerly to Stern.
You can't leave here without permission, and he walked hurrily away.
This might be the answer. Sterne had a good idea
of what the doctor had prescribed, something, he said, for
the heart. It must have been pretty powerful too, for
the doctor to warn against an overdose. Two at once

(18:35):
might do it, or another two a little later. But
there was shot al Al said, Burle, stay with Clyde
while I fix something for him to eat. She was
more beautiful than ever emotions, he thought. Riley become a woman.
They thrive on them. In a few minutes. A woman
could change like this. It was enough to make a

(18:56):
man lose faith in the sex, certainly, he said easily.
Curtis seemed to sleep with wide open eyes, gazing blankly
at the far wall. Shot Aul sat motionless before him,
watchful as a dog, yet still like a snake or spider,
patiently waiting. Didn't the beast ever sleep. A drink was
what Stern needed. He went to the closet and poured

(19:18):
a double brandy. He sipped it slowly as delicious fire
ran down his gullet and warmed his stomach. He felt
his tension ease and a sense of confidence pervaded his mind.
He needn't worry. He was always successful, except that once
with the stalks, and he had calm nerves. There were
guards out in front, now in khaki uniform. The governor

(19:40):
must have called out a company of the National Guard.
Sterne noticed some state police too. The house was well
guarded on the three sides, surrounded by a neat white
picket fence in the back. The severe drop into the
ravine made guards there unnecessary. It was dark before doctor
Curtis moved. Burrell was watching him. She had little to
say to Stern. Now, how about some broth, dear, she

(20:04):
asked Curtis. Immediately, slowly Clyde's eyes focused on her. He smiled,
let's try it. He let Burle feed him, sitting on
a stool beside his chair and being unnecessarily motherly and
coddling about it for a while. After he had eaten,
Clyde sat in his chair, looking at Burle with his
new and oddly gentle smile. It seemed to activate some

(20:27):
hidden response in her, for she glowed with tenderness. I suppose,
Curtis slurred, I ought to try to walk. Now, let
me help Stern rose and crossed the room. The Martian
rustled like snakes in the weeds and hissed. Burle said,
without suspicion, thank you all. I knew you'd do whatever
you could for Clyde, and she rested her hand trustingly

(20:49):
on his arm. What was past was past, not to
be wept over, not to be regretted. Like to walk
out in the back for the air. Sterne asked, the
breeze is coming from that will do very well, said Curtis,
obviously not carrying a bit. Sterne helped Curtis from his
chair and supported him under the arm. They went out

(21:10):
the back door, the Martians slithering after them. It was
cooler in the garden. Sterne felt a renewed surge of
self confidence the stars. Curtis stopped to look upward. The
night was almost cloudless and there was no moon. The
house hid any view of the crowds and the guards
holding them back. They were alone in the dark. Curtis

(21:32):
started forward again, with the Martians scraping along behind. It
would never let Curtis out of its sight as long
as it lived. That much was clear to Stern. He
guided Curtis to a seat close to the ravine, a
favorite spot always. The Martian was a step or a
slither behind, and when Curtis sat down, shot Al sat
between his beloved master and the precipitous drop. Stern picked

(21:56):
up a rock from the rock garden and tossed it
into the ravine. The marsh did not take his eyes
off Curtis. Sterne picked up a larger rock, a sharp
pointed one. He was behind the Martian, and Curtis was
looking away, unseeingly into the night. It was simple, really,
and well executed. The beast's skull bashed in easily, being

(22:17):
merely thin bones for a thin atmosphere and light gravitation.
A push sent it over the edge of the ravine.
Curtis sat unnoticing, and the traffic jam out front created
more than enough confusion to drown out any noise from
the creature's fall. Sterne's palm stung. He realized that before
the Martian had pitched over the ravine, a suction pad had,

(22:38):
for a moment caught at his hand. It had done
the beast no good, though curiously the Martian had not
guarded itself, only Curtis, sitting with its back to Stern,
had really invited attack. The mind reading ability was just
something Sterne had nervously imagined. The police would not be
able to tell his rock from any other. The heavy body,

(23:00):
its ungainly movement, and thin bones would explain everything. Besides,
there was no motive for killing the martian, and what
penalty could there be. It couldn't be called murder. Sterne
looked at the palm of his right hand, the one
that had held the rock. It stung a little, but
in the darkness he couldn't see it. A stinger of
some kind, like a bee. Probably the hell with it

(23:22):
couldn't be fatal, or Curtis would have warned them about it.
The martian had been walking by the ravine and had
clumsily fallen in. He would report it after he got
Curtis back into the house. Curtis was easy to arouse
and didn't seem to misshot all. Sterne maneuvered him to
the living room, where he sank into a chair and
fell into his mood of abstraction. Burl must be in

(23:44):
the kitchen cleaning up. Sterne supposed, perhaps he had better
put some kind of germicide on his palm, just to
ward off infection. He looked at Curtis relaxed in the chair.
Clyde suddenly appeared oddly boyish to him, hardly different than
he had been in Kyllie. For a moment, Sterne felt
again the adolescent admiration and fellowship he had felt so strongly. Then,

(24:07):
don't be stupid, he told himself angrily. This man had
the money and the woman that had almost belonged to him.
Moving slowly, Sterne deliciously savored the aroma of his triumph.
On the table was the bottle. Clyde would be easy,
Unsuspecting kindly, it wouldn't be safe to marry Burrell right away,
But there could never be any suspicion, no need to hurry.

(24:31):
For a moment, he wanted to watch Curtis. He wondered
what kind of pictures Clyde was seen on the blank wall,
Martian landscapes, the strange landoni. Too bad he hadn't stayed
on Mars. Stern couldn't help having a friendly feeling for
his old college chum. Pity too, for what must happen
to him soon. This was no way to kill anyone.

(24:53):
He was growing old and soft. Nevertheless, Curtis did have
a noble and striking face funny. He had never noticed
it before. It seemed to glow with an uncanny piece unnoticed.
The numbness crept from Sterne's palm along his right arm,
and a prickly sensation appeared in his right leg. It
was funny to read a person's thoughts like this. Love

(25:15):
flowed from Curtis like the warm blow of a burning candle.
A sort of halo had formed from the light above
his head. Symbolic from Curtis came wave after wave of love.
He could feel it pulsating toward him, and he felt
his own heart turn over answer it. Yes, Curtis was noble.
Stern sank cross legged on the floor beside Curtis and

(25:38):
gazed at him. The prickly sensation had ascended from his
leg up through his chest and to his neck. But
it didn't matter. Now, for a last time he could
feel the spell of that perfect friendship. Before the end?
What end? Why should there be any end to this
eternal moment? Curtis noticed him now, those half closed eyes

(25:59):
were strained, penetrating. They looked him through well. Al, He said,
so you killed shot al. Sterne looked at the kindly,
godlike face and loved it killed whom poor al Curtis said.
He leaned over and laid his hand on the back
of Sterne's neck, fondly knit, much as one would a dog.

(26:19):
Poor old al Sterne's heart leaped in joy. This was ecstasy.
It must be expressed. It demanded expression. If he had
possessed a tail, he would have wagged it. Perhaps there
was a word for that bliss. There was, and with
immense satisfaction he spoke it. Gull Up, he said. End

(26:40):
of Martians Never Die by Lucius Daniel