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Alien Worlds was a syndicated radio show created by radio personality Lee Hansen. It aired 26 half-hour episodes between 1979 and 1980, becoming well known for its realistic sound effects, high production values and documentary style of dialog. J. Michael Straczynski was one of the writers.
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00:00Slowly orbiting at the edge of deep space, 1,000 kilometers beyond 21st century Earth, is the Arthur C. Clarke Astronomical Observatory, Starlab.
00:15Here, Starlab Research Director Maura Cassidy and scientists and technicians of the International Space Authority watch over the countless star systems that fill the universe.
00:30This week, England's most famous consulting detective Sonar T. Foom and his associate Dr. MacGuffin Drone return to Starlab and become involved in the adventure of the parallax deception on Alien Worlds.
01:00This is Starlab. Go ahead, Shuttle One.
01:11Please stand by for Commissioner White.
01:15Jerry, is Maura still on cross with Buddy and John?
01:19Maura got back this morning, Commissioner. Buddy and John are still there.
01:23Alright. Well, tell Maura I'm on my way in from Timion 3 with an old friend of hers, Professor Madeline Stoner.
01:31Will do.
01:32Thanks, Jerry. Here's Captain Lester again.
01:38Okay, Starlab. I'm ready to receive docking orbit insertion coordinates.
01:43We are 800 kilometers out on approach Meridian 690 and our EPA is 7 minutes 10 seconds.
01:58Hello, Maura. How are you doing?
02:00Oh, hello, Commissioner.
02:01Fine.
02:02Madeline, is that you?
02:04It's me, all right.
02:06What did you do to yourself? You look 20 years younger.
02:09She is 20 years younger, Maura.
02:11What? But how?
02:13Solamine yellow. An age reversal serum I've been experimenting with at the Latham Institute.
02:19Hmm. How long have you been experimenting on yourself?
02:22Five weeks.
02:24You've lost 20 years in just five weeks?
02:26Mm-hmm.
02:28If this isn't some kind of miracle, I don't know what is.
02:31Well, there's still a lot of work to be done, Maura.
02:33Control group studies, long-term side effects, things like that.
02:37I'm leaving for England tomorrow to work with an old friend of mine.
02:40Maybe you've heard of her. Dr. Vivian Stanchel?
02:42Mm-hmm. Sure, I know her work.
02:43Well, she owns a private research lab near London, so we're going to start conducting some advanced experiments with the serum.
02:50How many people know about Solamine yellow, besides Oliver Latham and Dr. Stanchel?
02:55The five ISA charter scientists we met with yesterday on Timion III,
03:00and England's most famous consulting detective, Sonar T. Foom.
03:04Hmm. Why is Mr. Foom involved?
03:07Well, since half the universe would beat it past the Madeline's door if they knew about the serum,
03:11the project's top secret.
03:13And since Foom knows everything there is to know about keeping a secret...
03:17The ISA has engaged him to work out the security arrangements for Dr. Stanchel's laboratory.
03:21Right. Foom and Dr. Drone will be here in the morning.
03:24Ah. Well, it's way past midnight.
03:26I've got a long day ahead of me tomorrow.
03:29Will you show me to my quarters, Maura?
03:31Of course, Madeline.
03:32And you, Commissioner?
03:33I think I'll wander around Starlab for a while.
03:36See you in the morning.
03:38Okay, Commissioner.
03:39Night.
03:40Night.
03:41Night, Matthew.
03:42Good night.
04:01Well, I'll see if Madeline's ready, Commissioner.
04:03We'll see you in a few minutes.
04:06Oh, my God, Madeline.
04:14Mora, I'm old.
04:19So old.
04:22Madeline.
04:29Alien Worlds will continue.
04:36Alien Worlds continues.
04:46Okay, Starlab, I'm ready to receive docking orbit insertion coordinates.
04:51We are 800 kilometers south of...
04:52Following a top-secret science conference on Timian 3,
04:56ISA Commissioner White and Professor Madeline Stoner
04:59arrive at Starlab for a meeting with Mora Cassidy.
05:02Madeline, what did you do to yourself?
05:05You look 20 years younger.
05:07She is 20 years younger, Mora.
05:09What?
05:10But how?
05:11Solamine yellow, an age reversal serum
05:13I've been experimenting with at the Latham Institute.
05:19But when Mora enters Madeline's quarters the next morning,
05:23she finds her friend lying on the floor,
05:25her newfound youth gone,
05:27her eyes glazed with age,
05:30transformed overnight into a withered old woman.
05:35Meanwhile, at a small spaceport near London,
05:42England's most famous consulting detective,
05:44Sonar T. Foom,
05:45and its associate, Dr. MacGuffin Drone,
05:48board Foom's multi-atmosphere cruiser,
05:51the Bellerophon,
05:52and blast off for Starlab.
05:54All right, Drone, reduce power 30% and ease back on the controls.
06:05Yes, yes.
06:07Good.
06:09Now, stabilize the attitude gyros and engage the autopilot.
06:14Engage the autopilot.
06:16Well done, my dear Drone.
06:19You really are becoming a first-rate pilot.
06:22Well, by Jove, thank you, Foom.
06:24That's quite a compliment coming from you.
06:27Yes.
06:29Now, let me see.
06:32Right.
06:32Starlab Control,
06:36this is the Bellerophon.
06:38Dr. MacGuffin Drone in the driver's seat,
06:40Sonar T. Foom at the onboard computer.
06:44Anyone at home up there?
06:46This is Starlab, Mr. Foom.
06:47Please stand by for Dr. Cassidy.
06:52Mr. Foom.
06:53Hello, Maura.
06:54Nice to hear your voice again.
06:56Mr. Foom.
06:57Someone tried to kill Madeline Stoner last night.
06:59Great Scott.
07:00She's in a coma, and it doesn't look like she's going to make it.
07:03We'll be there in five minutes, Maura.
07:06Full power, Drone.
07:17We thought at first she'd had some kind of, uh, reaction to the serum.
07:22But when Dr. Rossiter examined her, she found this in Madeline's back.
07:26Why, looks like a needle from an old-fashioned hypodermic syringe.
07:31I'm afraid not, Drone.
07:33This is a projectile from an extremely powerful compressed air pistol.
07:37And I'm certain the blue stain on its tip is a lethal poison.
07:41The weapon that fired this is used exclusively by the Zill assassination regiments on Shakundra.
07:47Why would a Zill assassin want to kill Madeline anyway?
07:50And how on earth would one of them get aboard Starlab without our knowing it?
07:53I mean, my God, Shakundra and adults are eight feet tall.
07:56Someone would have noticed them.
07:57Hmm.
07:59Where in Professor Stoner's body was this projectile found?
08:03In her back, about three inches below the base of her skull.
08:08The point was embedded in the first cervical vertebrae.
08:11Hmm.
08:11It's fortunate the bone prevented it from entering her body completely.
08:16Oh?
08:17Why do you say that, Foom?
08:19This projectile is made of a synthetic metal that is 100% chromic.
08:24Chromic?
08:24What do you mean?
08:25A chromic substance is one that dissolves in the body without a trace, Commissioner.
08:30If that projectile had penetrated completely, we'd still be operating under the delusion
08:36that Professor Stoner did, in fact, experience a negative solamine yellow reaction.
08:42That probably is what the would-be assassin wanted us to think.
08:46Yes.
08:48Commissioner, do you have a sample of the serum with you?
08:51There's a small vial in Madeline's bag.
08:53Good.
08:54I'll need some laboratory facilities, Maura.
08:57Starlab is at your disposal, Mr. Foom.
08:58All right, then let's get on with it.
09:00We have a lot of work to do.
09:10Why is this Mycroft computer of yours taking so long to analyze our experiments, Maura?
09:15Seems like we've been staring at this blank screen for days.
09:21Ah, here's our data now.
09:24Projectile 100% chromic.
09:27Tip substance, 30% vithiolate, 70% unknown.
09:34Properties of the unknown element.
09:37Interacts exclusively with solamine yellow, converting it to an age acceleration agent by a factor of 18.6.
09:46Well, that's it, isn't it?
09:50Whoever tried to kill Madeline had to know about solamine yellow and what it took to reverse the process.
09:55That considerably narrows our list of possible suspects, doesn't it, Foom?
09:59Yes.
10:00Oliver Latham, Dr. Vivian Stanshaw, and the five ISA scientists on Timian 3.
10:07If you think it'll do any good, I'll go back to Timian 3 and investigate the possibility of a security leak.
10:12Excellent. Now, what about Dr. Stanshaw?
10:16No. Madeline said they were so close they could practically read each other's minds. They were like sisters.
10:21All right. That's good enough for me.
10:23Does Oliver Latham know what's happened?
10:25Yes. I radioed the Institute just before you docked.
10:28Hmm.
10:28Radio him again, Maura, and tell him we're on our way down to have a chat.
10:34Okay.
10:35Oh, one more thing, Maura.
10:37Have Jerry pull the visual scanner tapes of every docking procedure that's occurred here within the past 48 hours.
10:45This fiend had to arrive by ship and leave the same way.
10:48Perhaps the tapes will disclose something.
10:50At 0940, the Bellerophon rockets away from Starlack, banks 180 degrees, and jets away toward the Earth.
11:06Thirty minutes later, Thoom's powerful ship enters Earth's atmosphere and approaches the Latham Institute,
11:18a complex of pearlescent blue domes situated on the Gold Coast of New California.
11:25Meanwhile, behind the locked doors of the Institute's executive suite, Oliver Latham sits behind his desk,
11:38staring up at the white, skeleton-like face of the eight-foot-tall, black-cloaked alien who stands before him.
11:47It's the judgment of the Chacandran War Council that you've overextended yourself, Latham.
11:52I don't care what your War Council thinks, Brack. I'm doing the...
11:56The Council's ultimatum is this.
12:00If you cannot deliver the Etrocene you promised,
12:04they will terminate the flow of wealth you so desperately need to maintain this complex of yours.
12:12You have ten days.
12:14Ten days?
12:15What? There's no way in the world that I can produce 200,000 liters of Etrocene in ten days.
12:21And why not?
12:23You produce 200,000 liters of Solamine Yellow in only six days.
12:28Well, producing Solamine Yellow in quantity was easy.
12:31It was already developed.
12:32Etrocene is still in the experimental stage.
12:36Latham,
12:37if Etrocene is so experimental,
12:41why did it interact so perfectly with the Solamine Yellow and Professor Stoner's system?
12:46Well, I didn't mean that.
12:47I meant that process of converting it from a solid to a liquid is experimental.
12:52Latham,
12:54do you remember how surprised you were
12:58when your old friend Jacob Himmler approached you concerning our war with Araxas?
13:03I was more than surprised.
13:05I was astonished.
13:06I had no idea he was involved with your...
13:09Astonished, yes.
13:11Now, multiply that astonishment by a factor of ten,
13:17and you will know how much you astonish me.
13:20Astonish you?
13:22How?
13:22By the way you confuse an issue in the hope of gaining an advantage.
13:26You said Etrocene was experimental.
13:31Now you say the conversion process is experimental.
13:35Which of the two is it?
13:38The process.
13:40It's the process.
13:42The way your mind works is an embarrassment, Latham.
13:45Oh, I see.
13:46I see.
13:47And the fact that your planet intends to age Araxas into extinction,
13:51I suppose that's logical.
13:53Their culture is passive, Latham.
13:55Mr. Latham, Dr. Cassidy, Mr. Foom, and Dr. Drone are here.
14:00Oh, uh, all right.
14:01Give me a half a minute.
14:03This man Foom could be trouble, Brack.
14:05I'll be the judge of that.
14:07Let them in.
14:09I'll wait in the next room.
14:13All right, Miss Fuller.
14:14Send them in.
14:20Alien Worlds will continue.
14:25Alien Worlds continues.
14:39Three hours after entering Oliver Latham's office,
14:43Mora, Dr. Drone, and Sonar T. Foom
14:45return to the Institute's spaceport,
14:48board the Bellerophon,
14:49and blast off for Starla.
15:00Foom, when you dropped your pipe in Latham's office
15:03and then bent down to retrieve it,
15:05I noticed you picked something out of the carpet.
15:07What was it?
15:08Evidence, my dear drone.
15:11Evidence that will send Oliver Latham
15:13straight into Jastrow prison
15:14for the attempted murder of Madeline Stoner.
15:17I don't believe it.
15:19Come now, Foom.
15:20You're pulling my leg.
15:21I've never been more serious in my life.
15:24But what possible motive could he have?
15:26Unimaginable wealth, Mora.
15:28A fortune in capricite gemstones,
15:31the currency of Shakandra.
15:33What makes you think Shakandra
15:34has anything to do with this?
15:36Elementary, my dear drone.
15:38The faint, lingering fragrance
15:40of night-blossom perfume
15:41in Latham's office.
15:43Perfume?
15:44Yes.
15:45The Zill assassins on Shakandra
15:47anoint themselves with it
15:49as part of a self-purification ritual.
15:51All right, let's assume Latham is responsible.
15:55How did he get aboard Starlab?
15:57And what about the fact
15:58that he was in his office
15:59from seven last night
16:00until seven this morning?
16:02His door was open.
16:03A dozen people saw him.
16:04Oh, they saw him all right.
16:06The bandage on the palm of his left hand
16:09proves that.
16:10Bandage?
16:11Yes.
16:12Full speed ahead, drone.
16:14I'm anxious to peruse
16:15Jerry's docking bay tapes.
16:25There it is, Mr. Foom.
16:27Lunar Shuttle 135.
16:29It came in late last night
16:30after the pilot radioed
16:31he was having trouble
16:32with the life support system.
16:34Hmm.
16:35A perfect excuse
16:36to get out of the shuttle
16:37wearing the perfect disguise.
16:39A pressure suit and helmet.
16:42What else, Jerry?
16:43The stripes on the tail fin.
16:44It should be a red stripe,
16:46then a stripe of yellow
16:47and black checkerboard,
16:48then a blue stripe.
16:49Hmm.
16:50The red and blue stripes
16:51on this shuttle are reversed.
16:52Aha.
16:53So I called Lunar Base Operations.
16:54There is no such vehicle
16:57as Lunar Shuttle 135.
16:59All right, then.
17:01Maura,
17:01radio the Institute
17:02and have Latham meet you
17:04in Professor Stoner's lab
17:05at 10 o'clock this evening.
17:07Tell him the ISA
17:08has authorized you
17:09to pick up her personal effects.
17:11All right.
17:11Drone,
17:12take the Bellerophon to London
17:13and pick up that
17:15special equipment
17:16we talked about.
17:17Meet us at the Institute's
17:18spaceport
17:19no later than
17:20nine o'clock.
17:21As Drone
17:31banks away
17:32from Starlab
17:33aboard the Bellerophon,
17:35Maura and Foon
17:35rocket out of
17:36Launch Bay 9
17:37aboard the ISA
17:39Interceptor Atlantis
17:40and jet toward
17:41the Gold Coast
17:42of New California.
17:47I still can't believe
17:48Oliver Latham did it.
17:49You know my methods, Maura.
17:51I never make an accusation
17:52I can't prove.
17:54And before this night is out,
17:56my own evidence
17:56will be vindicated
17:57by an admission of guilt
17:59from Latham himself.
18:03Isn't that your scanner alarm, Maura?
18:05Yes.
18:06We have an unidentified
18:07spacecraft at 205.
18:08That blue button,
18:09Mr. Foom.
18:09Let's get a visual.
18:12Well,
18:13a Chikandran sky radar.
18:16The plot thickens.
18:18Eh, Maura?
18:19It certainly does.
18:20Activate the laser turrets,
18:22Mr. Foom.
18:22Those red switches.
18:24Tally-ho, Maura.
18:29Close, but no cigar.
18:32Oops.
18:32Here he comes again.
18:37Not a very good shot,
18:38is he?
18:39What time is it?
18:40Uh,
18:418.30.
18:42Oh, gee,
18:43it's getting late,
18:43isn't it?
18:44How long do I get this over with?
18:49Nice shooting, Maura.
18:51That's one you owe me,
18:53Mr. Foom.
18:53Uh,
18:54one what?
18:55One cigar.
18:56Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
18:57Dr. Cassidy,
19:15are you here?
19:17Over here, Oliver.
19:18The needle didn't penetrate far enough.
19:24Oh, Oliver.
19:26Why?
19:27Why did you do it?
19:28The Institute needed money,
19:30Madeline.
19:32Solamine yellow and etrocine together.
19:35The perfect biochemical weapon.
19:37I could have made a fortune.
19:40But you said,
19:41no.
19:42No more weapons.
19:44Life,
19:44not death.
19:46And I pretended to agree.
19:48I never wanted to hurt you, Madeline.
19:51It was Brack's idea.
19:52I had no choice.
19:54He said it was a,
19:55a matter of survival.
19:57The taking of one life and,
19:59in order to preserve the future of the Institute.
20:03I'm sorry, Madeline,
20:04but I'm afraid that equation for survival still stands.
20:08You can't kill me again, Oliver.
20:10I don't exist.
20:13Madeline?
20:14Madeline,
20:15come back!
20:18She can't come back, Latham.
20:20She was never here.
20:22She died half an hour ago.
20:24No.
20:25No.
20:26No, she can't be.
20:27She's alive.
20:28She was standing over there.
20:30You've been tricked, Latham.
20:31The same way you tricked everyone
20:33into thinking you were in your office
20:34the night you shot her.
20:35What?
20:36You've been talking to a hologram, Latham.
20:39What?
20:40Vanessa?
20:42Madeline?
20:42Sorry to disappoint you, Latham,
20:44but this happens to be Miss Vanessa Lockwood,
20:47one of the Royal Shakespeare Company's
20:49most versatile and talented actresses.
20:52Mr. Latham?
20:53Vanessa has been good enough
20:54to play the role of Madeline Stoner
20:56in the next room,
20:57while we projected her holographic image
20:59into this room.
21:01Major,
21:01get him out of here.
21:03Come with us, Mr. Latham.
21:05You're under arrest.
21:07The Institute needed money.
21:10I could have made a fortune.
21:13It was Brax's idea.
21:17Would you mind clearing up
21:18a few things, Mr. Foom?
21:20Jerry's explanation was a little sketchy.
21:22What was your first clue?
21:23This silverized prism fragment
21:26I picked out of the carpet
21:27in Latham's office.
21:29It's from a parallax mirror,
21:31that part of a holographic projector
21:32concerned with stabilizing the image
21:35in relation to the viewer.
21:36He accidentally broke the mirror
21:38while disassembling the apparatus
21:39and cut himself picking up the pieces.
21:41But, Sonar,
21:43doesn't the thing one wishes to project
21:45have to be somewhere nearby?
21:47Normally, yes,
21:48but Latham used
21:49a pre-programmed visual scanner tape,
21:51which permitted him
21:52to be in two places at once
21:53when he isn't really anywhere at all.
21:56He planned it so perfectly.
21:5824 hours ago,
21:59it seemed impossible
22:00that he could have done it.
22:01Nothing is perfect, Maura.
22:03And the next time you're confronted
22:05with the impossible,
22:06remember what the immortal
22:07Sherlock Holmes used to say.
22:09When the impossible is eliminated,
22:11what remains must be the truth,
22:14no matter how improbable
22:15that truth may be.
22:19Which of you is Mr. Foom?
22:21I am.
22:22I'm Abernathy,
22:22Institute Communications.
22:24This message just came for you
22:25from London by way of Starlab.
22:27May I have the envelope, please?
22:30Certainly.
22:31Thank you so much.
22:37Egadron!
22:38The historical television archives
22:40of the BBC have been ransacked,
22:42and every single episode
22:43of Monty Python's Flying Circus
22:45has been purloined.
22:46Why, this is monstrous.
22:48Yes.
22:49We must recover those episodes, drone.
22:51Come along.
22:52The game is afoot,
22:53and a new adventure is at hand.
22:55The adventure of the Parallax Deception
22:58was written by Ron Thompson
23:12The adventure of the Parallax Deception
23:24was written by Ron Thompson
23:26and starred Linda Gary,
23:29Roger Dressler,
23:30Corey Burton,
23:30with special guest stars
23:32Philip Clark as Sonar T. Foom,
23:36Bernard Fox as MacGuffin Drone,
23:38Jesse White as Latham,
23:41Irv Immerman as Brad,
23:43and Corinne Conley as Madeline Stoner,
23:46associate producer Ron Thompson,
23:49music director Tom Rounds,
23:51engineer Stu Jacobs,
23:53technical consultant Peter Skye,
23:56assistant to the producer Jim Cook.
23:59Alien Worlds was created,
24:01produced, and directed
24:02by Lee Hansen.
24:04This episode of Alien Worlds
24:06is dedicated to the memory
24:07of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
24:09creator of England's
24:11most famous consulting detective.
24:13And so until next week,
24:15this is Roger Dressler
24:16inviting you to join us
24:18for a question of conscience
24:20from the elsewhere and else when
24:23of Alien Worlds.
24:25on our own side and
24:31on our own.
24:32you
24:32you
24:34you
24:37you
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