Tobor the Great

This is a story of the future.

It is a story that might have taken place the day after tomorrow.

Like all stories of the future, however,

its beginnings lie far back in the past,

as far back as the first man on Earth

to gaze at the stars and wonder,

someday, somehow, he might travel to them.

Travel through space.

In the years following the Second World War,

two basic patterns began to influence

the growing science of space travel.

Rockets, or guided missiles, grew larger and larger.

Atomic power plants grew smaller and smaller,

compact enough to be contained in a submarine.

And finally, in a rocket ship.

Immediately, by special order of the president,

a new agency was formed.

Civil interplanetary Flight Commission.

So, with almost unlimited funds voted by Congress,

this commission began its task:

research in new fissionable materials...

more research in non-fissionable metallic alloys

to make rocket tubes that would not be melted like wax

by their own atomic blasts.

Sometimes mishaps occurred.

And men paid for them with their lives.

But the work went on.

Experiments in celestial navigation...

astrophysics, aerodynamics,

until, finally, only one obstacle remained.

That, as our story begins, turned out to be

the oldest obstacle in the history of mankind...

the human factor.

Down! Down! Start to reduce speed!

Not too fast!

- Now see here, Dr. Harrison. - You have no right...

Steady. Slower, slower.

Really, Dr. Harrison, this is intolerable.

Dan! Dan, are you all right?

Dan, snap out of it!

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Dan, how do you feel? Okay?

Yeah, I guess so.

Must have blacked out.

Sit tight and take it easy.

Now get him out of there and over to the hospital.

You see, Doctor, he wasn't in any real danger.

Under other forms of government,

men are deliberately killed or crippled every day in experiments like this.

Well, I won't stand by and see manslaughter become policy here.

I resent that implication.

- These men are volunteers! - And that's too bad.

The commissioner was most anxious

to have this test carried out to the extreme

so that he could discuss the results with Professor Nordstrom.

Well, you can tell the commissioner and Professor Nordstrom-

Never mind, I'll tell them myself.

The commissioner's office.

Good morning, General.

Yes, Professor Nordstrom's with the commissioner now.

No, I'm sorry.

Dr. Harrison, what's the matter?

I want to see the commissioner.

I'm sorry, he's with Professor Nordstrom.

Ms. Baker, make copies of these for Professor Nordstrom, please.

- I want to see you. - In just a few minutes, Harrison.

I can't talk to you at the moment.

You don't have to. Just listen.

I resign as of now.

Harrison, what in the world's wrong with you?

I told you once before that I'm not going to stand by anymore

and watch human beings being turned into guinea pigs.

My dear Harrison, the uncovering of knowledge

must always involve risk for pioneers.

Fortunately, there are always

men and Women ready to take those risks.

Now, you know that as well as I do.

That's not the point, and you know it.

We shouldn't even be considering the use of test pilots

in this first experimental ship.

It's not only inhuman, it's unscientific and unintelligent.

That's quite enough.

We'll resume this discussion later on.

Why, you are in a state.

There's my pass, staff card, and the badge.

You can send my papers down to the hotel.

Just a moment, Doctor.

You can't leave the building without your exit pass, you know.

- Yes? - Dr. Harrison?

This is Gilligan of Transglobal News.

I'm down in the lobby.

As far as I'm concerned, you can stay there.

Now, hold on, Doc. All I want to know is what's going on

between you and Professor Nordstrom.

Nothing!

Yes?

This is The Washington Globe, Dr. Harrison.

We're trying to contact Professor Nordstrom.

Look, if this is a gag, it's not very funny.

I've never even met Professor Nordstrom

and there's no reason to suppose that I ever will.

- Dr. Harrison? - Yes.

Are you, by any chance, going to talk to me about Professor Nordstrom?

Why, yes, in a way.

Well, let me tell you this.

A, he isn't here, B, I don't know where he is,

C, I've never met him, and D, I don't want to.

Three misstatements out of four, Doctor.

That's a bad average for a man of science.

You see, I am Professor Nordstrom,

- and I'm very glad to meet you at last. - You are?

- Yeah. - Why?

Because I've followed your career with interest,

and we see eye to eye on a subject with which I'm particularly concerned.

We do? I don't get it.

Well, perhaps a little more seclusion might be a good idea.

Do you mind if I make myself comfortable?

No. Go ahead.

Well, the fact is, Doctor,

I overheard your little interview with the CIFC director this morning.

As I had just spent an hour telling him exactly what you told him

so much more cogently in a couple of minutes,

I was, well, interested, to say the least.

You mean to tell me you think they're wrong

in trying to use human beings?

I know they're wrong.

Before we can prepare men for the conditions

they're going to meet in extraterrestrial space,

We've got to know what those conditions are.

Not guess, but know.

That's what I've been telling them all along.

But the problem of getting there and back

to collect accurate data without the use of human pilots and observers

is going to be a back-breaker.

On the contrary,

I can almost say now that I have it solved.

With your collaboration, I think I can convert

that "almost" into an unqualified fact.

Skyliner Flight Number 1 for Los Angeles

will board at South Concourse,

Gate Number 5 in 15 minutes.

So we can start work the moment we arrive,

without all of those coils of red tape hampering us all the time.

Yes. I know what you mean.

I suppose that sprang from the secret nature

of the project in the first place.

Top secret?

Someday, before I'm too old,

I look forward to working on a job

Where I don't have to burn the contents of my wastebasket every night.

You never can tell who might be hiding in a wastebasket.

Don't tell me you're a security regulations quoter, too, my boy.

Okay.

You were saying you'd be able to show me

what you're working on as soon as we arrive.

I'll have to.

Every minute counts now because we have to perfect my innovation

before the commission is ready to send out its first ship.

Now, if we'd...

Well, well, if it isn't Professor Nordstrom.

I don't know whether you remember me or not.

Uh, Gilligan, Science Editor of Transglobal News Service.

You'll have to forgive me, Mr. Gilligan,

but I've met so many journalists here in Washington.

All you scientists are supposed to be absent-minded.

Me, I'm trained never to forget a face.

I'm afraid we're talking shop, Gilligan.

That's what I figured.

You're Harrison, aren't you?

Of the Civil interplanetary Flight Commission.

No comment.

Well, you were until you quit this morning.

And what was that all about, Doctor?

You two being together here at the airport...

This anything to do with the trouble you've had

with the commission, Professor?

I'm afraid I have no comment for that, either.

Now why don't you leave us both alone?

Oh, take it easy, Doc.

Never can tell what kind of a story will gel when you big brains huddle together.

Like the one your syndicate released prematurely

about the hydrogen bomb drops in the Pacific

or the atomic aircraft carrier engine?

Look, you're in the business of smashing atoms.

I'm in the business of selling newspapers.

If Uncle Sam doesn't know how to keep his own secrets, that's his tough luck.

It doesn't matter how much aid or comfort

you give our potential enemies

or how many of our side eventually get killed.

Hold it, Ralph.

Now, listen, Mr. Gilligan...

You listen to me, Professor.

You fellas can't go on dummying up like this indefinitely.

Sooner or later you've got to talk for the record.

Look at it this way.

The prospect of space travel in the immediate future

is the biggest news story in the country today.

Years and years of research,

millions and millions of taxpayers' dollars

have been spent building that first spaceship.