No Contact

Count down for blast off. X minus 5, minus 4, minus 3, minus 2, X minus 1, fire. From the far horizons of the unknown, come tales of new dimensions in time and space. These are stories of the future, adventures in which you'll live in a million could-be years and a thousand baby worlds.

The National Broadcasting Company presents... X! Minus, one, one, one. The light story, no contact. It was in the year of 1982 that spacemen first discovered the great galactic barrier.

In the past ten years, rocket traveled to the moon and the nearer planets had become commonplace. And then men fixed their sights on a more distant star, a remote planet known as Volta. Five exploratory ships went out and none came back, each in turn disappearing mysteriously at the same vanishing point at an invisible wall somewhere in the vast outer reaches that

became known as the wrecker of spaceships, the Galactic Reef. And yet the explorers refused to admit defeat. It was on June the second 1987 that the rocket star cloud made ready for takeoff, the sixth to attempt to crack the barrier and win through to bolt up.

Condition green, green. Go get it in the blast off. Condition green, green. Go get it in the blast off. Well, Lewis, this is it. I don't suppose you'll be needing the ship's doctor up here in the bridge during blast off.

I think not, Smitty. There's little chance of acceleration bends in these new overdrive ships. I'll be in my office then, counting vitamin pills if you need me. It's only a few steps. Good luck, Lewis.

Thank you, Smitty. Lieutenant Carter. Yes, sir. You're relieved you'd better get down to navigation control and take over. Yes sir. Lieutenant. Yes sir? We've never flown together before. This is your first flight in a space vessel as big as the star cloud.