Tales Of Tomorrow
Nightbird
Date: Feb 19 1953
CAST:
ANNOUNCER
HOST
GELSEN
MONROE, chief executive
MACINTYRE, scientist
SPINNER, chief of police
NORMA, Gelsen's spouse
NEWSCASTERMUSIC: FUTURISTIC ... IN BG--
HOST: Do you lock the front door and check the windows before you go to sleep? Of course you do. Because all of us are naturally afraid of violence and murder. But imagine if you can a civilization wherein homicide has been eliminated by a mechanical device. No more shootings, no more strangulations, no more killings of any kind. That's the kind of civilization our descendants may enjoy in the next century. Sounds great, doesn't it? And yet the effect is murder. I think you'll see what I mean as we listen to a remarkable tale from Galaxy Magazine. A story called "Watchbird."
MUSIC: UP FOR DOOM-LADEN INTRODUCTION ... THEN OUT BEHIND--
SOUND: INTERCOM BUZZES ... CLICK! OF SWITCH ... MONROE'S VOICE ON FILTER
GELSEN: Gelsen speaking.
MONROE: (EAGERLY) Gelsen, this is John Monroe.
GELSEN: Yes, Chief?
MONROE: It's happened, Fred. By George, it's finally come through.
GELSEN: What, you mean you got the go-ahead from Washington?
MONROE: The green light, complete with trimmings! With consent of Congress, the President has ordered watchbird divisions for every city and town in the country. He's given us top priority on strategic metals, manpower, and every kind of electronic equipment we'll need. Well, now, how does that sound to you?
GELSEN: Oh, great, Chief. Just great.
MONROE: This is our chance, Gelsen. A chance to strike a blow not just for Watchbird, Incorporated, but for all humanity. Now, er, how soon can you get those assembly lines rolling?
GELSEN: We're all tooled up and ready to go. The first watchbirds, model X-2, should be coming off the assembly lines within a week.
MONROE: Good. Remember, Gelsen, we're making history, so make the fur fly. If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to call on me.
GELSEN: I'll do that, Chief. Goodbye.
SOUND: CLICK! OF SWITCH ... GELSEN RISES FROM DESK, WALKS TO OFFICE DOOR, WHICH OPENS, AND INTO MACINTYRE'S OFFICE
GELSEN: Hey, Mac, have you got a bottle of good whiskey stashed away in your desk?
MACINTYRE: Well, it so happens I have, but what's the occasion?
GELSEN: Washington just flashed us the okay, Mac. That crime-killing bird you designed will soon be in the air. It won't be long before the crime of murder is a thing of the past.
MUSIC: BRIDGE ... THEN BEHIND GELSEN--
GELSEN: (NARRATES) That's how it seemed to me, Fred Gelsen, vice president in charge of production of Watchbird, Incorporated, on the morning of March 26th in the year Two Thousand and Three. That's how it seemed to all of us. Hadn't Jed Macintyre, our chief engineer and one of the finest scientists in the country, testified before a special commission set up by the President of the United States?
SOUND: CROWD MURMURS ... THROATS CLEARED, SOME COUGHING ... QUIETS BEHIND--
MACINTYRE: (SLIGHT ECHO) To sum up, gentlemen, we have in the watchbird a mechanical flying policeman capable of staying aloft for months at a time. The watchbird's electronic brain is tuned to the peculiar brain waves thrown off by the potential murderer. With its tremendous speed, the watchbird can reach the murderer before he puts his criminal impulse into action. And with its electrical immobilizer, the watchbird can stop the act of violence before it takes place.
MUSIC: BRIDGE ... THEN BEHIND GELSEN--
GELSEN: (NARRATES) The commission had been impressed by Macintyre. And one month after we got our go-ahead, the watchbirds were installed all over the country. On a given date, they were released simultaneously into the sky. We followed the bird assigned to our district by televiewer and radar.
SOUND: PULSATING HUM OF FLYING WATCHBIRD ... THEN IN BG--
GELSEN: (NARRATES) Over the city, the watchbird soared, its aluminum hide glistening in the sun. Then something happened. The bird spun into a dive. (SOUND: DIVING WATCHBIRD) Its electronic brain had picked up a murder wave from below. Built-in kinesthetics guided the watchbird in the direction of the killer, a small man standing in an alley waiting for his victim. He didn't see that streak of aluminum lightning rushing toward him until it was too late. Before he could raise his gun to fire at the watchbird, (SOUND: ELECTRIC ZAP!) a bolt of man-made lightning knocked the gun from his hand. He scrambled for it, but before he could reach it, (SOUND: BIGGER ELECTRIC ZAP!) the watchbird knocked him flat on his back. (SOUND: HOVERING WATCHBIRD) He lay there helpless, immobilized, with the bird hovering over him until the police arrived and took him away. The watchbird had prevented its first murder.
MUSIC: BRIDGE ... THEN BEHIND GELSEN, GENTLY OUT AT [X]--
GELSEN: (NARRATES) Headlines, of course, in all the newspapers. Photographs of the watchbird in action. An interview with the would-be killer and another with John Monroe, who claimed that the millennium had arrived. [X] Just about the only people in town who weren't hailing the advent of the watchbird era were Jim Spinner, the chief of police, and Norma, my wife. Jim had come over to play chess that evening, but his mind wasn't on the game.
SPINNER: (ABSENTLY) Hmm? Wha--? What did you say, Fred?
GELSEN: Said it's your move.
SPINNER: It is? (EXHALES) I - I can't concentrate. I've been thinkin' of those blasted watchbirds. Those things have got me worried.
GELSEN: Well, you saw the birds in action today, Jim. What is there to worry about?
SPINNER: That's it. I don't know.
NORMA: Jim's right, Fred. There's something peculiar about mechanical birds flying around, knocking people down with electrical immobilizers.
GELSEN: People? You mean killers, don't you, Norma? Now, don't be old-fashioned, dear.
NORMA: Well, old-fashioned or not, I'm still--
GELSEN: (INTERRUPTS) Oh, say, there's a special watchbird broadcast on right now. Switch on the set, will you, dear?
NORMA: All right. (SOUND: NORMA RISES AND WALKS TO TV) (MOVING OFF) You can laugh at me as much as you like, Fred, but I don't care for the idea of electronic gadgets taking the law into their own hands.
SOUND: CLICK! OF TV SET SWITCHED ON
GELSEN: (CHUCKLES, DISMISSIVELY) Isn't that just like a woman? "Taking the law into their own hands"? Those birds are our agents.
NEWSCASTER: (FILTER) This is Washington. At this time, we have a report here, a roundup report from the first day of national watchbird operation. And the news tonight is very good indeed. For the country as a whole, the rate of homicide has dropped thirty-eight per cent. In every case where watchbirds reached the criminal, [X] the crime was prevented. (CONTINUES IN BG) Here's a state-by-state breakdown. Pennsylvania, homicide down twenty-seven per cent. New York, down thirty-one per cent. Ohio, down--
SPINNER: (STARTS AT [X] ABOVE) Turn it off, Fred.
GELSEN: Wait, I want to hear it.
SPINNER: Turn it off. You'll read all that in the morning newspapers. You know, I just thought what it is about the watchbirds that bothers me.
GELSEN: You have, eh?
SOUND: TV SWITCHED OFF
SPINNER: Fred, this wonderbird of yours has electronic learning circuits in addition to all the others, hasn't it?
GELSEN: That's right. The watchbirds are built to respond to certain stimuli and to carry out certain operations when they receive that stimuli.
SPINNER: And the learning circuits--?
GELSEN: Yes, I'm coming to that. Only certain murderers give out these stimuli. Without learning circuits, the watchbird would only be seventy per cent efficient. To stop all murders, the watchbird has to search out new definitions of murder and correlate them with what it already knows. See?
SPINNER: I see this much. You've given a mechanical device the power to think and learn. And I don't like it, Fred. I don't like it.
MUSIC: SOMBER BRIDGE ... THEN BEHIND GELSEN--
GELSEN: (NARRATES) Complaints like Jim's were few and far between in the early days. How could you complain with the homicide rate going down fifty per cent and more? It began to seem as though the boss's prediction about the millennium might come true. But then a flaw appeared. Jim Spinner phoned and asked me to meet him at the city morgue.
MUSIC: OUT BEHIND--
SOUND: GELSEN AND SPINNER'S STEPS AS THEY WALK THROUGH AN ECHOEY HALLWAY ... THEN IN BG--
GELSEN: Well, what's up, Jim?
SPINNER: Plenty. I'll show you in a minute. You hear about that fellow Walker who tried to kill his wife this morning up at Sunnydale?
GELSEN: Did I! The afternoon papers are full of it. Watchbird did a great job in that case, Jim. Stopped that man dead in his tracks.
SPINNER: Dead is right. I want you to have a look at his body. Here we are.
SOUND: THEIR STEPS STOP
GELSEN: (PAUSE) Hmm. (BEAT) Well?
SPINNER: Now look close, Fred. What do you suppose was the cause of death?
GELSEN: How should I know? Heart attack caused by fright?
SPINNER: No. The coroner tells me death was caused by electrocution.
GELSEN: What?
SPINNER: Walker was trying to strangle his wife when the watchbird appeared. But he wouldn't let go when the bird fired its first immobilizer charge at him, so the bird kept on shooting till he was dead.
GELSEN: I see.
SPINNER: Do you still think there's nothing to fear from this contraption of yours?
GELSEN: Well, look, Jim, it's pretty clear how this happened. The watchbirds are constructed to protect the victim of violence at whatever cost to the murderer. That bird was only following orders.
SPINNER: By taking the law into its own hands, by killing?
GELSEN: Well, that's - unfortunate. But see here, suppose Walker had succeeded in killing his wife and was arrested for it. What would have happened to him?
SPINNER: He would have been electrocuted at the state prison.
GELSEN: Exactly, Jim, exactly! This way, the bird did the job for you. What's the difference?
SPINNER: The difference is this. When the state condemns a killer, it's only after due process of law. A jury of men decide, and after that, a man pulls the switch. But this way, it's - it's inhuman!
MUSIC: HALF-WRY, HALF-GRIM BRIDGE
SOUND: INTERCOM BUZZES ... CLICK! OF SWITCH
GELSEN: Gelsen speaking.
MONROE: (FILTER) Fred, this is John Monroe. Come into my office, please.
GELSEN: I'll be right there, Chief.
SOUND: CLICK! OF SWITCH ... GELSEN RISES FROM DESK, WALKS TO OFFICE DOOR, WHICH OPENS
MONROE: (OFF) Sit down, Gelsen.
SOUND: DOOR CLOSES ... GELSEN'S STEPS TO CHAIR, WHICH SCRAPES AS HE SITS
MONROE: (CLOSER) Fred, I've called you and Mac in because we're up against a bit of a problem. These blasted watchbirds have gotten some peculiar ideas into their heads lately. Here, uh, read this, Gelsen.
SOUND: RATTLE OF PAPER
GELSEN: Er-- (READS, PUZZLED) "National Association of Slaughterers and Meatpackers"?
MONROE: Yes.
GELSEN: (READS BRISKLY) "Dear Sir. It has come to our attention by way of reports from member companies that watchbirds have been interfering recently with the orderly operation of their slaughterhouses. On numerous occasions, the birds have attacked workers slaughtering cattle. And in several other instances--"
MONROE: (INTERRUPTS) Well, that's the gist of it. The watchbirds won't let the slaughterhouse workers do their job. How do you account for that, Macintyre?
MACINTYRE: Sounds like the trouble is in the learning circuits. Look, Mr. Monroe, we provided the watchbirds with learning circuits to make them more efficient. Every day, their thinking centers correlate new facts that they've learned about murder. Now, apparently, they've come to the conclusion that slaughtering cattle is murder.
GELSEN: I think I've got the answer, Chief. We figured the watchbirds would think of murder as we do. But they don't think. They merely react to stimuli.
MONROE: Is that right, Mac?
MACINTYRE: I'm afraid so, Chief. We should have defined murder very carefully and precisely when we installed the learning circuits. As it is, the birds are making their own definition.
MONROE: Well, this is a fine time to discover it. Why didn't you think of it--? (INTERRUPTED BY--)
SOUND: PHONE RINGS ONCE ... RECEIVER UP
MONROE: (INTO PHONE) Hello? --- Yes, speaking. --- Who? --- (A LITTLE NERVOUSLY) Oh, yes. Yes, indeed. How-how-how do you do, Mr. Munday? --- What's that? Say that again, sir? --- But that's impossible! Uh-- Look here, sir. I-I-I'm in a conference right now. Can I call you back in half an hour, sir? --- Good. Yes, I'll certainly do that, sir. Goodbye.
SOUND: RECEIVER DOWN
MONROE: You know who that was, Macintyre? Mr. William Munday, head of the United States Department of Fisheries.
MACINTYRE: What did he want, chief?
MONROE: A flock of watchbirds gathered over Gloucester Harbor this morning. They won't let the fishing boats put out to sea!
GELSEN: Well, it stands to reason, chief -- watchbird reason, anyway -- that if slaughtering cattle is murder, why shouldn't commercial fishing be murder, too?
MONROE: (AGITATED) Oh, but this is ridiculous. It's insane. Munday's ready to blow his top. The biggest fishing port in the United States is tied up by those birds, and he wants to know what we're going to do about it!
MACINTYRE: Now, take it easy, Chief. It's nothing to get alarmed about. We'll just have to adjust the thinking circuits and make the watchbirds more, er, discriminating.
MONROE: And how long will that take?
MACINTYRE: Well, the birds operate independent of any central control, you know. They come back once a week for a repair checkup. We'll just have to adjust them one at a time.
MONROE: One at a time?! But what about the slaughterhouse people?! And the Gloucester fishermen?! And the United States government breathing down my neck?! I promised to call Munday back in half an hour.
MACINTYRE: They'll all have to wait until the birds come in, Chief. Until then, there's not a blessed thing we can do about it.
MUSIC: HALF-WRY, HALF-GRIM BRIDGE ... THEN GRIM TYMPANI, OUT AT [X]--
NEWSCASTER: Here are the latest developments on the watchbird situation. For the third straight day, rampaging watchbirds have kept the United States in a state of confusion and panic. In New York City, a crucial operation was interrupted by a watchbird which refused to permit the physicians to continue surgery. [X] At the Pennsylvania State Prison, the electrocution of a condemned convict was halted by a watchbird which immobilized the executioner. After meeting this afternoon with the President of the United States, Mr. John Monroe of Watchbird, Incorporated stated that--
GELSEN: (GROANS UNHAPPILY)
SOUND: CLICK! OF TV SWITCHED OFF
NORMA: Fred! I was listening to it.
GELSEN: I can tell you what Monroe said; I wrote the statement for him. (DRY) "We're proceeding with countermeasures as fast as we can." (ASIDE) As though that'll help much.
NORMA: But didn't you say Macintyre has worked out a limiting circuit?
GELSEN: Yes, but even so, we won't be able to do anything until the first of the watchbirds comes in for their weekly checkup on Friday.
NORMA: Hmm.
GELSEN: Oh, when I think how smug and cocky I was a month ago. Well, I've learned my lesson. The world was better off before those blasted birds were invented.
NORMA: I'm afraid the whole country has learned a lesson. Fred, why don't you ask Mr. Monroe to ground the watchbirds permanently?
GELSEN: I did, but he won't hear of it. He says, (ARCHLY) "a minor adjustment of the circuits and everything will be fine."
NORMA: Hold still, Fred.
GELSEN: Why?
NORMA: There's a moth on your shoulder. Oh, wait, I'll get a newspaper and--
SOUND: HOVERING WATCHBIRD, SLIGHTLY OFF ... THEN IN BG--
GELSEN: (TENSELY) Hold it, Norma. Don't touch that newspaper.
NORMA: I'll only be a second.
GELSEN: (SHARPLY) Now, never mind. There's a watchbird outside the window.
NORMA: Oooh, good heavens.
GELSEN: Now, sit down, dear. Sit down and get all thoughts of killing that moth out of your mind, and maybe that darn bird will go away.
SOUND: HOVERING WATCHBIRD FADES OUT INTO DISTANCE
GELSEN: Huh. (BEAT) Well, there it goes.
NORMA: (EXHALES WITH RELIEF) Oh, Fred, thank heaven.
SOUND: PHONE RINGS
GELSEN: Got to be careful with those things around, Norma. Very careful.
SOUND: RECEIVER UP ... SPINNER'S VOICE ON FILTER
GELSEN: (INTO PHONE) Hello?
SPINNER: Fred, this is Jim Spinner.
GELSEN: Hello, Jim. Well, go ahead and say it. You told me so, all right.
SPINNER: That's not what I called about. Have you heard the latest?
GELSEN: You mean that execution that was stopped at the Pennsylvania State Prison?
SPINNER: No. This just came over the teletype here at police headquarters. A man named Olsen tried to park his automobile a half an hour ago in the center of town. He was about to switch off the engine when a watchbird hit him. He tried again and the watchbird hit him again. This time for keeps. (NO RESPONSE) Fred? (NO ANSWER) Are you there?
GELSEN: (QUIETLY) Yes, I'm here, Jim. What can I say?
MUSIC: BRIEF GRIM TRANSITION ... THEN BEHIND GELSEN--
GELSEN: (NARRATES) What was there to say? The watchbird had reasoned perfectly, but not in human fashion. An automobile was a moving, functioning organism. Therefore, it was alive. To shut off the engine seemed to the watchbird like killing it. Therefore, the right of an automobile engine to go on running must be protected, even if the driver died. (MUSIC: ACCENT, THEN IN BG--) It went on like that. Cars, trucks, buses, and planes were forsaken by their drivers. No one would dare start an engine for fear of the danger involved in stopping it. Farmers stopped plowing the fields because the watchbirds had decided the earth was full of living organisms which had to be protected. The entire country was tied up. It was monstrous, madness, and nothing could be done about it. Something had to give.
SOUND: INTERCOM BUZZES ... CLICK! OF SWITCH ... MONROE'S VOICE ON FILTER
MONROE: Gelsen?
GELSEN: Yes, Chief?
MONROE: Well, you're going to have your way about the watchbirds. Adjusting the learning circuits won't be enough. Tell the service boys to ground them permanently as they come in. That's orders from the White House.
MUSIC: GRIM ACCENT ... THEN OUT
GELSEN: (NARRATES) On Friday morning, I got to the service center early. I wanted to be the first man there when the watchbirds came in. But Macintyre was there before me -- lying on the floor.
MACINTYRE: (BREATHLESS, WEAKLY) Fred! Sure am glad you're here. Help me up.
GELSEN: Sure, sure.
SOUND: GELSEN HELPS MACINTYRE TO HIS FEET
GELSEN: Are you all right?
MACINTYRE: Oh, I think so. No bones broken, anyway.
GELSEN: Well, what happened, Mac?
MACINTYRE: It was a watchbird.
GELSEN: (DISBELIEF) What?
MACINTYRE: It was waiting on the floor when I got here. So I went to work, disconnecting the kinetic system from the thinking center. But before I could pull a single vital tube, the thing let go with a blast from its immobilizer and knocked me out.
GELSEN: And the bird?
MACINTYRE: When I came to, it was gone.
GELSEN: But why, Mac? I don't understand it. They don't have any sense of self-preservation.
MACINTYRE: They don't need any sense of self-preservation, Fred. They've got something just as good. Didn't the watchbirds come to the conclusion that automobiles and so forth are living organisms, even though they are made of metal, because they run?
GELSEN: That's right.
MACINTYRE: That watchbird must have applied the same logic to itself. It could fly. It even had a kind of a thinking brain. Therefore, it must be a living organism, compelled to protect itself from murder.
GELSEN: Well, what are we going to do?
MACINTYRE: Nothing. I don't think any more watchbirds will come in for a checkup. That bird will warn all the others to stay away. We might as well go home.
GELSEN: I'll hate to face my wife with this news.
MACINTYRE: Your wife, eh? We've got to face the entire country.
MUSIC: A BRIEF WRY BRIDGE
MONROE: Where's Macintyre? By heaven, Gelsen, where's Macintyre?
GELSEN: He was notified of the meeting, Chief. He should be here any minute.
MONROE: Are you sure no birds came in for checkup? Are you absolutely certain?
GELSEN: Only the first one, Chief.
MONROE: Oh, then we're licked.
SOUND: OFFICE DOOR OPENS
MONROE: Mac, where have you been?
SOUND: DOOR CLOSES ... MACINTYRE'S STEPS IN
MACINTYRE: Trying to figure a way out of this thing.
MONROE: Have you come up with anything? Do you have any suggestions?
MACINTYRE: Only one. Without repairs, the watchbirds are bound to run down.
MONROE: How long would that take?
MACINTYRE: Oh, about six months.
MONROE: Six months?! You call that a solution?
MACINTYRE: It's the only one I could think of, Chief.
MONROE: Don't you realize the country's at a standstill? In six months, we'll have starvation here.
MACINTYRE: Uh-huh. Unless we can think of a way to bring them down sooner.
MONROE: Some way to bring-- (INSPIRED) That's the idea, Mac. Couldn't you design a super watchbird that does everything the watchbirds do and does it better? And couldn't you fix its thinking center so that it would hunt down the watchbirds and destroy them?
MACINTYRE: (THOUGHTFULLY) A hunter watchbird, eh? Yes, like a hawk.
MONROE: That's the idea.
MACINTYRE: Chief, I think you've got something. Yes, sir, that sounds like a workable solution.
MONROE: Well, work on it, Mac. Put the entire research and development staff to work on it. You've got to come up with something fast!
MUSIC: FOR SOMETHING FAST ... BRISK BRIEF XYLOPHONE-HEAVY TRANSITION
GELSEN: (NARRATES) And that's how the Hawks were born.
MUSIC: QUIETLY EERIE, IN BG, OUT AT [X]--
GELSEN: (NARRATES) It took Macintyre less than a week to build the prototype of the Hawk. He showed it to us on the floor of the factory.
SOUND: FACTORY FLOOR BACKGROUND
MACINTYRE: As you see, Mr. Monroe, the Hawk is more heavily armored than the watchbird. By the use of new tubes, we've been able to increase its speed by forty per cent. [X] Its immobilizer guns are designed to kill. And the Hawk's learning circuits are specially designed for hunting.
MONROE: Splendid, Macintyre, splendid. Gelsen, how soon can you get the Hawk into mass production?
GELSEN: I'm against it, Chief.
MONROE: What?
GELSEN: The plan is no good.
MONROE: Don't you think it'll work?
GELSEN: Oh, it'll work all right. But I'm afraid the cure will be worse than the disease. Haven't we learned yet? Don't you see, Mr. Monroe? We can't cure human problems by mechanization.
MONROE: Mr. Gelsen, I would enjoy hearing you philosophize, but unfortunately, people are being killed. Crops are being ruined. Unless the watchbirds are stopped, the country faces famine.
GELSEN: Didn't we once say that murder had to be stopped? And look what that got us into. I tell you, Chief, this isn't the way.
MONROE: Very well, Gelsen. What would you suggest?
GELSEN: Let the watchbirds run down by themselves.
MACINTYRE: But that'll take six months.
MONROE: Gelsen, are you serious?
GELSEN: Let's face it. Admit we were wrong trying to cure human problems by mechanical means. These Hawks aren't--
MONROE: (INTERRUPTS) Ridiculous! Gelsen, you've been working too hard. Maybe you ought to take a week off.
GELSEN: As you say, Chief.
MONROE: Well, wait a minute. I didn't mean right now. We can't spare you until you put the Hawks into production. The assembly lines must be rolling by the first of next week. Is that clear?
GELSEN: (RELUCTANTLY) I'll do my best, Chief.
MUSIC: BRIDGE ... THEN BEHIND GELSEN, IN AGREEMENT WITH FOLLOWING--
SOUND: FLYING WATCHBIRD AND HAWK, IN AGREEMENT WITH FOLLOWING--
GELSEN: (NARRATES) Ten days later, the first batch of Hawks were released. From the top of the tallest building in the city, I watched the first encounter between a Hawk and a watchbird. The watchbird was soaring over the housetops, unaware of the Hawk overhead. Suddenly, (SOUND: BIG ELECTRIC ZAP!) a power bolt from the Hawk slammed into the watchbird's wing. The watchbird was hurt, but it fought back. (SOUND: SMALLER ELECTRIC ZAP!) It had time to fire one bolt at the Hawk, a bolt that bounced harmlessly off the Hawk's heavily insulated body. And then the Hawk zeroed on the watchbird and hit it with the full force of its firepower.
SOUND: TWO BIG ELECTRIC ZAPS! ... EXPLOSION! OF WATCHBIRD
MUSIC: UP FOR A FALLING WATCHBIRD ... THEN IN BG--
NEWSCASTER: Turning now to the watchbird plague, the news today is favorable. To date, the Hawks have destroyed four thousand and twenty-three watchbirds, leaving only seven hundred and eighty to go.
MUSIC: UP FOR A TRIUMPHANT ACCENT ... THEN IN BG--
NEWSCASTER: Here is a special report just handed to me. (BEAT, DISMAYED) Ladies and gentlemen, this is terrible. (READS BROKENLY) "Boston, Massachusetts. A Hawk went berserk this evening, killing forty-seven people. The toll of death might have been far larger, but--"
MUSIC: GRIM ACCENT TOPS THE NEWSCASTER ... THEN OUT
SOUND: PHONE RINGS ... RECEIVER UP
MONROE: (WEARY, INTO PHONE) Hello? --- No, no, no, I don't want to speak to him. Look, Miss Evans, I don't want to talk to anybody. Just say you can't locate me.
SOUND: RECEIVER DOWN
GELSEN: Who was that, Chief?
MONROE: Washington, Justice Department.
GELSEN: Mm.
MONROE: This is incredible. Isn't there anything you can think of, Macintyre?
MACINTYRE: I don't know what to say, Chief. More than a thousand people killed so far this week.
MONROE: Maybe another bird, something that would hunt down the Hawks.
GELSEN: (EXASPERATED) Your next gadget would have to be even more self-sufficient and murderous. Haven't you learned yet, Chief?
MONROE: You're right, Gelsen, you're right. But why? How did this happen?
GELSEN: It's simple. The Hawk is a murder machine with improved learning circuits. But all it learns is more and better ways to kill. Since the Hawk has to kill and all the watchbirds have been wiped out, the Hawks have turned their attention to human beings.
MONROE: Heaven help us.
GELSEN: This is what comes of giving a machine the job that was our responsibility in the first place.
MUSIC: MOURNFUL BRIDGE
SOUND: HOUSE DOOR CLOSES, OFF
NORMA: Fred? Fred, is that you?
GELSEN: (OFF, DEJECTED) Yes, dear.
SOUND: GELSEN'S STEPS APPROACH
NORMA: Oh, dear, I'm so relieved that you got home safe with those terrifying Hawks up there in the sky.
GELSEN: I know, dear. Anyone hurt in the neighborhood?
NORMA: Fred, Mrs. Matthews was almost killed.
GELSEN: No.
NORMA: Yes, she just stepped out the front door when a Hawk dived at her. She got back into the house and slammed the door just in the nick of time.
GELSEN: Well, she was lucky.
NORMA: Lucky? Oh, you bet she was. (BEAT) Fred, we aren't going to have much for dinner tonight.
GELSEN: Oh, it doesn't matter. I'm not very hungry.
NORMA: I was afraid to go shopping. I'm afraid to leave the house.
GELSEN: I don't blame you.
NORMA: Well, we can have scrambled eggs and--
GELSEN: (INTERRUPTS) Wait a minute, Norma. Wait a minute, you've given me an idea. Hold everything.
NORMA: What?
SOUND: RECEIVER UP ... ROTARY PHONE DIALED BEHIND--
NORMA: What sort of an idea? Fred, who are you phoning?
GELSEN: Macintyre.
SOUND: PHONE RINGS (CALLER'S PERSPECTIVE) ... PICKS UP ... MACINTYRE'S VOICE ON FILTER
MACINTYRE: Hello?
GELSEN: Mac, this is Fred Gelsen.
MACINTYRE: Oh, hello, Fred. Glad to see you got home okay.
GELSEN: That's what I'm calling you about. Now, Mac, listen. Those Hawks are constructed to kill. They've got to kill. Now, isn't that right?
MACINTYRE: Right.
GELSEN: Now, what would happen if they couldn't find anything to kill? No human beings, livestock, horses, anything like that.
MACINTYRE: Well, they'd-- They'd turn to killing each other, I guess.
GELSEN: That's my idea, Mac.
MACINTYRE: What's that?
GELSEN: If the entire country were to stay at home behind locked doors and shuttered windows for a couple of days, we could get rid of this plague. The Hawks would exterminate each other.
MACINTYRE: Yes! I - I think they probably would. But getting two hundred million people to stay at home, how could that be arranged?
GELSEN: Easily, Mac. By presidential proclamation.
MUSIC: MILITARY BAND ACCENT ... THEN IN BG--
NEWSCASTER: Proclamation issued by the White House today reads as follows: "By the authority vested in me, I, the President of the United States, call on all residents of the United States to remain indoors during the three days commencing at sunrise August 10th and ending at sunrise August 13th. During this period, no one is to leave his home for any reason--"
MUSIC: GRIM ACCENT TOPS THE NEWSCASTER ... THEN OUT
GELSEN: (NARRATES) On the night of August 9th, Monroe, Macintyre, and I slept at the factory. Like everyone else in the country, we'd prepared enough food to last three days. On the morning of August 10th, the life of the country came to a standstill. All city streets were deserted. And in the countryside, all livestock was safe in the barns. We were at the tele-set in Mr. Monroe's office, waiting to see what the Hawks would do when they discovered that their potential victims had disappeared.
MACINTYRE: Monroe! Fred! Look at the vid-screen.
MONROE: What is it, Mac? By heaven, those Hawks are in a fight.
GELSEN: (PLEASED) I'll say they are. They're hitting each other with everything they've got. They can't last long at that rate, Mac.
MACINTYRE: No, I don't think they can. Look, Fred! One of them must have been hit in a vital spot. Yes! There he goes. He's going down!
MUSIC: FOR A FALLING HAWK ... THEN IN BG--
GELSEN: (NARRATES) For three days and nights, there was war in the sky. War without mercy as Hawks destroyed each other. The sky was full of man-made lightning as Hawks dueled and shot each other down. On the morning of the fourth day, when people emerged from their homes, the landscape was littered with aluminum shells and fire-blackened tubes and wires. But the skies were clear. Not a Hawk in sight. We had saved ourselves from ourselves.
MUSIC: UP FOR CURTAIN ... THEN OUT
HOST: That's it. "Watchbird" by Robert Sheckley, thanks to wonderful Galaxy Magazine, now on the stands.
MUSIC: EERIE, FUTURISTIC ... IN BG--
HOST: Next week, another extraordinary tale of tomorrow out of Galaxy Magazine called "Inside Earth" by Poul Anderson. The story of an interplanetary agent provocateur whose job was to stop rebellion by starting a revolution. This is your host, Omentor. Until next week, then, be kind to all birds.
MUSIC: UP TO FILL A PAUSE ... THEN IN BG, UNTIL END--
ANNOUNCER: TALES OF TOMORROW! Heard in tonight's play were Leon Janney as Gelsen, George Kluge as Monroe. Others in the cast were Mary Michael, John Raby, and Gerald Keene. Special sound effects by Ed Blaney and Bob Prescott. Technical supervision by Joe Durante. Your host, Omentor, was Raymond Edward Johnson. Music composed and conducted by Bobby Christian. Script adaptation by Michael Sklar. Produced by ABC in association with George Foley and directed by Warren Somerville.