World Without End

Encode to Washington.

No signal from XRM

since last reported at 0118.

- No further contact from XRM.

- That means trouble?

- Not necessarily.

- They cut off in the middle of a message.

- Could be radio trouble.

- What do people at White Sands say?

- No comment.

- Do you think they've crashed?

We don't think anything.

We just don't know.

- Excuse me.

- But, major...

Excuse me.

I'm sorry, Mrs. Jaffe.

Would you care to wait in my office?

- You'll be more comfortable there.

- No, thank you.

I'd better take the children home.

I want Daddy to come home with us.

He can't, Ginny. He's very far away.

Yes, very far.

Will you call me, please,

if you hear any news?

Yes, of course I will.

The moment we hear anything.

Thank you.

Why would a guy

with a wife and a couple of kids...

...wanna go

on a crazy expedition like that?

Has man's first flight into space

ended in disaster?

Dr. Eldon Galbraithe

and his crew of adventurers...

...are unreported for many hours...

...and grave fears are

felt for their safety.

Henry Jaffe,

navigator of the spaceship XRM...

...last reported that the ship

was approaching the planet Mars.

In the midst of a transmission

in which he described...

...the fabulous ice-capped poles of

the red planet, contact was suddenly lost.

All over the world, radio operators

are trying to reestablish contact.

Dr. Galbraithe, I still can't get anything.

- Are you sure it's not the equipment?

No, no, that's okay.

We lost contact

when we entered Mars' magnetic field.

Probably regain it as soon as we leave.

If we don't get it soon,

people will be worried about us.

We'll head for home

as soon as we complete the orbit, Henry.

John, look at this.

Ten degrees right, 15 degrees depress.

If only we knew what that green stuff is.

Perhaps it's a sort of moss or lichen.

If it's grass or a type of grass...

...there's no reason

why there can't be life on Mars.

So near and yet so far away.

- I wish we could land.

- So do I, John.

But our mission

is reconnaissance, exploration.

If we try to land now and crash...

...all the information we've gathered

crashes with us.

We'll be back.

And next time, we will land.

Henry, lay out a return flight plan

for 0200 departure.

Check.

- Herb.

Soon as your radio starts working again,

tell them we made two orbits of Mars.

Equator at 30,000 feet,

pole to pole at 20,000.

Complete photomapping all the way.

Tell them we've completed

all assignments and we're coming home.

Right.

Here's your initial heading, John.

Good. Prepare for standard acceleration.

- Home and mother.

We're heading for the barn.

What a reception we'll get.

My creditors will be deliriously happy.

All rockets forward.

Rockets forward, check.

Cut off at 15 miles per second.

Cut off at 15 miles per second, check.

- All set?

Right.

Here we go.

Speed, 15 miles per second.

- Acceleration leveling off.

Good.

You all right, doc?

Okay here.

There it goes, the planet Mars.

- Sliding into the distance.

- It'll be there when we come back.

I'll drink to that.

Who's for a slug of coffee?

Hull temperature going up.

Acceleration increasing.

We've lost flying attitude.

We're spinning!

Reverse rockets.

Reverse rockets!

I can't. I can't make it.

Our speed has reached

30 miles per second.

Hull temperature above danger point.

Seventy-eight miles per second.

Hey. Hey, we've landed.

My head. I have a terrible headache.

Oh, I've never been knocked out

like this before.

The acceleration

must have been fantastic.

It was. Look here.

- What?

Over a hundred miles per second.

Over a hundred miles per second?

The indicator is knocked

completely off the scale.

What do you make of it, doc?

- Where are we?

I don't know.

Mars was closest to us.

This could be one of Mars'

polar snowcaps.

We can be grateful

that we landed on snow.

It would have been

a rougher landing without it.

Will we be able to take off again?

We won't know that until we get outside

and check for damage.

I'll break out the oxygen helmets

and pressure suits.

Wait a minute, we may not need them.

It feels to me as though

we have plus-gravity.

Hank, will you turn off

the magnetic gravity?

Check.

You're right. It's normal now.

So is the atmospheric pressure.

There seems to be plenty

of oxygen out there.

- Well, this isn't Mars.

- No.

If it were Mars, the atmospheric density

would be one-tenth of normal.

Well, there's one way to find out.

Wonderful.

Let's get some warm clothes on,

it's cold out there.

Yes, sir. Thank you.

Hey, doc.

Doc, look at this.

A high background radiation count,

about 0.5 milliroentgens per hour.

About three times greater

than that of Earth.

Still not enough to be dangerous, though.

Some damage to control surfaces.

Not bad, but we'll need help to repair it.

Help?

How are we gonna get any help

on this godforsaken planet?

Doc, do you have any idea where we are?

No, Hank, I'm afraid not.

At the speed we attained,

we could be almost anywhere.

For the moment, let's say

we're on a planet similar to Earth.

I suggest we do some exploring

down below the snow line.

Herb, while we're packing some gear,

suppose you try the radio again.

Mm-hm. Right you are, skipper.

- We're ready to shove off.

- Right you are, John.

You know, it's uncanny.

I've swept every radio band.

There's nothing.

It's as if radio waves

had never been created.

Yeah, that is strange.

You know, if this is Venus

or some other strange planet...

...we're liable to run

into high-domed characters...

...with green blood in their veins,

who'll blast us with death-ray guns.

And there we'll be with these.

These poor old-fashioned shooting irons.

- Let's rest a bit.

- Uh...

I can use it.

Uh...

I can still see the ship up there,

above the snow line.

I'd say we've come about 12 miles.

Twelve miles in about four hours.

That's a dazzling speed

of three miles an hour.

How fast were we traveling yesterday

at this time?

Oh, we were only cruising,

38,000 miles an hour.

This is tougher, believe me.

See anything?

Forest, brush.

No sign of life anywhere.

- He's taking it hard, doc.

- Yes, I'm afraid you're right.

If Jaffe hadn't been the one man,

the man we had to have...

...I never would have taken anybody

with a wife and children.

Hey, John, doc.

Come here, will you? I found something.

- Think we ought to explore it?

- By all means.

Nature keeps most

of her ancient secrets in caves.

Hey. Hey, doc, will you look at that?

The creature that made this

must have been gigantic.

Look out.

Doc.

Come on, Hank.

I should have known

the moment I saw that web.

But spiders as big as dogs?

Poisonous, probably.

We should be grateful

none of us was stung.

Come on, let's get out of here, huh?

There's a clearing of some kind below.

Let's have a look.

Yes, I think you're right.

It's several miles away.

It'll be dark by the time we get there.

Let's bed down here for the night.

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