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X Minus One - Courtesy

·24 min·2 clips

Only two of us are left, and I'll be dead in less than 23 minutes—what happened to our expedition?

This episode of the X Minus One radio series presents the science fiction story "Courtesy," adapted from a work by Clifford Simak. The narrative is a first-person account from Captain Ira Warren, the commander of a doomed expedition to the planet Landau. The story unfolds as a recorded warning for any future explorers who might visit this alien world. The second Earth expedition to Landau discovers its 180 men are doomed because their plague serum is expired and ineffective. Captain Warren organizes a small party, including the remorseful Doctor Morgan, the brutal soldier "Bat Ears" Brady, and the anthropologist Benny Faulkner, to seek a cure from the native Landrians. These small, gray humanoids live in caves and communicate through a drum-like code Faulkner has studied. A captured native indicates his people hold the answer but tells them they must "go among my people." Doctor Morgan volunteers to enter the caves alone but later falls to his death, leaving only the word "courtesy" scrawled in his notes. After Morgan's death, the plague rapidly kills the crew, but Benny Faulkner mysteriously recovers from his infection. Captain Warren interrogates Faulkner, searching for the reason he survived when all others perished. Warren revisits the word "courtesy" and recalls that Faulkner stepped out of the native's path during their encounter, an act of simple politeness. Warren theorizes the advanced cities were abandoned not due to a biological plague, but due to a societal sickness of greed and arrogance. The captain concludes the real "plague" is a lethal consequence of human arrogance and that courtesy was the unknown key to immunity. In his final moments, Captain Warren realizes he showed no such courtesy to the natives and thus has no chance of survival. The episode is a classic, suspenseful radio drama told through a reflective monologue and tense character dialogue. Its tone is grim and philosophical, blending a survival narrative with a moral parable about colonialism and humility. Listeners who enjoy vintage sci-fi with psychological depth and a Twilight Zone-style twist will appreciate this story. Those seeking modern, action-driven space adventures or conclusive, upbeat endings might find its pace and bleak resolution less engaging.

As heard by us

A tense first-contact story where desperation keeps outrunning certainty.

Courtesy stays tight on the second expedition to Landau, turning a desperate search for answers into a first-contact standoff with the landryans.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want vintage sci-fi with a plague-shadowed warning label.

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