The Ones Who Control the World: A Secret Society "The Others" Audio Drama

0:05 Speaker 1: It lies in wait amidst your dreams, where nothing is ever how it seems. It is a portal to a terrifying world beyond the doorway to nightmare. Nightmare. come in. Welcome. I'm your host, Artemis Black. In 1859, Charles Darwin published his work On the Origin of the Species, thus bringing forth the theory of evolution. Scientists, philosophers, theologians, and even ordinary people have been arguing over it Ever since.

1:11 Speaker 2: We have eyewitness descriptions of you, Mr.

1:14 Speaker 1: Zimmerman.

1:15 Speaker 2: We have video surveillance of you shooting your wife.

1:19 Speaker 3: Detective, you have to understand. Yes, I admit it. I shot her. But she was no longer my wife.

1:26 Speaker 2: And that makes it okay? When did you get divorced?

1:30 Speaker 3: No, we never got a divorce.

1:32 Speaker 2: So you murdered your wife in cold blood?

1:35 Speaker 3: That's what I'm trying to tell you. She was no longer my wife. She was no longer human.

1:45 Speaker 1: Our mystery drama, The Others, was written especially for Doorway to Nightmare by Winslow Swan and edited by Crimson McKenzie. Our stars include Nick Davis, Jonathan Rosignol, and Crimson McKenzie. I'll be back shortly with Act One. Carl Sagan once said, We are the representatives of the cosmos. We are an example of what hydrogen atoms can do, given 15 billion years of cosmic evolution. And I beg the question, Are we still evolving into what I hope a better version of a human being?

2:50 Speaker 3: Come on in. Door's open.

2:56 Speaker 2: Mr.

2:56 Speaker 1: Zimmerman.

2:57 Speaker 2: Benjamin Zimmerman?

2:59 Speaker 3: And who might you be?

3:02 Speaker 2: Detective Bailey. From Homicide.

3:05 Speaker 3: Took you long enough to get here.

3:06 Speaker 2: You were expecting me?

3:08 Speaker 3: Of course I was. Care for a drink?

3:14 Speaker 2: No sir. Well if you were expecting me then you already know why I'm here.

3:21 Speaker 3: Is this the part where you read me my rights?

3:23 Speaker 2: Would you care to explain to me why you shot that woman in the bar?

3:29 Speaker 3: You wouldn't believe me. Nobody believes me. I just want to stay here keep drinking and then Why.

3:37 Speaker 2: Don't you tell me what happened?

3:39 Speaker 3: Just like everyone else, you won't believe me.

3:43 Speaker 1: Mr.

3:43 Speaker 2: Zimmerman, I've been a detective for over 20 years. There is nothing that you can say that I haven't heard before.

3:53 Speaker 3: You haven't heard this one.

3:55 Speaker 2: Why don't you try me?

3:57 Speaker 3: Alright, let's play it your way. The woman I shot, and yes, I shot her, was my wife.

4:08 Speaker 2: Why don't you start at the beginning?

4:10 Speaker 3: I'm telling you, you will not believe me, but it's the truth. I was saving mankind.

4:20 Speaker 2: The world.

4:24 Speaker 4: Have you mixed the drinks already? You know how Dr. Phillips likes his martini.

4:31 Speaker 3: Yes, yes, I mixed it correctly.

4:33 Speaker 4: What are you looking for?

4:36 Speaker 3: Oh, I was looking for one of those cufflinks you gave me. I can't seem to find them.

4:40 Speaker 4: They're behind your cigar box on the right.

4:43 Speaker 5: What?

4:44 Speaker 3: Oh, yes, here they are. Wait, how did you know where they were? You've been sitting across the room putting your makeup on this entire time. How did you see them?

4:54 Speaker 4: Oh, I saw them in the mirror.

4:56 Speaker 3: Behind the cigar box?

4:58 Speaker 4: I must have seen them earlier and just remembered where they were.

5:03 Speaker 3: Yes, I suppose so. Well, anyway, I found them. Are you almost ready? The reservation is for eight.

5:10 Speaker 4: Just finishing up.

5:14 Speaker 3: That must be Eric.

5:20 Speaker 6: Well, I hope you have a drink prepared for this tired doctor.

5:24 Speaker 3: Of course I do. Come in. Glad you could tear yourself away from your practice.

5:30 Speaker 6: Where's Daniela?

5:31 Speaker 3: Now you know better than to expect her to be on time.

5:34 Speaker 1: Dr.

5:36 Speaker 7: Phillips!

5:39 Speaker 4: I see my husband has your customary martini.

5:43 Speaker 6: Now, Daniela, I have been your doctor for over ten years. When will you start calling me by my name?

5:52 Speaker 3: That's my wife, always being proper.

5:54 Speaker 4: I'm so sorry, Eric. I suppose that I will always stand on... conformity.

6:03 Speaker 6: You should live a little.

6:05 Speaker 4: Darn it!

6:05 Speaker 3: What is it, dear?

6:06 Speaker 4: I just noticed this stain on my dress. Give me just a few minutes and I'll change.

6:12 Speaker 6: Oh, well, it's not that noticeable.

6:15 Speaker 3: Forget it, Eric. You know she has to be perfect.

6:18 Speaker 4: Now, don't you be like that, Ben. I won't be but a minute.

6:26 Speaker 3: How's your drink?

6:27 Speaker 1: Hmm?

6:29 Speaker 6: Oh, it's fine.

6:31 Speaker 3: Eric, what's wrong?

6:33 Speaker 6: Will Daniela be very long?

6:36 Speaker 3: You know Daniela. She says a few minutes, but I can almost guarantee it will take at least 20.

6:42 Speaker 6: I need to talk to you, Ben. Privately.

6:45 Speaker 3: What's going on?

6:48 Speaker 6: I'm not sure. Look, that accident that she was in last week. Remember?

6:54 Speaker 3: How could I forget? She's doing quite well, though, if that's what you want to know.

6:58 Speaker 6: Oh, she's doing better than that. And that is what has me puzzled.

7:04 Speaker 3: In what way?

7:05 Speaker 6: I saw her in the ER after the accident. I talked with the resident and looked over her x-rays. Well, she had three broken ribs and quite a number of cuts and contusions.

7:17 Speaker 1: So?

7:18 Speaker 6: You know, I did a complete workup on her last year. MRI, blood tests, the whole nine yards.

7:26 Speaker 3: And you told us then she was the picture of health. So what's bugging you?

7:30 Speaker 6: She came into the office the next day after the accident.

7:35 Speaker 3: I didn't know that.

7:37 Speaker 6: Oh, she asked me not to say anything to you. Anyway, I did another complete workup.

7:43 Speaker 3: Is there a problem?

7:44 Speaker 6: Well, that's just it. There is no problem. Her ribs were completely broken in that accident. That in itself should have taken weeks to heal. They were fine. Completely restored.

8:01 Speaker 1: What?

8:02 Speaker 6: Oh, but that's not all. Her heart is smaller. Her liver has shrunk. And there is no appendix. I looked at the results from the MRI this afternoon. I found an anomaly in her brain.

8:21 Speaker 3: You don't mean... No. Not cancer.

8:25 Speaker 6: Well, that's just it. There is a growth in the back of her brain that seems to be pushing out of the skull.

8:34 Speaker 3: Can it be removed?

8:35 Speaker 6: Ben, I've never seen anything like it. It literally looks like... like. A new set of eyes.

8:53 Speaker 4: That was a wonderful meal. Thank you, darling, for... Honey? What's wrong? You've hardly said a word all evening.

9:06 Speaker 3: I'm sorry, dear. I guess I wasn't much company tonight.

9:09 Speaker 4: Is there something on your mind?

9:12 Speaker 3: As a matter of fact, there is.

9:13 Speaker 4: Well, then tell me. I am your wife, you know.

9:17 Speaker 3: It's something that Eric told me earlier.

9:20 Speaker 7: Oh, that... Then you know.

9:23 Speaker 3: Honey, what's going on?

9:26 Speaker 4: I'm not sure, Ben. All that I do know is that I've been going through some sort of change. Not in the way that you may think, but an actual physical change.

9:41 Speaker 3: In what way?

9:43 Speaker 4: At first, I noticed little things, but they have become more prevalent in the last few weeks. Oh, honey, I was gonna tell you, I just wasn't sure how.

9:57 Speaker 3: So what are you saying?

9:59 Speaker 7: I'm leaving you tonight.

10:02 Speaker 3: Now don't be absurd whatever is going on we can fight it together I'm.

10:07 Speaker 4: Sorry Ben I still love you honestly I do but just not in the same way.

10:15 Speaker 3: What do you mean I love you Like.

10:19 Speaker 4: I would love a small puppy or a kitten.

10:22 Speaker 7: You've become a lower species to me.

10:26 Speaker 3: Now that doesn't make any sense.

10:29 Speaker 7: It's hard to explain. I just.

10:32 Speaker 4: I feel different. I am now able to do things with my mind that I was never able to do before. It's as if my body and mind are evolving into something....

10:49 Speaker 7: Better.

10:51 Speaker 3: I still don't understand why.

10:53 Speaker 4: Please, Ben. Try to understand. I have to leave you. Because you are no longer necessary to me.

11:08 Speaker 1: The theory goes that the strongest will survive. That through natural selection, the more advanced... of the species will continue on. We will continue on to Act 2 when I return.

11:41 Speaker 1: One of the most argued theories is that of Charles Darwin's It has been the center of controversy for many years, and depending on which side you are on, it will be argued for many more.

11:58 Speaker 2: Mr. Zimmerman, you're not telling me anything.

12:01 Speaker 4: But I am.

12:02 Speaker 3: You have to understand the reasons why I shot my wife.

12:05 Speaker 2: Okay, so she left you. How long ago was that?

12:08 Speaker 3: About six months ago, after our little talk.

12:11 Speaker 2: But you did see her before tonight.

12:14 Speaker 1: Yes.

12:15 Speaker 3: It was purely by accident. I was reading the paper when I saw her picture. She was working at the Alpha Institute.

12:22 Speaker 2: What is the Alpha Institute?

12:25 Speaker 3: Your guess is as good as mine. I tried finding out.

12:28 Speaker 2: And did you?

12:29 Speaker 3: The only thing that I could find was that it was some sort of a think tank for research.

12:36 Speaker 2: So your wife gets a better job than you and decides to lead her own life. But that's no reason to kill her. That wasn't it.

12:44 Speaker 3: No, she was changing both mentally and physically.

12:58 Speaker 4: Ben? What are you doing here?

13:01 Speaker 3: I saw your picture in the papers, Daniela. Please, what's going on?

13:05 Speaker 4: Oh, Ben. I wish you wouldn't have came. It could be very... dangerous. For both of us.

13:15 Speaker 3: Dangerous? In what way?

13:17 Speaker 4: Please, you must go. Don't ever come back.

13:22 Speaker 3: Daniela, I demand to know what you are doing.

13:26 Speaker 7: All right, Ben.

13:28 Speaker 4: Come in here.

13:35 Speaker 3: Fine. Now what's going on? And who's behind that desk?

13:38 Speaker 4: He's no one. No one important anyway.

13:41 Speaker 3: I still don't understand.

13:42 Speaker 4: I told you that I was going through some changes. I now know what is going on. Think of me as a better human being than I was.

13:58 Speaker 3: You mean better than me?

14:00 Speaker 4: I'm sorry, Ben. You must leave before they find you.

14:04 Speaker 3: Before who finds me?

14:05 Speaker 4: Did you think that I was the only one?

14:08 Speaker 7: There are many of us.

14:09 Speaker 3: But who are they?

14:11 Speaker 4: That is all I can tell you. Now please, go. While there is still time.

14:17 Speaker 2: So you left.

14:22 Speaker 1: Yes.

14:23 Speaker 3: But then I decided that I wanted more answers. So I walked back to the door. Before I actually went in, I could hear her talking with the man I saw sitting behind the desk.

14:32 Speaker 2: What was she saying?

14:34 Speaker 3: She told the man to breathe deep, then exhale. She told him to do it again.

14:46 Speaker 1: And then.

14:47 Speaker 3: Then.

14:50 Speaker 4: Yes?

14:51 Speaker 2: What happened?

14:54 Speaker 3: She told the man to stop breathing. I heard him gasping for air and then I heard him fall.

15:00 Speaker 2: But... You didn't actually see anything? No!

15:03 Speaker 3: I got out of the place as soon as I could.

15:06 Speaker 2: Sounds to me that you heard someone having an attack of some kind and simply fainting.

15:11 Speaker 3: That's what I told myself, but then I found her in the bar tonight.

15:21 Speaker 1: Daniela?

15:22 Speaker 6: Ben!

15:22 Speaker 4: Why do you insist on seeing me? I told you it's dangerous for both of us.

15:30 Speaker 3: Daniela, please come back home. I miss you so much.

15:38 Speaker 4: I could never go back to you. You are no longer worthy of even being called human.

15:50 Speaker 3: What do you mean?

15:52 Speaker 4: The human race, or at least part of it, is evolving into something much more important.

16:01 Speaker 3: What the hell are you talking about?

16:03 Speaker 4: Everyone in the world has that potential for growing.

16:12 Speaker 7: Only a few achieve it.

16:15 Speaker 3: And what happens to the rest?

16:18 Speaker 4: Bartender?

16:22 Speaker 3: What are you gonna do?

16:25 Speaker 4: Bartender, I think that your heart has stopped beating.

16:35 Speaker 3: My god, he's... he's dead!

16:38 Speaker 7: You see, Ben?

16:41 Speaker 2: We.

16:42 Speaker 7: Are getting ready.

16:44 Speaker 1: Ready?

16:45 Speaker 3: Ready for what?

16:47 Speaker 4: The world is about to go through a great change.

16:52 Speaker 3: Not if I have anything to say about it. You're a cruel and evil thing.

16:56 Speaker 4: Put that silly thing away.

17:01 Speaker 3: No! Something has to be done. Whatever you've become, I'm stopping you.

17:07 Speaker 1: Now!

17:13 Speaker 2: And that's when you killed her?

17:15 Speaker 1: Yes.

17:17 Speaker 3: I had to do something. Don't you see? She killed the bartender with just a word. She killed that other man in the Alpha Institute. She had to be stopped.

17:26 Speaker 2: And you think that your gun did the trick?

17:30 Speaker 3: I'm ready to go to the station with you. I'll make a full statement.

17:34 Speaker 2: I don't believe that will be necessary, Mr. Zimmerman.

17:37 Speaker 3: But why?

17:39 Speaker 2: You can come in now.

17:46 Speaker 3: But that's impossible.

17:47 Speaker 4: For our kind, the new human race, nothing is impossible.

18:12 Speaker 1: There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, wrote Shakespeare. And while science has unraveled many mysteries, there are still so many yet undiscovered. I'll be back shortly with Act Three. The author Isaac Osmoff once said that science does not purvey absolute truth. It is a mechanism, a way of trying to improve the knowledge of nature, a system for testing your thoughts against the universe and seeing if they match.

19:08 Speaker 3: Daniela, how is it possible?

19:10 Speaker 2: She tried to warn you off, Mr.

19:12 Speaker 1: Zimmerman.

19:14 Speaker 2: You should have heeded her advice.

19:16 Speaker 4: Do we really have to do this?

19:22 Speaker 2: I'm afraid you have no choice. I will leave you two alone.

19:31 Speaker 3: I don't understand, Daniela. What do you not have a choice about?

19:34 Speaker 7: I told you, Ben.

19:37 Speaker 4: The world is about to go through a great change, but not everyone will evolve as we have.

19:45 Speaker 3: So you and your kind are planning on mass extinction?

19:49 Speaker 4: There are seven billion people on this tiny planet. Given a world to nurture and sustain. They have all but destroyed it.

20:02 Speaker 7: We are rescuing the human race.

20:05 Speaker 2: By murder?

20:07 Speaker 3: How many of you are there?

20:08 Speaker 7: When all have evolved.

20:10 Speaker 4: There will be only.

20:13 Speaker 7: Two million of us.

20:15 Speaker 3: My God, you are evil.

20:18 Speaker 7: I'm sorry, Ben. I truly am.

20:22 Speaker 3: What are you doing?

20:24 Speaker 7: Take a deep breath.

20:27 Speaker 1: Please, no.

20:29 Speaker 7: Now let it out. Slowly.

20:34 Speaker 3: Daniella, I loved you.

20:37 Speaker 7: Now, Ben, don't... Breathe again.

20:43 Speaker 4: Ever.

20:52 Speaker 3: Bravo, bravo.

20:53 Speaker 7: Die, Ben.

20:55 Speaker 4: I told you to die.

20:56 Speaker 3: Now I am the one who is sorry. Did you honestly think that we would allow this to happen?

21:06 Speaker 4: No.

21:09 Speaker 7: No, no, Ben.

21:10 Speaker 4: What do you mean, we?

21:13 Speaker 3: We have been nurturing and watching over this planet for billions of years, and we are not about to let a few upstarts upset our plans.

21:24 Speaker 4: But that is what we are trying to do. Help this tiny little world.

21:29 Speaker 3: By killing off the majority of the species.

21:32 Speaker 4: That was never the plan. I just.

21:38 Speaker 7: I didn't like you.

21:44 Speaker 3: Your kind never plan, but we always do.

21:49 Speaker 4: That's not true. Ben?

21:52 Speaker 3: I think that perhaps your head is hurting.

21:57 Speaker 4: Ben! My head! Please make it stop!

22:01 Speaker 3: It's getting worse, isn't it? So bad that your head is going to... Explode.

22:11 Speaker 4: No! No! Ben!

22:24 Speaker 3: Evolve, you are but an ant to me. Oh, it will be so much fun to hunt down the rest of you. Oh, Detective Bailey, will you come here for a moment? I think we need to talk.

22:39 Speaker 1: Benjamin Zimmerman sits in a chair, his dead wife lying on the floor, her head exploded. He smiles as Detective Bailey walks in. I'll be back shortly with a final word.

23:16 Speaker 1: Carl Sagan once said, somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. But ask yourself, is the human race ready for such things? Our cast included Nick Davis, Jonathan Rosignol, and Crimson McKenzie. The story was edited by Crimson McKenzie and directed by Winslow Swan. And now, a preview of our next tale.

23:52 Speaker 6: Dorothy, I've got a problem.

23:55 Speaker 4: How bad could it possibly be this time, Fred?

23:59 Speaker 6: Well, let me ask you.

24:01 Speaker 5: If you knew something bad, was going to happen, but you were not allowed to warn someone, what would you do?

24:13 Speaker 4: That is a rather interestingly crazy moral dilemma. If it were me, I would try to prevent whatever was about to happen.

24:24 Speaker 6: Yeah, that's what I was afraid you were going to say.

24:27 Speaker 4: Fred, what's all this about?

24:31 Speaker 1: Well, Dorothy, I....

24:34 Speaker 6: I have some bad news.

24:38 Speaker 1: This is your host, Artemis Black, inviting you to join us through the doorway to nightmare for another adventure into the world of your terrifying imagination. Until next time, slumber peacefully.

25:03 Speaker 1: Epilogue The butler did it.