Kaleidoscope

Originally Aired: July 12, 1955 Suspense #606, "Kaleidoscope," presents Ray Bradbury's haunting tale of catastrophe in the void of space. When a routine cargo run goes terribly wrong, Captain Hollis and his crew of the third-class spaceship face their worst nightmare as a malfunctioning rocket tube explodes, tearing their vessel apart. The survivors—including Hollis, Stone, Applegate, Lespair, and Stimpson—are thrown into space in their sealed suits without propulsion units. Unable to control their trajectories, they become human meteors hurtling away from each other at thousands of miles per hour, each heading toward a different fate. Some plummet toward Earth, others drift toward the moon, but all face certain death. As their radio phones allow them to communicate for what little time remains, the crew members react in vastly different ways. Lespair reminisces about his secret life as an interplanetary bigamist, finding unexpected peace in his memories. Stimpson struggles with terror and disbelief. The bitter Applegate seizes his final moments to voice long-suppressed resentments against Captain Hollis, launching a mutiny that no longer matters. Suspended in the vast emptiness of space with only their voices connecting them, each man must confront the end in his own way.