Rossum´s Universal Robots (5 page)

Helena
A dog doesn’t have reason.

Nana
He’s better than what they are, Helena. He knows perfectly well it was God what made him and that he’s better than they are. Even the horse takes fright when he comes across one of those heathens. They don’t have children, but even a dog has children, everyone has children.

Helena
Nana, do me up here, please.

Nana
Alright. It’s against the will of God, that’s what I say; work of the Devil, itis, making scarecrows like that with machines. It’s blasphemy against the Creator, (
raises hands
) it’s an offence against the Lord who made us in His own image, Helena. And you’ve dishonoured the image of God, that’s what you’ve done. You’ll suffer a terrible punishment from God for that, you will, just you remember that, a terrible punishment.

Helena
What’s that nice smell?

Nana
Flowers. The master put them here.

Helena
Oh, they’re lovely! Nana, come and look! What day is it today?

Nana
I don’t know. Must be the Day of Judgement, I should think.

(
knock at door
)

Helena
Harry?

(
enter Domin
)

Helena
Harry, what day is it today?

Domin
Guess!

Helena
My name-day? No! My birthday?

Domin
Better than that.

Helena
I don’t know. Tell me, tell me!

Domin
It was ten years ago today that you arrived here.

Helena
Ten years, already? On this day?-Nana, please...

Nana
Alright, I’m comin! (
exit right
)

Helena
(
kisses Domin
) And you remembered it!

Domin
Actually, I’m ashamed to say, I didn’t remember.

Helena
But...

Domin
It was them who remembered.

Helena
Who?

Domin
Busman, Hallemeier, all of them. Reach into my pocket, here, will you?

Helena
(
puts hand into his pocket
) What is it? (
takes out case and opens it
) Pearls! A whole necklace of them! Harry, is that for me?

Domin
That’s from Busman.

Helena
But... we can’t accept it, can we?

Domin
Course we can. Reach into my other pocket.

Helena
Let me see! (
takes revolver out of pocket
) What’s this?

Domin
Oh, sorry. (
takes revolver from her and puts it away
) That’s not it. Try again.

Helena
Oh, Harry-why are you carrying a revolver round with you?

Domin
Well, I just am, it got in there somehow

Helena
You never used to carry a gun!

Domin
No, you’re quite right. Here’s the pocket, look..

Helena
(
reaching in
) A little box! (
opens it
) Cameos! And they’re... Harry, they’re Greek cameos!

Domin
Clearly. At least that’s what Fabry says.

Helena
Fabry? It’s Fabry who gave me these?

Domin
Course it is. (
opens door, left
) And look at this, Helena, come over here and have a look!

Helena
(
at the door
) God, that’s so beautiful! (
runs on
) I’ll go mad with happiness! Is that from you?

Domin
(
standing at door
) No, that’s from Alquist. And this...

Helena
From Gall! (
appears in the doorway
) Oh, Harry, I’m so happy I should be ashamed of myself.

Domin
Come here. This is what Hallemeier got you.

Helena
These lovely flowers?

Domin
This one. It’s a new species, Cyclamen Helenae. He developed it in honour of you. It’s as beautiful as you are.

Helena
Harry, why... why did they all...

Domin
Because they’re very fond of you. And I got you... er.. I’m afraid my present might be a bit... er... come and look out the window.

Helena
Where?

Domin
Down in the harbour.

Helena
There’s... there’s a new boat down there!

Domin
That’s your boat.

Helena
Mine? Harry, that’s a gunboat!

Domin
A gunboat? What makes you think that? It’s just a bit bigger, that’s all, a good solid boat, see?

Helena
Yes, and fitted with cannons!

Domin
Well, its got some cannons, course it has... you’ll travel like a queen, Helena.

Helena
Why a gunboat? Is there something wrong?

Domin
God forbid! Look, try these pearls on! (
sits
)

Helena
Harry, has there been some kind of bad news?

Domin
On the contrary-there hasn’t been any post at all for a week.

Helena
Not even a fax?

Domin
Not even a fax.

Helena
And what should we make of that?

Domin
Nothing. It means we’re on holiday. A wonderful time. We all just sit in the office, put our feet on the desk and do nothing. No post, no telegrams (
stretching himself out
) Wonderful!

Helena
(
sitting beside him
) You’re staying with me today, aren’t you. Tell me you are!

Domin
Yes, that’s quite certain. Well, I expect so. We’ll see. (
takes her hand
) Ten years to the day. Do you remember? Miss Glory, what an honour it is for us that you’ve come.

Helena
Oh, Mister Managing Director, I’m so interested in you factory!

Domin
I beg your pardon, Miss Glory, you see it is strictly forbidden to... you see making artificial people is a very secret process...

Helena
But what if it’s girl who’s asking who’s slightly pretty....

Domin
But of course, Miss Glory, we have no secrets from you.

Helena
(
suddenly serious
) Are you sure about that, Harry?

Domin
No.

Helena
(
again in earlier tone
) But do be careful, sir; this little girl has frightful intentions

Domin
Good heavens, Miss Glory, what could that be? Are you thinking of getting married?

Helena
No, no, God forbid! Not in my wildest dreams! I’ve come here with plans to start a revolution among your horrible robots!

Domin
(
jumping up
) A robot revolution?!

Helena
(
standing
) Harry, what’s wrong?

Domin
Haha, Miss Glory, you’ll never manage that! A robot revolution! You might more easily start a revolution among the nails and bobbins in the spinning mill than among our robots! (
sitting
)
You were a wonderful girl, you know, Helena, you enchanted all of us.

Helena
(
sitting beside him
) But I felt so daunted by all of you in those days! I felt like a little girl who’d got lost among... among...

Domin
Among what, Helena?

Helena
Among enormous trees. You were so confident, so powerful! And you know, Harry, even after these ten years I’ve never lost that feeling of... that anxiety or something. And did younever have any doubts? Not even when everything was going wrong?

Domin
What was going wrong?

Helena
Your plans, Harry. When there was that uprising against the robots by the workers and they started smashing them, and the robots were given weapons to defend themselves and the robots killed so many people. Or when governments started turning robots into soldiers and there was so much war, and all of that. You know.

Domin
(
stands and walks up and down
) We were expecting that to happen, Helena. Don’t you see, that was just a transitional stage before things would be... different.

Helena
All the world admired you-(
standing
) Oh, Harry!

Domin
What do you want?

Helena
(
stops him
) Shut down the factory and let’s go away somewhere. All of us!

Domin
Now what’s that got to do with it?

Helena
I don’t know. How about it, shall we go? There’s something making me feel so uneasy.

Domin
(
takes her hand
) What?

Helena
Oh, I don’t know! It’s as if there’s something about to fall down on us and everything around us, something that can’t be taken off again. Please Harry, let’s do it! Let’s just get away from here, all of us! Let’s find somewhere where there are no people, Alquist can build a house for us, everyone can get married and have children, and then...

Domin
What then?

Helena
Then we can start all over again.

(
telephone rings
)

Domin
(
pulls himself away
) Helena, excuse me. (
picks up receiver
) Hello... yes.... What?.... aha.... I’ll be right there. (
hangs up
) That was Fabry.

Helena
(
wringing hands
) Tell me...

Domin
Yes, as soon as I get back. I’ll see you later. (
rushes out, left
)
Don’t go outside!

Helena
(
alone
) Oh, my God, what’s happening? Nana, Nana, come quickly!

Nana
(
enters right
) Yes, what is it now?

Helena
Nana, get me the latest papers! Quick! They’re in the master’s bedroom!

Nana
Alrigh’. (
exit left
)

Helena
What’s going on, for God’s sake? Nothing, they never tell me anything! (
takes binoculars and looks at harbour
) That’s a warship! My God, what’s a warship doing there? And what’s that they’re loading onto it, and in such a hurry? What’s happened? That name on it;’Ul-ti-mus-‘What’s that supposed to mean-‘Ultimus’?

Nana
(
returns with papers
) Lying about all over the show, they were, all crumpled and screwed up.

Helena
(
hurriedly opens papers
) They’re old, these are already a week old! Nothing, they’ve got nothing in them. (
drops paper
)

(
Nana picks up paper, takes horn-rimmed glasses from apron, sits down and reads
)

Helena
There’s something going on, Nana! I’m so worried! It’s as if everything were dead, even the air...

Nana
(
syllable by syllable
) “War in the Balkans.” Oh Jesus, it’s God, He’s punishing us again! And they’re gonna come here with their armies and all! How far away’s that, then?

Helena
It’s a long way away. Oh don’t read that, it’s always the same, always the same wars and....

Nana
Well of course it’s always about wars! What d’you expect if they keep selling thousands and thousands of them heathens to make them into soldiers? Oh, Jesus Christ, what a mess!

Helena
Just stop reading them, will you! I don’t want to hear about it.

Nana
(
syllable by syllable
) “Ro-bot sol-diers show no mer-cy to lo-cal pop-... pop-u-la-tion. More than sev-en hund-red thou-sand mass-a-cred” Here, that’s people, Helena!

Helena
That can’t be right! Let me see... (
leans over paper, reads
) “More than seven hundred thousand massacred by order of commander. These atrocities...” Do you hear that, Nana, it was people who gave them the order to do it!

Nana
Wha’s this down here in heavy print? “Lat-est re-ports; first u-nions est-ab-lished by ro-bots in Le Hav-re” I don’t know what all that’s about, can’t be important. What’s this, though; another murder! Jesus Christ!

Helena
You can go, Nana, take these papers with you!

Nana
Hold on, there’s something here in big letters; “pro-cre-a-tion”; what’ that then?

Helena
Let me see, I’ll read it (
takes paper
) Well, that’s odd! (
reading
) “Once again, not a single birth has been recorded during the seven days.” (
puts paper down
)

Nana
What’s all that about then?

Helena
Nana, people have stopped having children.

Nana
(
puts glasses away
) Well that’s it then. We’ve really had it now.

Helena
Please, Nana, don’t talk like that!

Nana
People stopped having children? It’s a punishment, it’s a punishment! The Good Lord’s punished us by making all the women infertile.

Helena
(
jumping up
) Nana!

Nana
(
standing
) It’s the end of the world. You thought you could make people like God, and that was pride the pride of Satan. Godless, that was, heresy, trying to be like God. God’s already thrown people out from Paradise, and now He’s doing it out from the whole world.

Helena
Nana, please just be quiet! What do you think it is I’ve done? Have I harmed you, have I done anything to this spiteful Good Lord or yours?

Nana
(
making large gesture
) Don’t you start blaspheming, now! He knows perfectly well why he didn’t give you no children. (
exit left
)

Helena
(
at window
) Why he didn’t... Oh God, how could I help it? (
opens window and calls to Alquist
) Hello, Alquist! Come up here!... What?... No, just come up, just as you are! You look so sweet dressed like a bricklayer! Hurry! (
closes window and stands in front of mirror
) Why didn’t He give me children? Why not me? (
bows down to mirror
) Why not? Why not? Do you hear me? How could I help it? (
standing upright
) Oh, I’m so worried! (
goes out, left, to meet Alquist
)

(
pause
)