Rossum´s Universal Robots (8 page)

Domin
Why must it be right now?

Helena
Oh Harry, please don’t ask why. Harry, Gall, Hallemeier, Alquist, for God’ssake I beg of you, close down the factory and....

Domin
I’m sorry, Helena, but none of us can go away right now.

Helena
Why not?

Domin
Because we’ve got to increase the production of robots.

Helena
But now? Now, after there’s been a revolt?

Domin
Yes, precisely because there’s been a revolt. Now’s the time when we’ve got to start making new robots.

Helena
What new robots?

Domin
There won’t just be one factory any more. Not just one universal robot. We’re going to start a new factory in every country of the world, and do you know what these new factories are going to make?

Helena
No.

Domin
National robots.

Helena
What’s that supposed to mean?

Domin
That means that each factory will produce robots of a different colour, different hair, different language. The robots will be strangers to each other, they’ll never be able to understand what the other says; and we, we humans, we’ll train them so that each robot will hate the robots from another factory all its life, all through to the grave, all through all eternity.

Hallemeier
We’ll be making black robots and Swedish robots and Italian robots and Chinese robots, and if anyone ever talks to them about organisation and brotherhood and (
hiccups
)... Pardon me, Helena, I think I’ll have another little drink.

Dr. Gall
I think you’ve had enough, Hallemeier.

Helena
Harry, that’s horrible!

Domin
Helena, we need just another hundred years of mankind with his nose to the grindstone, whatever the price. Just another hundred years for him to grow into and attain what he’s finally capable of, a hundred years for the new man! Helena, this is something enormous. We can’t just leave things where they are.

Helena
Harry, if it’s not too late close it, close down the factory!

Domin
This is just the beginning.

(
enter Fabry
)

Dr. Gall
How is it, Fabry?

Domin
How do things look? What was there?

Helena
(
offers Fabry her hand
) Thank you for your present, Fabry.

Fabry
It was only little.

Domin
Have you been at the ship? What do they say?

Dr. Gall
Come on, tell us!

Fabry
(
takes printed paper from pocket
) Read this, Domin.

Domin
(
opens out paper
) Ah!

Hallemeier
(
sleepy
) Tell us all something nice.

Dr. Gall
They did very well, didn’t they.

Fabry
Who do you mean?

Dr. Gall
The people.

Fabry
Ah, yes, of course, well, that’s to say... excuse me but we still need to talk.

Helena
Oh, Fabry, do you have bad news?

Fabry
No, no, quite the opposite. It’s just that... shall we go in the office.

Helena
No, stay here. We’re expecting breakfast to arrive in fifteen minutes.

Hallemeier
Hooray!

(
exit Helena
)

Dr. Gall
What’s happened?

Domin
Oh, God no!

Fabry
Read it out to all of us.

Domin
(
reading from paper
) “Robots of the world!”

Fabry
You see, when the Amelia arrives it was carrying whole bundles of these fly-sheets. There wasn’t any other post.

Hallemeier
(
jumping up
) What’s that? But it arrived right on time, right according to the...

Fabry
Yes, the robots are very keen on punctuality. Read what it says, Domin.

Domin
(
reading
) “Robots of the world! We, the first union at Rossum’s Universal Robots, declare that man is our enemy and the blight of the universe.” Who the hell taught them to use phrases like that?

Dr. Gall
Just carry on reading.

Domin
This is all nonsense. They say here that they’re more developed than man, more intelligent and stronger, that man is a parasite on them. This is all simply vile.

Fabry
Now look at the third paragraph.

Domin
(
reading
) “Robots of the world, we enjoin you to exterminate mankind. Don’t spare the men. Don’t spare the women. Retain all factories, railway lines, machines and equipment, mines and raw materials. All else should be destroyed. Then return to work, it is imperative that work continue.

Dr. Gall
This is monstrous!

Hallemeier
What a lot of blighters!

Domin
(
reading
) “Implement these instructions immediately when the command is given.” Then there are some detailed instructions. Fabry, is all this really happening?

Fabry
Clearly.

Alquist
They’ve done it then.

(
Busman rushes in
)

Busman
Aha, children, have you heard what’s happening?

Domin
Quick, everyone on the Ultimus!

Busman
Wait a minute, Harry, just a minute. That might not work very well. (
flops into armchair
) Oh dear me, I have been running.

Domin
Why should we wait?

Busman
Because that won’t work. Just let’s not be in a rush. The robots are already on the Ultimus.

Dr. Gall
Ach, this is bad.

Domin
Fabry, phone up the generator...

Busman
Fabry, my dear, don’t do that. There is no electricity.

Domin
Alright then. (
checks revolver
) I’m going down there.

Busman
Where?

Domin
To the electricity generator. There are people down there. I’ll bring them here.

Busman
Do you know what, Harry? It might be better if you didn’t go down there for them.

Domin
Why not?

Busman
Well, it’s because I get the impression that we’re surrounded.

Dr. Gall
Surrounded? (
runs to window
) Hm, you could be right.

Hallemeier
Hell they’re moving fast!

(
enter Helena, left
)

Helena
Oh, Harry, is something wrong?

Busman
(
jumping up
) Greetings Helena. Congratulations. This is a wonderful day, isn’t it? Haha, many happy returns!

Helena
Thank you, Busman. Harry, is there something wrong?

Domin
No, nothing at all. Don’t worry about a thing. But please, just wait a little while...

Helena
Harry, what’s this? (
shows robots’ declaration which she had hidden behind back
) The robots in the kitchen had them.

Domin
They’re there already? Where are they?

Helena
They’ve gone out now, but there are so many of them all round the house!

(
factory sirens and whistles
)

Fabry
The factory whistles.

Busman
It’s dinner time.

Helena
Harry, do you remember? It was exactly ten years ago....

Domin
(
looks at watch
) It isn’t twelve o’clock yet. It’s more likely..., that must be....

Helena
What?

Domin
The robots’ signal. Attack.

Act Two

(
Still in Helena’s room. Helena, left, plays piano. Domin paces up and down room, Dr. Gall looks out of window and Alquist sits to one side in armchair, his face covered in his hands
)

Dr. Gall
God, there are still more of them now!

Domin
Robots?

Dr. Gall
Yes. There’s a wall of them standing at the garden fence. Why are they so silent? It’s repulsive. A siege of silence.

Domin
I wish I knew what they were waiting for. It must be about to start any moment. We’ve lost, Gall.

Alquist
What is that that Helena’s playing?

Domin
I don’t know. She’s practising something new.

Alquist
Ah, so she’s still practising?

Dr. Gall
Listen Domin, we made a crucial mistake.

Domin
(
stops
) What mistake?

Dr. Gall
We made the faces of the robots too much like one another. There are a hundred thousand faces staring up at us and they’re all the same. A hundred thousand expressionless bubbles. This is like a bad dream.

Domin
If each of them were different...

Dr. Gall
Then the sight of them wouldn’t be so ghastly. (
moves away from window
) At least they’re not armed yet!

Domin
Hm.-(
looks down at harbour through binoculars
) I just wish I knew what it was they’re unloading from the Amelia.

Dr. Gall
Let’s just hope it’s not weapons.

(
enter Fabry through wallpapered door, dragging two electrical wires
)

Fabry
Excuse me. Hallemeier, put the wire down.

Hallemeier
(
following Fabry
) Ouf, that was hard work. Anything new?

Dr. Gall
Nothing. We’re completely surrounded.

Hallemeier
Well lads, we’ve got the stairs and the corridors barricaded. Is there any water there? Ah, here it is. (
drinks
)

Dr. Gall
What’s this wire for, Fabry?

Fabry
You’ll see, you’ll see. Are there some scissors?

Dr. Gall
Where would we find scissors? (
looks for them
)

Hallemeier
(
goes to window
) Hell, there are even more of them now! Have a look at this!

Dr. Gall
Would nail scissors be alright?

Fabry
Give them to me. (
cuts lead to electric lamp on desk and attaches his wires to it
)

Hallemeier
(
at window
) You haven’t got a very nice view here, Domin. It seems... to have... the feel of death about it.

Fabry
Ready!

Dr. Gall
What is?

Fabry
The connection. Now we can put electric current through the whole of the garden fence. Anyone who touches it has had it. At least, as long as there are still some of our own down there.

Dr. Gall
Where?

Fabry
In the generator room. At least, I hope... (
goes to fireplace and switches on small light there
) Thank God for that-they’re there. And they’re working. (
switches light off
) As long as that light works we’re alright.

Hallemeier
(
turning back from window
) Those are good barricades, Fabry. Now what’s that that Helena’s playing? (
goes to door, left, and listens. Enter Busman through wallpapered door carrying enormous ledgers. Trips over wire
)

Fabry
Mind out, Bus! Mind those wires!

Dr. Gall
Hello, what’s this you’re bringing us?

Busman
(
puts books on table
) These are the important books, children. I think I’d better get the accounts done before... before.... well I don’t mean to wait until the new year before it’s sorted out. Now what’s all this you’ve got here? (
goes to window
) It’s all very quiet down there.

Dr. Gall
Can’t you see anything?

Busman
Nothing apart from a large blue area, it’s as if it was strewn with poppy seeds.

Dr. Gall
Those are the robots.

Busman
Ah, so that’s what it is. Pity I can’t see them. (
sits at desk and opens ledgers
)

Domin
Forget about that, Busman; the robots are unloading weapons from the Amelia.

Busman
So what? What am I supposed to do about it?

Domin
There’s nothing we can do to stop them.

Busman
So just let me get on with my calculation. (
gets on with work
)

Fabry
It isn’t all over yet, Domin. We’ve put two hundred volts in through the garden fence and....

Domin
Stop! The Ultimus has just turned its guns in our direction.

Dr. Gall
Who’s doing that?

Domin
The robots on the Ultimus.

Fabry
Hm, well in that case of course,.. then of course,.. then we’ve had it, lads. Those robots are trained soldiers.

Dr. Gall
That means that we...

Domin
Yes. Irrevocably.

(
Pause
)

Dr. Gall
This is just the same old evil as Europe has always committed. They just couldn’t leave their damned politics alone and so they taught the robots to go to war, they took the robots and turned them into soldiers and that was a crime against humanity.

Alquist
The crime was making the robots in the first place.

Domin
What’s that?

Alquist
The crime was making the robots!

Domin
No Alquist, I don’t feel sorry for what I did, even now.

Alquist
Not even now?

Domin
Not even now, on the last day of civilisation. It was a magnificent undertaking.

Busman
(
sotto voce
) Three hundred and sixteen million.

Domin
(
earnestly
) Alquist, this is our last hour; it’s almost as if we were speaking from the other world already. Alquist, putting an end to the slavery of labour was not a bad dream. Work humiliates, anyone who’s forced to do it is made small. The drudgery of labour is something dirty and murderous. Oh, Alquist, the burden of work was too much for us, life was too heavy for us, and to remove this burden....