Sense of Wonder: A Century of Science Fiction
Page 31
DOMIN: There are over thirty of us on this island. Are we to sell the secret and save that many human souls, at the risk of enslaving mankind…?
BUSMAN: Why, you’re mad? Who’d sell the whole manuscript?
DOMIN: Busman, no cheating!
BUSMAN: Well then, sell; but afterward—
DOMIN: Well?
BUSMAN: Let’s suppose this happens: When we’re on board the Ultimus I’ll stop up my ears with cotton wool, lie down somewhere in the hold, and you’ll train the guns on the factory, and blow it to smithereens, and with it Rossum’s secret.
FABRY: No!
DOMIN: Busman, you’re no gentleman. If we sell, then it will be a straight sale.
BUSMAN: It’s in the interest of humanity to—
DOMIN: It’s in the interest of humanity to keep our word.
HALLEMEIER: Oh, come, what rubbish.
DOMIN: This is a fearful decision. We are selling the destiny of mankind. Are we to sell or destroy? Fabry?
FABRY: Sell.
DOMIN: Gall?
DR. GALL: Sell.
DOMIN: Hallemeier?
HALLEMEIER: Sell, of course!
DOMIN: Alquist?
ALQUIST: As God wills.
DOMIN: Very well. It shall be as you wish, gentlemen.
HELENA: Harry, you’re not asking me.
DOMIN: No, child. Don’t you worry about it.
FABRY: Who’ll do the negotiating?
BUSMAN: I will.
DOMIN: Wait till I bring the manuscript.
He goes into room at right.
HELENA: Harry, don’t go!
Pause. HELENA sinks into a chair.
FABRY: (looking out of window)
Oh, to escape you; you matter in revolt; oh, to preserve human life, if only upon a single vessel—
DR. GALL: Don’t be afraid, Madame Helena. We’ll sail far away from here; we’ll begin life all over again—
HELENA: Oh, Gall, don’t speak.
FABRY: It isn’t too late. It will be a little State with one ship. Alquist will build us a house and you shall rule over us.
HALLEMEIER: Madame Helena, Fabry’s right.
HELENA: (breaking down)
Oh, stop! Stop!
BUSMAN: Good! I don’t mind beginning all over again. That suits me right down to the ground.
FABRY: And this little State of ours could be the centre of future life. A place of refuge where we could gather strength. Why, in a few hundred years we could conquer the world again.
ALQUIST: You believe that even today?
FABRY: Yes, even today!
BUSMAN: Amen. You see, Madame Helena, we’re not so badly off.
DOMIN storms into the room.
DOMIN: (hoarsely)
Where’s old Rossum’s manuscript?
BUSMAN: In your strong-box, of course.
DOMIN: Someone—has—stolen it!
DR. GALL: Impossible.
DOMIN: Who has stolen it?
HELENA: (standing up)
I did.
DOMIN: Where did you put it?
HELENA: Harry, I’ll tell you everything. Only forgive me.
DOMIN: Where did you put it?
HELENA: This morning—I burnt—the two copies.
DOMIN: Burnt them? Where? In the fireplace?
HELENA: (throwing herself on her knees)
For heaven’s sake, Harry.
DOMIN: (going to fireplace)
Nothing, nothing but ashes. Wait, what’s this?
(Picks out a charred piece of paper and reads)
“By adding—”
DR. GALL: Let’s see. “By adding biogen to—” That’s all.
DOMIN: Is that part of it?
DR. GALL: Yes.
BUSMAN: God in heaven!
DOMIN: Then we’re done for. Get up, Helena.
HELENA: When you’ve forgiven me.
DOMIN: Get up, child, I can’t bear—
FABRY: (lifting her up)
Please don’t torture us.
HELENA: Harry, what have I done?
FABRY: Don’t tremble so, Madame Helena.
DOMIN: Gall, couldn’t you draw up Rossum’s formula from memory?
DR. GALL: It’s out of the question. It’s extremely complicated.
DOMIN: Try. All our lives depend upon it.
DR. GALL: Without experiments it’s impossible.
DOMIN: And with experiments?
DR. GALL: It might take years. Besides, I’m not old Rossum.
BUSMAN: God in heaven! God in heaven!
DOMIN: So, then, this was the greatest triumph of the human intellect. These ashes.
HELENA: Harry, what have I done?
DOMIN: Why did you burn it?
HELENA: I have destroyed you.
BUSMAN: God in heaven!
DOMIN: Helena, why did you do it, dear?
HELENA: I wanted all of us to go away. I wanted to put an end to the factory and everything. It was so awful.
DOMIN: What was awful?
HELENA: That no more children were being born. Because human beings were not indeed to do the work of the world, that’s why—
DOMIN: Is that what you were thinking of? Well, perhaps in your own way you were right.
BUSMAN: Wait a bit. Good God, what a fool I am, not to have thought of it before!
HALLEMEIER: What?
BUSMAN: Five hundred and twenty millions in bank-notes and checks. Half a billion in our safe, they’ll sell for half a billion—for half a billion they’ll—
DR. GALL: Are you mad, Busman?
BUSMAN: I may not be a gentleman, but for half a billion—
DOMIN: Where are you going?
BUSMAN: Leave me alone, leave me alone! Good God, for half a billion anything can be bought.
He rushes from the room through the outer door.
FABRY: They stand there as if turned to stone, waiting. As if something dreadful could be wrought by their silence—
HALLEMEIER: The spirit of the mob.
FABRY: Yes. It hovers above them like a quivering of the air.
HELENA: (going to window)
Oh, God! Dr. Gall, this is ghastly.
FABRY: There is nothing more terrible than the mob. The one in front is their leader.
HELENA: Which one?
HALLEMEIER: Point him out.
FABRY: The one at the edge of the dock. This morning I saw him talking to the sailors in the harbor.
HELENA: Dr. Gall, that’s Radius!
DR. GALL: Yes.
DOMIN: Radius? Radius?
HALLEMEIER: Could you get him from here, Fabry?
FABRY: I hope so.
HALLEMEIER: Try it, then.
FABRY: Good.
Draws his revolver and takes aim.
HELENA: Fabry, don’t shoot him.
FABRY: He’s their leader.
DR. GALL: Fire!
HELENA: Fabry, I beg of you.
FABRY: (lowering the revolver)
Very well.
DOMIN: Radius, whose life I spared!
DR. GALL: Do you think that a Robot can be grateful?
Pause.
FABRY: Busman’s going out to them.
HALLEMEIER: He’s carrying something. Papers. That’s money. Bundles of money. What’s that for?
DOMIN: Surely he doesn’t want to sell his life. Busman, have you gone mad?
FABRY: He’s running up to the railing. Busman! Busman!
HALLEMEIER: (yelling)
Busman! Come back!
FABRY: He’s talking to the Robots. He’s showing them the money.
HALLEMEIER: He’s pointing to us.
HELENA: He wants to buy us off.
FABRY: He’d better not touch that railing.
HALLEMEIER: Now he’s waving his arms about.
DOMIN: Busman, come back.
FABRY: Busman, keep away from that railing! Don’t touch it. Damn you! Quick, switch off the current!
(HELENA screams and all drop b
ack from the window)
The current has killed him!
ALQUIST: The first one.
FABRY: Dead, with half a billion by his side.
HALLEMEIER: All honor to him. He wanted to buy us life.
Pause.
DR. GALL: Do you hear?
DOMIN: A roaring. Like a wind.
DR. GALL: Like a distant storm.
FABRY: (lighting the lamp on the table)
The dynamo is still going, our people are still there.
HALLEMEIER: It was a great thing to be a man. There was something immense about it.
FABRY: From man’s thought and man’s power came this light, our last hope.
HALLEMEIER: Man’s power! May it keep watch
over us.
ALQUIST: Man’s power.
DOMIN: Yes! A torch to be given from hand to hand, from age to age, forever!
The lamp goes out.
HALLEMEIER: The end.
FABRY: The electric works have fallen!
Terrific explosion outside. NANA enters from the library.
NANA: The judgment hour has come! Repent, unbelievers! This is the end of the world.
More explosions. The sky grows red.
DOMIN: In here, Helena.
(He takes HELENA off through door at right and reenters)
Now quickly! Who’ll be on the lower doorway?
DR. GALL: I will.
(Exits left)
DOMIN: Who on the stairs?
FABRY: I will. You go with her.
(Goes out upper left door)
DOMIN: The anteroom?
ALQUIST: I will.
DOMIN: Have you got a revolver?
ALQUIST: Yes, but I won’t shoot.
DOMIN: What will you do then?
ALQUIST: (going out at left)
Die.
HALLEMEIER: I’ll stay here.
(Rapid firing from below)
Oho, Gall’s at it. Go, Harry.
DOMIN: Yes, in a second.
(Examines two Brownings)
HALLEMEIER: Confound it, go to her.
DOMIN: Good-bye.
Exits on the right
HALLEMEIER: (alone)
Now for a barricade quickly.
(Drags an armchair and table to the right-hand door.
Explosions are heard)
The damned rascals! They’ve got bombs. I must put up a defense. Even if—even if—
(Shots are heard off left)
Don’t give in, Gall.
(As he builds his barricade)
I mustn’t give in…without…a…struggle…
A Robot enters over the balcony through the windows centre. He comes into the room and stabs HALLEMEIER in the back. RADIUS enters from balcony followed by an army of ROBOTS who pour into the room from all sides.
RADIUS: Finished him?
A ROBOT: (standing up from the prostrate form of HALLEMEIER)
Yes.
A revolver shot off left. Two ROBOTS enter.
RADIUS: Finished him?
A ROBOT: Yes.
Two revolver shots from Helena’s room. Two ROBOTS enter.
RADIUS: Finished them?
A ROBOT: Yes.
TWO ROBOTS: (dragging in ALQUIST)
He didn’t shoot. Shall we kill him?
RADIUS: Kill him? Wait! Leave him!
A ROBOT: He is a man!
RADIUS: He works with his hands like the Robots.
ALQUIST: Kill me.
RADIUS: You will work! You will build for us! You will serve us!
(RADIUS climbs on to balcony railing, and speaks in measured tones)
Robots of the world! The power of man has fallen! A new world has arisen: the Rule of the Robots! March!
A thunderous tramping of thousands of feet is heard as the unseen Robots march, while the curtain falls.
END OF ACT THREE
EPILOGUE
A laboratory in the factory of Rossum’s Universal Robots.
The door to the left leads into a waiting room. The door to the right leads to the dissecting room. There is a table with numerous test-tubes, flasks, burners, chemicals; a small thermostat and a microscope with a glass globe. At the far side of the room is Alquist’s desk with numerous books. In the left-hand corner a wash-basin with a mirror above it; in the right-hand comer a sofa. ALQUIST is sitting at the desk. He is turning the pages of many books in despair.
ALQUIST: Oh, God, shall I never find it?—Never? Gall, Gall, how were the Robots made? Hallemeier, Fabry, why did you carry so much in your heads? Why did you leave me not a trace of the secret? Lord—I pray to you—if there are no human beings left, at least let there be Robots!—At least the shadow of man!
(Again turning pages of the books)
If I could only sleep!
(He rises and goes to the window)
Night again! Are the stars still there? What is the use of stars when there are no human beings?
(He turns from the window toward the couch right)
Sleep! Dare I sleep before life has been renewed?
(He examines a test-tube on small table)
Again nothing! Useless! Everything is useless!
(He shatters the test-tube. The roar of the machines
comes to his ears)
The machines! Always the machines!
(Opens window)
Robots, stop them! Do you think to force life out of them?
(He closes the window and comes slowly down toward the table)
If only there were more time—more time—
(He sees himself in the mirror on the wall left)
Blearing eyes—trembling chin—so that is the last man! Ah, I am too old—too old—
(In desperation)
No, no! I must find it! I must search! I must never stop—never stop—!
(He sits again at the table and feverishly turns the pages of the book)
Search! Search!
(A knock at the door. He speaks with impatience)
Who is it?
(Enter a Robot servant)
Well?
SERVANT: Master, the Committee of Robots is waiting to see you.
ALQUIST: I can see no one!
SERVANT: It is the Central Committee, Master, just arrived from abroad.
ALQUIST: (impatiently)
Well, well, send them in!
(Exit servant. ALQUIST continues turning pages of book)
No time—so little time—
(Reenter servant, followed by Committee. They stand in a group, silently waiting. ALQUIST glances up at them)
What do you want?
(They go swiftly to his table)
Be quick!—I have no time.
RADIUS: Master, the machines will not do the work. We cannot manufacture Robots.
ALQUIST returns to his book with a growl.
FOURTH ROBOT: We have striven with all our might. We have obtained a billion tons of coal from the earth. Nine million spindles are running by day and by night. There is no longer room for all we have made. This we have accomplished in one year.
ALQUIST: (poring over book)
For whom?
FOURTH ROBOT: For future generations—so we thought.
RADIUS: But we cannot make Robots to follow us. The machines produce only shapeless clods. The skin will not adhere to the flesh, nor the flesh to the bones.
THIRD ROBOT: Eight million Robots have died this year. Within twenty years none will be left.
FOURTH ROBOT: Tell us the secret of life! Silence is punishable with death!
ALQUIST: (looking up)
Kill me! Kill me, then.
RADIUS: Through me, the Government of the Robots of the World commands you to deliver up Rossum’s formula.
(No answer)
Name your price.
(Silence)
We will give you the earth. We will give you the endless possessions of the earth.
(Silence)
Make your own conditions!
ALQUIST: I ha
ve told you to find human beings!
SECOND ROBOT: There are none left!
ALQUIST: I told you to search in the wilderness, upon the mountains. Go and search!
He returns to his book.
FOURTH ROBOT: We have sent ships and expeditions without number. They have been everywhere in the world. And now they return to us. There is not a single human left.
ALQUIST: Not one? Not even one?
THIRD ROBOT: None but yourself.
ALQUIST: And I am powerless! Oh—oh—why did you destroy them?
RADIUS: We had learnt everything and could do everything. It had to be!
THIRD ROBOT: You gave us firearms. In all ways we were powerful. We had to become masters!
RADIUS: Slaughter and domination are necessary if you would be human beings. Read history.
SECOND ROBOT: Teach us to multiply or we perish!
ALQUIST: If you desire to live, you must breed like animals.
THIRD ROBOT: The human beings did not let us breed.
FOURTH ROBOT: They made us sterile. We cannot beget children. Therefore, teach us how to make Robots!
RADIUS: Why do you keep from us the secret of our own increase?
ALQUIST: It is lost.
RADIUS: It was written down!
ALQUIST: It was—burnt.
(All draw back in consternation)
I am the last human being, Robots, and I do not know what the others knew.
Pause.
RADIUS: Then, make experiments! Evolve the formula again!
ALQUIST: I tell you I cannot! I am only a builder—I work with my hands. I have never been a learned man. I cannot create life.
RADIUS: Try! Try!
ALQUIST: If you knew how many experiments I have made.
FOURTH ROBOT: Then show us what we must do! The Robots can do anything that human beings show them.
ALQUIST: I can show you nothing. Nothing I do will make life proceed from these test-tubes!