R.U.R. | Page 5

I do not understand dying, Miss Glory.
Helena: Do you know what would happen to you then?
Sulla: Yes, I would cease to move.
Helena: This is terrible!
Domin: Marius, tell the lady what you are.
Marius: Robot, Marius.
Domin: And would you take Sulla down to the dissection room?
Marius: Yes.
Domin: Would you not feel any pity for her?
Marius: I do not understand pity.
Domin: What would happen to her.
Marius: She would cease to move. She would be put on the scrap heap.
Domin: That's what death is, Marius. Are you afraid of death.
Marius: No.
Domin: There, Miss Glory, you see? Robots don't cling to life. There's no way they could do.? They've got no sense of pleasure. They're less than the grass.?
Helena: Oh stop it! Send them out of here, at least!
Domin: Marius, Sulla, you can go now.
(Sulla and Marius exeunt)
Helena: They're horrible. This is vile, what you're doing here.
Domin: What's vile about it?
Helena: I don't know. Why... why did you give her the name 'Sulla'?
Domin: Don't you like that name?
Helena: It's a man's name. Sulla was a Roman general.
Domin: Was he? We thought Marius and Sulla were lovers.
Helena: No, Marius and Sulla were generals who fought against each other in... oh I forget when.
Domin: Come over to the window. What do you see?
Helena: Bricklayers.
Domin: They're robots. All the workers here are robots. And down here; what do you see there?
Helena: Some kind of office.
Domin: That's the accounts department. And in the...
Helena:... lots of office workers.
Domin: They're all robots. All our office staff are robots. Over there there's the factory...
(just then, factory whistles and sirens sound)
Domin: Lunchtime. The robots don't know when they're supposed to stop working. At two o'clock I'll show you the mixers.
Helena: What mixers?
Domin: (drily) For mixing the dough. Each one of them can mix the material for a thousand robots at a time. Then there are the vats of liver and brain and so on. The bone factory. Then I'll show you the spinning-mill.
Helena: What spinning-mill?
Domin: Where we make the nerve fibres and the veins. And the intestine mill, where kilometers of tubing run through at a time. Then there's the assembly room where all these things are put together, it's just like making a car really. Each worker contributes just his own part of the production which automatically goes on to the next worker, then to the third and on and on. It's all fascinating to watch. After that they go to the drying room and into storage where the newly made robots work.
Helena: You mean you make them start work as soon as they're made?
Domin: Well really, it's more like working in the way a new piece of furniture works. They need to get used to the idea that they exist. There's something on the inside of them that needs to grow or something. And there are lots of new things on the inside that just aren't there until this time. You see, we need to leave a little space for natural development. And in the meantime the products go through their apprenticeship.
Helena: What does that involve?
Domin: Much the same as going to school for a person. They learn how to speak, write and do arithmetic, as they've got amazing memories. If you read a twenty-volume encyclopedia to them they could repeat it back to you word for word, but they never think of anything new for themselves. They'd make very good university lecturers. After that, they're sorted and distributed, fifteen thousand of them a day, not counting those that are defective and go back to the scrap heap... and so on and so on.?
Helena: Are you cross with me?
Domin: God no! I just thought we... we might talk about something different. There's just a few of us here surrounded by hundreds of thousands of robots, and no women at all. All we ever talk about is production levels all day every day. It's as if there were some kind of curse on us.
Helena: I'm very sorry I called you... called you a liar.
(knocking)
Domin: Come in, lads.
(Enter, stage left, Fabry, Dr. Gall, Dr. Hallemeier, Alquist)
Dr. Gall: Oh, not disturbing you, are we?
Domin: Come on in. Miss Glory, this is Alquist, Fabry, Gall, Hallemeier. Mr. Glory's daughter.
Helena: (embarrassed) Good afternoon.
Fabry: We had no idea.
Dr. Gall: This is a great pleasure.
Alquist: It's nice to see you here, Miss Glory.
(Enter Busman, right)
Busman: Hello, what's going on here?
Domin: Come in, Busman. This is Busman, and this is Mr. Glory's daughter.
Helena: Pleased to meet you.?
Busman: Oh, that's wonderful! Miss Glory, would you mind if we send a telegram to the newspapers to say you've come?
Helena: No, no, please don't do that!
Domin: Please, do sit down.
(Fabry, Busman and Dr. Gall pull up armchairs)
Fabry: Please...
Busman: After you...
Dr. Gall: Beg your pardon...
Alquist: Miss Glory, did you have a good journey?
Dr. Gall: Will you be staying here, with us, for long?
Fabry: