R.U.R. Karel Čapek (story read aloud .TXT) 📖

aren’t armed. Domin Puzzled. We couldn’t hold our own for five minutes. Man alive, they overwhelm us like an avalanche. Why don’t they make a rush for it? I say. Turns to Gall. Dr. Gall Well? Domin I’d like to know what will become of us in the next ten minutes. They’ve got us in a vise. We’re done for, Gall. Dr. Gall You know, we made one serious mistake. Domin What? Dr. Gall We made the Robots’ faces too much alike. A hundred thousand faces all alike, all facing this way. A hundred thousand expressionless bubbles. It’s like a nightmare. Domin You think if they’d been different⁠— Dr. Gall It wouldn’t have been such an awful sight! Domin Looks through binoculars towards the harbor. I’d like to know what they’re unloading from the Amelia. Dr. Gall Not firearms. Fabry Enters L. 2 with a plug-box to which is attached a long cable or wire. Hallemeier following him. Fabry attaches the cable to an electric installation which is on the floor near the wall, down stage at L. 1 entrance. All right, Hallemeier, lay down that wire. Hallemeier Just inside the room. That was a bit of work. What’s the news? Seeing Domin and Gall at the window. Dr. Gall We’re completely surrounded. Hallemeier Crosses to window.) We’ve barricaded the passages and the stairs. Going to window. God, what swarms of them. I don’t like the looks of them, Domin. There’s a feeling of death about it all. Any water here? Fabry Ready! Dr. Gall Turning round in the chair. What’s that wire for, Fabry? Fabry The electrical installation. Now we can run the current all along the garden railing. Up to window. Whenever we like. If anyone touches it he’ll know it. We’ve still got some people there anyhow. Dr. Gall Where? Fabry In the electrical works. At least, I hope so. Goes to lamp on table L. C. and turns on lamp. Ah, they’re there, and they’re working. As long as that’ll burn we’re all right. To window. Hallemeier The barricades are all right, too, Fabry. Fabry Your barricades! I can put twelve hundred volts into that railing. Helena is playing Rachmaninoff’s “Elegie” off L. 1. Domin Where’s Busman? Domin has left window and is walking up and down stage across front. Fabry Downstairs in the office. He’s working out some calculations. Domin I’ve called him. We must have a conference. Crosses to L. Alquist Thank God Madame Helena can still play. Hallemeier crosses to L. 1 door, opens it slightly and listens to music. Enter Busman L. 2. Fabry Look out, Bus⁠—look out for the wires. Dr. Gall What’s that you’re carrying? Busman Laying the books on the table L. C. The ledger, my boy. I’d like to wind up the accounts before⁠—before⁠—Domin crosses up to window. Well, this time I shan’t wait till the New Year to strike a balance. What’s up? Goes to window. Absolutely quiet. Dr. Gall Can’t you see anything? Busman Nothing but blue⁠—blue everywhere. Dr. Gall That’s the Robots. Domin The Robots are unloading firearms from the Amelia. Busman Well, what of it? How can I stop them? Returns to L. C. table, sits and opens ledger. Domin We can’t stop them. Busman Then let me go on with my accounts. Goes on with his work. Domin Picks up telescope. Good God! The Ultimus has trained her guns on us. Dr. Gall Who’s done that? Domin The Robots on board. Fabry H’m, then of course⁠—Pause. Then⁠—then that’s the end of us. To R. corner of desk. Dr. Gall You mean? Fabry The Robots are practised marksmen. Domin Yes. It’s inevitable. Pause. Dr. Gall Swinging around; looking into room. Pause. That was criminal of old Europe to teach the Robots to fight. Damn them. Couldn’t they have given us a rest with their politics? It was a crime to make soldiers of them. Alquist It was a crime to make Robots. Domin Quietly. Down C. No, Alquist, I don’t regret that even today. Alquist Not even today? Domin Dreamily. Not even today, the last day of civilization. It was a colossal achievement. Busman Sotto voce. Three hundred sixty million. Domin From window. Alquist, this is our last hour. We are already speaking half in the other world. That was not an evil dream to shatter the servitude of labor. The dreadful and humiliating labor that man had to undergo. Work was too hard. Life was too hard. And to overcome that⁠— Alquist Was not what the two Rossums dreamed of. Old Rossum only thought of his Godless tricks, and the young one of his milliards. And that’s not what your R.U.R. shareholders dream of either. They dream of dividends, and their dividends are the ruin of mankind. Domin To Hell with your dividends. Crossing R. in front of couch. Do you suppose I’d have done an hour’s work for them? It was for myself that I worked, for my own satisfaction. I wanted man to become the master. So that he shouldn’t live merely for the crust of bread. I wanted not a single soul to be broken by other people’s machinery. I wanted nothing, nothing, nothing to be left of this appalling social structure. I’m revolted by poverty. I wanted a new generation. I wanted⁠—I thought⁠— Alquist Well? Domin Front of couch. I wanted to turn the whole of mankind into an aristocracy of the world. An aristocracy nourished by millions of mechanical slaves. Unrestricted, free and consummated in man. And maybe more than man. Alquist Superman? Domin Yes. Oh, only to have a hundred years of time. Another hundred years for the future of mankind. Busman Sotto voce. Carried forward⁠—four hundred and twenty millions. Domin sits on couch. Hallemeier Pauses⁠—back of couch. What a fine thing music is. We ought to have gone in for that before. Fabry Gone in for what? Hallemeier Beauty, lovely things. What a lot of lovely things there are. The world was wonderful, and we⁠—we here⁠—tell me, what enjoyment did we have? Busman Sotto