Free Rossum´s Universal Robots by Karel Čapek Page B

biogene to....”, and that’s all.
    Domin ( standing ) Nothing else?
    Dr. Gall Nothing.
    Busman God almighty!
    Domin We’ve had it, then.
    Helena Oh, Harry
    Domin Stand up, Helena!
    Helena Forgive me first, please forgive me...
    Domin Yes, just stand up, d’you hear me? I can’t stand it when...
    Fabry ( lifting her up ) Please, don’t torture us.
    Helena ( standing ) Harry, what have I done?!
    Domin Yes, you’ll see.-Please sit down.
    Hallemeier Your hands are really shaking!
    Busman Haha, well Helena, maybe Gall and Hallemeier will know what the manuscript said by heart.
    Hallemeier Course we do. Well, a few things at least.
    Dr. Gall Yes, almost all of it, apart from the biogene and, er, and the omega enzyme. It was so infrequent that those things had to be made, they were only used in tiny quantities...
    Busman Who was it who made them?
    Dr. Gall That was me... once in a while... always following Rossum’s manuscript. You see, it was very complicated.
    Busman Well, never mind, were those two materials really so important.
    Hallemeier Well, somewhat... certainly they were.
    Dr. Gall What he means is that it depended on them whether the robots lived at all. They were the actual secret.
    Domin Gall, do you not think you could re-write Rossum’s formula from memory?
    Dr. Gall Out of the question.
    Domin Gall, try hard to remember! All our lives depend on it!
    Dr. Gall I couldn’t do it. Without a lot of experimentation it just wouldn’t be possible.
    Domin And what if you did some experiments?
    Dr. Gall That could take years. And even then... I’m not old Rossum.
    Domin ( turning to fireplace ) Down there, then, down there is the greatest triumph of the human spirit. That heap of ashes. ( kicks it ) So what do we do now?
    Busman ( in horror and despair ) God almighty! God almighty!
    Helena ( standing ) Harry! What... what have I done?!
    Domin Calm down, Helena. Just tell me why! Why did you burn it?
    Helena I’ve killed you all!
    Busman God almighty, we’ve had it!
    Domin Be quiet, Busman! Helena, tell me why you did it!
    Helena I wanted.. I wanted us to get away from here, all of us! So that there wouldn’t be any more factory or anything else... so that everything would be... It was horrible!
    Domin Helena, what was?
    Helena Making... making people like sterile flowers!
    Domin I don’t understand what you’re saying.
    Helena People have stopped having children... Harry, that was so vile! If we continued making robots then no-one would have any children any more... Nana said it was a punishment... all of them, all of them said they can’t have children because there were so many robots... And that’s why..., that’s why,... do you hear me?
    Domin Helena, what were you thinking of?
    Helena Yes, oh, Harry, I only meant it for the best!
    Domin ( wiping sweat ) We all only meant it for the best, too much for the best, all of mankind.
    Fabry You were quite right, Helena. Now the robots won’t be able to increase. They’ll die out. In twenty years...
    Hallemeier ... not a one of them will be good for anything at all
    Dr. Gall And mankind will remain. In twenty years’ time the world will belong to them once more; even if there’s nothing more than a few savages on a tiny island...
    Fabry ... that will be a beginning. And any beginning is better than nothing. In a thousand years they’ll have caught up with us again, and then go on further than we ever did...
    Domin ... and fulfill the dreams we’ve only ever talked about.
    Busman Wait-how silly of me! Dear me, why didn’t I think of this before?
    Hallemeier What is it?
    Busman Five hundred and twenty million in cash and in cheques! Half a billion in the till! For half a billion they’ll sell... they’ll sell...
    Dr. Gall Have you gone mad, Busman?
    Busman I’m not a gentleman. But for half a billion ( blunders left )
    Domin Where are you going?
    Busman Leave it, leave it! Mother of God, for half a billion you can buy