Rossum´s Universal Robots Read Free

afraid Sulla really is a robot.
    Helena You’re lying!
    Domin ( stands erect ) What’s that?-( rings ) If you’ll allow me, it seems I’ll have to convince you.
    ( enter Marius )
    Domin Marius, take Sulla down to the dissection room to have her opened up. Quickly!
    Helena Where?
    Domin The dissection room. Once they’ve cut her open you can come down and have a look.
    Helena I’m not going there!
    Domin If you’ll forgive me, you did say something about lying.
    Helena You’re going to have her killed?
    Domin You don’t kill a machine.
    Helena ( arms around Sulla ) Don’t worry, Sulla, I won’t let them take you. Do they always treat you like this? You shouldn’t put up with it, do you hear, you shouldn’t put up with it.
    Sulla I am a robot.
    Helena I don’t care what you are. Robots are people just as good as we are. Sulla, would you really let them cut you open.
    Sulla Yes.
    Helena And aren’t you afraid of dying?
    Sulla 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