Scene from R.U.R.
adapted by Lee Shackleford
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Audra Yokely and Wes Seals as Helena and Alquist in the UAB production of R.U.R.
HELENA
Please come in, Mr. Alquist. I think it's wonderful, seeing a man with actual dirt on his hands. I'd almost forgotten what that looked like.
ALQUIST
That's no reason to have me ruining your clothes.
HELENA
My clothes don't cost anything -- you know that. I'll just throw them away and tomorrow the robots will make new ones. But what are you building? Tell me again.
ALQUIST
It's just some decorative plaster, down on the main floor. I know it's supposed to be robot work, but when I'm worried about something or just -- you know, thinking too much -- that's when I put on my working clothes and dig into something.
HELENA
You enjoy working with your hands. I like that.
ALQUIST
Listen, before our biggest and strongest robots were sent off to be soldiers I'd work right alongside them. Together we built most of this complex. It's the only way I'm ever truly happy -- feeling the weight of the bricks, the smell of the mortar. I'd rather lay one brick than a thousand plans. But I know I'm old-fashioned -- like Nana.
HELENA
Nana prays. All the time. Do you pray, the way she does?
ALQUIST
Oh, yes. I say, "Dear Lord, thank you for allowing me to be old and to need rest. Grant wisdom to Henry Domin. Destroy his creations."
HELENA
Destroy -- !
ALQUIST
Does that surprise you? "Rid the world of robots, dear God, and restore the gift of hard work to mankind before we are ruined." Oh, and I always ask Him to look after you. Then I say "Amen."
HELENA
I didn't know you were such a believer.
ALQUIST
Sometimes I pray because it's better than thinking.
HELENA
Thinking frightens me too. It's a terrible time.
ALQUIST
Now, why do you say that?
HELENA
Because of the robot rebellion. Because my plan for ridding the world of war seems to be going horribly, horribly wrong. I ... I know that they've started killing people now.
ALQUIST
I see. So you, uh ... you know about that.
HELENA
And for the record, I know about the population crisis too. But you won't tell Henry, will you?
ALQUIST
Not if you don't want me to.
HELENA
Mr. Alquist, why do you think ... Why have people suddenly stopped giving birth? There used to be hundreds of babies born every day!
ALQUIST
You want to know what I think? I think we're no longer necessary. And somehow the world knows that. We replaced ourselves with other creatures who do all that we used to do. And now Nature is ... weeding us out.
HELENA
So we're --
ALQUIST
-- headed for extinction. Yes. I'm sorry ... but you did ask me what I thought.