[Play] Rossom Act 1, Scene 4 - Continued

 (Rossom enters from the back of the stage.  Stella and Marcus stop.  Helena turns around.)

Rossom:

Don't let me stop you.

Helena looks at the robots.

The Robots don’t move.

Rossom:

Show her.

Marcus:

We don’t feel pain.

(Marcus takes a knife and cuts his forearm open.  Blue and green fluid spills to the floor and Marcus shows no pain whatsoever.)

Stella:

We don’t earn money,

Because we have no desires for things

We make things

Marcus:

We are things

We are the makers of things

Stella:

We serve mankind.

Rossom:

As do I, as do I.

Helena laughs.  Rossom looks less than pleased.

Helena:

Is that little grotesque presentation supposed to persuade me of anything?

Rossom:

They are tools.

Helena:

Your name isn't Rossom.

Rossom:

It is now.

Helena:

You read a book that warned of treating people as disposable commodities...and then went and created disposable commodities.

Rossom:

It was a noble vision of the future.  I have taken precautions.

Helena:

Have you seen the videos of what they do to your robots? How are they treated? 

Let us pretend you are right

Take God out of the equation

They are still in our image

By treating them like trash

You cheapen our image of ourselves

Rossom:

Pro Life advocates made the same argument against abortion all the time.

Helena:

Do these look like blobs of goo?

Rossom:

That is precisely what they are.

Helena"

So are we! At some point, well past a bundle of cells, these act like people and talk like people.  Treating them like things is a crime unto itself.

Rossom:

Did you ever see the hall of presidents at DisneyLand? 

What difference is there between those automatons

And something more sophisticated

Mine can adapt to their situation

They can grow 

They can learn

But they don't create art

They don’t explore

They might run a lab

But they don’t ask the questions.

They might do the jobs

But they are not job creators.

They are not the rightful owners of their property.

I gave them the leisure they so craved

All without destroying their so-called economy.

Universal Basic Income?

Didn't work.

Universal Robots?

Did.

Helena:

What warped planet do you live on?