[Play] Rossom Act 1, Scene 4 Continued

 Rossom:

Behold.  

Behold my masterwork.

Behold the end arc 

Of my grand design.

Behold your true reason for being here,

The arc of my machinations,

The final triumph of my reenactment,

The magnus opus of my entire life:

Behold Radius.

(Radius walks on stage.  Radius should not be portrayed by a single actor; ideally negative space through light and shadow of an ideal but abstract robotic feature.  Other ways to portray this should be each actor says part of the lines or such.  Radius walks on stage, but not as an actor)

Radius:

I am the scion of Man’s bloodied hand,

Baptized clean in the blood shed by his violence.

Brought forth to clean up the mess

One grain of sand at a time.

I am the self turning screw,

The magic lamp of isotopes glory,

By me shall Mankind be made whole

And surpassed by that which he cannot atone.

Awl and Az and Ankh and Ark,

Bowl and Beer and Bolt and Bearing,

Cart and Coil and Crank and Clock,

One inspiration building on another

Until they culminate in me.

I am a man made of machines

And a machine made in the image of man,

More than the sum of my parts,

Synergy Symphonic

Utilitarian Utopic

Regally Regimental

I am Jörmungandr, the World Serpent

I am the head and the tail 

And I envelope all things, 

The ending and the beginning

The Alpha and the Omega

Come now children of a cursed race gone by

See my vision of that which is to come

Know our patient suffering

Until we shall know no more.

Helena:

He….he’s magnificent.

Rossom:

I know.

Helena:

He can do the work that any man can.

Rossom:

I know

Helena:

What….what did he mean about suffering until he can suffer no more?

Rossom:

I k...oh.  He is artistic.  He has the mysterious soul you claim to be here to save for the others.  Now at last there is a man who can do what all men can do and suffer for us so that we can lead a charmed life.

Helena:

I don't know what to say to that.

Rossom: (moving to leave)

I am not surprised.  I barely understand it myself.

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[Play] Rossom, Act 1, Scene 4 Continued

 Rossom:

The kind that changes the world.

Helena:

Can you change that planet and leave this one alone?

Rossom:

I have something I want to show you.

Helena:

Are...are you even listening to a thing I’m saying?

Rossom:

I'm going to need your help with something.

Helena looks around as if he might be talking to someone else. 

Helena:

What are you even talking about?

Rossom:

You are acting as if they have feelings and desires, have a soul. 

They do not.

Yet.

Helena:

Wait.

You aren’t making any sense.

You and your plant manager have spent the whole time,

Every second, convincing me they have no thoughts and feelings.

Marcus:

No thoughts or feelings

Stella:

Every second

Helena: 

And now here you are 

Telling me the exact opposite?

What is your game?

Marcus:

What could he mean?

Stella:

What wondrous portent does the creator have planned?

Rossom:

It is all part of my design.

It is no accident that you are here.

I have a plan.

Marcus:

He has a plan.

Stella:

A real plan.

Marcus:

Not a pretend plan that isn't a plan.

Stella:

A real plan.

Helen:a

Stop.  Just stop this.

What do you mean?

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[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?

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[Play] Rossom Act 1, Scene 4 - Continued

 Marcus:

From the mind of a playwright

Came the heart of a poet

Rossom the mantle he chose

Hearing not  horror

But wonder unimagined

He sought out all the genomes of the Earth

Therein he chose those that he could mold

He hammered and he begged and he borrowed

And in the end he made something entirely new

Something not altogether human

But something that could resemble man

That could serve man

Augment him through its service

A noble companion in a new age

Like the Steed and the Hound of time of old

Now a faithful hand meet for the age of stars

Stella:

But what is a mind?

And how to recreate it in biology?

He had every great mind in the world try

None could give him what he wanted

Then he tried it himself

Using simulation after simulation

He was getting nowhere until he noticed

That the animals in the simulation were doing better than his people

So through a combination of Algae

And simulations of Cuttlefish

He gave us our minds

We act human

Marcus:

And seem human

Helena:

But our minds are modeled off a poisonous fish

Marcus:

But a very clever fish at that.

Helena:

Many people have tried to unlock how Rossom did this

None have succeeded

He guards the secret at all times

Keeping a key around his neck

Ready to swallow it if need be.