the feel of death about it.

Fabry Ready!

Dr. Gall What is?

Fabry The connection.  Now we can put electric current through the whole of the garden fence.  Anyone who touches it has had it.  At least, as long as there are still some of our own down there. 

Dr. Gall Where?

Fabry In the generator room.  At least, I hope ... (goes to fireplace and switches on small light there )  Thank God for that - they're there.  And they're working.  (switches light off )  As long as that light works we're alright.

Hallemeier (turning back from window ) Those are good barricades, Fabry.  Now what's that that Helena's playing?  (goes to door, left, and listens.  Enter Busman through wallpapered door carrying enormous  ledgers.  Trips over wire ) 

Fabry Mind out, Bus! Mind those wires!

Dr. Gall Hello, what's this you're bringing us?

Busman (puts books on table ) These are the important books, children.  I think I'd better get the accounts done before ... before .... well I don't mean to wait until the new year before it's sorted out.  Now what's all this you've got here?  (goes to window )  It's all very quiet down there.

Dr. Gall Can't you see anything?

Busman Nothing apart from a large blue area, it's as if it was strewn with poppy seeds. 

Dr. Gall Those are the robots.

Busman Ah, so that's what it is.  Pity I can't see them.  (sits at desk and opens ledgers )

Domin Forget about that, Busman; the robots are unloading weapons from the Amelia.

Busman So what?  What am I supposed to do about it?

Domin There's nothing we can do to stop them.

Busman So just let me get on with my calculation. (gets on with work )

Fabry It isn't all over yet, Domin.  We've put two hundred volts in through the garden fence and ....

Domin Stop! The Ultimus has just turned its guns in our direction.

Dr. Gall Who's doing that?

Domin The robots on the Ultimus.

Fabry Hm, well in that case of course,  .. then of course, .. then we've had it, lads.  Those robots are trained soldiers. 

Dr. Gall That means that we ...

Domin Yes.  Irrevocably.

(Pause )

Dr. Gall This is just the same old evil as Europe has always committed.  They just couldn't leave their damned politics alone and so they taught the robots to go to war, they took the robots and turned the minto soldiers and that was a crime against humanity.

Alquist The crime was making the robots in the first place.

Domin What's that?

Alquist The crime was making the robots !

Domin No Alquist, I don't feel sorry for what I did, even now.

Alquist Not even now?

Domin Not even now, on the last day of civilisation.  It was a magnificent undertaking.

Busman (sotto voce ) Three hundred and sixteen million.

Domin (earnestly ) Alquist, this is our last hour; it's almost as if we were speaking from the other world already .  Alquist, putting an end to the slavery of labour was not a bad dream. Work humiliates, anyone who's forced to do it is made small.  The drudgery of labour is something dirty and murderous.  Oh, Alquist, the burden of work was too much for us, life was too heavy for us, and to remove this burden....

Alquist That was never the dream of either of the Rossums; old Rossum was thinking of Godless rubbish and young Rossum thought of nothing but making millions.  And it's not the dream of RUR shareholders either; their only dream was their dividend.  And it's because of their concern for their profits that mankind is about to perish.

Domin (agitated ) The Devil take their dividends!  Do you think I'd have spent an hour of my time for their sakes?  (thumping table )  I did it for myself, d'you hear?  For my own satisfaction!  I wanted mankind to become his own master!  I wanted him not to have to live just for the next crust of bread!  I wanted not a single soul to have to go stupid standing at somebody else's machines!  I wanted to leave nothing - nothing! - left of this damned mess that society's in!  I hate seeing humiliation and pain all around us, I hate poverty!  I wanted to start a new generation!  I wanted to ... I thought that ...

Alquist What?

Domin (quieter ) I wanted mankind to become an aristocracy of the world. Free, unconstrained, sovereign.  Maybe even something higher than human.

Alquist Superhumans, you mean.

Domin Yes.  If only we'd had another hundred years.  Another hundred years for the new mankind. 

Busman (sotto voce ) Three hundred and seventy million, carry over.  Like that.

(pause )

Hallemeier (at door, left ) Music is a wonderful thing, you know.  You should have been listening.  There's something ennobling about it, soothing ...

Fabry What exactly?

Hallemeier To Hell with this end of mankind!  I think I'm turning into a hedonist, lads.  We should have got into it much earlier.  (goes to window and looks out )

Fabry Into what?

Hallemeier Enjoying ourselves.  Beauty.  Hell, there are so many beautiful things around us!  The world was beautiful, and we ... we here ...   Tell me, lads, what did we ever enjoy?

Busman (sotto voce ) Four hundred and fifty two million - excellent.

Hallemeier (at window ) Life was great.  My friends, life was ... Ah, Fabry, put a little bit of current into that fence of yours.

Fabry Why!

Hallemeier They're touching it.

Dr. Gall (at window ) Switch it on!

Hallemeier Christ, that showed them!  Two, three, four of them killed!

Dr. Gall They're moving back.

Hallemeier Five killed.

Dr. Gall (coming back from window ) First strike.

Fabry Have you got the smell of death?

Hallemeier (contented ) We've got them cornered, right in a corner.  Haha, you should never give in! (sitting )

Domin (rubs his brow ) Perhaps we're just ghosts, dead for a hundred years. Perhaps we were killed a long long time ago, and we've come back just to recant something we once said ... before wedied.  It's as if I'd been through this before!  As if it had all been done to me already.  A shot here, in the neck.  What about you, Fabry?

Fabry What about me?

Domin Shot.

Hallemeier Hell, what about me?

Domin Stabbed.

Dr. Gall Nothing for me, then?

Domin Torn to pieces.

(pause )

Hallemeier What a lot of nonsense!  Haha, they could never stab me!  I wouldn't let them!

(pause )

Hallemeier So what are you all so quiet for, all gone mad?  Say something, damn it!

Alquist And whose fault is it?  Who's to blame for all this?

Hallemeier You're talking nonsense.  Nobody's to blame.  It's just that the robots, well, the robots changed somehow.  How can you blame anyone for the robots?

Alquist Everything wiped out!  The whole of mankind! The whole world! (standing )  Think of it, just think of it, streams of blood on every doorstep!  Streams of blood flowing from every house!  Oh God, oh God, who's to blame for it all?

Busman (sotto voce )  Five hundred and twenty million!  Dear dear me, that's half a billion!

Fabry I think ... I think you could be exaggerating.  After all, it's not that easy to wipe out the whole of mankind.

Alquist It's science I blame!  Technology I blame!  Domin!  Myself!  All of us!  It's us, we're the ones to blame!  We thought we were doing something great, giving some benefit, making progress.  I don't know what magnificent ideas it was for that we've destroyed mankind!  And now all our greatness is bursting like a bubble!  Not even Genghis Khan built up a heap of human bones like we've done. 

Hallemeier You're talking a lot of nonsense!  People won't give up that easily, haha, course they won't!

Alquist It's our fault, our fault!

Dr. Gall (wiping sweat from brow ) If I can say something, I think I'm the one to blame.  For everything that's happened.

Fabry You, Gall?

Dr. Gall Yes, let me speak.  It was me who made the changes to the robots. Busman, you can blame me as well.

Busman (standing ) Dear me, what?  What happened to you?

Dr. Gall I changed the robots' character.  I altered the way they were made. Nothing much to their bodies, you know, but mainly ... mainly ... it was their level of irritability.

Hallemeier (jumping up ) Hell and damnation why did you do that?

Busman Why did you do it?

Fabry Why didn't you tell anyone!?

Dr. Gall I did it in secret ...