HALLEMEIER. Nobody is to blame except the Robots. ALQUIST. No, it is _we_ are to blame. You, Domin, myself--all of us. For our own selfish ends, for profit, for progress, we have destroyed mankind. Now we’ll _burst_ with all our greatness. HALLEMEIER. Rubbish, man. Mankind can’t be wiped out so easily. ALQUIST. It’s our fault. It’s our fault. (_Rises, coming R. of GALL._) DR. GALL. No! I’m to blame for this, for everything that’s happened. (_He leaves the window and comes down to end of couch._) FABRY. You, Gall? DR. GALL. I changed the Robots. BUSMAN. What’s that? DR. GALL. I changed the character of the Robots. I changed the way of making them. Just a few details about their bodies. Chiefly--chiefly, their--their irritability. HALLEMEIER. Damn it, why? BUSMAN. What did you do it for? FABRY. Why didn’t you say anything? DR. GALL. I did it in secret. I was transforming them into human beings. In certain respects they’re already _above_ us. They’re stronger than we are. FABRY. And what’s that got to do with the revolt of the Robots? DR. GALL. Everything, in my opinion. They’ve ceased to be machines. They’re already _aware_ of their _superiority_, and they hate us as they hate everything human. DOMIN. Perhaps we’re only phantoms. FABRY. Stop, Harry. We haven’t much time, Doctor Gall. DOMIN. Fabry, Fabry, how your forehead bleeds where the shot pierced it. FABRY. (_Crosses to GALL_) Be silent! Doctor Gall, you admit changing the way of making the Robots. DR. GALL. Yes. FABRY. Were you aware of what might be the consequences of your experiment? DR. GALL. I was bound to reckon with such a possibility. FABRY. (_Amusing_) Why did you do it, then? (_HELENA enters L.1._) DR. GALL. For my own satisfaction. The experiment was my own. HELENA. That’s not true, Doctor Gall! (_Crosses to couch._) DOMIN. (_Rises_) Helena, you? (_Crosses to her_) Let’s look at you. Oh, it’s terrible to be dead. (_He rises and crushes her in his arms._) HELENA. Stop, Harry. DOMIN. No, no, Helena, don’t leave me now. You are _life_ itself. HELENA. No, dear, I won’t leave you. But I must tell them. Doctor Gall is not guilty. FABRY. Excuse me. Gall was under certain obligations. HELENA. No. He did it because I wanted it. Tell them, Doctor Gall--how many years ago did I ask you to--? DR. GALL. I did it on my own responsibility. HELENA. Don’t believe him. I asked him to give the Robots souls. DOMIN. This has nothing to do with the soul. HELENA. That’s what he said. He said that he could change only a physiological--a physiological-- HALLEMEIER. (_From up at window_) A physiological correlate? HELENA. Yes. But it meant so much to me that he should do even that. DOMIN. Why? HELENA. I thought that if they were more like us they would understand us better. That they couldn’t hate us if they were only a little more human. DOMIN. Nobody can hate man more than man.