Preview: Scene 5 – Nicholas and the Robots

Nicholas is in his lab, inhabited by the robots he has been building as part of The System.  The robots start moving to the music emanating from the walls, then come to life and start dancing with Nicholas.  Miranda is archiving and exploring The System, and is also reflecting on life outside the family compound and The System: “How are we linked to all the rest of the earth?”  Nicholas tells Miranda the story of how Simon came and rescued him from a children’s ward when he was a young boy and gave him a new life.  Nicolas swears he will repay the favor: “Now I’ll help him live in The System.  Without a body, post-organic like me.”

Video production by Paula Aguilera and Jonathan Williams

Libretto

Scene Five – Nicholas and the Robots

NICHOLAS [sings to his arms, holds up his right arm]
One arm of bone and gristle, nerves and muscle—
Mortal, fallible, breakable.
Saved by the idea, saved by the System.

[Hold up his left arm, a mechanized prosthesis, an openwork of rods and cables]
One arm of magnesium and nickel,
Graphite, silicon and cable—
Mortal, fallible, breakable.

Perfection of the system, capable of renewal
Never in the matter.

MIRANDA
Living forever.
Above humanity.
Never extinct.
How much is it worth,
Never to pass?
Buying eternity.
How are we linked
To all the rest,
The rest of the earth?

NICHOLAS
He helped me, now I’ll help him.
They said I was a vegetable
Or a piece of meat.

He gave me a new body,
Made of graphite and magnesium,
Titanium alloy and copper—
Better than meat!

When I was a kid
Simon had
More money than God.
He came into the ward

And saved me at random.
Now, I’ll help him live in the System.
The way he helped me:

I’ll help him live without a body—
I’ll help him live in the System.
Without a body.
Post-Organic, like me!

To be continued…

Death and the Powers Preview Series
Series intro and prologue
Memory Download
Scene 1: Simon and the System 
Scene 2: System Soliloquy
Scene 3: Getting to Know You
Scene 4: Evvy’s Touch

Scene 5: Nicholas and the Robots
Scene 6: The World Reacts
Scene 7: Into the System
Scene 8: Miseries, Memory and Miranda