Page:The life of the insects by Čapek brothers.pdf/58

 my head. It is glass, it is brittle. It is greater than I am; keep out of the way, or it will burst, smash, bang. Step aside.

2nd Engineer. How goes it?

Inventor. It hurts me, it ’s going to burst. It may knock against the walls—bang! I can’t get my hands round it. I can scarcely carry it. Look out, do you hear? Whew, whew!

Chief Engineer. What ’s in it?

Inventor. A machine—a new machine in my head. Oh, oh, a huge machine. Out of the way, out of the way, I’m carrying a machine.

Chief Engineer. What sort of a machine?

Inventor. A war machine. A vast machine, a huge one. The swiftest, most effective crusher of lives. The forefront of progress, the acme of science. Whew, whew, do you hear it? Ten thousand, a hundred thousand dead! Whew, whew, it keeps on working. Two hundred thousand dead—whew, whew, whew, whew!

Chief Engineer. (To ) A genius, eh?

Inventor. Oh, oh, what pain, my head ’s splitting—out of the way, out of the way, don’t knock against me—whew, whew, whew

Chief Engineer. A vast intellect. The greatest of Scientists.

2nd Engineer. Nothing serves the State so much as Science.

Chief Engineer. Great is Science, and it will prevail—there will be war.

Tramp. Why war?

Chief Engineer. Because we shall have a new war machine.

2nd Engineer. Because we still need a bit of the world.