Doctor Atomic

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Doctor Atomic Libretto

SYSTEMFIRST ACT

SYSTEMScene 1

(The laboratory of the Manhattan Project

at Los Alamos, New Mexico. June 1945)

CHORUSWe believed that

CHORUS"Matter can be neither

CHORUScreated nor destroyed

CHORUSbut only altered in form."

CHORUSWe believed that

CHORUS"Energy can be neither

CHORUScreated nor destroyed

CHORUSbut only altered in form."

CHORUSBut now we know

CHORUSThat energy

CHORUSmay become matter,

CHORUSand now we know that

CHORUSmatter may become energy

CHORUSand thus be altered in form.

CHORUSThe end of June 1945 finds us

CHORUSexpecting from day to day

CHORUSto hear of the explosion

CHORUSof the first atomic bomb

CHORUSdevised by man.

CHORUSAll the problems are believed

CHORUSto have been solved

CHORUSat least well enough

CHORUSto make a bomb practicable.

CHORUSA sustained neutron chain reaction

CHORUSresulting from nuclear fission

CHORUShas been demonstrated;

CHORUSproduction plants of several

CHORUSdifferent types are in operation,

CHORUSbuilding a stock pile

CHORUSof the explosive material.

CHORUSWe do not know when the first

CHORUSexplosion will occur

CHORUSnor how effective it will be.

CHORUSThe devastation from a single bomb

CHORUSis expected to be comparable to that

CHORUSof a major air raid by usual methods.

CHORUSA weapon has been developed

CHORUSthat is potentially destructive

CHORUSbeyond the wildest nightmares

CHORUSof the imagination;

CHORUSa weapon so ideally suited

CHORUSto sudden unannounced attack

CHORUSthat a country's major cities

CHORUSmight be destroyed overnight

CHORUSby an ostensibly friendly power.

CHORUSThis weapon has been created

CHORUSnot by the devilish inspiration

CHORUSof some warped genius

CHORUSbut by the arduous labor

CHORUSof thousands of normal men and women

CHORUSworking for the safety of their country.

TELLERFirst of all, let me say

TELLERthat I have no hope

TELLERof clearing my conscience.

TELLERThe things we are working on

TELLERare so terrible

TELLERthat no amount of protesting

TELLERor fiddling with politics

TELLERwill save our souls.

OPPIE"The soul is a thing so impalpable,

OPPIEso often useless,

OPPIEand sometimes so embarrassing

OPPIEthat at this loss I felt

OPPIEonly a little more emotion

OPPIEthan if, during a walk,

OPPIEI had lost my visiting card."

TELLERI've found a new difficulty

TELLERwith the latest design of the Super.

TELLERBut since I haven't thought it through yet,

TELLERI would rather talk about it later.

OPPIETalk about it now.

TELLERNo.

OPPIE"Home stretch measures," Edward.

OPPIE"Ruthless, brutal people must

OPPIEband together to force the

OPPIEFat Man components to dovetail in

OPPIEtime and space."

OPPIEThe cowpuncher committee

OPPIEhas a mandate to "ride herd"

OPPIEon the implosion program.

CHORUSWe surround the plutonium core

from thirty two points

CHORUSspaced equally around its surface,

the thirty-two points

CHORUSare the centers of the

CHORUStwenty triangular faces

CHORUSof an icosahedron

CHORUSinterwoven with the

CHORUStwelve pentagonal faces

CHORUSof a dodecahedron.

CHORUSWe squeeze the sphere.

CHORUSBring the atoms closer.

CHORUSTil the subcritical mass

CHORUSgoes supercritical.

CHORUSWe disturb the stable nucleus.

OPPIEWe are bedeviled

OPPIEby faulty detonators.

OPPIEOne detonator fizzles

OPPIEor goes off a millionth of a second

OPPIEtoo early or too late.

TELLERIt ruins the symmetry of

TELLERthe Gadget's nuclear guts…

OPPIENo more quibbling

OPPIEover the plutonium core.

TELLER…and we've got a misfire.

OPPIEIt will be a solid ball.

OPPIEWe have you to thank for that, Edward.

OPPIEWe'll kickstart the reaction

OPPIEwith a modulated initiator.

TELLERLet me apologize for my rudeness.

TELLERI dislike group meetings.

OPPIEOkay.

OPPIEYou don't want to return to the meetings?

OPPIEYou don't have to.

OPPIEI'll talk with you about your group's work

OPPIEby yourself.

TELLERI received this letter

TELLERfrom my friend Leo Szilard.

OPPIESzilard's a bright fellow,

OPPIEkind of a busy-body,

OPPIEbut very bright.

reading Szilard's letter

CHORUS"Many of us are inclined to say

CHORUSthat individual Germans

CHORUSshare the guilt for acts

CHORUSwhich Germany committed during this war

CHORUSbecause they did not raise their voices

CHORUSin protest against those acts.

CHORUSTheir defense that their protest

CHORUSwould have been of no avail

CHORUShardly seems acceptable,

CHORUSeven though these Germans

CHORUScould not have protested without

CHORUSrunning risks

CHORUSto life and liberty.

CHORUSWe scientists,

CHORUSworking on 'atomic power',

CHORUSare in a position

CHORUSto raise our voices

CHORUSwithout such risks,

CHORUSeven though we might incur

CHORUSthe displeasure of those who

CHORUSare at present in charge.

CHORUSThe people of the United States

CHORUSare unaware of the choice we face.

CHORUSAnd this only increases

CHORUSour responsibility in this matter.

CHORUSWe alone who have worked

CHORUSon 'atomic power'-- we alone are in a position

CHORUSto declare our stand."

OPPIEI think it improper

OPPIEfor a scientist

OPPIEto use his prestige

OPPIEas a platform

OPPIEfor political pronouncements.

OPPIEThe nation's fate

OPPIEshould be left in the hands

OPPIEof the best men in Washington.

OPPIEThey have the information which

OPPIEwe do not possess.

OPPIEMen like Marshall,

OPPIEa man of great humanity and intellect--

OPPIEit is for them to decide, not us.

WILSONActually, I'm organizing

WILSONa small meeting at our building. The title is

WILSON"The Impact of the Gadget on Civilization."

OPPIEI saw the announcement.

OPPIEI'd like to persuade you not to have it.

OPPIEI feel that such a discussion in the lab,

OPPIEin the technical area,

OPPIEis quite inconsistent with what

OPPIEwe talk about there.

WILSONThese questions are not technical questions,

WILSONbut political and social questions,

WILSONand the answers given to them

WILSONmay affect all mankind for generations.

WILSONIn thinking about them

WILSONthe men on the project

WILSONhave been thinking as citizens

WILSONof the United States

WILSONvitally interested in the welfare

WILSONof the human race.

OPPIEI might warn you-- you could get in trouble

OPPIEif you hold such a meeting.

WILSONFrom radical to establishment figure

WILSONin two easy stages!

OPPIEIsn't it better that I have

OPPIEa voice within the government?

WILSONThis is a petition.

WILSON"To the President of the United States:

WILSONWe, the undersigned scientists,

WILSONhave been working in the field

WILSONof atomic power.

WILSONUntil recently we have had to fear

WILSONthat in this war the United States

WILSONmight be attacked

WILSONby atomic bombs,

WILSONand that her only defense

WILSONmight lie in a counterattack

WILSONby the same means.

WILSONToday, with the defeat of Germany,

WILSONthis danger is averted,

WILSONand we feel impelled

WILSONto say what follows…"

interrupting

TELLERThe machinery has caught us in its trap…

WILSON... and we can't stop now.

WILSONYou want to know if it works.

continues reading from the petition

WILSON"…Atomic bombs

WILSONmay well be effective warfare.

WILSONBut attacks on Japan

WILSONcannot be justified until we make clear

WILSONthe terms of peace

WILSONand give them a chance to surrender."

OPPIEWhat do we know about

OPPIEJapanese psychology?

OPPIEHow can we scientists

OPPIEjudge the way to end the war?

WILSONWe must first devise a demonstration.

WILSONWhere there won't be any people.

WILSONNot on a city. Or a demonstration

WILSONright here in the desert.

WILSONLet them send observers…

WILSONsee for themselves.

OPPIEWhat if it's a dud?

TELLEREvery time we test it something goes wrong.

TELLERSome component is failing.

OPPIEThe Gadget Divison…

OPPIEit's been thrown into turmoil.

OPPIEYesterday we had blisters,

OPPIEblisters on the spheres' surface,

OPPIEinfinitesimal,

OPPIEbut large enough to cause a fatal misfit

OPPIEbetween the hemispheres.

WILSONEverybody is rushing around.

WILSONThey don't appear to be ready.

WILSONBut there's momentum.

WILSONEverybody's working day and night.

WILSONNobody has a spare moment

WILSONand we work like dogs.

WILSONIt's hard to stop and think

WILSONas one ought to.

OPPIEWell, how do you feel?

WILSONWell, pretty excited.

WILSONLike going out to save civilization.

OPPIEThe test must go on as scheduled.

OPPIEGroves has talked with Conant

OPPIEand the "upper crust" in Washington.

OPPIEDoctor Stearns described the work

OPPIEthey've already done on target selection.

OPPIEIt was agreed that psychological factors

OPPIEin selecting the targets

OPPIEare of great importance.

CHORUSKyoto.

CHORUSPopulation, one million.

CHORUSAn intellectual center.

CHORUSClassified double-A target.

CHORUSNagasaki: a secondary target.

CHORUSYokohama. Nagoya. Fukuoka. Hiroshima.

to Oppie

TELLERYou used your scientific stature

TELLERto give political advice

TELLERin favor of immediate bombing?

OPPIEI explained that the visual effect

OPPIEof an atomic bombing would be tremendous.

OPPIEA brilliant luminescence

rising to a height of up to twenty thousand feet.

OPPIEThe neutron effect of the explosion

OPPIEwould be dangerous to life

OPPIEfor a radius of at least

OPPIEtwo-thirds of a mile, a brilliant luminescence.

TELLEROur only hope is

TELLERto convince everybody

TELLERthat the next war will be fatal.

TELLERFor this purpose actual combat use

TELLERmight be the best thing.

WILSONNo. Before the bomb is used

WILSONJapan must have some warning.

WILSONA couple of days in advance.

WILSONIt's our position as a great

WILSONhumanitarian nation.

WILSONIt's the fair play of our people.

in counterpoint with the following chorus

OPPIEThe Secretary of War concludes--

that we cannot give the Japanese

OPPIEany warning;

OPPIEthat we should seek to make a profound

OPPIEpsychological impression

OPPIEon as many inhabitants as possible.

OPPIEDoctor Conant suggests

OPPIEa vital war plant as

OPPIEthe most desirable target,

OPPIEemploying a large number of workers

OPPIEand closely surrounded by worker's houses.

continuing to read the petition

MALE CHORUS"A nation which sets the precedent

MALE CHORUSof using these newly liberated forces of nature

MALE CHORUSfor purposes of destruction

MALE CHORUSmay have to bear responsibility

MALE CHORUSof opening the door to an era of devastation

MALE CHORUSon an unimaginable scale".

OPPIETruman will never see that petition.

OPPIESecurity officials will deem it

OPPIEa superfluous document

OPPIEin light of the decisions

OPPIEbeing made at highest levels.

OPPIEI've already told them in Washington

OPPIEthat several strikes would be feasible.

WOMEN'S CHORUSAll the resources of the United States,

WOMEN'S CHORUSmoral and material,

WOMEN'S CHORUSmay have to be mobilized

WOMEN'S CHORUSto prevent the advent of such

WOMEN'S CHORUSa world situation.

TELLERThe more decisive a weapon is

TELLERthe more surely it will be used,

TELLERand no agreements will help.

TELLERCould we have started the atomic age

TELLERwith clean hands?

SYSTEMScene 2

TELLER(Kitty and Oppie are alone in their living room.

TELLERHe is reading documents, oblivious to her)

KITTYAm I in your light?

KITTYNo, go on reading

KITTY(the hackneyed light of evening

KITTYquarreling with the bulbs;

KITTYthe book's bent rectangle

KITTYsolid on your knees)

KITTYonly my fingers in your hair,

KITTYonly, my eyes

KITTYsplitting the skull

KITTYto tickle your brain with love

KITTYin a slow caress blurring the mind,

kissing your mouth awake

KITTYopening the body's mouth

KITTYstopping the words.

KITTYThis light is thick with birds, and

KITTYevening warns us beautifully of death.

KITTYSlowly I bend over you,

KITTYslowly your breath

KITTYruns rhythms through my blood

KITTYas if I said I love you

KITTYand you should raise your head.

KITTYlistening, speaking

KITTYinto the covert night:

KITTYDid someone say something?

KITTYLove, am I in your light? Am I?

KITTYSee how love alters the living face

KITTYgo spin the immortal coin through time

KITTYwatch the thing flip through space tick, tick

OPPIE(Text taken from Baudelaire's erotic poem,

OPPIE"Un hémisphère dans une chevelure,")

OPPIELong let me inhale, deeply,

OPPIEthe odor of your hair,

OPPIEinto it plunge the whole of my face,

OPPIElike a thirsty man

OPPIEinto the water of a spring,

OPPIEand wave it in my fingers

OPPIElike a scented handkerchief,

OPPIEto shake memories into the air.

OPPIEIf you could know all that I see!

OPPIEall that I feel!

OPPIEall that I hear in your hair!

OPPIEMy soul floats upon perfumes

OPPIEas the souls of other men

OPPIEfloat upon music.

OPPIEYour hair contains an entire dream,

OPPIEfull of sails and masts;

OPPIEit contains vast seas

OPPIEwhose soft monsoons

OPPIEbear me to delightful climates

OPPIEwhere space is deeper and bluer,

OPPIEwhere the atmosphere

OPPIEis perfumed with fruit,

OPPIEwith foliage and with human skin.

OPPIEIn the ocean of your hair

OPPIEI see brief visions

OPPIEof a port resounding with

OPPIEmelancholy songs,

OPPIEof vigorous men of all nations

OPPIEand ships of all shapes

OPPIEoutlining their fine and complicated

OPPIEarchitectures

OPPIEagainst an immense sky

OPPIEwhere eternal heat

OPPIElanguidly quivers…

OPPIEIn the glowing fire-grate of your hair

OPPIEI inhale the odor of tobacco

OPPIEmingled with opium and sugar;

OPPIEin the night of your hair

OPPIEI see the infinity

OPPIEof tropical azure resplendent;

OPPIEon the downed banks of your hair

OPPIEI inebriate myself with

OPPIEthe mingled odors of tar,

OPPIEof musk and of coconut oil.

OPPIELong let me bite your heavy,

OPPIEblack tresses… it seems to me

OPPIEthat I am eating memories.

KITTYThe motive of it all was loneliness,

KITTYAll the panic encounters and despair

KITTYWere bred in fear of the lost night, apart,

KITTYOutlined by pain, alone.

KITTYPromiscuous as mercy.

KITTYFear-led and led again to fear

KITTY… toward the cave where

SYSTEMpart fire and part

KITTYPity lived in that voluptuousness

KITTYTo end one

KITTYand begin another loneliness.

KITTYThis is the most intolerable motive:

KITTYMust be given back to life again,

KITTYMade superhuman

KITTYMade superhuman, made human, out of pain

KITTYTurned to the personal,

KITTYthe pure release:

KITTYThe rings of Plato

KITTYand Homer's golden chain

KITTYOr Lenin with his cry

KITTYof Dare We Win.

KITTYThose who most long for peace

KITTYnow pour their lives on war.

KITTYOur conflicts carry

KITTYcreation and its guilt,

KITTYthese years' great arms

KITTYare full of death and flowers.

KITTYA world is to be fought for,

KITTYsung, and built:

KITTYLove must imagine the world…

SYSTEMScene 3

KITTY(The Alamogordo test site. It is early evening of the

KITTYnight before the test of "Little Boy", the first plutonium

KITTYbomb. As pressure mounts from Washington to proceed

KITTYimmediately with the test, a powerful electrical storm

KITTYhas arisen, threatening cancellation of the test. General

KITTYGroves and Oppenheimer huddle around the desk of the

KITTYchief meteorologist, Jack Hubbard. July 15, 1945)

GROVESWhat the hell is wrong with the weather?

OPPIEThe weather is whimsical.

HUBBARDThunderheads began moving

HUBBARDinto the area at 04.00 hours.

GROVESLightning…

GROVESWhat if it hits the tower

GROVESand detonates the bomb?

OPPIERain is probably ruining

OPPIEthe electrical connections.

HUBBARDGeneral, weather forecasters

HUBBARDhave opposed the test date for months...

HUBBARDit was set within a window

HUBBARDof unfavorable conditions:

HUBBARDthunderstorms, rain,

HUBBARDhigh winds, inversion layers.

HUBBARDYou overroad us, sir.

GROVESIs this insubordination?

HUBBARDNow we are onsite,

HUBBARDand conditions are exactly the worst possible,

HUBBARDwith an electrical storm threatening

HUBBARDnot just the test,

HUBBARDbut the lives of those setting it up.

GROVESFive hundred U.S. Superfortresses

GROVESare raining incendiary bombs

GROVESon four Japanese cities.

GROVESOur B-29's are destroying

GROVEShalf of every Jap city they hit.

GROVESThe President of the United States

GROVESis talking to Joe Stalin in the morning in Potsdam.

GROVESThis test will proceed as scheduled,

GROVESwith full weather compliance

GROVESor you will spend the rest of your life behind bars,

GROVESMister Meteorologist.

HUBBARDWe are seeing storm clouds coming in

HUBBARDover the Chupadera Mesa and the

HUBBARDOscuras.

GROVESI am asking for a firm prediction

GROVESas when the storm will pass.

recite phrases from the Bhagavad Gita

OPPIEI am the heat of the sun;

OPPIEand the heat of the fire am I also:

OPPIELife eternal and death.

OPPIEI let loose the rain, or withhold it.

OPPIEArjuna, I am the cosmos revealed,

OPPIEand its germ that lies hidden.

HUBBARDSir, the volatility of the season

HUBBARDmakes such prediction impossible.

GROVESSo, you are refusing to forecast

GROVESgood weather for the test?

HUBBARDI recommend we postpone the decision

HUBBARDuntil our next weather conference

HUBBARDat 2:00 a.m.

GROVESHubbard, I want a specific time.

HUBBARDAt that time,

HUBBARDI will recommend postponing the test

HUBBARDuntil 5:30 a.m.,

HUBBARDwhen the thunderstorms

HUBBARDwould be dissipated by the first rays of the sun.

GROVESI demand a signed weather forecast.

GROVESI warn you…

GROVESif you are wrong, I will hang you.

HUBBARDI'll sign the report, sir.

OPPIEIf we postpone, I'll never get my people

OPPIEup to pitch again.

OPPIEI hear Fermi

OPPIEjust rushed into the mess hall

OPPIEpleading for postponement.

OPPIEA sudden wind shift

OPPIEcould deluge the camp

OPPIEwith radioactive rain after the shot.

OPPIEThe evacuation routes are inadequate.

OPPIEIt could be a catastrophe.

GROVESIf I have to compromise security

GROVESby sending an evacuation force

GROVESinto nearby towns,

GROVESour cover's blown.

GROVESThe secret of the test

GROVESwill end up headlined

GROVESin tomorrow's newspapers.

GROVESSo far the press

GROVESis exercising voluntary censorship.

NOLANWith respect, sir,

NOLANAnyone with two good eyes

NOLANcould have found Los Alamos

NOLANjust by following the trail of beer cans

NOLANfrom Santa Fe.

NOLANBut ever since the first grams of plutonium

NOLANarrived at Los Alamos, sir,

NOLANthe medical division has been studying

NOLANthe toxic properties of the deadly metal.

NOLANIts metabolism is similar to radium:

NOLANenough of it in the human body

NOLANeats through vital tissues,

NOLANdisintegrates human kidneys

NOLANand causes fatal bone cancer.

NOLANSir, no cure has yet been found

NOLANfor the agonies that result

NOLANfrom overexposure

NOLANto fallout and radiation.

OPPIEFeelings of heat and cold,

OPPIEpleasure and pain,

OPPIEare caused by the contact of the senses

OPPIEwith their objects.

OPPIEThey come and they go, never lasting long.

OPPIEYou must accept them.

GROVESYou what?

OPPIEI said...

OPPIEWatch out for the rattelesnakes.

GROVESI have been preoccupied with many matters,

GROVESbut the prospect of fallout

GROVEShas not been high on my priority list.

GROVESNow you're telling me that we

GROVESshould be ready to evacuate Trinity?

GROVESBring in troops and trucks to get

GROVESeveryone out

GROVESat a moment's notice,

GROVESif something goes wrong?

NOLANThat could be the case, sir.

GROVESWhat are you, a Hearst propagandist?

OPPIEA serene spirit accepts pleasure and pain

OPPIEwith an even mind,

OPPIEand is unmoved by either.

OPPIEHe alone is worthy of immortality.

NOLANI'm having to double

NOLANas camp psychologist.

NOLANI keep in constant touch with a team

NOLANof psychiatrists at Oak Ridge.

NOLANSeveral of the younger scientists

NOLANare talking wildly of failure

NOLANand possible disaster.

NOLANTheir fears are threatening

NOLANto infect the rest of the camp.

NOLANTwo hours ago,

NOLANone young scientist became hysterical

NOLANand had to be removed under sedation.

GROVESThere is an air of excitement at the camp

GROVESthat I do not like.

GROVESThis is a time when calm deliberation

GROVESis most essential.

GROVESOppenheimer is getting advice

GROVESfrom all sides on what he should

GROVESor should not do.

GROVESThe best thing I can do is

GROVESintroduce as much of an atmosphere

GROVESof calm as possible into this very

GROVEStense situation.

GROVESThe main problem is the weather.

GROVESWe have the best weathermen

GROVESthe armed forces can give us.

GROVESTheir predictions have always

GROVESbeen on the money.

GROVESThe only time they've been wrong

GROVESis right now…

GROVESon the day it counts.

GROVESGet them out of here.

GROVESFrom now on I'm making my own

GROVESweather predictions.

GROVESInterlude

OPPIEGeneral, you are bearing up

OPPIEwith remarkable fortitude.

OPPIEOnly your waistline is suffering.

GROVESI've been urged to take action.

GROVESAs child I often ate

GROVESgreat quantities of food,

GROVESSweets and choc'late, and so forth.

GROVESThis was a subject of concern to my mother

GROVESand to my stepmother.

GROVESI have here detailed diets that were,

GROVESat least in theory, intended to be followed.

GROVESI did stick to one last August and September.

GROVESYou can see my daily menus

GROVESand my weight. Here, see:

GROVESOn August 7 I weighed 227 pounds.

GROVESBy September 24 I am down to 212.

GROVESAll the menus

GROVESare meticulously drawn up,

GROVESdown to the last calorie.

GROVESIn this particular diet

GROVESthe average number of calories per day

GROVESis only one thousand twenty.

GROVESIt would hardly keep a bird alive.

GROVESBut then there's the two brownies--

GROVES200 calories

GROVESand on September 15

GROVES"3 pieces of chocolate cake--

GROVES300 calories."

GROVESYou don't look so good.

Get some sleep. I'll turn in myself.

To the duty oficer

GROVESI want Kistiakosky,

GROVESBainbridge and Officer Bush

GROVESup on that bomb tower

GROVESto prevent potential sabotage.

GROVESGoodnight.

Text taken from John Donne's Holy Sonnet

OPPIEBatter my heart,

OPPIEthree person'd God; for, you

OPPIEAs yet but knock, breathe, knock,

OPPIEbreathe, knock, breathe

OPPIEShine, and seek to mend;

OPPIEBatter my heart, three person'd God;

That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow

OPPIEme, and bend

OPPIEyour force, to break,

OPPIEblow, break, blow,

OPPIEbreak, blow burn

OPPIEand make me new.

OPPIEBatter my heart, three person'd God; for, you

OPPIEAs yet but knock, breathe, knock,

OPPIEtreathe, knock, breathe

OPPIEShine, and seek to mend;

OPPIEBatter my heart, three person'd God;

That I may rise, and stand,

OPPIEo'erthrow me, and bend

OPPIEYour force, to break,

OPPIEblow, break, blow, break,

OPPIEblow burn and make me new.

OPPIEI, like an usurpt town, to another due,

OPPIELabor to'admit you, but oh, to no end,

OPPIEReason your viceroy in me,

OPPIEme should defend, but is captiv'd,

OPPIEand proves weak or untrue,

OPPIEYet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain

OPPIEBut am betroth'd unto your enemy,

OPPIEDivorce me, untie, or break that knot again,

OPPIETake me to you, imprison me, for I

OPPIEExcept you enthrall me, never shall be free,

OPPIENor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

SYSTEMSECOND ACT

SYSTEMScene 1

OPPIE(The Oppenheimer house, two hundred miles from

OPPIEthe test site. It's two am on July 16. Aria Kitty "Pacua

OPPIEEve," based on the poem "Easter Eve", by Muriel

OPPIERukeysayer 1945)

KITTYWary of time

KITTYO it seizes the soul tonight

KITTYI wait for the great morning of the west

KITTYconfessing with every breath mortality.

KITTYMoon of this wild sky struggles to stay whole

KITTYand on the water

KITTYsilvers the ships of war.

KITTYI go alone in the black-yellow light

KITTYall night waiting for day,

KITTYwhile everywhere the sure death of light,

KITTYthe leaf's sure return to the root

KITTYis repeated in million,

KITTYdeath of all man to share.

KITTYWhatever world I know shines ritual death,

KITTYwide under this moon they stand gathering fire,

KITTYfighting with flame,

KITTYstand fighting in their graves.

KITTYAll shining with life as the leaf,

KITTYas the wing shines,

KITTYthe stone deep in the mountain,

KITTYthe drop in the green wave,

KITTYLit by their energies, secretly, all things shine.

KITTYNothing can black that glow of life;

KITTYalthough each part go crumbling down

itself shall rise up whole.

KITTYNow I say there are new meanings;

KITTYnow I name death our black

KITTYhonor and feast of possibility

KITTYto celebrate casting of life on life.

KITTYThis earth-long day

KITTYbetween blood and resurrection where we wait

KITTYremembering sun,

KITTYseed, fire; remembering

KITTYthat fierce Judaean Innocent who risked

KITTYevery immortal meaning on one life.

KITTYGiven to our year

KITTYas sun and spirit are,

KITTYas seed we are blessed

KITTYonly in needing freedom.

KITTYNow I say that the peace

KITTYthe spirit needs is peace, not lack of war,

KITTYbut fierce continual flame.

KITTYFor all men: effort is freedom,

KITTYeffort's peace, it fights.

KITTYAnd along these truths

KITTYthe soul goes home,

KITTYflies in its blazing to a place

KITTYmore safe and round than Paradise.

KITTYNight of the soul,

KITTYour dreams in the arms of dreams

KITTYdissolving into eyes that look upon us.

KITTYDreams the sources of action,

KITTYthe meeting and the end,

KITTYa resting-place among the flight of things.

KITTYOrchestral Interlude.

KITTY"Lightning in the Sangre de Cristo Mountain"

KITTY(Seven month-old Katherine Oppenheimer

KITTYawakens, crying)

The Cloud-flower Lullaby

PASQUALITAIn the north the cloud-flower blossoms,

PASQUALITAAnd now the lightning flashes,

PASQUALITAAnd the now the thunder clashes,

PASQUALITAAnd now the rain comes down!

PASQUALITAA-a-aha, a-a-aha, my little one.

SYSTEMScene 2

The test site "Trinity". Midnight on 16 July 1945

WILSONIt's midnight, Jack.

WILSONThere's quite a fierce storm going on up here.

WILSONI have a certain amount of respect…

WILSONah…for that atomic bomb,

WILSONbeing right next to it.

WILSONSparks seem to be flying.

WILSONLightning is striking all around.

HUBBARDIntroducing considerations

HUBBARDthe minimum specifications

HUBBARDunder which this operation

HUBBARDcan be conducted.

HUBBARDIf you ask me, testing this thing tonight

HUBBARDis a blunder of the first magnitude.

WILSONI've got to attach this canister

WILSONto the top of the tower.

WILSON…tubes to measure the speed

WILSONof the bomb's chain reaction--

WILSONRossi and I have been rechecking

WILSONit all night.

WILSONI have to have it all turned on

WILSONand test it before

WILSONYou know, I'm really scared

WILSONabout this object here in the tower.

WILSONA short while ago

WILSONa model of the X unit

WILSONfired spontaneously in a storm.

WILSONThis weather is really something

WILSONyou don't like be around

WILSONwith a bomb nearby.

I'm leaving for my station

WILSONat North-10,000.

HUBBARDThe men in charge of monitoring

HUBBARDexpected fallout

HUBBARDare prepared for two alternatives--

HUBBARDa "North Blow" or a "South Blow."

HUBBARDIf the winds hold in their

HUBBARDcurrent position,

HUBBARDthe shelter at N-10,000

HUBBARDwill be inundated with radioactive debris.

WILSONI've dreamed the same dream

WILSONseveral nights running.

WILSONI'm almost at the top of the tower

WILSONand then I misstep,

and I'm falling,

a long, slow fall,

WILSONand each time, before I strike the ground,

WILSONI wake up sweating.

PASQUALITAIn the west the cloud-flower blossoms,

PASQUALITAAnd now the lightning flashes,

PASQUALITAAnd now the thunder clashes,

PASQUALITAAnd now the rain comes down!

PASQUALITAA-a-aha, a-a-aha, my little one.

KITTYTo the farthest west,

KITTYthe sea and the striped country

KITTYand deep in the camps among

KITTYthe wounded cities

KITTYhalf-world over, the waking dreams of night

KITTYoutrange the horrors.

KITTYPast fierce and tossing skies

KITTYthe rare desires shine

KITTYin constellation.

KITTYI hear your cries, you little voices

KITTYof children

KITTYswaying wild, nightlost,

KITTYin black fields calling.

KITTYI hear you

KITTYas the seething dreams arrive

KITTYover the sea

KITTYand past the flaming mountains.

PASQUALITAIn the south the cloud flower blossoms,

PASQUALITAAnd now the lightning flashes,

PASQUALITAAnd now the thunder clashes,

PASQUALITAAnd now the rain comes down!

PASQUALITAA-a-aha, a-a-aha, my little one.

GROVESA delay in issuing the Potsdam ultimatum

GROVEScould result in a delay in the Japanese reaction,

GROVESwith a further delay

GROVESto the atomic attack on Japan.

GROVES(Oppenheimer rolls himself one cigarette after

GROVESanother and puffs them down to the ash)

GROVESObviously, a reasonable time has to be allowed

GROVESfor the Japanese

GROVESto consider the ultimatum.

TELLERFermi is taking wagers

TELLERas to whether the bomb will

TELLERignite the atmosphere,

TELLERand if so,

TELLERwhether it will destroy

TELLERjust New Mexico

TELLERor the entire world.

GROVESI fail to appreciate your black humor,

GROVESDoctor Teller.

GROVESThis is exactly the kind of loose talk

GROVESthat might paralyze

GROVESthe enlisted men with fright.

OPPIEEdward's a great one

OPPIEfor oddball problems, General.

TELLERI asked for and have obtained

TELLERa most important assignment,

TELLERone that many consider superfluous.

TELLERThere had been some suggestions

TELLERthat we might have miscalculated,

TELLERthat the explosion could be much larger

TELLERthan we had anticipated.

TELLERMight we not be setting off

TELLERA huge chain reaction that will

TELLERencircle the globe in a sea of fire?

TELLERIt's my job to make a last check

TELLERand review.

TELLERI've spent a great deal of time

TELLERindulging in controlled fantasies,

TELLERtrying to dream up new,

TELLERundiscovered laws of nature

TELLERthat a sudden release of atomic energy

TELLERmight bring into play.

TELLERThere was a possibility

TELLERthat the test blast might touch off

TELLERa natural phenomenon

TELLERthat is not contrary

TELLERto our knowledge,

TELLERbut perhaps beyond our experience.

TELLERIn July, three years ago,

TELLERI made some of the initial

TELLERcalculations,

TELLERand my figures indicated

TELLERthat the bomb would, indeed,

TELLERcreate enough heat

TELLERto ignite the earth's atmosphere.

OPPIEYou'll remember that

OPPIEI immediately called a halt

OPPIEto those meetings.

OPPIEWe asked Bethe

OPPIEabout your numbers.

OPPIEHis calculations showed

OPPIEthat even the extreme pressures

OPPIEand temperatures

OPPIEreached in the interior of our explosion

OPPIEwill not be high enough

OPPIEto fuse the hydrogen with either

OPPIEnitrogen or helium.

OPPIEThe Gadget won't set fire to the atmosphere.

TELLERMy revised figures agree with Bethe's.

TELLERI can find no reason to believe

TELLERthe test shot will touch off

TELLERthe destruction of the world,

TELLERno reason to think that

TELLERour advance calculations

TELLERare not entirely correct.

OPPIEEdward,

OPPIEthe test will be delayed an hour or more.

TELLERThe climax

TELLERof our two-billion dollar experiment:

TELLERWill we have a "dud," a "fizzle" at

TELLERTrinity?

Everyone notices the rain

TELLERThis drizzle is bone-chilling.

TELLERHere…I've brought a bottle of suntan lotion.

TELLERPass it around.

HUBBARDThe winds have actually shifted

HUBBARDa full 360 degrees

HUBBARDin the last twelve hours.

HUBBARDThundershowers and thrity-mile-an-hour winds

HUBBARDare raking the test site.

PASQUALITAIn the east the cloud-flower blossoms,

PASQUALITAAnd now the lightning flashes…

GROVESYou are eight minutes late.

HUBBARDGeneral,

HUBBARDa night rain in a tropical air mass

HUBBARDbehaves differently from a standard

HUBBARDsouthwestern afternoon storm.

HUBBARDThis is no normal storm, sir.

HUBBARDNeither Bainbridge nor I

HUBBARDhave slept in over two days.

HUBBARDThere is still hope for a shot.

HUBBARDMaybe some time

HUBBARDbetween dawn at five A.M. and sunrise at six.

OPPIEPrepare to fire

OPPIEat five-thirty.

SYSTEMScene 3

OPPIECountdown Part I

OPPIE(The final countdown begins at 5:10 A.M. with a

OPPIEcrashing rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner"

Just as Bainbridge gives the signal to Sam Allison

OPPIEin the control center, radio station KCBA in Delano,

OPPIECalifornia, crosses wave lengths with the Trinity

OPPIEfrequency. The station, operated by the Office of

OPPIEWar Information, opens its morning Voice of America

OPPIEbroadcast to Latin America. The National Anthem

OPPIEprovides stirring accompaniment to the countdown

OPPIEannouncement)

GROVESThe program has been plagued from the start

GROVESby the presence of certain scientists

GROVESof doubtful discretion and uncertain loyalty.

GROVESIt was agreed in Washington

GROVESthat nothing can be done

GROVESabout dismissing these men

GROVESuntil after the bomb has actually been used,

GROVESor, at best,

GROVESuntil after the test has been made.

OPPIEO yes, Time has returned;

OPPIEnow Time reigns absolute;

GROVESAfter some publicity concerning

GROVESthe weapon is out, steps should be taken

GROVESto sever these scientists from the program

GROVESand to proceed with a general weeding out

GROVESof personnel no longer needed.

OPPIE…and with the hideous old man

OPPIEthe whole of his demoniac retinue has returned,

OPPIEMemories, Regrets,

OPPIESpasms, Fears,

OPPIEAfflictions, Nightmares,

OPPIERages and Neuroses.

Five year-old Peter Oppenheimer awakens

KITTYTo keep the weakness secret.

KITTYTo keep it secret

KITTYTo deny it and break through.

KITTYIn the dream of chieftains,

KITTYthe corn distinct again

KITTYin gold-white tuft-feathers.

KITTYThe roads all paved,

KITTYstony, savage;

KITTYthe knocking in the chest resumed.

KITTYYour father has a passion for freedom

KITTYRang and rang in the small boy's head.

PASQUALITAThen word came from a runner,

PASQUALITAa stranger:

PASQUALITA"They are dancing

PASQUALITAto bring the dead back,

PASQUALITAin the mountains."

PASQUALITAWe danced at an autumn fire,

PASQUALITAwe danced the old hate and change,

PASQUALITAthe coming again of our leaders.

PASQUALITABut they did not come.

WILSONI just finished reading The Magic Mountain

WILSONby Thomas Mann

WILSONand of course

WILSONto go to this mysterious mountain

WILSONon the top of which

WILSONthere would be a secret laboratory

WILSONwhich we would go into,

WILSONthe doors would slam shut

WILSONand a few years later

WILSONwe would come out bearing

WILSONan atomic bomb…

OPPIEI assure you that now the seconds

OPPIEare strongly and solemnly

OPPIEaccentuated and each one,

OPPIEspouting out of the clock, says:

OPPIE"I am Life, insupportable,

OPPIEimplacable Life!"

PASQUALITAThe winter dawned,

PASQUALITAbut the dead did not come back.

PASQUALITANews came on the frost,

PASQUALITA"The dead are on the march!"

PASQUALITAWe danced in prison to a winter music,

PASQUALITAmany we loved

PASQUALITAbegan to dream of the dead.

PASQUALITAThey made no promises,

PASQUALITAwe never dreamed a threat.

PASQUALITAAnd the dreams spread.

KITTYAnd love which contains all human spirit, all wish,

KITTYthe eyes and hands,

KITTYsex, mouth, hair, the whole woman--

KITTYfierce peace I say at last,

KITTYand the sense of the world.

OPPIEThere is only one second in the life of men

OPPIEwhose mission it

OPPIEis to announce good news,

OPPIEthe good news which fills every man

OPPIEwith an inexplicable fear.

TELLERThe only saviors

TELLERare the ham sandwiches

TELLERand hot coffee.

TELLERWe've got an informal betting pool going.

TELLEREverybody puts in a dollar--

TELLERwhoever guesses the explosive yield

TELLERis a rich man.

OPPIEI guess 300 tons of TNT.

TELLERA very low estimate,

TELLERnot much more than thirty ten-ton

TELLERblockbuster bombs--

TELLERin other words, what you're predicting

TELLERis we'll get nothing more than a fizzle.

GROVESI confess my utter amazement

GROVESthat these scientists are glooming

GROVESover their coffee cups

GROVESabout their uncertainties

GROVESof the coming test.

TELLERThe bomb has a blackboard potential

TELLERof nearly twenty thousand tons.

TELLERThat's twenty kilotons of TNT.

OPPIENo one thinks for a minute

OPPIEwe'll achieve a yield like that.

TELLERBethe and Ulam guess small:

TELLERfive to seven kilotons.

TELLERThe scientists refuse to believe

TELLERwhat their own calculations tell them.

GROVESI confess that I am not optimistic myself.

GROVESMaybe a forty-sixty

GROVESchance of success.

TELLERI alone scoff at my colleagues' pessimism.

TELLERI pick forty-five kilotons.

Quoted from the Bhagavad Gita

CHORUSAt the sight of this,

CHORUSyour Shape stupendous,

CHORUSFull of mouths and eyes,

CHORUSfeet, thighs and bellies,

CHORUSTerrible with fangs, O master,

CHORUSAll the worlds are fear-struck,

CHORUSeven just as I am.

CHORUSWhen I see you, Vishnu, omnipresent,

CHORUSShouldering the sky,

CHORUSin hues of rainbow,

CHORUSWith your mouths agape

CHORUSand flame-eyes staring--

CHORUSAll my peace is gone;

CHORUSmy heart is troubled.

SYSTEMScene 4

CHORUSCountdown Part II

GROVESLieutenant Bush.

GROVESKeep a weather eye on Oppenheimer.

GROVESThere is concern our high-strung director

GROVESmight have a breakdown at the last minute.

TELLERThe radio connection with the control tower

TELLERis out of order, and no one really knows

TELLERwhen the bomb will go off

TELLERor where to look for it.

TELLERThe scientists are standing around in the dark

TELLERand munching candy bars as we wait

TELLERfor some divine revelation

TELLERto tell us when the shot will go.

OPPIETo what benevolent demon

OPPIEdo I owe the joy of being

OPPIEthus surrounded with mystery,

OPPIEwith silence, with peace and with perfumes?

OPPIEO beatitude!

OPPIEThat which we generally call life,

OPPIEeven when it is fullest and happiest,

OPPIEhas nothing in common

OPPIEwith that supreme life

OPPIEwith which I am now acquainted

OPPIEand which I am tasting

OPPIEminute by minute, second by second!

OPPIENo! there are no more minutes,

OPPIEthere are no more seconds!

OPPIETime has disappeared;

OPPIEit is Eternity that reigns now!

OPPIE(A green rocket arches in the sky to the south, slowly

OPPIEdescends, flashes briefly, then dims and vanishes in

OPPIEthe blackness. A siren sounds)

OPPIEThat's their signal.

OPPIEThe shot will go in five minutes.

Everyone should take his place in the trenches.

HUBBARDThe sky is clear to the east

HUBBARDand over Ground Zero

HUBBARDand south ten-thousand.

HUBBARDBut overcast to the west.

HUBBARDWe have visibility

HUBBARDgreater than sixty miles.

HUBBARDThe surface wind from the east southeast

HUBBARDis three to six miles per hour

HUBBARDbelow five hundred feet.

HUBBARDThe rain has stopped.

PASQUALITAIn the summer dreaming was common to all of us,

PASQUALITAthe drumbeat hope,

PASQUALITAthe bursting heart of wish,

PASQUALITAmusic to bind us

PASQUALITAas the visions streamed

PASQUALITAand midnight brightened to belief.

KITTYDreamers wake in the night

KITTYand sing their songs.

KITTYIn the flame-brilliant midnight,

KITTYpromises

KITTYarrive, singing to each of us

KITTYwith tongues of flame:

KITTY"We are hopes, you should have hoped us,

KITTYWe are dreams,

KITTYyou should have dreamed us."

KITTYCalling our name.

OPPIEZero minus two minutes.

OPPIEThe two-minute warning rocket

OPPIEhas sputtered out prematurely.

TELLERThat was an ominous sign.

OPPIELord, these affairs are hard on the heart.

OPPIE(Nothing moves and nothing is heard, only a rhythmic

OPPIEcountdown over the loudspeaker. At 45 seconds, an

OPPIEengineer presses the timer switch. The tours begin

OPPIEfiring with haunting precision. "One, zero." A

OPPIEmournful silence and the beginning of a new era)

OPPIEEnd of the opera