The Machine Stops

Thu 02 Mar 2017 09:17:56 AM -03
And of course she had studied the civilization that had immediately preceded
her own - the civilization that had mistaken the functions of the system, and
had used it for bringing people to things, instead of for bringing things to
people. Those funny old days, when men went for change of air instead of
changing the air in their rooms!

[...]

Few travelled in these days, for, thanks to the advance of science, the earth
was exactly alike all over.

[...]

What was the good of going to Peking when it was just like Shrewsbury? Why
return to Shrewsbury when it would all be like Peking? Men seldom moved their
bodies; all unrest was concentrated in the soul.

[...]

Beneath those corridors of shining tiles were rooms, tier below tier, reaching
far into the earth, and in each room there sat a human being, eating, or
sleeping, or producing ideas. And buried deep in the hive was her own room.

[...]

But the Committee of the Mending Apparatus now came forward, and allayed the
panic with well-chosen words. It confessed that the Mending Apparatus was
itself in need of repair.

[...]

There were gradations of terror- at times came rumours of hope-the Mending
Apparatus was almost mended-the enemies of the Machine had been got under- new
"nerve-centres" were evolving which would do the work even more magnificently
than before.

[...]

"I have seen them, spoken to them, loved them. They are hiding in the midst and
the ferns until our civilization stops. Today they are the Homeless - tomorrow
------ "