"The Machine is stopping, I know it, I know the signs."

She burst into a peal of laughter. He heard her and was angry, and they spoke no more.

-From "The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster

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 Written in 1909, "The Machine Stops" depicts a terrifyingly plausible and eerily prophetic dystopian society in which humanity has surrendered self-sufficiency to the autonomous rule of a gigantic, globe-encopassing machine that houses its human occupants in small, complex chambers far beneath the surface of the Earth. One such occupant, an old woman by the name of Vashti, is perfectly content with her existence. Perfectly content, that is, until her restless son Kuno begins to rebel against the system Vashti holds so dear...

This website is devoted to E.M. Forster's brilliant short story.