The Machine Stops

Author: E.m. Forster

This short story is the only science fiction that the renowned novelist E.M. Forster ever wrote, but it continues to be read and applauded today. The story was written in response to A Modern Utopia by H.G. Wells, because Forster distrusted Wells's notion of a benevolent world state. In Forster's world everyone lives underground, in their own individual hexagonal room just like the cells of a bee hive. People don't need to meet or interact, the machine provides for all of their requirements, and they can talk to anyone via a form of instant messaging. Most people love living in this cocoon, but one young rebel wants to find out what it is like on the surface, only to discover that the air is now poisonous and he has to retreat back underground. As a result of this escapade, the machine starts to restrict freedoms even more. But the machine begins to prove unreliable, at first little things break down, but then the machine stops. Everyone who has grown totally dependent on the machine for air and food and light dies, only those who make it to the surface have any chance. Why it's on the list: When the SFWA polled its members for the best science fiction novellas before 1964, when the Nebulas began, â€œThe Machine Stopsâ€ was one of only two stories from before 1938 that made the list. It is one of those stories that, once read, is never forgotten.