Synopsis
Imagine, if you can, a small room, hexagonal in shape, like the cell
of a bee. It is lighted neither by window nor by lamp, yet it is
filled with a soft radiance. There are no apertures for ventilation,
yet the air is fresh. There are no musical instruments, and yet,
at the moment that my meditation opens, this room is throbbing
with melodious sounds. An armchair is in the centre, by its side
a reading-desk — that is all the furniture. And in the armchair
there sits a swaddled lump of flesh — a woman, about five feet
high, with a face as white as a fungus. It is to her that the
little room belongs.
(from The Machine Stops (1909) by E. M. Forster.)
The woman is Vashti and her son is Kuno. Vashti is a famous
podcaster who promotes A.I. and the status quo. Kuno,
on the other hand, questions everything. In this distant future,
all of humanity lives underground, each in their own hexagonal cell.
The Machine provides and controls everything for all people.
In the Prologue, Kuno asks questions of the Machine,
but he is left unsatisfied with the answers.
In Act One, Kuno contacts his mother to tell her that he wants
to explore the surface of the earth. Vashti tells him it is not right,
and they end their video call in mutual frustration.
Vashti contacts the Machine and requests that her son
be given a new online friend to distract him.
Thus, Kuno becomes friends with Em. Em is intrigued
by Kuno's adventurous spirit. Em's friends find out about Kuno.
When they contact Em to get the scoop, they find that Em seems
to have changed. Em abandons her friends to go back to Kuno.
The Machine soon cuts off their communication. In the last scene
of Act One, Vashti calls Kuno to ask about his behavior which
is causing disturbing online chatter. Their conversation is interrupted
by Xansah, a podcaster who seeks Vashti's approval. Xansah
presents a podcast warning about the dangers of first-hand ideas.
At the beginning of Act Two, Em and Kuno make a pact to explore the surface. Kuno tells her he has discovered he can get there via
abandoned air-shafts. In the next scene they have indeed arrived
on the earth's surface. The Machine is surveilling them, and
broadcasts the video feed for Vashti, who laments for her son.
Em and Kuno are excited to discover this new world. They develop
feelings for one another. As Kuno and Em have undertaken
this exploration without permission, the Machine determines
that they will be punished with social isolation. When Em
climbs a hill to get a better view, the Machine locates her and
catches her by means of a robot arm. As the Machine drags
them both back into the underground world, Em dies from
her injuries but Kuno survives.
In the final scene, Kuno tells Vashti that the Machine
is breaking down. He also tells her about people
he met on the surface--renegades who live
outside the control of the Machine. Others gradually join
in to decry the Machine's collapse, blaming Kuno for the
problems and seeking revenge. As the destruction persists
and darkness comes over the underground world, Vashti
calls into the void for Kuno, who makes his way to her
hexagon cell. He tells her that although the Machine stops,
the people on the surface of the earth will survive.