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.