Earlier this evening something triggered memories of a short story I enjoyed reading in school back in the mid 1970's. I started not knowing the name of the story, or it's author. Makes finding stuff out somewhat difficult. I'm now pretty sure the author was Ray Bradbury, and it was in a collection of short stories but can't find the story listed anywhere.

Basic plot that I can remember is that the human race is living in individual underground cells, and life support and everything necessary for enjoying life is provided by the machine. It has a mother and son as main characters. The son decided to break out of the cell, get fit by walking old tunnels beneath the machine and start a rebellion against the machine. His mother is against him rebelling. I seem to remember she had to leave her cell, and travel to meet him in person to discuss as communications were monitored.

In my mind the story is called "The Machine", and the mother character's name is Vashti (or something like that). Googling with that comes up with an EM Forster novel, and I'm sure the story I remember is Bradbury.

Am I going nuts, or is the above a Bradbury story I'm remembering? many thanks!

The story you remember is "The Machine Stops", by E. M. Forster.

It's not a novel, but a short piece (a novelette, as they say in the trade) and can be found in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume 1, edited by Robert Silverberg. It's also in many other anthologies.

Definitely not Ray Bradbury.

Many thanks for the reply. I did find that story, but was so insistent it was Bradbury that wrote it. Thanks to the wonders of the internet I've downloaded it to my Kindle and can look forward to re-reading it.

I'm trying to track down the Bradbury story, as I too am certain he wrote it. No doubt Forster wrote The Machine Stops, but Bradbury wrote something very similar in one of his short-story collections I read in my teens. I'll report back if I learn more.

Hey, Chris, loved you on The Brady Bunch! If the story has a more primitive setting, you might be thinking of "Frost and Fire." "Referent" is a lesser-known dystopian Bradbury story with a mother and son as main characters, but I can't think of any Bradbury story exactly like the one described.