October 28, 2025 • 7 mins
https://www.solgoodmedia.com Listen to hundreds of audiobooks, thousands of short stories, and ambient sounds all ad-free! Embark on a journey beyond the ordinary with our Sci-Fi podcast, where each day a new chapter unfolds from classic tales that defy the limits of imagination. Dive into worlds of mystery and adventure with timeless stories like "Anthem," "Around The World in Eighty Days," "Baron's Marvellous Underground Journey," "Flatland - A Romance of Many Dimensions," "Journey to the Center of the Earth," "Out of Time's Abyss," "The Door Through Space," "The Flying Inn," "The Gods of Mars," "The House of Arden," "The Invisible Man," "The Island of Dr. Moreau," "The Machine Stops," "The New Atlantis," "The Time Machine," "The War of The Worlds," and "Thuvia, Maid of Mars." Each chapter is a portal to a different universe, offering a fresh dose of excitement and wonder. Subscribe now and let your imagination soar as we transport you to realms unknown, one chapter at a time.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter ten, About eight or nine in the morning, I
came to the same seat of yellow metal from which
I had viewed the world upon the evening of my arrival.
I thought of my hasty conclusions upon that evening, and
could not refrain from laughing bitterly at my confidence. Here
was the same beautiful scene, the same abundant foliage, the
(00:23):
same splendid palaces and magnificent ruins, the same silver river
running between its fertile banks. The gay robes of the
beautiful people moved hither and thither among the trees. Some
were bathing in exactly the place where I had saved Weena,
And that suddenly gave me a keen stab of pain.
(00:44):
And like blots upon the landscape rose the cupulas above
the ways to the underworld. I understood now what all
the beauty of the over world people covered very pleasant?
Was their day as pleasant as the day of the
in the field. Like the cattle. They knew of no enemies,
(01:04):
and provided against no needs, And their end was the same.
I grieved to think how brief the dream of the
human intellect had been. It had committed suicide, it had
set itself steadfastly towards comforts and ease, a balanced society
with security and permanency as its watchword. It had attained
(01:27):
its hopes and come to this at last. Once life
and property must have reached almost absolute safety. The rich
had been assured of his wealth and comfort, the toiler
assured of his life and work. No doubt, in that
perfect world there had been no unemployed problem, no social
(01:50):
question left unsolved, and a great quiet had followed. It
is a law of nature we overlook that intellectual verse
Satility is the compensation for change, danger, and trouble. An
animal perfectly in harmony with its environment is a perfect mechanism.
(02:10):
Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless.
There is no intelligence where there is no change and
no need of change. Only those animals partake of intelligence
that have to meet a huge variety of needs and dangers. So,
as I see it, the upper world man had drifted
(02:32):
towards his feeble prettiness, and the underworld to mere mechanical industry.
But that perfect state had lacked one thing even for
mechanical perfection, absolute permanency. Apparently, as time went on, the
feeding of the underworld, however it was affected, had become disjointed.
(02:54):
Mother Necessity, who had been staved off for a few
thousand years, came back again, and she began below the underworld,
being in contact with machinery, which, however perfect, still needs
some little thought. Outside habit had probably retained perforce rather
more initiative, if less of every other human character than
(03:16):
the upper And when other meat failed them, they turned
to what old habit had hitherto forbidden. So I say
I saw it in my last view of the world
of eight hundred and two thousand, seven hundred one. It
may be as wrong an explanation as mortal wit could invent.
It is how the thing shaped itself to me, and
(03:39):
as that I give it to you. After the fatigues, excitements,
and terrors of the past days, and in spite of
my grief, this seat and the tranquil view and the
warm sunlight were very pleasant. I was very tired and sleepy,
and soon my theorizing passed into dozing. Catching myself at that,
(04:01):
I took my own hint, and spreading myself out upon
the turf. I had a long and refreshing sleep. I
awoke a little before sunsetting. I now felt safe against
being caught napping by the Morlocks and stretching myself, I
came down on the hill towards the White Sphinx. I
had my crowbar in one hand, and the other hand
(04:24):
played with the matches in my pocket. And now came
a most unexpected thing. As I approached the pedestal of
the Sphinx, I found the bronze valves were open. They
had slid down into grooves. At that I stopped short
before them, hesitating to enter. Within was a small apartment,
(04:46):
and on a raised place in the corner of this
was the time machine. I had the small levers in
my pocket, so here, after all my elaborate preparations for
the siege of the White Sphinx was a meek surrend.
I threw my iron bar away, almost sorry not to
use it. A sudden thought came into my head as
(05:08):
I stooped towards the portal. For once at least I
grasped the mental operations of the morlocks. Suppressing a strong
inclination to laugh, I stepped through the bronze frame and
up to the time machine. I was surprised to find
it had been carefully oiled and cleaned. I have suspected
since that the morlocks had even partially taken it to
(05:31):
pieces while trying in their dim way to grasp its purpose. Now,
as I stood and examined it, finding a pleasure in
the mere touch of the contrivance, the thing I had
expected happened. The bronze panels suddenly slid up and struck
the frame with a clang. I was in the dark, trapped,
(05:53):
so the morlocks thought, And at that I chuckled gleefully.
I could already hear their murmuring laughter as they came
towards me. Very calmly, I tried to strike the match.
I had only to fix on the levers and depart
then like a ghost. But I had overlooked one little thing.
(06:15):
The matches were of that abominable kind that light only
on the box. You may imagine how all my calm vanished.
The little brutes were close upon me. One touched me.
I made a sweeping blow in the dark at them
with the levers, and began to scramble into the saddle
of the machine. Then came one hand upon me, and
(06:37):
then another. Then I had simply to fight against their
persistent fingers for my levers, and at the same time
few for the studs over which these fitted one. Indeed,
they almost got away from me as it slipped from
my hand. I had to bud in the dark with
my head. I could hear the morlock's skull ring to
(06:58):
recover it. It was a newer thing than the fight
in the forest, I think, this last scramble. But at
last the lever was fitted and pulled over. The clinging
hands slipped from me. The darkness presently fell from my eyes.
I found myself in the same gray light and tumult
(07:18):
I have already described. End of Chapter ten
Chapter ten, About eight or nine in the morning, I
came to the same seat of yellow metal from which
I had viewed the world upon the evening of my arrival.
I thought of my hasty conclusions upon that evening, and
could not refrain from laughing bitterly at my confidence. Here
was the same beautiful scene, the same abundant foliage, the
(00:23):
same splendid palaces and magnificent ruins, the same silver river
running between its fertile banks. The gay robes of the
beautiful people moved hither and thither among the trees. Some
were bathing in exactly the place where I had saved Weena,
And that suddenly gave me a keen stab of pain.
(00:44):
And like blots upon the landscape rose the cupulas above
the ways to the underworld. I understood now what all
the beauty of the over world people covered very pleasant?
Was their day as pleasant as the day of the
in the field. Like the cattle. They knew of no enemies,
(01:04):
and provided against no needs, And their end was the same.
I grieved to think how brief the dream of the
human intellect had been. It had committed suicide, it had
set itself steadfastly towards comforts and ease, a balanced society
with security and permanency as its watchword. It had attained
(01:27):
its hopes and come to this at last. Once life
and property must have reached almost absolute safety. The rich
had been assured of his wealth and comfort, the toiler
assured of his life and work. No doubt, in that
perfect world there had been no unemployed problem, no social
(01:50):
question left unsolved, and a great quiet had followed. It
is a law of nature we overlook that intellectual verse
Satility is the compensation for change, danger, and trouble. An
animal perfectly in harmony with its environment is a perfect mechanism.
(02:10):
Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless.
There is no intelligence where there is no change and
no need of change. Only those animals partake of intelligence
that have to meet a huge variety of needs and dangers. So,
as I see it, the upper world man had drifted
(02:32):
towards his feeble prettiness, and the underworld to mere mechanical industry.
But that perfect state had lacked one thing even for
mechanical perfection, absolute permanency. Apparently, as time went on, the
feeding of the underworld, however it was affected, had become disjointed.
(02:54):
Mother Necessity, who had been staved off for a few
thousand years, came back again, and she began below the underworld,
being in contact with machinery, which, however perfect, still needs
some little thought. Outside habit had probably retained perforce rather
more initiative, if less of every other human character than
(03:16):
the upper And when other meat failed them, they turned
to what old habit had hitherto forbidden. So I say
I saw it in my last view of the world
of eight hundred and two thousand, seven hundred one. It
may be as wrong an explanation as mortal wit could invent.
It is how the thing shaped itself to me, and
(03:39):
as that I give it to you. After the fatigues, excitements,
and terrors of the past days, and in spite of
my grief, this seat and the tranquil view and the
warm sunlight were very pleasant. I was very tired and sleepy,
and soon my theorizing passed into dozing. Catching myself at that,
(04:01):
I took my own hint, and spreading myself out upon
the turf. I had a long and refreshing sleep. I
awoke a little before sunsetting. I now felt safe against
being caught napping by the Morlocks and stretching myself, I
came down on the hill towards the White Sphinx. I
had my crowbar in one hand, and the other hand
(04:24):
played with the matches in my pocket. And now came
a most unexpected thing. As I approached the pedestal of
the Sphinx, I found the bronze valves were open. They
had slid down into grooves. At that I stopped short
before them, hesitating to enter. Within was a small apartment,
(04:46):
and on a raised place in the corner of this
was the time machine. I had the small levers in
my pocket, so here, after all my elaborate preparations for
the siege of the White Sphinx was a meek surrend.
I threw my iron bar away, almost sorry not to
use it. A sudden thought came into my head as
(05:08):
I stooped towards the portal. For once at least I
grasped the mental operations of the morlocks. Suppressing a strong
inclination to laugh, I stepped through the bronze frame and
up to the time machine. I was surprised to find
it had been carefully oiled and cleaned. I have suspected
since that the morlocks had even partially taken it to
(05:31):
pieces while trying in their dim way to grasp its purpose. Now,
as I stood and examined it, finding a pleasure in
the mere touch of the contrivance, the thing I had
expected happened. The bronze panels suddenly slid up and struck
the frame with a clang. I was in the dark, trapped,
(05:53):
so the morlocks thought, And at that I chuckled gleefully.
I could already hear their murmuring laughter as they came
towards me. Very calmly, I tried to strike the match.
I had only to fix on the levers and depart
then like a ghost. But I had overlooked one little thing.
(06:15):
The matches were of that abominable kind that light only
on the box. You may imagine how all my calm vanished.
The little brutes were close upon me. One touched me.
I made a sweeping blow in the dark at them
with the levers, and began to scramble into the saddle
of the machine. Then came one hand upon me, and
(06:37):
then another. Then I had simply to fight against their
persistent fingers for my levers, and at the same time
few for the studs over which these fitted one. Indeed,
they almost got away from me as it slipped from
my hand. I had to bud in the dark with
my head. I could hear the morlock's skull ring to
(06:58):
recover it. It was a newer thing than the fight
in the forest, I think, this last scramble. But at
last the lever was fitted and pulled over. The clinging
hands slipped from me. The darkness presently fell from my eyes.
I found myself in the same gray light and tumult
(07:18):
I have already described. End of Chapter ten
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.