March 6, 2025 • 7 mins
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells is a classic science fiction novel that follows an unnamed scientist, known as the Time Traveller, who invents a machine that allows him to travel through time. He journeys to the distant future, arriving in the year 802,701, where he encounters two distinct races: the gentle, childlike Eloi and the sinister, underground-dwelling Morlocks. As he explores this strange future, he realizes the dark implications of humanity’s evolution. The novel explores themes of class struggle, the passage of time, and the fate of civilization, making it one of the most influential works in science fiction history.
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter ten of The Time Machine by H. G. Wells.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Time Machine,
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.
(00:23):
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
same splendid palaces and magnificent ruins, the same silver river
running between its fertile banks. The gay robes of the
(00:44):
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.
And like blots upon the landscape rose the cupulas above
the ways to the underworld. I understood now what all
(01:04):
the beauty of the over world people covered? Very pleasant?
Was their day as pleasant as the day of the
cattle in the field. Like the cattle, they knew of
no enemies, 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.
(01:29):
It had set itself steadfastly towards comforts and ease, a
balanced society with security and permanency as its watchword. It
had attained its hopes, and come to this at last,
once life and property must have reached almost absolute safety.
(01:49):
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 unamp Floyd problem,
no social question left unsolved, and a great quiet had followed.
It is a law of nature we overlook that intellectual
(02:11):
versatility is the compensation for change, danger, and trouble. An
animal perfectly in harmony with its environment is a perfect mechanism.
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
(02:35):
that have to meet a huge variety of needs and dangers. So,
as I see it, the upper world man had drifted
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 when on the
(03:00):
feeding of the underworld, however it was affected, had become disjointed.
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
(03:24):
more initiative, if less, of every other human character than
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 and one.
It may be as wrong an explanation as mortal wit
(03:46):
could invent. It is how the thing shaped itself to me,
and as that I give it to you. After the fatigues, excitements,
and terrors of the past days, and in spite of
my green this seat and the tranquil view and the
warm sunlight were very pleasant, I was very tired and sleepy,
(04:08):
and soon my theorizing passed into dozing. Catching myself at that,
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
(04:29):
came down on the hill towards the White Sphinx. I
had my crowbar in one hand, and the other hand
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
(04:52):
before them, hesitating to enter. Within was a small apartment,
and on a raised place in the corner. 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 surrender. I threw
(05:13):
my iron bar away, almost sorry not to use it.
A sudden thought came into my head as 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
(05:36):
carefully oiled and cleaned. I have suspected since that the
Morlocks had even partially taken it to 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.
(05:57):
The bronze panels suddenly slid up and struck the frame
with a clang. I was in the dark, trapped, 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
(06:19):
only to fix on the levers and depart then like
a ghost. But I had overlooked one little thing. 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.
(06:40):
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
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,
(07:01):
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
recover it. It was a nearer thing than the fight
in the forest, I think, this last scramble. But at
last the lever was fitted and pulled over. The clinging
(07:21):
hands slipped from me. The darkness presently fell from my eyes.
I found myself in the same gray light and tumult
I have already described end of Chapter ten.
Chapter ten of The Time Machine by H. G. Wells.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Time Machine,
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.
(00:23):
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
same splendid palaces and magnificent ruins, the same silver river
running between its fertile banks. The gay robes of the
(00:44):
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.
And like blots upon the landscape rose the cupulas above
the ways to the underworld. I understood now what all
(01:04):
the beauty of the over world people covered? Very pleasant?
Was their day as pleasant as the day of the
cattle in the field. Like the cattle, they knew of
no enemies, 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.
(01:29):
It had set itself steadfastly towards comforts and ease, a
balanced society with security and permanency as its watchword. It
had attained its hopes, and come to this at last,
once life and property must have reached almost absolute safety.
(01:49):
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 unamp Floyd problem,
no social question left unsolved, and a great quiet had followed.
It is a law of nature we overlook that intellectual
(02:11):
versatility is the compensation for change, danger, and trouble. An
animal perfectly in harmony with its environment is a perfect mechanism.
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
(02:35):
that have to meet a huge variety of needs and dangers. So,
as I see it, the upper world man had drifted
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 when on the
(03:00):
feeding of the underworld, however it was affected, had become disjointed.
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
(03:24):
more initiative, if less, of every other human character than
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 and one.
It may be as wrong an explanation as mortal wit
(03:46):
could invent. It is how the thing shaped itself to me,
and as that I give it to you. After the fatigues, excitements,
and terrors of the past days, and in spite of
my green this seat and the tranquil view and the
warm sunlight were very pleasant, I was very tired and sleepy,
(04:08):
and soon my theorizing passed into dozing. Catching myself at that,
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
(04:29):
came down on the hill towards the White Sphinx. I
had my crowbar in one hand, and the other hand
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
(04:52):
before them, hesitating to enter. Within was a small apartment,
and on a raised place in the corner. 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 surrender. I threw
(05:13):
my iron bar away, almost sorry not to use it.
A sudden thought came into my head as 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
(05:36):
carefully oiled and cleaned. I have suspected since that the
Morlocks had even partially taken it to 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.
(05:57):
The bronze panels suddenly slid up and struck the frame
with a clang. I was in the dark, trapped, 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
(06:19):
only to fix on the levers and depart then like
a ghost. But I had overlooked one little thing. 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.
(06:40):
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
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,
(07:01):
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
recover it. It was a nearer thing than the fight
in the forest, I think, this last scramble. But at
last the lever was fitted and pulled over. The clinging
(07:21):
hands slipped from me. The darkness presently fell from my eyes.
I found myself in the same gray light and tumult
I have already described end of Chapter ten.
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