人間は死にかけていて、本当に生きているのはマシーンだけ、というのはどういうことなのでしょうか。
His voice rose passionately.
“Cannot you see, cannot all you lecturers see, that it is we that are dying, and that down here the only thing that really lives in the Machine? We created the Machine, to do our will, but we cannot make it do our will now. It was robbed us of the sense of space and of the sense of touch, it has blurred every human relation and narrowed down love to a carnal act, it has paralysed our bodies and our wills, and now it compels us to worship it. The Machine develops ―― but not on our lies. The Machine proceeds ―― but not to our goal. We only exist as the blood corpuscles that course through its arteries, and if it could work without us, it would let us die. Oh, I have no remedy ―― or, at least, only one ―― to tell men again and again that I have seen the hills of Wessex as Alfrid saw them when he overthrew the Danes.
人間の意志どおりに作ったマシーンが、今では人間の思い通りにできなくなった ―― それは、人間がマシーンに空間や接触の感覚を奪われてしまったから（We created the Machine, to do our will, but we cannot make it do our will now. It was robbed us of the sense of space and of the sense of touch）。体と意志を麻痺させられた人間は、マシーンの動脈を走る赤血球としての役目になり、自分たちがいなくても作動するとわかれば、マシーンは人間を殺すだけ（We only exist as the blood corpuscles that course through its arteries, and if it could work without us, it would let us die）、このクーノーのことばは重いわね。
わたしたちの身体はふるくなった細胞を殺し、新しい細胞を増やし、その存在を保っていきます。ところが、人間がマシーンにとって細胞の役割を果たすことがなくなれば、人間は滅びるしかない、ということをクーノーは言っているんですね。ということは、マシーンに「体」と「意志」が出来たってことなのかしら？
“So the sun set. I forgot to mention that a belt of mist lay between my hill and other hills, and that it was the colour of pearl.”
He broke off for the second time.
“Go on,” said his mother wearily.
He shook his head.
“Go on. Nothing that you say can distress me now. I am hardened.”
“I had meant to tell you the rest, but I cannot; I know that I cannot; good-bye.”
Vashti stood irresolute. All her nerves were tingling with his blasphemies. But she was also inquisitive.
“This is unfair,” she complained. “You have called me across the world to hear your story, and hear it I will. Tell me ―― as briefly as possible, for this is a disastrous waste of time ―― tell me how you returned to civilization.”
“Oh ―― that!” he said, starting. “You would like to hear about civilization. Certainly. Had I got to where my respirator fell down?”
“No ―― but I understand everything now. You put on your respirator, and managed to walk along the surface of the earth to a vomitory, and there your conduct was reported to the Central Committee.”
“By no means.”
He passed his hand over his forehead, as if dispelling some strong impression. Then, resuming his narrative, he warmed to it again.
“My respirator fell about sunset. I had mentioned that the fountain seemed feebler, had I not?”
“Yes.”
“About sunset, it let the respirator fall. As I said, I had entirely forgotten about the Machine, and I paid no great attention at the time, being occupied with other things. I had my pool of air, into which I could dip when the outer keenness became intolerable, and which would possibly remain for days, provided that no wind sprang up to disperse it. Not until it was too late did I realize what the stoppage of the escape implied. You see ―― the gap in the tunnel had been mended; the Mending Apparatus; the Mending Apparatus, was after me.
丘の窪地にたまった空気があれば数日はもつ、と思ったクーノーですが、突然、地下からの空気が弱まったことに気づきました。修理装置（the Mending Apparatus）がクーノーを追跡して、空気の穴をふさぎ始めたの（the gap in the tunnel had been mended）。
“One other warning I had, but I neglected it. The sky at night was clearer than it had been in the day, and the moon, which was about half the sky behind the sun, shone into the dell at moments quite brightly. I was in my usual place ―― on the boundary between the two atmospheres ―― when I thought I saw something dark move across the bottom of the dell, and vanish into the shaft. In my folly, I ran down. I bent over and listened, and I thought I heard a faint scraping noise in the depths.
“At this ―― but it was too late ―― I took alarm. I determined to put on my respirator and to walk right out of the dell. But my respirator had gone. I knew exactly where it had fallen ―― between the stopper and the aperture ―― and I could even feel the mark that it had made in the turf. It had gone, and I realized that something evil was at work, and I had better escape to the other air, and, if I must die, die running towards the cloud that had been the colour of a pearl. I never started. Out of the shaft ―― it is too horrible. A worm, a long white worm, had crawled out of the shaft and gliding over the moonlit grass.
あわてて地面に落ちてきた人工呼吸装置を探すクーノー。ところが装置は消えていました。いったいどこへ？クーノーが探していると、白くて長い虫（A worm, a long white worm）がくねくねと月に照らされた草むらをはっていたのです！
