第１章では、遠い未来、地底に広がる蜂の巣型の家に住む人間たち、その中のひとりであるヴァシュティが、自分の息子クーノーに飛行船に乗って会いに行くところで終わりました。第２章は修理装置（The Mending Apparatus）というタイトルがついています。母子の会話からどんなストーリーが明らかになるのでしょうか。
II THE MENDING APPARATUS
By a vestibule, by a lift, by a tubular railway, by a platform, by a sliding door ―― by reversing all the steps of her departure did Vashti arrive at her son’s room, which exactly resembled her own. She might well declare that the visit was superfluous. The buttons, the knobs, the reading-desk with the Book, the temperature, the atmosphere, the illumination ―― all were exactly the same. And if Kuno himself, flesh of her flesh, stood close beside her at last, what profit was there in that? She was too well-bred to shake him by the hand.
Averting her eyes, she spoke as follows:
“Here I am. I have had the most terrible journey and greatly retarded the development of my soul. It is not worth it, Kuno, it is not worth it. My time is too precious. The sunlight almost touched me, and I have met with the rudest people. I can only stop a few minutes. Say what you want to say, and then I must return.”
ヴァシュティはクーノーの部屋に着くなり、今回の旅を「今までいちばんひどい旅（the most terrible journey）」、「価値がない（It is not worth it）」「わたしの時間はもったいないのよ（My time is too precious）」とぼやいています。第１章でもそうでしたが、ヴァシュティにとって「時間＝コスト」なんですね。
“I have been threatened with Homelessness,” said Kuno.
She looked at him now.
“I have been threatened with Homelessness, and I could not tell you such a thing through the Machine.”
Homelessness means death. The victim is exposed to the air, which kills him.
“I have been outside since I spoke to you last. The tremendous thing has happened, and they have discovered me.”
“But why shouldn’t you go outside?” she exclaimed, “It is perfectly legal, perfectly mechanical, to visit the surface of the earth. I have lately been to a lecture on the sea; there is no objection to that; one simply summons a respirator and gets an Egression-permit. It is not the kind of thing that spiritually minded people do, and I begged you not to do it, but there is no legal objection to it.”
“I did not get an Egression-permit.”
“Then how did you get out?”
“I found out a way of my own.”
ホームレスとは死を意味し、その刑を受けた者は大気にさらされ、死んでしまう（Homelessness means death. The victim is exposed to the air, which kills him）、つまり「ホームレスの刑」というのは、蜂の巣ホームから追いだされてしまうこと。マシーンの秩序を破った者を地上に追放することだったんです。 正確には、 人工呼吸装置（a respirator）を取り寄せて、外出許可証（Egression-permit）をもらえば地上に行くことは合法だけれど、クーノーはそれをやらなかった。
The phrase conveyed no meaning to her, and he had to repeat it.
“A way of your own?” she whispered. “But that would be wrong.”
“Why?”
The question shocked her beyond measure.
“You are beginning to worship the Machine,” he said coldly.
“You think it irreligious of me to have found out a way of my own. It was just what the Committee thought, when they threatened me with Homelessness.”
At this she grew angry. “I worship nothing!” she cried. “I am most advanced. I don’t think you irreligious, for there is no such thing as religion left. All theDNA and the superstition that existed once have been destroyed by the Machine. I only meant that to find out a way of your own was ―― Besides, there is no new way out.”
ヴァシュティの「マシーン崇拝（to worship the Machine）」をクーノーが指摘すると、自分が非常に進歩的な人間で信仰するものなどなにもない（I worship nothing! … I am most advanced）、マシーンによって、かつて存在していた恐れや迷信はすべて消滅した（All the fear and the superstition that existed once have been destroyed by the Machine. ）、とヴァシュティは激しく言い返します。
“So it is always supposed.”
“Except through the vomitories, for which one must have an Egression-permit, it is impossible to get out. The Book says so.”
“Well, the Book’s wrong, for I have been out on my feet.”
For Kuno was possessed of a certain physical strength.
By these days it was a demerit to be muscular. Each infant was examined at birth, and all who promised undue strength were destroyed. Humanitarians may protest, but it would have been no true kindness to let an athlete live; he would never have been happy in that state of life to which the Machine had called him; he would have yearned for trees to climb, rivers to bathe in, meadows and hills against which he might measure his body. Man must be adapted to his surroundings, must he not? In the dawn of the world our weakly must be exposed on Mount Taygetus, in its twilight our strong will suffer euthanasia, that the Machine may progress, that the Machine may progress, that the Machine may progress eternally.
ここで恐ろしい事実が明らかになったわね。アスリートのような体力がある人間は、幼児のときに抹殺されてしまう（Each infant was examined at birth, and all who promised undue strength were destroyed）、ということ。いまや木を登ったり川で泳いだり、という運動そのものができないマシーンの世界に生かておくのは、真の親切ではない（no true kindness）から。
最後のパラグラフで出てくるタイゲトス山（Mount Taygetus）とは、古代ギリシャのスパルタ人たちが、兵士になれない弱い者を捨て去った場所。弱者を抹殺しながら都市を築いていった古代の人間に対して、未来の人間は、強者を安楽死させながら都市を築いているのです。それはすべてマシーンが進歩するため・・・。