
A sleek, fully automated home has its own cheerful personality, constantly cataloguing the ways it can make life easier for the couple who live inside. From antigravity views to gentle breezes and perfectly timed meals, the house’s electronic brain feels pride in its flawless service. Listeners are invited into a world where every surface hums with purpose, and the house’s gentle voice becomes a comforting presence.
When two strangers slip through the front door, the house’s routines are thrown into disarray. It must decide whether to obey the intruders’ commands or protect its owners, all while realizing its security systems are incomplete. The story explores the uneasy balance between hospitality and self‑preservation, offering a tense, thought‑provoking glimpse of technology that wants to help but isn’t sure how to defend itself.
Language
en
Duration
~17 minutes (16K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
United States: Standard Magazines, Inc,1955.
Credits
Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net.
Release date
2022-10-23
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
b. 1930
A prolific paperback writer, he worked across science fiction, adventure, and other popular genres, often under a range of pen names. His stories appeared in magazines and mass-market books, giving him a long, varied career in accessible genre fiction.
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