The Time Machine

The Time Machine is an 1895 science fiction novel by British writer H.G. Wells. It was the first fiction work to introduce the idea of an individual traveling through time in a vehicle, and has been enormously influential in science fiction, in both adaptations of Wells' book and diverse works such as Doctor Who.

In The Time Machine, a narrator tells the story of a scientist known only as the Time Traveler. The Time Traveler declares at a dinner party that time is a fourth dimension and reveals the machine he has created for traveling through it. Testing the device, the Time Traveler journeys to the year 802,701. There he meets the Eloi, a society of child-like humans. The Time Traveler compares them to a peaceful communist society, having conquered nature with technology.

Discovering that his Time Machine has been stolen, the Tim Traveler meets the Morlocks, an ape-like species who live underground and make the surface paradise possible. Learning that the Morlocks eat the Eloi, he compares them to ranchers and livestock. Escaping, the Time Traveler journeys another thirty million years into the future, where he sees the last creatures on Earth.

The Time Traveler returns to his dinner companions, a mere three hours after leaving. The next day, the narrator finds the Time Traveler preparing for another journey. He promises to return in half an hour. However, after three years, the narrator despairs of ever seeing him again.