The Hadley family lives in an automated house called "the Happylife Home", filled with machines that aid them in completing everyday tasks, such as tying their shoes, bathing them, or cooking their food. The two children, Peter and Wendy, enjoy time in the "nursery", a
virtual reality room able to realistically reproduce any place they imagine, and grow increasingly attached to it. The parents, George and Lydia, wonder if the automated house's functions have rendered their roles as parents superfluous. They are also perplexed that the nursery seems stuck on a wild
African
veldt in which lions eat what they believe to be animals. There they also find recreations of their personal belongings and hear strangely familiar screams. Wondering why their children are so fascinated by this scene of death, they decide to consult
psychiatrist David McClean, who suggests they leave the home, move to the country, and learn to be more self-sufficient. Peter and Wendy strongly resist and convince their parents to let them have one last visit to the nursery. When George and Lydia come to fetch them, the children lock them in the nursery with the pride of lions; they realize that the screams belonged to simulated versions of themselves. Shortly after, David comes by to look for George and Lydia. He finds the children enjoying lunch in the nursery and sees the lions and vultures eating carcasses in the distance, which are implied to be the parents. ==See also==