Final answer:
The story excerpts depict a futuristic setting where advanced technology creates immersive environments, leading to tensions between parents and their children, who appear to control this technology.
Step-by-step explanation:
The excerpts provided are from a narrative that seems to resemble a science fiction or futuristic tale. The setting features advanced technology, including a highly intelligent and interactive house that can simulate environments, such as the African veldt complete with realistic lions.
The characters, George and Lydia Hadley, are parents concerned about their children, Wendy and Peter, who appear to have uncanny control over this technologically sophisticated home. The story conveys themes of family dynamics, the dangers of over-reliance on technology, and the loss of parental control.
The snippets describe a scenario where the children, Wendy and Peter, have used technology, potentially the nursery, to create a world of their own that seems to be beyond the parents' understanding or control.
The parents are worried about their children's whereabouts and their strange behavior, influenced by the immersive and possibly sentient house.
Tension builds as the door to the nursery locks from the outside and the parents hear familiar screams, hinting at a disturbing reality within the children's created environment.