I'm trying to find a short story I read many years ago about a guy living in a "hive" society in which everyone lives in cells, connected (I think) by computers; the substance of the narrative is that the protagonist is attempting to contact his mother, who he's been told is dying, and whom he's never met, even though they've lived in this hive together for however long (apparently in this world children are separated from their mothers in infancy). I think the story was in a science-fiction collection, and I read it in the 1980's. Thanks for any help you can render!