For a scientist of Jonathan Willaway’s calibre, the island was a fascinating place. So much advanced technology to explore and play around with, most of it so far in advance of anything he’d worked on in his own time… It made the science of the nineteen sixties, which had been cutting edge back when he worked for NASA, and JPL, and Caltech, seem hopelessly backward.

So why, exactly, was he travelling across the island with a group of people, trying to locate the portal that would, so it was said, return them all to their own times? Did he even WANT to go back, when there were so many opportunities right here?

Of course, if he DID return to nineteen sixty-three, perhaps he could somehow steer the scientific world in a more beneficial direction, away from weapons development and towards more humanitarian research. Varian had told him he’d been credited with creating a scientific ethic that eventually became universal… Perhaps there was work for him to do back in his own time, even if it wouldn’t be as exciting and innovative as the things he was seeing here.

Still, his main reason for travelling with them was simply for companionship.


The End