Jonathan Willaway and society in general had never gotten along too well. He was a man who didn’t suffer fools gladly, and he’d been unfortunate enough in life to encounter fools on far too many occasions, often among the people he was expected to work alongside. It meant there were few people in his life that he would have considered friends, and he hadn’t been especially close to any of them. Not even his occasional lady friends, although they had at least had charm on their sides.

Becoming stranded on this peculiar island had at first seemed like a blessing in disguise. He’d soon found a place where technology was considerably more advanced than in his own time, and it hadn’t taken much effort on his part to convert his hosts’ android servitors to his service. After that, he’d had them drive their former masters into the swamp, leaving him free to enjoy all the benefits if the villa he now lived in.

It was a beautiful setting, the androids catered to his every whim, and his life should have been perfect. He was his own master, free to do whatever he wished whenever he wished, and yet, for all their advantages and careful programming, the androids did not make for especially stimulating company. They did as he told them, they were respectful, he could converse with them on any subject he chose, and… They were oddly boring, even when they malfunctioned or went against his wishes.

He missed people, which came as rather a surprise since most of the time when he’d had human company, he’d wished for solitude. Perhaps it was true that humans weren’t meant to be solitary creatures, but as long as he remained here, it looked as though he’d have to do without human company.


The End