Robert Sheckley 8 min read

A man who wants true solitude picks a slab of rock four light-years past Andromeda, and brings along Charles the Robot for company.

Robert Sheckley's 1953 story follows the ageless prospector Mark Rogers to the loneliest place imaginable, in a gentle, unexpectedly tender tale of isolation and companionship. Quiet, humane SF that steps aside from Sheckley's usual satire for something warmer. Read it for a small, moving golden-age story about solitude and the comfort of a made friend.

In its time

Published in 1953, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

8 min read (a short story, a single idea, delivered and gone).

Illustrated by

Virgil Finlay