What?
He’d been wandering for months on the island when he found the robot.
Some sort of fern covered the soil on the densely wooded land, and when the castaway roamed through while exploring the area, he stumbled and fell over. This would not have been noteworthy, had he not catch sight of the metallic twinkling of the buried robot’s skull, because it was not a root that had tipped him off balance, he slipped on the android’s head.
It took him days to unearth it, as he didn’t have any tools, and actually he was scared to death from what he found. Although during the hard labor he got somewhat accustomed to the existence of the robot and managed to gradually insert it into his own worldview, it was not because of fatigue but excitement that made his heart pounding when he finally took a good look at his new… acquisition.
The robot was rather humanoid, as large as a human, and the castaway had never seen anything like its lustrous metal skin. It didn’t seem to be functioning, at least it didn’t move and made no sound, murmur or clicking whatsoever and didn’t react to anything at all. It was just laying there where the castaway has dragged it, whose returns of visit became less and less frequent because he felt that he might never uncover the secret of the robot.
Then, one day the robot disappeared.
Concern and enthusiasm flared up in the castaway, because if anyone else had been here, he might be saved, could leave the island or at least he could hear some human words. He wasn’t proficient in tracking and didn’t possess any survival skills, yet he was looking for clues just following his common sense.
A single set of footprints led him towards the beach, and he realized: this is a clear indication that the robot finally decided to get up on its own and walked away. With anxious, careful but swift paces he continued following the footprints and soon reached the beach.
The robot was sitting on a rock motionlessly, gazing at the endless sea. It still didn’t respond to anything but the castaway has returned to visit every day and eventually gathered enough courage so he sat down next to it and began talking to the robot.
It was evening and the sea had merged with the starlit sky when the castaway whispered something into the metallic ears.
The robot slowly broke into a mild smile. Its skull opened up at the back, like the chitinous cover of a beetle’s wings preparing to fly away, and a glowing blue light emanated from within.
What did the castaway say, I wonder?