Hey, there's a reason the Lone Ranger has Tonto. Screenwriters learned early that having a solitary hero leads to a very silent movie, but giving the hero a sidekick allows them to basically talk to themselves and give voice to their internal struggles. As for the other story, being in a "far far far distant future", you can always suggest that some apocalyptic event occurred that led to much tech being wiped out, and humanity had to restart and rebuild. I tend to think there are multiple ways tech could evolve, and it doesn't have to be the same path every time. Perhaps computers were invented before guns, so you might have muskets on a space station. Also, there's certainly no need to be disappointed when your invented tech comes out in real life, it just means you're a prophet :pSo, yeah. it's an excuse to talk to myself