As time passed the man watched people at Mission Control come and go. “Reassigned” they always said. Then a computer generated person named Artimus appeared on the screen. Control had concluded that the virtual officer would be an appropriate companion for the captain since neither of them aged. One day Artimus reported that Big Bad John was returning to orbit. Control was preparing to launch a missile at the astronomical object to study its miraculous fragments.

Then the artificial man said that Control detected a power signature from his old starship. The captain was stunned. He told Artimus that Mission Control must send a team to reboot the computer and bring it back to Earth. The animated head replied that would be unacceptable because of the short window of opportunity. The obsolete spacecraft would have to be destroyed.