Caxton, then waking in hospital, is the amnesiac traveling salesman from the story "The Search"; he goes back over his sales territory to discover what happened.

There he sees inventions from the films he rented, and he explores an enormous building; after sleeping he wakes up by an older version of Selanie, to whom he seems to be married.

In an attempt to return to 2083, he joins an expedition to travel to nearby star Alpha Centauri, as in the story "Far Centaurus".

Arriving at Alpha Centauri, the crew are received by the advanced civilization from Earth that can make the journey in three hours, and have long been expecting them.

The movie projector's special qualities were created by Johns and Magoelson, in an attempt to create an imbalance in a time foldback; the attempt was unexpectedly affected by the presence of Bustaman watching the film, who at that time was not aware he was a Possessor, and wrecked by Caxton's dismantling of the projector.