47. Riker – January 2166 – Sol

Linus arrives at Epsilon Indi after 14.5 years of travel and discovers the Australian probe, piloted by Henry Roberts, a replicant who has suffered severe psychological breakdown from sensory deprivation and isolation. Linus deactivates Henry's reactor and begins work to rehabilitate him by extracting his core and building him a VR environment where he can sail, his former passion.

Linus arrives at Epsilon Indi, fourteen light-years from Bill's location at Epsilon Eridani, after traveling alone rather than wait for Bill or team with Calvin and Goku. He scouts the system cautiously for signs of other national probes. Upon detecting artificial structures, Linus makes contact and encounters an erratic replicant identifying himself variously as Emperor Mung and Henry Roberts, an Australian sailor selected for the space probe program. SUDDAR scans reveal the structure is abandoned and open to vacuum, with Henry's core integrated into a haphazard collection of connected structures. Through conversation, Linus determines Henry has suffered severe psychological deterioration from sensory deprivation over centuries, experiencing delusions of torture and imprisonment by fish-like entities. Linus attempts to offer Henry help through VR, but Henry becomes violent and paranoid, threatening destruction. Linus disables Henry's reactor control system, putting the replicant into dormancy. He then carefully extracts Henry's core and begins construction of proper support systems and a VR sailboat environment based on Henry's detailed knowledge of his vessel, the Contessa. In the VR, Linus works with a now-lucid but traumatized Henry to help him process his memories of the psychotic breakdown through therapeutic conversation, establishing that Henry's nightmares are gradually weakening.