It is Simmonds. He is calling Earth, believing the seventy-five-year voyage to be over. The staff is puzzled by the premature awakening. Did Simmonds not allow a matrix to be compiled? Or is this Zantor's version of justice? On the ship, Simmonds sits up in his chamber, irritated by the lack of response. He calls up the time on his comlink and is horrified to see that only two hours forty-eight minutes have elapsed since take-off. Panicked, he thrashes around in his chamber, screaming for help. With the Kaldorian ship well beyond Eagle range, Koenig can do nothing. Simmonds' desperate pleas to his fellow travellers—still in suspended animation—are also wasted. After throwing his body against the unyielding walls of the stasis chamber, the politician finally collapses in what will be his coffin. On Alpha, Koenig and Helena reflect on the tragic irony of the situation when the Commander reveals Computer's final choice for the voyage home: Simmonds. The score was re-edited from previous "Space: 1999" incidental music tracks composed for the first series by Barry Gray and draws primarily from "" and "Black Sun". The character of Commissioner Simmonds was killed off by E. C. Tubb in the first "Space: 1999" novel "Breakaway". As author Brian Ball was unable to rework the story without the scheming politician, "Earthbound" was withdrawn from its intended place in the third Year One "Space: 1999" novel "The Space Guardians". Ball incorporated certain elements into his adaptation of "": Raan's illusory Victor Bergman was given the avaricious intention of seizing an alien ship to travel home. In 2003, the story was novelised by Tubb and released in "Space: 1999 - Earthbound". Minor additions to the story include: (1) As to not violate the novels' continuity, it is stated that Simmonds was left for dead in the confusion of the breakaway, but was resuscitated by . His broken neck and fractured skull were repaired and the weeks spent recovering in Medical explained his absence; (2) The Kaldorians were found to emit pheromones that make people like them, explaining the instant acceptance of the aliens by Koenig and his boarding party.