 Why does the Captain go looking for Purnie?
Purnie ran laughing and shouting through the forest until he could run no more. Safe from the scrutiny of brothers and parents, there was nothing now to stop him from going to the ocean. With everything around him in a state of perfect tableau, Purnie hurried toward the ocean. He ran along feeling sorry for four-year-olds, and even for those who were only four and a half, for they were babies and wouldn't dare try slipping away to the ocean alone. When Purnie had stopped time, the bees—like all the other creatures he met—had been arrested in their native activities, and he knew that as soon as he resumed time, everything would pick up where it had left off. Rather than spoil what was clearly going to be a perfect day, he chose to ignore the fact that he had been forbidden to use time-stopping as a convenience for journeying far from home. He chose to ignore the negative maxim that "small children who stop time without an adult being present, may not live to regret it." With it under his arm he bounded along a dozen more steps, then stopped abruptly in his tracks. The ocean lay at the ready, its stilled waves awaiting his command to resume their tidal sweep. Overhead, a flock of spora were frozen in a steep glide, preparatory to a beach landing. Further down the beach was a pair of two-legged animals poised in mid-step, facing the spot where Purnie now stood. When he got no reaction, he remembered that he himself was "dead" to the living world: he was still in a zone of time-stopping, on the inside looking out. It was time itself that Purnie had stopped, not the world around him. He scampered around the rockpile and down the sandy cliff to meet the tripons who, to him, had just come to life. The tripon thought Purnie's feat was superb. Purnie ran from pillar to post, trying to see and do everything at once. Purnie's invitation got nothing more than startled glance from the animals who quickly returned to their chatter. The animals stopped so suddenly that Purnie nearly tangled himself in their heels. Sure, it's your money that put us here; it's your expedition all the way. As Purnie followed along, a leg shot out at him and missed. Purnie shrieked with joy at this new frolic and promptly stood on his head.
 The Captain knows Purnie saved the crew.
 The Captain knows that an animal with Purnie's strength is worth a fortune.  The Captian knows an animal that can stop time is worth a fortune.  The Captain knows a radioactive animal is worth a fortune.  The Captain knows Purnie saved the crew.