Alas, as stated above, I don't currently have a copy on hand, and couldn't look up the specifics of it. I didn't remember the initial refusal. Perhaps we can allow for the possibility that much of the conversation took place off-screen?

Yeah, I know, that's stretching. I guess my basic feeling is that these people were
not the best and brightest of the future. They were simply good at piloting. And, since piloting exposed them to these particular questions, information, and ideas, they were the ones who got to make the decisions
about these questions, information, and ideas. I guess a really crazy analogy would be allowing Derek Jeter to decide how to deal with the beings in a new dimension if he found a magic bat that opened the portal
to that dimension if swung by a hitter of at least his ability. (I'm trying to think of a better analogy!

)
Anyway, I've picked apart a few plots in my day, so I don't begrudge anyone else doing so. For me, it seems, as long as something could come about from a
physical standpoint (That is, a story's laws of physics), the non-physical factors that cause the event aren't terribly important - providing the result is to my liking. IOW, the ends justifies the means. I've made maaaaaaaany posts in the TC forum questioning the likelihood of this or that character getting into such-and-such a situation. But I really don't care, because once they
were in that situation, we get the best stories I've ever read.