Fifteen years later , Cale works on a salvage station . Cale hates his father for having disappeared on the Titan . Cale meets Joseph Korso ( Bill Pullman ) , a human captain who requests Cale 's help to find the Titan , demonstrating that Cale 's ring contains a map leading to the Titan ; the ring is genetically-encoded to respond to Cale 's father , and hence now only responds to Cale himself , making him the only chance for humanity 's future .