diff --git a/packages/SwingSet/src/controller/controller.js b/packages/SwingSet/src/controller/controller.js
index 2e6b4c7dbc80..3321d1f92a64 100644
--- a/packages/SwingSet/src/controller/controller.js
+++ b/packages/SwingSet/src/controller/controller.js
@@ -473,11 +473,11 @@ export async function makeSwingsetController(
      * be durable. Either call `hostStorage.commit()` immediately
      * after calling this, or call `controller.run()` and *then*
      * `hostStorage.commit()` as you would normally do in response to
-     * other IO or timer activity.
+     * other I/O or timer activity.
      *
      * The first `controller.run()` after this call will delete all
-     * the old vat's state at once, unless you use a `runPolicy` to
-     * rate-limit cleanups.
+     * the old vat's state at once, unless you use a
+     * [`runPolicy`](../docs/run-policy.md) to rate-limit cleanups.
      *
      * @param {VatID} vatID
      * @param {SwingSetCapData} reasonCD
diff --git a/packages/SwingSet/test/external-termination/external-termination.test.js b/packages/SwingSet/test/external-termination/external-termination.test.js
index 08c55ddc8b29..6fa0a1ef807b 100644
--- a/packages/SwingSet/test/external-termination/external-termination.test.js
+++ b/packages/SwingSet/test/external-termination/external-termination.test.js
@@ -27,9 +27,11 @@ const testExternalTermination = async (t, defaultManagerType) => {
   c.pinVatRoot('bootstrap');
   await c.run();
 
+  const getVatIDs = () => c.dump().vatTables.map(vt => vt.vatID);
+
   // vat-doomed should now be running. We casually assume the new vat
   // has the last ID
-  const vatIDs = c.dump().vatTables.map(vt => vt.vatID);
+  const vatIDs = getVatIDs();
   const vatID = vatIDs[vatIDs.length - 1];
 
   {
@@ -52,12 +54,7 @@ const testExternalTermination = async (t, defaultManagerType) => {
   c.terminateVat(vatID, kser('doom!'));
   await c.run();
 
-  t.false(
-    c
-      .dump()
-      .vatTables.map(vt => vt.vatID)
-      .includes(vatID),
-  );
+  t.false(getVatIDs().includes(vatID));
 
   {
     // this provokes noise: liveslots logs one RemoteError