diff --git a/test/integration/mesh.test.ts b/test/integration/mesh.test.ts
index d3dddc8..90205e9 100644
--- a/test/integration/mesh.test.ts
+++ b/test/integration/mesh.test.ts
@@ -1140,9 +1140,13 @@ test("the board names the machine that is not doing what it was told", {
   assert.ok(up, `the board does not answer:\n${said.out}`);
 
   // Something a person opened it for: give a machine a declaration it cannot apply.
+  //
+  // A unit that does not exist, because the host says so immediately and in its own words. A file
+  // in a missing directory is not impossible — the host creates the parents, which is correct and
+  // made the first version of this test break nothing at all.
   await must("anchor", `printf %s '{"module":"impossible","version":"1",` +
-    `"resources":[{"id":"nowhere","type":"file","path":"/does/not/exist/at/all/file",` +
-    `"content":"x","mode":"0644"}]}' > /tmp/impossible.json`);
+    `"resources":[{"id":"nowhere","type":"service","unit":"nothing-like-this.service",` +
+    `"state":"running"}]}' > /tmp/impossible.json`);
   await must("anchor", `docker cp /tmp/impossible.json mesh-control:/impossible.json`);
   await mesh("module add /impossible.json");
   await mesh("assign laptop impossible");