On New Year's Eve in the middle of the 21st century,[1] space station Alpha-Two reports impossible "negative radiation" readings and loses contact with United Democracies (U.D.)

They find the Alpha-Two crew immobilized, with some dead, before coming under attack by green glowing energy beings.

On Earth, meanwhile, the creatures have possessed Captain Dubois and use him to break into the Institute for Advanced Sciences's nuclear reactor.

Exploring, they discover the corpses of several Delta-Two crew members, who failed to merge with the energy beings because of their "passion and emotion".

Opening an outer wall panel, they escape across the surface of Mars to a nearby spacecraft, as the air is expelled, killing all inside the base.

His "punishment" is to be confined to a high end suite in senior officers' quarters along with his most willing paramour Connie Gomez.