He doesn't know what it is, but Captain William Clark can see that something terrible and strange is happening on the space station Meridian. Within a matter of minutes, three of the space stations crew--Commander Richard Gordon, Dr. Thomas Somerset, and Commander Lara Nabakov--have been lured to their deaths by impossible visions of loved ones or enemies - - visions created by someone or something capable of reaching into the minds of human beings and recreating their darkest nightmares and fondest desires. Fearing for his safety and that of the one surviving crew member, Dr. Helene Dufour, Clark uses the escape pod and abandons ship. When he winds up on earth, however, nobody will believe his story. Instead, Clark is accused of committing the murders while suffering from space psychosis, and must turn to his ex-wife, Robyn Dysart, to defend him. She manages to raise a reasonable doubt by suggesting that Soroxin, a chemical used in Somerset and Dufour's research, may have caused the space psychosis, but Captain Clark insists on telling the truth even at his own peril. Is Clark a madman, his mind twisted by too much time in orbit, or has the Captain seen the face of evil floating in the zero-gravity of deep space?
The alien life-form that had slain three of the crewmembers assumed the form of the female psychologist so that she and the captain would both journey to Earth. The alien life-form convinces the military panel of the court that the captain and his crew were suffering from exposure to a medical gas which ought to eliminate stress and mental unstability but had instead apparently induced hallucinations and abrupt psychotic episodes. After the court declares its decision to further assess the effects of the medical gas and to aid in the mental recuperation of the captain by having him admitted to a suitable hospital, the alien life-form discusses with the captain’s ex-wife how she--this being the alien life-form--is to return to the space station at which the alien life-form is exploiting human biological and cellular components to provide the means of its offspring to develop.
By Tim McCree (Tim_m) on Tuesday, December 26, 2023 - 6:15 am: