Cole is pursuing an alien Nodulian, Kres, who is a ""courier""/smuggler. Kres is captured by U.S. government agents and taken into custody. Cole eludes them and uses satellite photography to locate the military base they've taken Kres to. Cole breaks in and discovers Kres is being tortured by Dr. Connelly, who knows that he is an alien. The government knows all about the energy burst that brought the escaped prisoners to Earth, and that Kres has deserted ""his"" human wife and family after being possessed. Kres is susceptible to heat, being an Nodulian. Cole is captured and subjected to the same treatment, which reenergizes him. Connelly realizes that and cools him down. Cole manages to escape using hypertime, but is captured with a fire extinguisher when Connelly lowers the base's air temperature. Kres has escaped from his cell and using an experimental hypertime simulator that Zin created, manages to free Cole. Cole has Mel download a virus into the base's computer, destroying all record