- The Control Voice: The Roman philosopher Boethius said, "In other living creatures, the ignorance of themselves is nature, but in men it is a vice." Imagine treading into the deep recesses of one's self and finding someone you never knew existed.
After a car crash, a senator and his doctor try to find out what the senator is.
- The Control Voice: People have long feared invasion by forces from other worlds. If that horror comes to pass, our leaders will stand as our first line of defense... unless, of course, our leaders themselves... are the invaders.
Birthtropes:
- The Bad Guy Wins: The aliens have Kyle Haller killed before he can expose the truth about the fuel additive BE-85, and frame Dr. Leslie McKenna for the murder.
- Can't Stop the Signal: Averted; the protagonists reveal the plot to a journalist, however the aliens simply kill him.
- Cruel Twist Ending: Senator Richard Adams and his doctor Dr. Leslie McKenna realize that he is in fact an alien that has been lobbying a new fuel additive that will in 30 years time render the earth inhospitable for all life except the aliens. He informs a trusted reporter of this information, Kyle Haller. When Richard enters a taxi cab later that day, he finds out on the radio that Haller has been murdered and that Leslie has been framed for the crime. He tries to escape the taxi only to find the driver is one of his kind.
- Hostile Terraforming: The alien infiltrators' long-term plan is to use a chemical to terraform Earth over the course of 30 years by giving it a methane atmosphere which they can breathe. Of course, this would result in humans being wiped out. The aliens claim that said chemical, BE-85, is a fuel additive designed to clean up the atmosphere, meaning their plot entails tricking humanity into releasing the chemical themselves on a global scale.
- Paranoia Gambit: Attempted when Adams says he going to warn Haller of the conspiracy; one of the aliens asks how does he know that Haller isn't an alien too? However Adams takes that chance because Haller has always opposed the legislation he's attempting to pass about the fuel additive.
- Quest for Identity: Senator Richard Adams gets into a car accident and loses his memory. He is immediately told who he is but starts to see strange things. He suspects an alien conspiracy only to find out that he himself is an alien and, in fact, the aliens are already growing a replacement for him.
- Tomato in the Mirror: The plot revolves around Senator Richard Adams finding out what he really is.
