Overview

Dr. Myles Stanton is an astronomer stationed at a lonely observatory in the desert, but his job isn't the only thing that keeps him in the dark. For Dr. Stanton is about to lose his wife, Hali, to Blaine, his lab assistant and best friend. Why Hali would find the luckless and accident prone Blaine to be preferable to Dr. Stanton bewilders this egocentric astronomer more than any mystery he has ever viewed through his telescope. It's not just that Blaine's obsession with an impending invasion from Mars makes him seem such an odd choice for the sophisticated and lovely Hali. But what is it about Blaine that has also earned the attention of three strangers in trench coats, fedoras and dark glasses? Dr. Myles Stanton, left in charge of an obsolete observatory he was sure everyone had forgotten about, takes center stage in an international game of cat and mouse. It is the evening of the launch of Sputnik. World tensions are high. Spies and sleeper cells are suspected to be everywhere. Invaders could come from anywhere.