High school kids are surprised by a bright light in the forest and an astronaut who walks toward them that they shoot. The police and John investigate and determine the astronaut actually died of cyanosis but a Colonel Dunagan moves in and take the body – John taps into satellite photography and sees a blast pattern that matches the one on Horseshoe Island that accompanied his arrival. John, Digger, and Frank sneak into the woods to examine the site and find a large pod. The pod is a Mars environmental test system and inside the trashed interior are a bunch of astronauts dead just like the first astronaut – then they get sealed in. Meanwhile Avery pursues her own investigation despite the military government and after interviewing Dunagan's staff sergeant, believes Dunagan is involved. The men start sniping at each other due to cyanosis symptoms while Stella and Avery track them down. John uses its navigation beacon to send out a SOS. The Staff Sergeant is the one responsible, making it look like the recyclers failed on their own so a new company would win the multi-million dollar contract. Fortunately, John manages to fix the recyclers in time and they capture the Sergeant when he shows up.