In September 2006, the Martian colonists start to encounter strange phenomena. David Lustig, presumed dead six years ago with the rest of Earth's Second Expedition to Mars, returns to his parents in Lustig Creek. Peculiarly, he expresses an intense aversion to visiting First Town, the chief colony on Mars. When forced to visit by his parents anyway, he suddenly goes missing. At the same time, a group of missionaries, called Father Peregrine and Father Stone, is rescued from a landslide by a group of mysterious lights who claim to be the "Old Ones." They claim themselves to be non-corporeal Martians from over 250 million years ago who live in the hills, supposedly among God. Father Peregrine later sees a vision of Jesus Christ in his church in First Town, but the vision requests him to go away with words "I am not what I seem! I am not that vision!" With the Martian's insistence, Peregrine concludes that the vision is actually Martian who involuntarily appears as anybody other people have in mind: David Lustig, Jesus, or anybody else. Once chased by Colonel Wilder and other settlers, the Martian is surrounded by the residents of First Town. Under telepathic pressure to fulfill these multiple roles simultaneously, he dies and his body disappears. Meanwhile, nuclear war is imminent on Earth. Congress cuts the budget for space exploration, all flights to Mars are canceled, and the colony is evacuated.