The possessed man knocks out LabCentral's security guard, then proceeds into the main building where the entity leaves the pickup driver and enters the mind of Dr. Hubbell Eliot, the chief of LabCentral. Meanwhile, in a research lab below, astrophysics Dr. Leslie Gaskell and his computer science associate, Dr. Arnold Culver, who have been tracking the flying object, realize that it is not only headed toward Earth but is also moving as if under intelligent guidance. They order three nuclear missiles to be fired, but they fail to destroy the object, which dives into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico.