New secretary Micky is assigned to work for company owner Austin James, an eccentric scientist and investigator. The two soon become enmeshed in two mysteries: a man who died of exposure but his body is colder then the surrounding air, and an error in Austin's water bill that leads to murders by strange mechanical and electrical malfunctions.

New secretary Micky is assigned to work for company owner Austin James, an eccentric scientist and investigator. The two soon become enmeshed in two mysteries: a man who died of exposure but his body is colder then the surrounding air, and an error in Austin's water bill that leads to murders by strange mechanical and electrical malfunctions.

Austin is called in when a reactor built by Serendip malfunctions, and a staff member inside is dead. The body is inaccessible because of the high levels of radiation flooding the chamber. By long distance, Austin manages to determine that the pattern of wear on the man's shoes indicate he wasn't the man in question. Rather, the ""victim"" faked his death, killing a bum and using a pre-programmed robot to plant the body and stage the malfunction. Unfortunately, while in hiding the guy's own robot inadvertently kills him.

By apppealing to his scientific vanity, Micky manages to lure Austin to a talk show/expose to act as a scientific consultant as host Marty Corrigan tries to discredit a self-proclaimed witch, Sabrina. However, the witch's curse apparently comes true after Marty drinks one of her ""potions"". Analysis of the potion reveals nothing, and it has no effect on anyone else. Corrigan appears to have died of an intense case of influenza. Then the witch turns up dead. Austin's investigation eventually turns up that an old colleague, Dr. Drakovich, killed Corrigan using the witch's potion as a ruse to deliver a genetically tailored ""designer virus,"" to protect his son from exposure.

Austin is called in to help with investigating a claim that a ""mape"" (a Metamorphic Anthropoidic Prototype - i.e., an intelligent monkey) is as intelligent as its sponsor, Dr. Hardwork, claims. Josephine, the mape, is indeed incredibly smart, at nearly human levels. However, an animal activist breaks into Austin's warehouse where Josephine is being kept, and is found dead, shot to death. There seem no obvious culprits, and Austin discovers that Josephine was enhanced through illegal brain surgery. However, he also deduces that Josephine herself is the murderer: having learned such behavior from watching television shows. Austin manages to rescue Micky just before a jealous Josephine can kill her too, and regretfully, the mape is put to sleep.

Micky manages to lure Austin into visiting the desert home of science fiction author Truman Smith the Third. He is being plagued with strange electrical apparations. He claims that the electrical creature is an alien being whose life Truman has been using as the basis for his ""fiction"", and now the alien wants a share. Smith is killed by a huge electrical discharge, but Austin determines that the phenomena is ball lightning caused by the house's location atop a lodestone. As for Smith's murder, Austin uses a ploy to reveal that Smith's wife killed him using electrical cables.

Austin and Micki come to the aid of a young girl who claims everyone in her neighborhood has been replaced by imposters.