The story begins with a space shuttle nearing the destination of Saint Lowell's space port. On board is Ross Syllibus, a middle-aged cop from Chicago, United States, Earth. Syllibus asked to be transferred to Martian Police Department to escape from his past and haunting memories of his beloved one being murdered by a robot. At the Saint Lowell's space port he is to meet his new partner—a young Naomi Armitage from MPD.
On the same shuttle as Syllibus, travels Kelly McCannon—"the last country singer in the Universe". As the shuttle nears the terminal, a mysterious man is seen entering the cargo section; soon after this, the intruder is noticed and the alarms go off.
Later, as Ross finally gets off the shuttle, he witnesses a disturbing scene at the airport. First he gets bumped into by the mysterious man with a big suitcase and two guards. Soon after that, a young woman with a gun orders the men to stop and get their hands up. Puzzled, Ross notices a few drops of blood spilling from the mysterious man's suitcase. A shootout between the young woman (who turns out to be Ross's new partner, Armitage) begins. The two robot guards are killed by Armitage and the mysterious man is wounded, but manages to escape. However, he leaves his suitcase behind—inside of which is the dead body of Kelly McCannon. To everybody's surprise and horror, McCannon turns out to be a robot: a new, never-seen-before "third type" android that's superficially identical to humans.