

Once the vents are rigged, the crew withdraws to the rec area and begins assembling all the weapons they can find. If the creature tries to break out it is thought the grenades should kill it. Heusen finds some grenades in storage and begin rigging the air vents. Escaping, he orders the crew to seal the air vent. Before Purdue, can aid him, he in turn is attacked. Jack Purdue (Robert Bice) thinks Gino might also be in the same crawl space and goes to check. Investigating one of the air vents Carruthers discovers Kienholz's body. The crew complete the search, as well as not finding Kienholz the realize Gino is also missing. Higher up in the ship Carruthers thinks he hears something and goes to investigate with Eric Royce (Dabbs Greer) Kienholz cant be found and the crew begin an extensive search of the ship, Gino (Richard Hervey) gets left behind when he stops to light a cigarette, he is also attacked.

Entering the room he hears a strange animal noise before being attacked and killed by the creature seen earlier. In another part of the ship Kienholz (Thom Carney) working alone hears a strange noise coming from a storage area. Carruthers thinks that someone shooting at the shape may have been responsible for the bullet hole in the skull. He and others could hear strange sounds and faint shadows moving through the dust. Amid the confusion, the crew is picked off the jeep one by one. Carruthers was driving the exploration jeep when they encounter a dust storm. Carruthers feels he can trust Ann and begins to opens up about exactly what happened. She is not sure Van Heusen is right, despite the evidence of the skull. The crew are openly hostile to Carruthers, with the exception of Ann Anderson (Shirley Patterson) who shows some kindness. Carruthers sticks to his story that the others were killed by something on the surface, and thats why they could not find any bodies Van Heusen shows Carruthers a skull recovered a bullet hole can clearly be seen. After successfully lifting off, the pilot Van Heusen (Kim Spalding) challenges Carruthers about the fate of the 9 dead crew members. The crew closes the airlock, unaware of the strange passenger. During return preparations an airlock is found left open, we see the shadowy form of a strange creature enter the ship. It is explained that the survivor will be brought back for a court martial. The existence of a rescue second ship is revealed and that they have found Carruthers. Back on Earth the press is briefed about the situation with the first Mars mission. Because of the strange circumstances of the deaths, he fears his superiors on Earth may have doubts about his story. A voice belonging to Colonel Edward Carruthers (Marshall Thompson) explains the first ship crashed 6 months ago, and hes the only survivor of the original crew. Opening scene Panorama of the Mars in the distance we can see a wrecked spacecraft, close by another functional ship.The synopsis below may give away important plot points.
