The Human Duplicators 1965

Aboard a spacecraft bound for Earth, the head of the Intergalactic Council briefs Dr. Kolos, a gigantic humanoid alien, on a bold plan to “expand our galaxy domination program.” If Kolos succeeds, human duplicates—androids—will begin taking over houses, stations, and cities across the planet. If he fails, he will be destroyed. The stakes are cosmic, but the mission is intimate: to mold humanity into a new order under his unwitting guidance.

Upon arrival via teletransporter at the mansion of Prof. Vaughn Dornheimer, Kolos meets Lisa Dornheimer, Dornheimer’s blind niece who does not realize she is sheltering an alien visitor. She leads him into the professor’s laboratory, where Kolos outlines a collaboration to develop the androids that Dornheimer has struggled to perfect on his own. Dornheimer resists at first, but Kolos makes his intentions clear: he is now “the master,” and obedience is nonnegotiable.

Meanwhile, police pressure mounts as a string of taunting, high-security electronics thefts points toward a cadre of top scientists, with Dr. Munson at the heart of the mystery. The most shocking turn comes when Munson tears a security door from its hinges, kills a guard, and escapes in his car. He shows no reaction to wounds and vanishes into the night, an uncanny clue that something inhuman—or something manufactured—is at work. Dr. Munson is, in fact, an android, though the authorities are slow to see the truth beneath his manufactured flesh.

The National Intelligence Agency, led by Glenn Martin, steps in to untangle the case. Posing as a reporter at Dornheimer’s residence, Glenn probes for clues but finds nothing solid. He then infiltrates the lab and witnesses a chilling sight: human duplication in action. Lisa explains that Dornheimer’s identity has been replaced by an android. As she departs, the android servant known as Thor launches a sudden ambush, and Glenn confronts a brutal melee. He smashes the head of android Thor, destroying the threat, but Kolos quickly captures Glenn to duplicate him, deepening the danger for Earth.

Duplicated, the android Glenn Martin returns to the NIA headquarters with a cold, altered demeanor that alarms his colleagues, especially his girlfriend and fellow agent, Gale Wilson. Concerned for Glenn’s wellbeing, she quietly trails him and tries to unravel the strange change in his personality.

Android Glenn presses on with the mission, slipping into a facility to steal more electronics needed for further duplications. His pursuit is interrupted by Gale, and a tense gunfight erupts with the police. In the chaos, his arm becomes trapped in a sliding door; when the door is pried open, only the android’s severed arm remains, a stark clue that something has gone very wrong with the duplications.

Back in the real world, the true Glenn Martin is imprisoned in a cell with the real Dornheimer. Lisa returns with a clever aid—a “lucky coin” concealing a length of wire that can cut through the bars. Dornheimer warns him that the way to stop the androids lies in the lab’s pulsed laser beam, a weapon capable of destroying their heads. The tension rises as Kolos refuses to turn Lisa into an android, triggering a power struggle inside Dornheimer’s agency.

Android Dornheimer proclaims himself head of the android “master race,” overpowering Kolos with a cadre of Thor androids and beginning the process that would duplicate Lisa. But Glenn Martin returns, loyal to Kolos, and the two factions collide in a decisive confrontation. The two androids destroy each other, while the real Glenn uses the pulsed laser to annihilate the remaining androids. Kolos, meanwhile, breaks free from his chains and faces the aftermath of his failed mission.

With the Thor androids eliminated, Kolos gently places the unconscious Lisa on a sofa. Her eyelids flutter, she touches a tear on her cheek, and a quiet, hopeful smile crosses her face as she wakes. The victory is not a triumph for humanity, but a moment of fragile vindication for those who remained faithful to their humanity.

In the end, Kolos acknowledges the grim truth: his mission has failed, and he discovers he, too, is an android. He teleports back aboard his spacecraft, leaving the fate of Earth—and perhaps himself—resting in the hands of the Intergalactic Council. The story closes on a note of melancholy and mystery, a reminder that even vast and powerful beings can be bound by the same fragilities that define all life.