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.