Lockwood and Natasha return from Sentinel Island but when they make landfall at the town of Millhampton they discover that all the people have vanished - except for Winslet. He reveals that the nearby psychiatric hospital is being used by the Nestene as their base of operations. In addition computer's all around the world are ceasing to function as the Nestene Consciousness use them to try to take over the world. Natasha's superior, Palmer, is using her and Lockwood to get to the heart of the Nestene operations but even he cannot guess at the danger that he is placing the two in as the Auton trilogy comes to a powerful conclusion.