Kinvig

After a pleasant dream in which his penny-pinching brother, Howard, is attacked by the insectoid Xux, Des is dismayed to learn that he and Netta are due to visit his obnoxious relative that evening. Having met up with Jim, Des then ponders as to the whereabouts of Miss Griffin, who has failed to visit the repair shop for two weeks, despite the fact that Des has actually ‘fixed' her razor… Meanwhile, unknown to the two friends, the object of their worries is busy working for Mr Horsley at the Town Hall, undertaking secretarial duties while attempting to fend off the clerk's lascivious attentions. That evening, after their tedious dinner engagement, Des, Netta and a roll of second-hand carpet – a gift from Howard – are returning home when their car inexplicably stops in the middle of a wood. Feeling uneasy (and a little unsteady from the beer) Des goes for a walk and comes across Miss Griffin's spaceship parked amongst the trees. Inside he meets Loon, Bat, Sagga – and Buddo, who has come in person to warn that Miss Griffin has been missing for two weeks; it seems that her last log book entry indicates that she may have gone on a dangerous mission to the Town Hall… Having been instructed to take no action until he is contacted again, Des returns to Netta, and finds his car now works once more. The following day, while walking through the woods, Netta is approached by a flasher; although the encounter leaves her and Cuddly quite shaken, Des and Jim suspect the incident may have been due to an alien attempting to make contact. That night, the two friends set off for the woods in an attempt to track down their contact…

Des has a daydream in which he sees countless suited, bowler-hatted humanoid duplicates marching out of the Bingleton Borough Council, as the Town Hall itself is consumed by fire. After having been woken by Netta, Des receives a visit from Miss Griffin, who bullies the repairman into mending her broken bag, and then criticises the shabby clothes he wears. Put out by the woman's mocking comments, Des decides to go out for a walk, and eventually meets up with Jim for a Chinese meal. However, as the two friends discuss Des' premonition, speculating that the Xux may have infiltrated the Town Hall, they suddenly spy Mr Horsley outside, acting somewhat suspiciously; deciding to investigate, Des and Jim follow the clerk through the back streets until they arrive at a disused pickle factory. Unbeknownst to Des and Jim, Horsley's nephew, Simon, is using the old building as a studio, where he is busy reconditioning some old shop dummies by painting them with interesting faces – including that of his uncle – so that he can then sell them on to interested department stores. However, when Des and Jim see the mannequins, they immediately believe that they have stumbled upon a Xux factory that is creating evil duplicates in a plot to take over the world…

When Des has another ‘out-of-body' experience, in which he saves Miss Griffin and her crew from an attack by the Xux, Netta becomes concerned that her husband was calling out the name of one of his customers in his sleep. The next morning, Netta resolves to pay more attention to Des, and begins by taking an interest in his hobby of U.F.O. spotting. Later, an irate Miss Griffin arrives at the shop – it seems that the duplicate key Des made for her has snapped in its lock, and now she wants the inept repairman to visit her flat and fix things. While her husband is away with the attractive Miss Griffin, a worried Netta soon encounters Anthony Jessop, a suave representative from the Education Department, who is conducting surveys in the area. Taken in by the handsome man's charms, Netta decides to ask Jessop round for tea that evening; however, when her husband hears that Jessop was asking strange questions, showed an interest in Des' U.F.O. newspaper, and came from the Town Hall, Des and Jim suspect him to be a Xux humanoid – and that the aliens may also have replaced Netta with a duplicate…