Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up? - Plot

Plot

During a snowstorm, two state troopers are investigating a crash after a woman telephoned them and are led to believe that it was a flying saucer. They follow footprints leading from the crash site to a diner, where a group of passengers from a bus to Boston are waiting for word that a bridge up ahead is safe to cross. Though the only patrons of the roadside eatery are bus passengers, there is one more person than there were people on the bus. Mr. Ross, a skeptical businessman played by John Hoyt, who says he has a meeting in Boston, says the driver must have been mistaken, but he swears there were six. There is mutual suspicion among the stranded travelers, as the passengers try to guess which among them is the alien. It is suggested that the two married couples are paired off. An old man laughs at this, saying it sounds like science fiction. In the meantime, several odd things are happening. The jukebox plays on its own, the lights flicker on and off, and sugar bowls explode on the tables. When they receive word that the bridge is safe to cross, they all leave the diner.

Shortly, Mr. Ross returns to the diner alone and tells the cook that the bridge wasn't safe at all and that it collapsed, killing all the occupants of both the bus and the police car. The cook asks the businessman how he survived without even getting wet. The businessman asks what the word "wet" means, unveiling a third arm under his overcoat as he stirs his coffee and lights a cigarette. He says the music and telephone ringing were all illusions. He reveals to the cook that he is a Martian, that Mars plans to start a colony on Earth, and that there is little hope for the human race. Laughing, the cook tells him that he's too late, that he himself is from Venus, which has already started a colony, and that the Martian invasion force has been intercepted. The cook takes off his paper hat, revealing a third eye in the middle of his forehead. The shocked Martian stares nervously at the cook, and the episode ends.