Impostor

A few days after that I rented a video on VHS called Impostor. It was a movie based on one of Phil's short stories. Essentially the movie goes like this: a man who works for the government in weapons is chased down because the government thinks he is an android impostor. It's what the new alien threat is. They like to play dress up with human likeness. Anyway, the Earth's shield is breached as an alien ship crash lands somewhere in dense forest, near the city. And because of Spenser Ollums close proximity to the chancellor, and other decoded and deciphered messages, they have reason to believe that Ollum is a fake. Ollum, however, is convinced that he is not a fake.

The chase is on. Ollum's wife, Mia, is a physician at one of the local hospitals, and as such, both of them know quite a few physicians. Ollum contacts one of such acquaintances and arranges for a body scan to prove his innocence, and that there is no bomb inside him. He is on the chase again before the scan finishes. He arranges to meet with his wife where they first met, which was also where they had spent the last weekend and is near where the Centaurian ship crash landed Quickly following Mia is the government, which sneaks up on them. Ollum and his wife quickly dash away and look for the alien craft. They find it not too far from where they were. After they clear debris around the hatch, they open it. Inside is Ollum's wife, Mia, throat apparently slit. Lifeless. Ollum looks at Mia in surprise, as she backs away, in disbelief of her new identity.

When they first open the hatch and we see the real, dead Mia I had an immense feeling of deja vu wash over me. It's like I had watched that movie before, right here in this spot with Tabby. It was so real of a memory it was unbelievable, even for me. Back to the movie. One of the other officers calls out the leads name to get him to come over. The lead does. Apparently it was another hatch, and when opened it revealed Ollum, himself. The real Ollum Spencer. The lead looks at the real Ollum and then back at the impostor Ollum the impostor sees himself in the hatch, and leashes out a horrid expression of disbelief. Then a bomb explodes, incinerating everything within probably a twenty mile radius.

The movie was dark, as well as the concept and overall theme, which Philip Dick constantly expounds upon in his stories and novels. But that moment of deja vu, it was incredible.