In a research facility, Dr. Paul Steiner and Dr. Mitchell push the boundaries of science with a projection device that can transmit objects from their immediate surroundings to locations several miles away. The device proves effective on inanimate objects, but a grim pattern emerges: living beings that are projected perish. The team presses on, hoping for a breakthrough that could change everything.
When Dr. Patricia Hill arrives, she helps diagnose the error and supports Steiner and Mitchell as they patch the machine. For a moment, it seems the problem is resolved, and the researchers feel a surge of cautious optimism. Yet the pressure outside the lab mounts as Dr. Blanchard, Steiner’s boss, is being blackmailed by Latham, who wants credit for the discovery. Blanchard uses that leverage to force Steiner into making a premature presentation to Professor Lembach, hoping to secure the project’s future.
The team moves toward a formal presentation, but the unveiling becomes a pivotal catastrophe. At the event, Blanchard surreptitiously drips acid onto the machine, sparking an explosion that cuts off funding instantly. Mitchell later uncovers that the device has been tampered with, sowing doubt and danger around the entire project. Undeterred, Steiner visits Blanchard’s house, where [Lembach] and [Latham] are dining; he presents the incriminating evidence of the tampering, and Lembach grants him another chance to prove the device’s potential.
Driven by a stubborn belief in his work, Steiner resolves to push the limits. With the help of his secretary, Sheila, he attempts to project himself to Lembach’s residence. Meanwhile, Mitchell and Hill return to the laboratory to intervene. They warn Sheila about the risks, but in the moment, she becomes involved in the dangerous projection, sending Steiner to an unexpected location—an active construction site that doubles as the hideout for a gang of thieves trying to break into a bank.
A shocking consequence emerges: a fault in the projection endows Steiner with the power to kill merely by touch, and it leaves him physically scarred on one side. He quickly eliminates the criminals at the site, then moves to a nearby store to acquire rubber gloves and a coat before breaking back into the institute. There, he confronts Latham, kills him, and cuts the power, signaling that something deeply wrong is unfolding. [Insp. Davis] begins to connect the eerie electric marks on Latham’s body with the earlier crime scenes, resolving that a pattern is forming around Steiner’s actions.
The stakes escalate as Steiner tracks down [Hill] and [Mitchell] at Hill’s home and demands to know where he can find more electricity to sustain himself after the projection’s toll. Hill and Mitchell try to persuade him to return to the lab so they can attempt a reversal, but Steiner resists and heads toward a power source to fuel his survival. The trio—Hill, Mitchell, and Davis—confront him at a power plant, where Davis fires at Steiner but the bullets have no effect. Hill again pleads for a safer path, and eventually Steiner agrees to go back to the laboratory.
Back at the facility, the situation spirals out of control. Steiner arrives with a calculate resolve, turns against his allies, and wreaks havoc as the lab goes up in flames. The projection device malfunction intensifies, and in a final, dramatic moment, Steiner is struck by the experimental laser and disappears as the building burns around him. The ordeal leaves behind a haunting question about the line between invention and danger, and the film closes on a world forever altered by a breakthrough that came at an extraordinary cost.
