Plot

A space shuttle crashes containing a lethal prototype organism designed to survive in any environment. The only people who can stop the creature are the Secretary of Defense agent and the female scientist who created it.

The space shuttle Olympus, on a mission to Mars, is carrying "V.I.P.E.R.", an experimental hybrid of human genes and computer chips designed to adapt to any environment. Power surges release it inside the shuttle. As part of its survival adaptation, it kills and eats the crew. About the same time, a second prototype on Earth is stolen from the high-security NovaGen facility. It has value because of its great potential to be weaponized. It has to be an inside job as all the security codes were known, and a fingerprint reader bypassed. The theft team intercepts a Viper Project scientist and cuts off her thumb to manage that. Special Agent Mike Connors and Viper Project head Nancy Burnham are called in to track V.I.P.E.R down before it escapes into the public domain. But the thieves' plane crashes and releases it into a reservoir near Lago Nogales, New Mexico. V.I.P.E.R. rapidly proceeds to kill and eat people in the vicinity. With each meal, it is growing larger and larger. Lately, it shows signs of being ready to multiply. To make matters worse, the local sheriff thinks that Connors and Burnham are spouting science fiction, not real threats.—Garon Smith

Dr. Nancy Burnham (Theresa Russell) created V.I.P.E.R., a genetically engineered organism which is able to turn Mars into a livable, Earth-like environment. But on the shuttle journey to the red planet, V.I.P.E.R. develops a taste for human flesh and kills the entire crew. After this disaster, a second V.I.P.E.R. prototype on Earth goes missing, and government agent Mike Connors (Patrick Muldoon) is called in to find it before it begins killing the people of Earth. Sci-fi meets suspense in this intense thriller.