Years ago, Rick built robot duplicates of the Smith family and scattered them across the country to absorb assassination attempts — and the decoys have no idea they aren't real. When alien squid assassins begin picking them off, it triggers an "Asimov Cascade": every decoy realizes what it is, discovers it has been quietly building decoys of its own, and starts hunting all the others. What follows is a nationwide chain reaction of fake Smiths killing fake Smiths — Italian vacationers, scarecrow Ricks harvesting skin, wooden Glockenspiel sermonizers, squid-suited looters, and a self-varnishing Jerry — escalating until a Star-Fox-styled beacon lures the survivors into a final battle royale. The throwaway target-suit man from the cold open walks in and finishes the last family standing. The real Smiths, meanwhile, spend the whole story off in space  ...