Inspired by the Twilight Zone?
This movie seems like it was inspired by the first episode of the Twilight Zone, called "Where is Everybody". In that show a man wanders into this eerie small town where everyone is missing. At the end, spoilers, it turns out that he's taking part in a social isolation test to try and see how long someone can go on a space mission and he just hallucinated the town.
Unless Alpert's covered in bacon grease, I don't think Hugo can track anything.