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Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three

The only thing Daniel could see was the man's face. The tinkling of champagne glasses, the bright, early spring sunlight through Ann's picture window, the smiling friends, and the murmur of their light-hearted conversation all faded into the background when the figure walked through the door from the kitchen. Daniel thought at first he would be sick. The man was the same man they had seen so many times on the alien ship: broad-shouldered, bearded, rugged and good-looking. A big man. Here, today, on the ground, in a dark sport jacket and tie.

Daniel felt a tug at his pant leg. He looked down and saw a little four-year-old boy forlornly looking up at him. His heart went out to the boy. Daniel quickly put his finger to his lips in the universal sign for 'be quiet'. He put his hand on the little boy's hair as he leaned towards his wife. "Sara," Daniel hissed, nudging her away from her conversation.

She looked at him and furrowed her brow: He wasn't in the habit of interrupting her.

"Excuse me, Karen," Daniel said politely but with a deliberate sense of urgency. Daniel took Sara's elbow and guided her away from the doctor, who today was the happy bride.

"For goodness sake, Daniel. What do you want?" Sara could not hide the slight irritation from her voice. Daniel knew she had been enjoying her conversation with Karen, but this was urgent.

"Look over there," Daniel said covertly. "Standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Do you see him? See?" Daniel was shaking, and it required considerable effort on his part to keep himself from running over and screaming in the man's face.

Sara whispered, "Oh my God, he's here. What is he doing here? He's the human from. . . from the ship," she stammered. Sara leaned down and quietly spoke into the boy's ear. "Eric, Honey, you cannot let anyone know that you know Saul. Do you understand? We must be very careful." She kissed him motherly and hugged him briefly. The boy didn't react to her display of affection.

Daniel caught the eye of Rachel, his daughter, standing across the room from him. "Take care of Eric for us," he signed quickly. Rachel looked puzzled. "Now, Rachel," Daniel signed emphatically. "Please."

Rachel came to Eric and smiled down at him. "Want to come with me?" Rachel signed to Eric. She took him by the hand and led him away to her husband Steve.

Satisfied, now, that Eric was out of harm's way, Daniel touched Sara's arm, wanting to comfort her but not daring to draw attention to themselves. "I don't believe it," Daniel breathed. "He looks so relaxed. He's maddeningly casual."

"Yes," Sara whispered. "He helps the Zeta as they abduct us, and now he's showing up in our space here on the ground." She gripped Daniel's wrist hard. "Let's go home, Daniel. I can't stay in the same room as he." Sara took his hand, her face white with a horror that only Daniel could know, and with purpose set out towards Rachel and the boy.

Ann, the host of the wedding, waved suddenly from a corner of the living room, and stepping near the man, motioned Daniel and Sara to her side. Sara hesitated. Daniel looked at her.

"Well, what's it going to be?" Daniel frantically telepathed to Sara.

"Daniel, she seems to know him," Sara telepathed in return, surprise in her thought.

Suddenly Ann was in front of them, holding out her hands. To have pushed past her would have been rude. Daniel stood his ground. If he could mouth off to the alien doctor, he knew he could confront this man, especially now that the man was in Daniel's space. "How in the world does Ann know this bastard?" Daniel's telepathic message escaped before he could grab it back. Sara's mind was locked up, cold and dark. And Daniel could feel her frenzy. He couldn't stop his mind from slipping into the horror of the

past . . . .

[ Down the long hallway of the now familiar Zeta ship, a being appeared. Behind it was another, and yet another. They walked and floated, walked and floated, coming towards him like a cloud of purposeful bugs. When they reached him, they stood like preying mantises before him. A squadron of surrealistic soldiers-silent, menacing. They were humanoid, but they weren't human. They were insectoid, but they weren't insects. They stood, four feet at the tallest, slender trunks, limbs like sticks, oversized heads perched on pencil-thin necks. Huge black eyes that wrapped partly around the head stared from almost featureless faces. Their skin was grey, their hands were four-fingered. And on their tight-fitting uniforms was the symbol Daniel was so familiar with-the symbol of a snake. He feared for Sara; he feared for himself.

A being grabbed Daniel's arm, but Daniel quickly jerked his wrist from the being's grasp. And as Daniel jerked on the being's arm, the light weight of the being gave way to Daniel's strength and it went sprawling on the deck.

The beings quickly circled around the both of them. Daniel embraced Sara with one arm and started flailing at the beings with the other. Sara stood with her hands at her sides-defeated. "Fight. Damn it, Sara, fight," Daniel said with weariness in his wildness.

But fighting was useless. Daniel didn't even know why he expended his energy on them. Before he knew it they had jerked Sara from his grasp. He had both hands free, now, and he was swallowed by his anger. His fists caught one being, then another. They went down, one by one, but as soon as one being fell, it was replaced by another. They were overwhelming him with their numbers.

It didn't matter how many times they brought him up here-he was always frightened out of his mind. How do you come to accept beings that look like something from your wildest nightmare? How do you keep from screaming yourself hoarse because you know they are going to take you and put you on that table and do unspeakable things to you? Daniel saw a flash of metal come at him and he felt a familiar sharp sting against his skull. "Ah!" It was a stunrod that caught him and immediately paralyzed him. Before he had time to react, he collapsed on his back onto the deck. How do you keep from screaming yourself hoarse? Simple-when you're paralyzed you can't scream.

But you can scream in your mind, and these beings could hear him scream. He knew that. He tried to keep his fear in check because his wife could hear him scream in his mind, too. Her telepathic powers were fully as strong as the beings that were now standing around Daniel's paralyzed body. "No, don't touch me! Please don't touch me!" he telepathed.

With its four-fingered hand, a being gripped Sara by her wrist and began to pull her away from where Daniel was lying on the deck. "No," Sara said. "Please don't."

Daniel was physically helpless now; he could hear and see, but his motor control was gone. He could feel the drool running out the corner of his mouth, much like drool would run from a mouth shot full of novocaine. But he was in for far worse than a filling or tooth extraction; the use of the stunrod proved that. They only took such measures when they didn't want to fool with him.

"Bring him," a being telepathed into his brain. Daniel could just move his eyes. Off to the side of him he was terrified to see the taller being whom he had come to call the "doctor."

"Please don't hurt Sara," Daniel telepathed frantically. "Please don't do to her what you are going to do to me."

The tall being ignored him. Now he felt himself being lifted off the floor. He wanted to close his eyes, to blanket his senses from the terror that was running through him like hot ice. But he couldn't close them. He could only see and think. He wished they would just anesthetize him, do what they had to do, and then send them back down the beam. But they wouldn't; he knew they wouldn't

The beings carried him down the hallway. When they came to a door, Daniel was carried through it, cradled in the arms of a nightmare.

"Dear God, please don't!" he telepathed wildly. But he could feel the beings ignore him in their minds. He wasn't even sure if the beings could focus on Daniel as an individual, as a being that was to be respected. They laid him on the table. It was hard and cold. They picked and tugged at his clothes until he was naked except for his exoskeleton. They stopped and stared at it-perplexed. They carefully touched the intricate web of steel that encased Daniel's limbs and trunk. "You don't know what it is, do you?" Daniel telepathed, enjoying their ignorance. It was obvious to Daniel, now, that it was the first time this particular group of beings had seen Daniel's exo. He had no idea how many beings were on this ship. He suspected there were hundreds, maybe thousands.

"Silence." This terse, disembodied telepathed "voice" was familiar: The doctor was back. It half walked, half floated to the side of the table. It bent down until its face almost touched Daniel's face. The huge black eyes bored into Daniel's soul, and Daniel couldn't close his eyes to shut it off. Daniel had been through this ritual so many times before. It was impossible for him to explain, but every time the being pushed its face into Daniel's, Daniel felt a strange mixture of love and hate towards it, as if he knew this being from long ago. And he knew that while the being was sending its own peculiar kind of hate to him, it was also scanning his mind. "Where is the human male child this being is allowing you to nurture?"

Daniel felt sick with anxiety. "He's not with us tonight. Please allow us to go home."

"Where is the human child?" the being persisted.

"I can't believe you don't know where he is," Daniel telepathed defiantly.

"This entity knows where the child is. This entity wants you to say where the child is."

"Figure out where he is yourself."

"The child is with your daughter, Rachel." The being stood back, away from the table.

If the being's face could have registered emotion, Daniel would have seen smugness plastered all over it. But how do you read the emotion of a cricket or a beetle? You don't.

Now other beings came forward and stood on both sides of the table as if readying themselves. One of the beings lifted Daniel's head and slid something under it. He felt cold jaws, metal, against his ears. He thought they must be immobilizing his head so it wouldn't roll. Above him he saw a device slowly descend from the ceiling. The doctor took the device from its holder and came towards Daniel's face with it. Four prongs spreading out like the petals of a steel flower bloomed from the device. "What are you going to do?" Daniel telepathed frantically. The claws slipped into his eye socket and around and behind his eye. The doctor deftly pulled and Daniel's eye was out of its socket! "God! Please! It hurts!"

The doctor ignored his telepathed pleas. In his mind Daniel began to hyperventilate. "No, no, no, no!" he telepathed in a frantic stutter.

One of the beings laid its four-fingered hand on Daniel's forehead. "It doesn't hurt. You just think it hurts. It doesn't hurt." it telepathed detachedly.

"Oh, God, it hurts! Please stop! It hurts!" He could feel them probing in his eye socket, now. "You're putting something in my eye! Put it in my nose! You always put it in my nose! Please, oh please don't put it in my eye!"

He felt a tugging around his eye socket. Suddenly Daniel could again see through the eye. Relief washed through him like a flood. He wanted to cry from relief, but he was too paralyzed to cry.

He felt the sting of the stunrod against his head again. From past experience he knew the stunrod, a short metal rod with a ball on its end, was reversing what it had done to him when they brought him up here: It was restoring his motor control. Relieved, he felt his strength coming back to him. The doctor looked down at Daniel with its huge black eyes, turned from him as if to dismiss Daniel from his thoughts, and floated out of the room. The smaller beings helped Daniel sit up. "I don't need your help, damn it. Just get away from me. I'll dress myself." He addressed them as if they were his unruly children. They stood away from him, then, and watched him fumble with his clothes.

"May I help?"

Daniel knew that the sound of this human voice was that of Saul's, the human being who for reasons beyond Daniel seemed to work willingly for these monsters. Standing quietly in his army camoflague pants and flannel shirt, he smiled through his salt and pepper beard.

"No, you can't help," Daniel said angrily. He snatched up his clothes that were lying in a heap on the floor.

"They pulled your eye out and stuck one of their little beads into your eye socket, you know," the human Saul said matter of fact.

"How do you know that" And what little bead . . . what are you talking about?" Daniel put on his pants and shirt, then stooped down to tie his shoes. He looked at the beings still staring at him, then back at the human. "This place is like one insane hallucination. This place is so strange, the only reason I know any of this is happening is because Sara experiences it too. And what are they doing to her? Did she suffer through what I've just been through?"

"Yes," the man said in a voice that was low and riddled with guilt.]

Now Daniel heard voices. They seemed to come from far away. He fought to regain his emotional equilibrium. He was still standing in the brightly decorated living room, his friends and family standing there like good socialites, holding pink cocktail napkins. They were congratulating Karen and Yankee, the happy couple, who not fifteen minutes ago in this room had made their life-long commitment to each other. It seemed that an eternity had passed, but his recalling of two nights ago, the night of their most recent abduction, had only lasted a second. Daniel felt the room spin.

Now the man was in front of him, smiling. Daniel could not control what he did next. He pulled his hand from Sara's grip, hauled back his arm, and with all of the force in his body, slammed his closed fist into the man's face. The man went down instantly, as though stunned with the Zeta stun rod. Daniel found himself smirking in spite of Ann and Sara's horrified looks.

"Daniel, for God's sake. . .what in the world. . . ?" The room fell silent, then began to almost bounce with noise and confusion. Sara's delicate, dark face turned white. She stepped back in horror. Ann's eyes were as large as saucers. She knelt to assist her friend.

Daniel felt his face turning red. What had he done? He wasn't so much worried about hitting this man, whoever he was. He deserved that. But the others, all of his friends and associates, now had seen him do a physical act that took a normal, no, a strong man to do. And he had suffered from polio for his entire life. His secret of his past healing was now out of the bag. How would he explain this? And now a second thought rushed through him. How would he tell Ann who this man was? She would be mortified. She had talked so proudly of her new boyfriend. She had finally found the kindest man in the world, or so she had said. Now what?

Daniel looked up at the small boy who had rushed to his side. The boy looked distraught. "Saul," the boy said quietly.

Daniel picked up the boy and held him tightly. "Don't say anything, Eric," Daniel whispered fiercely. "Remember what Mommy told you." He put Eric back down on his feet and said, "Stay with Rachel and Steve." "God, man, what did you do that for?" The stranger was on his feet now. Blood pouring from his nose and down his shirt front, he held his nose in his hands and his voice sounded garbled and faint. But Daniel recognized his voice anyway. There was no doubt in Daniel's mind: This was the man he and Sara had confronted on the alien ship. Not once, but many times. There was no mistake in Daniel's mind, and a quick glance at Sara confirmed that Daniel had hit the right man. Karen suddenly appeared and then disappeared. A moment later, a long silent moment, she returned with a wet towel. Yankee, the groom, strode over and in one move took the towel from Karen.

"No blood on that three-hundred-dollar dress, my dear," he said. "You may be a medical doctor, but let me take care of him." With a frown at Daniel, he put his arm around the stranger's shoulder and helped him towards the bathroom. "I think you broke his nose," he said to Daniel over his shoulder as the two left the room. Karen hurried after them. Without meaning to, Daniel quickly felt his own face. ". . .They pulled your eye out and stuck one of their little beads into your eye socket, you know. . . " came back to him. He could almost see Saul telling him, taunting him. Daniel's face was throbbing from the recalling of it.

"Daniel. What in God's name were you thinking of?" It was Ann's voice. "I can't believe you did this, Daniel. You don't even know Saul. You have never seen him in your life. And you just come into my house and hit him? Is this the Daniel I know? I don't think so. I think you've lost your mind."

"Ann," Daniel said with great apology in his heart, "I'm sorry to have done this."

"Daniel, you aren't a violent person," Ann said in disbelief.

"Only to the Zeta," Daniel mumbled under his breath.

Sara stood silently watching the scene play itself out. Daniel could sense that she was torn between cheering and crying. At least the color was returning to her face.

Ann continued, "Hitting a man in my home is unacceptable behavior, Daniel. Saul is my fiance." Ann hissed the last part. Daniel felt his heart drop to his stomach. He and Sara were very good friends with this woman, and he didn't want to lose that friendship.

Ann said, "Let's go into my study." Ann's eyes were steely. She was becoming more angry by the second. Daniel paused, looking carefully into her eyes.

Daniel took Sara's hand. He smiled at her. "Coming with me?" he asked.

"Yes," Sara said softly.

The rest of the guests, still appearing to be shocked at the confusing moment, watched the three of them leave the room. The happiness of the day was broken. Daniel could see Rachel, Eric at her side, glare at him from across the room where she stood with her husband Steve. Would she understand? She'd been on the alien ship too.

As the little procession moved down the hallway, all he could remember was a vision of that man carrying the body of his infant grandchild down a hospital hallway several months ago. The baby was born dead, and Saul had appeared in the morgue, removed the infant, and was apparently taking it to the alien ship for God-knew-what when Daniel had caught him in the elevator, and that was the first and the last time that Daniel had seen the infant. It was a sight he'd never forget. The baby was something other than human. He looked for all the world like the vile Zeta beings who came at will and wreaked havoc on all they touched. Daniel was grateful Rachel had never seen her baby.

Ironically, Daniel and Sara had met on that same alien ship when they were only five years old. Sara lived in a different part of the galaxy then, thirty light years from Earth. The beings were so powerful, they would routinely abduct Daniel and Sara, and then put them on the ship together. Only months ago they had met for what they thought was the first time, fallen in love, and married. Later, the Zeta, with the aid of the human Saul, had shown them how they had first met. The beings had erased all memory of their childhood abduction encounters with each other. It was only months ago that Ann had used her powers of hypnosis to uncover the past secret lives of Daniel and Sara.

Sara was the miracle in Daniel's life. During the last summer he had been lonely and buried in his work, surviving as best he could with the enduring pain of his childhood trauma-polio. Sara and her father, from the planet Teruhl, possessed and shared the power of healing with Daniel.

The pictures flitted through his mind like flickering lights. The last picture Daniel stoked from his fuming mind as he turned to follow Ann into her home office was the tears and pain in Sara's eyes two nights ago.

Did they hurt you, Sara? he had asked, as the abductors lowered them to the open road in a shaft of light.

"Yes." She had burst into tears then. It was only a few weeks ago that the beings had taken Sara's fetus from her. Daniel and Sara's baby were on the alien ship and the human hybrid boy, Eric, was now in Daniel and Sara's care. The beings had taken and given, and although Eric was welcome in their lives, their baby quite probably was going to be raised by the Zeta. How Sara shored herself up for today's festivities was beyond Daniel's imagining.

He found himself standing in Ann's office and was suddenly awakened from his thoughts by the resounding thud of the closing door. Ann was already seated. Sara, her face registering little emotion, lowered herself into the chair next to Ann's desk. She stared out the window beyond Ann's eyes, unable, apparently, to face her friend and counselor. Daniel remained standing. The adrenalin was still pumping through him.

Ann's office was all too familiar to Daniel and Sara. They had spent a lot of time here in the past. Without Ann's understanding and deep insight, Daniel was sure neither he or Sara would have emotionally survived the many alien abduction experiences they had suffered through. Ann was Daniel's dear friend, and like a common mugger of the streets he had injured the man most dear to her. "I'm sorry," Daniel began. "I can say nothing more except I'm sorry."

"Daniel, you wouldn't hit a complete stranger. I know you so well. You are not a cruel person. You must have had trouble with Saul in the past. Where did you meet him before?"

"I really . . ."

"Just tell me, Daniel." Ann sighed and looked pleadingly at Sara.

Sara said, "This is quite awkward, Ann." Sara looked at Daniel and telepathed, "We cannot tell her how we know Saul."

"I know," Daniel telepathed in return, "but I have to make this right."

"Damn it, you two, I know when you're telepathing!" Ann barked. "Talk to me!"

Daniel looked at Ann and felt real concern for his friend. He took Ann by her wrist and squeezed it gently. "Tell Saul to come in here. I'll fix him."

"You mean use your power of healing?"

"Yes," Daniel said softly. "It's the least I can do."

Ann looked at Sara. "But if you heal Saul, you will give yourselves away to the others here who don't know about your healing powers. We've got a house full of people here today. I thought you both were concerned about your keeping your secrets?"

Sara said, " Ann, you know we are, but we can't allow Saul to suffer for what Daniel has done."

"No . . . no, of course you can't. I don't want Saul to suffer with this, but . . ." Ann quickly stood up. "What am I doing in here? Saul needs me. I walked away from him when he needed me the most." She took a step towards the door.

"No," Daniel said. He stepped in her way. "Karen's taking care of him. You can't do better than hosting a bride's wedding who just happens to be a doctor. Karen and Yankee will take good care of him."

Ann sat down again. Pain was on her face. Daniel sat down next to her. "Maybe if," Daniel said, "I give him just enough of my healing energy to lessen the pain, to speed his healing rather than instantly reverse the injury, we could give Saul some relief."

"Yes," Ann said. "Yes, that's a sound idea." Ann got up from her chair again and left the room. The door clicked quietly shut behind her.

"I've done it, haven't I?" Daniel said, dejected.

"It was an instinctual reaction," Sara said. "You couldn't help it. I just wish we could tell everyone in this house about Saul."

"Well, we can't. We can't even tell Saul. He may actually think we haven't put two and two together on this." Daniel smiled at his wife sitting across from him.

"No, you're right," Sara said. "It would destroy the relationship between Ann and Saul." Sara put her head in her hands and began to softly weep. "Where is our baby? Saul knows if it's dead or alive. He is in league with the Zeta and together they are incubating our baby on their dreaded ship."

Daniel took Sara in his arms. "Don't cry, Sara. We have Eric to think about now. He needs our love. We have to be strong for him."

The door opened and Saul and Ann walked through it. Saul looked at Daniel strangely. "Do you know who Sara and I are?" Daniel telepathed. He knew it was truly a shot in the dark. Saul telepathed well when he was in the company of the Zeta. Would he acknowledge Daniel's telepathed question here on the ground and away from the Zeta's massive starship?

Saul continued to look at Daniel, but registered no sign of recognition.

"He doesn't know us, Daniel," Sara telepathed. "Let it go for now."

Daniel motioned for Saul to sit down. "I'm sorry," Daniel said. "I'm sorry for hitting you." He didn't mean it, but he felt he had to say it.

"You caught me off guard, or I would have stopped you. You deliver a hell of a punch for someone your size." Saul looked down at the built-up shoe on Daniel's left foot. Daniel felt uncomfortable. Only curious children looked at Daniel that way.

"Well, I apologize. I . . . I thought you were someone else I knew. I was wrong; I don't know you."

Again Saul looked at Daniel strangely.

Daniel slid his chair close to Saul's. He glanced quickly at Ann and said, "I'm pretty good at ironing out sore muscles. Would you at least let me try to make you feel better?"

"Why not? I think you owe me that."

"Oh, I owe you much more than this, but right now this is all I can do for you."

"Careful, Sweetheart," Sara telepathed in warning.

Daniel put his hands gently on Saul's shoulder muscles. His mind flashed back to when Saul-unknown to them then-came at Daniel and Sara from behind. He gripped Daniel's shoulder so hard Daniel almost passed out from the pain. But that incident seemed like years ago, although it was only a few months past, and it would do no good to dwell on that experience now. Daniel cleared his thoughts and then sent his own healing power into Saul. But he was careful to give Saul just a little of himself. He couldn't have Saul walking out of Ann's office with a totally and instantly healed face. He had to give him just enough to make him more comfortable and perhaps heal faster than normal.

"Ah!" Saul groaned. He put his hand on his nose. "What did you do to me? It feels wonderful."

"I pressed a few acupressure points," Daniel lied. "You should begin to feel better soon."

The four of them walked out of Ann's office. Ann took Saul by the arm and they walked into the kitchen together. Rachel caught her father's eye and motioned for both he and Sara to come to her. Eric was standing attentively by Rachel's side. Daniel with Sara walked to where Rachel and her husband Steve stood. "Is he alright?" Rachel signed rapidly. Rachel was almost totally deaf, but her deafness had no effect on how well she delivered her ideas to others.

"He's alright," Daniel signed rapidly in return. "Don't ask me any more questions right now. We'll talk more about this at home."

Sara picked Eric up and held him close to her.

"Sara," Steve signed, "I think you should put a leash on Daniel." Steve signed this jokingly, Daniel knew, but Daniel was still too upset to appreciate his son-in-law's humor.

Guests were beginning to trickle out the door. Daniel was drained. He wanted to go home soak in the hot tub, and wallow in his embarrassment. He desperately wanted time to think, but the mumblings of his friends indicated that they had something else in mind. "Daniel," Sara said, "Roger and Julia want us to go to the Eagle's Nest with them. I'll say our goodbyes to Karen and Yankee." Sara kissed Daniel quickly on the cheek.

"All right," Daniel said.

Sara looked with compassion upon her husband. "Julia and I will go on ahead, Daniel. I'll take Eric. I believe you should have a talk with Roger before you join us at the restaurant. Roger has a talent for making you feel better."

They sat out in the car, Daniel and Roger. Roger Kennedy was Daniel's dear friend, and as Roger sat behind the steering wheel, his pot belly jammed against the rim, his curly, unruly red hair reaching all the way down into the collar of his sport jacket, he listened intently as Daniel poured out his troubles.

"God, Roger, I don't know how much more of this I can take. I didn't plan to hit Saul today, but a man can stand just so much. I'll never live this down."

"Sure you will. All those who really count in your life know about this guy. They don't blame you for what you did. Besides, this man is only one glitch in your life."

Daniel began to shake. "Please, Roger, I don't want to talk about that."

"Maybe you don't, but you must. Facing it is half the battle." Roger looked off down the street. Then he turned to Daniel and said, "Sara may be wrong."

"About them taking her own fetus, you mean?"

"Yeah," Roger said with sadness in his voice."

"Roger, that's why they gave us Eric. They knew we wanted him and they exchanged him for our baby."

Roger scrunched up his forehead in thought. "There's something that doesn't make sense at all. It seems almost uncharacteristic of them. They have been treating you and Sara so cruelly. They have put you into painful emotional situations just to see how you would react. Why do you think they gave you Eric in exchange for your baby? Seems to me they could have just taken the fetus and left it at that. They do whatever they please with you. Why would they suddenly take this charitable turn with you?"

"Maybe they know in their own dark hearts that they aren't capable of raising a being as human as Eric," Daniel said.

"Why would they care how he was raised? They don't care about any of the other children."

"I don't know, Roger. I can't answer that one. I know that I saw lots of kids. Hybrids. I didn't see any kids as human as Eric up there-except Eric."

"A hell of a life for those kids," Roger mused.

"Roger, those kids act like robots. When you hold them they display as much emotion as a plastic doll. I feel so sorry for them, and yet I know that they know no other life."

"So you've said." Roger paused, then asked, "How is Sara handling all this?"

"She doesn't want to talk about them taking the fetus. She's so upset by it, she simply can't talk to me about it."

"That's not good for her to bottle it up inside her like that."

Daniel sighed. "No, it's not. But right now it's the only way she can cope with it. Eric has helped her a lot."

"Eric's still pretty quiet, isn't he?"

"Roger, the only life he knew until a few weeks ago is life with the Zeta."

"From what you told me, though, Saul seems to have looked after him."

"Looked after him? I don't know what part he played in the boy's life before we got him. He may have helped us get the boy, but I doubt it. I just know he works for them. When we are taken aboard, he's there-always. And now I punched him and everyone thinks I'm crazy."

Roger smiled. "Let's change the subject. How's the exoskeleton doing?"

"It's doing okay. If I hadn't had it powered up today I wouldn't have done quite as much damage to Saul."

"But the healing Santoo took you through seems to be bringing you up to full strength." Santoo was Sara's father and it was he with his superior technology that transformed Daniel from a forty-four old man crippled with polio to a strong-bodied individual.

"If you can call four times the strength of an Earth human 'up to full strength', I suppose you could. But I'm becoming nervous about the rate of growth of my left leg. I appreciate the considerable degree of healing Santoo has given me, but . . ."

"I thought I was doing a pretty good job of shaving down that build-up on your shoe," Roger interrupted.

"Roger, what happens when you finally shave it down to no lift at all? How will I explain that to my friends? They've known me for years. A man doesn't just suddenly dispense with an orthopedic correction. He doesn't miraculously grow his short leg two inches practically overnight. I'm forty-four years old. They'll never buy it."

Roger sighed. "Daniel, old buddy, I gotta tell you that you've been spinning your wheels about what you are going to do and say for several months now. Tell everyone you've been receiving experimental treatments, tell them you are going to have surgery, tell them anything. People will believe anything if you are sincere enough. No one has noticed yet, but you've just got to get your story straight and stick with it. I've never seen anyone worry as much as you do."

"I worry-you're right. I keep getting distracted by my life, for God's sake. What a roller coaster ride this has turned out to be. And to think I was once bored and lonely."

"I'm sure Saul is feeling damned sore right about now. You're sure he's the man you've seen on the Zeta ship?"

"This is the man. This man has shown up during the majority of our abductions."

"But Daniel, this same man, according to what you've said before, appeared every time you and Sara were shown the hybrid children. He seemed to be very kind to the children, or so you've said."

"He was. He was very kind to them. And sometimes he was kind to us as well. But when I say 'kind' you have to realize that he was detached, almost neutral. Compared to Zeta behavior, that's 'kind'. How did he meet Ann? And when? Does he live around here? Has he always been in the area? When I saw him here today . . ."

"It made your past experiences really real."

"Yeah," Daniel breathed. "They always take us at night. It's almost like a dream sometimes. But today . . . when I saw . . ."

"When you saw him on the ground in Ann's house . . ." Roger prompted.

Daniel fiddled with his seat belt. "I never doubted the reality of our experience-but he sure nailed the lid down."

"Come on, man. Where's the old Daniel Alan spirit I know so well? They're not trying to kill you. They could have done that months ago."

"Years ago, you mean. They've been tormenting me since I was five-years-old."

"And Sara as well," Roger confirmed.

"Yes. How did they manage that, Roger?" Daniel asked wonderingly. "Teruhl is thirty light years from here. Santoo's starship can't even make two light years a day. Yet, somehow these people could abduct Sara, abduct me at almost the same time, and bring us together on their starship. Then they could put us both back from wherever they took us, and we didn't even recall these childhood experiences until Saul showed us our past."

"It's as Santoo says, Daniel, these people are thousands of years ahead of his technology, let alone our technology."

Daniel drummed his fingers on the armrest of the door. "How would a human from planet Earth get caught up with the Zeta? And for how long? Ann told me Saul was her fiance. Ann is my friend. Saul is part of my ongoing nightmare." Daniel put his head in his hands. "Roger, I don't know what to do."

Daniel felt Roger's comforting hand on his shoulder. "I know what you have to do. You just have to hang in there for Sara and Eric. Don't forget about your new son. He's only been with you for a few weeks. If you crumble in front of him there's no telling what will happen. Lord knows he got no love or affection from his alien caretakers. You've got to be there for him."

"Yeah," Daniel whispered. "Yeah, I know that." Daniel put his hand on his old friend's shoulder and gripped it hard.

"Ow, Daniel," Roger shrieked. "You're stronger than you think. Go easy on me."

"I'm sorry, Roger. I'm just worried."

"You and Sara will be good parents. You just have to concentrate on that."

"But how do we keep the State of Iowa off our backs? How do we explain where Eric came from? Sara didn't give birth to him. We didn't adopt him. We aren't foster parents to him. There is no record of his birth. We'll have to send him to school soon, probably next year."

"You mean the Zeta don't keep birth records up there?" Roger's mischievous smile disappeared suddenly. "Sorry, bad joke."

"I know you're trying to help me feel better, Roger, but somehow we're going to have to resolve this."

"I know. Maybe Yankee can figure something out," Roger said cheerfully. "He's a lawyer. Lawyers always know what to do."

"Yeah, maybe," Daniel said dejectedly.

Roger brightened. "Look, Daniel, things could be a whole lot worse. At least you and Sara aren't suffering through this alone."

Daniel felt miserable now. "Worse? Do you think it makes it easier that you and Julia know about these beings coming into our bedroom every other night and sucking us up their lousy beam of light into their ship? How do you think Rachel and Steve are taking this? And Ann? And Karen and Yankee? Don't you think the Zeta are making your lives miserable as well, even if they don't take you on board?"

"Daniel, I . . ."

"It's hell, Roger." Daniel was yelling now. "It's hell and it doesn't stop. My family, my close friends, all of you know. And I worry about all of you all the time . . . all the time."

Roger leaned across the seat and put his arm around Daniel. "Easy, Daniel. Easy. This can't last forever. It can't. Eventually the Zeta will tire of you and move on to others."

Daniel felt tears forming in his eyes. "But our baby . . . Rachel's

baby . . . where are they? Are they alive . . . or dead? If they're alive, will we ever see them again?"

Roger sat back and looked at Daniel for a moment. He slowed the car and brought it to a halt for a red light. "I know this sounds stupid and insensitive of me right now, but I want to buy Eric a chocolate shake. Do you think he'd like that?"

Suddenly Daniel felt better. "I think he would."

The light turned green. Roger put the car in gear and drove them down the street to the Nest.

"What a night."

"Let me help you, Daniel."

Daniel was sitting on the edge of the bed and Sara began to help him take the exoskeleton off.

"Thanks, Sweetheart, but I can do it myself. I have superior strength, you know," he said with as much humor as he could find in himself right now. He pulled open a velcro strap that held the links of mesh to his body. The suit was not unlike a suit of armour, except feather light and soft to the touch. The exo, technically, was three-hundred years ahead of Daniel's technology, but where possible, Sara's father had used Earth technology to build parts of it. The velcro straps were comforting to Daniel. They helped him accept the exo as a high tech device, not unlike something that might come from Earth technology.

"What a strange predicament we're in, Sara," he said wearily. He lifted his arm and released the frame from around it. "We live here on Earth at one level of technology. Now that you've come into my life we're living part of our lives in your technology: my exo that gives me the strength of four men; our shuttle with its gravity drive that can take us to any place on Earth, even away from Earth if we desire; our amulets that teleport us instantly to any place we can visualize; the power of healing and the power of telepathy that now even I possess. And then there are the Zeta flying in and out of our lives in a huge starship-much larger and technically more sophisticated than your father's starship. Your father estimates the beings' technology is thousands of years ahead of yours. You and I are living in three distinctly different levels of technology." He heard himself rambling, telling Sara things she already knew all too well. The exo was off him now. He vigorously rubbed his arms and legs. Even advanced technology couldn't make a totally comfortable medical device. He leaned across the bed and hung the intricate framework on the hooks in the wall. In the darkness he embraced Sara. "No wonder we are confused." He kissed her. "I love you."

"I've brought much fear into your life."

Daniel released her and sat back. "No-and yes. You've brought me freedom. Without you I would have had to face these beings alone, and the fear alone would have probably killed me by now. But, now I worry for two-no, three of us." He kissed her again. Then he gently mussed her hair and lay back on the bed. She lay down beside him.

"Maybe you should visit Yankee tomorrow, Daniel."

"Yeah," Daniel sighed, "maybe I should. We don't want the state's child welfare department at our door. I'll see him tomorrow. Our new kid needs a Social Security number."

Sara sat up, then put her feet onto the floor.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to check on Eric. I want to make sure he's all right." She left briefly, then came back and crawled into bed. "He's sleeping soundly. He's telepathing profound rest. That's good."

Daniel took her hand and held it comfortingly.

"Daniel, I'm living in such fear that they'll take Eric back. We are totally powerless against them if they should decide to do that."

Daniel sighed into the almost blackness of the bedroom. "You are so right. We are totally powerless against them. We have to hope that they've made a permanent decision. I wish I knew their agenda. And I so want to ask Eric what it's like on the ship, but I know I don't dare-at least not now."

"No, especially not now. He's such a vulnerable little boy, isn't he?"

"He seems so sad at times. It must have been terrible for him."

Sara rolled into him and put her arm over him. "Have you thought that perhaps he misses them?"

Daniel threw back the covers and sat up. "Sara, they're not human. They show no kindness or emotion. Their appearance is so frightening, they give me nightmares. How could a little human boy be comfortable in an environment like that?"

Now Sara sat up next to him. "Have you so quickly forgotten the little hybrid babies we held? Have you forgotten the hybrid children we rocked and held and played with? Have you forgotten all those children that are on that ship?"

"No, of course I haven't. But just because they are up there doesn't mean they're okay."

Sara laid her head on Daniel's shoulder. "We can only hope they are. We want them to be happy, but the Zeta world doesn't know that emotion. They are emotionless."

"Eric is doing really well with us, under the circumstances, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes." Sara paused, then said, "That little boy has much to tell us."

"Yeah. I just hope he doesn't start telling other people."

"Daniel, no one would believe him."

"No? The whole town is still connecting you to the lights. And as long as the beings are here, taking us, the lights from their ship will continue to appear."

"I know. But there's little I can do about that. Perhaps the longer I live here, the more trusting the people of Eagle Bluff will become. We can only hope."

"This is what I hope, Sara-I hope you never stop loving me."

"That, my dear, kind man is a promise I most willingly make. I will love you forever."

He felt her soft hands caress his face. Before he knew it he was gently exploding inside her. He would love her forever, too.

The experience was so familiar by now it made him sick. A white light shot through the ceiling and bathed their bedroom in brilliance. Then the light narrowed until Daniel, Sara, and Eric were clearly defined in its glow. "Damn!" Daniel said. "Damn, they're coming for us again." Eric was in the room and he looked at Daniel, anticipation on his face. Then all three rose in the light and passed through the ceiling and roof of the house. Daniel grabbed wildly for Sara and Eric, but before he could reach them they were all now standing inside the massive starship that hovered above Eagle Bluff. Beings with huge black eyes and huge gray heads came towards them. No matter how many times Daniel saw these beings, the starkness of their features still frightened him. They were the 'grays' of his nightmares.

As the beings half floated, half walked towards them, Daniel stood his ground. "Stop," Daniel said calmly. "The human boy you already know is with us. Please don't frighten him."

The beings ignored Daniel, and when they confronted him they grabbed his wrists. "Damn you all, I said stop!" Daniel said as he twisted his arms from their grasp. He saw a thin-limbed arm snake out and then he felt a sharp, familiar stab of pain on his forehead. The stunrod had taken him down. Sara went to him and tried to help him to his feet, but he was almost completely paralyzed.

"Daniel," Sara said as the beings stood around them, "please cooperate. We have Eric with us now."

"Where's Eric!" Daniel yelled. He was relieved that at least they had left him his voice this time up. Usually his voice was paralyzed along with the rest of his body.

"He's alright, Daniel. He's with me," Sara said. "Can you see him standing next to me?" she asked with reassurance in her voice.

Daniel could see Eric standing next to his new mother. "I can . . .

I can see him," he choked.

Suddenly Daniel was picked up and carried down a hallway. A door opened in a wall and Daniel was taken inside a room and roughly laid down on the floor. Then the door silently closed.

The room was lit by a kind of indirect lighting that belied its source. Daniel's visits here were always fights for survival, and there was no chance to explore the scientific aspects of the lighting, the invisible doorway, or anything else on this ship.

Now the door silently opened again. "Ann!" Daniel croaked through a dry throat. He was so paralyzed he could barely form the words.

"Where am I, Daniel? Where am I?" Ann almost screamed. She furtively looked about the room.

Daniel could barely breathe. "They won't hurt you, Ann. They will do everything in their power to scare you to death, but they won't permanently hurt you." What was he saying? The beings had very nearly wrecked his life. "Try to stay calm, Ann," Daniel said miserably. He knew he couldn't hide his fear from her.

The door opened once again. This time Sara and Eric were pushed through the door. Sara fell to her knees and cradled Daniel's head in her lap. "Oh, Daniel, why do they treat you so roughly?"

"Because I won't allow these sons-of-bitches to control me. That's why," Daniel said through clenched teeth. Eric looked with alarm at Daniel. Daniel said, "I'm sorry, Eric. I'm not feeling well right now. I shouldn't talk about your friends like this. I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"Ann," Sara said softly, "they have taken you." She reached out and took Ann's hand.

Ann smiled weakly. "I guess they have." Ann began to shake then.

"Hold her, Sara," Daniel telepathed. "She's going into shock."

As Sara took Ann in her arms, a blinding flash lit up the room. "Oh, my God!" Sara screamed, "it's Saul!"

Saul, the man who had appeared to Daniel and Sara so many times before when the beings took them aboard, Saul, the man who had promised himself to Ann, Saul, the man who Daniel confronted and then struck in a state of shock and rage, now turned and looked at Ann. Then he looked at the others. Puzzlement was on his face. Daniel knew, then, why the beings had paralyzed him-they were protecting Saul from Daniel's anger.

Now Saul again turned to Ann and looked at her curiously. "Do I know you?"

Ann reached for him and took his hand. "Honey, it's me, Ann. Don't you know me?" she asked, pathetic desperation in her voice.

Saul pulled his hand away, crossed his arms across his chest, and stared at her. "No."

Ann began to cry. Saul didn't try to comfort her. He simply continued to look at her in a curious way.

"I see you're still working for them," Daniel said.

"Working for them?" Saul asked. "Working for who?"

"Your Zeta keepers," Daniel said, clipping his half paralyzed words.

"I live here," Saul said, matter of fact.

Daniel felt his heart break for Ann. She looked as if her world had just crashed down around her.

Eric pulled away from Sara. He walked to Yankee and looked up at him. "I miss you," Eric said. The child raised his arms to be picked up.

Saul looked at Sara and asked, "Would it be all right if I pick him up?"

"No," Sara whispered. "No, you may not."

Saul slowly bent down to the boy's level. "How are you, my boy?" Saul asked.

"Fine," Eric said. He moved forward, but Sara pulled him away from the man. Turning to Saul, she said, "Under the circumstances, you may not hold Eric ever again. You have my baby on board this craft. You have Rachel's baby as well. The Zeta have grudgingly given us Eric in some kind of a sick exchange for the outrageous hurt they have caused me and my family, so I am Eric's mother and Daniel is his father. This is the way it will be, and from now on every time the beings take us up here, I will fight for my new child, Eric."

Saul said, "You never fought that hard for Daniel when the beings would take you in the past."

In measured words Sara said, "That's because my husband was doing his very best to take care of us both. He fought these beings with everything he had just to keep them away from me. I couldn't possibly fight off your legions of demons, even with my four-times Earth strength. But Eric is a little boy. He can't fight for himself up here. I will fight for my little boy from now on every time they bring us aboard. And I don't have to tell you what kind of trouble the beings will be in with regard to my husband."

Saul seemed nonplused by Sara's comments. He pulled something from his pocket. "Daniel," Sara telepathed, "Saul has a stunrod!"

Daniel expected the familiar stabbing pain the beings often dealt him, but instead, Saul went slowly down on his haunches next to Daniel.

"Do what you will with me, Saul. I can't fight you when I'm paralyzed."

"I'm not going to hurt you," Saul said. "I'm going to give you your strength back." He smiled.

"Aren't you afraid I'll plaster you all over the deck?" Daniel asked. The paralysis that had seized him was beginning to seriously constrict his throat muscles.

"No," Saul said softly, "I'm not." He took the rod and gently touched Daniel's forehead. Strength came back to Daniel in a burst. He stood up. "I'll give you this much, Saul, you are infinitely gentler than your friends with that thing."

"Thank you," Saul said. He shoved the rod back into his pocket. "I help both you and Sara when they take you, but you are always too upset to realize it." He stared at Ann a long time. Then looked at Sara. "Has this woman ever been up here before?"

"Saul," Ann said, "tell me this is a nightmare. Take me home. Take me away from this place. Take me back to our bed. Please help me understand . . ." she looked about the room, ". . . this. This isn't real. None of this is real. Take me. . ."

Saul interrupted her. "I don't know you. I thought for just a minute I knew you, but I don't. I live here."

Ann began to cry. She put her arms around Saul and clutched at him, but Saul pushed her away. "Look," Saul said, "I don't know who you are. You must be confusing me with someone else."

"I do know you, you bastard! Why are you doing this to me?" Ann beat on the man's chest in tearful frustration and then grabbed the front of his shirt and ripped it open. "Look!" she shouted at the others. "I gave him this." She yanked a gold chain the man had around his neck. I bought this for him at the souvenir store along the river. We started to talk about marriage that day. Why is he doing this to me?" Ann collapsed to the floor and sobbed uncontrollably.

The door again slid open. A being stepped through it-taller than the others. The being was the one Daniel came to call "The Doctor." It stood quietly, huge, unblinking black eyes staring at them. Shorter beings came into the room and gathered behind the taller being. Without hesitation they took the prisoners out of the room and dragged them down a short hallway into another room. Daniel gasped at what was inside.

He had been here before. He was as frightened now as he was when he came the first time. The room was filled with tables-he didn't want to even guess how many-and almost half the tables had abductees on them. There were men, women, and children, all ages and all sizes; they looked dazed, uncomprehending, as small beings stood over each one of them, probing and poking with their four-fingered hands and threatening instruments.

The beings that had been attending Daniel slammed him on a table, their faces expressionless. They were so calm. He groaned as the hard tabletop met his spine. He saw Sara placed on a tabletop to his left and Ann was put on a table to his right. He felt terrible for Ann. She looked dazed and there was nothing he could do to help her. The first time he had been abducted he knew he must have looked the same.

He felt a sudden tightness on his wrists and ankles. With a heave he arched his back against the restraints, but the beings had moved quickly; Daniel was securely strapped to the table. They had actually done him a favor. This was far preferable to the stunrod.

Daniel waited for the doctor to come to him. He waited for yet another invasion from the being who he hated so much. But the doctor didn't come. His back began to ache from the unyielding tabletop. "Uhh." A

low, painful moan came from his right. He turned to look at Ann on

the table next to his. A smaller being, four foot high at the tallest, was inserting a probe into Ann's stomach. She squirmed under

the pain of it. Another moan came from Daniel's left. He turned to

see a being standing over Sara. Daniel could see the being was

scraping Sara's leg with an instrument. Daniel felt his self-control snap. He couldn't stand to see them doing this to his wife and he feared for Ann. With massive resolve he heaved himself up from the table and pulled furiously at the straps holding his arms and legs. He thanked God he was considerably stronger than most humans: His nearly perfect cells gave him that strength. There was movement to his left. As he pulled on the straps he saw Sara pulling at her own straps. "Sara, pull! For God's sake, we have to get Ann out of here!"

"Yes, Daniel. Pull." The two of them, each struggling with their own restraints, pulled against the straps until they began to tear. The beings standing over Sara and Ann didn't try to stop them. The beings were determined to study them, yet seemed so passive when their human specimens did something unpredictable. But Daniel really didn't care what made them tick right now; he was determined to take matters into his own hands.

Sara had pulled herself free before Daniel. She came to him and helped him break the rest of his straps. Daniel got off the table and confronted the small being by Ann's table. Emotions were impossible to read on the beings' faces. They simply stood there, quietly, as if waiting for orders. Daniel looked quickly at the being and then he and Sara set themselves to the task of freeing Ann from her table. A being raised its hand once as if to stop them, but quickly dropped its hand to its side when Daniel glared into its black eyes. Once freed, Ann fell into Sara's arms. She was beyond frightened-beyond terrified. "What do we do now, Sara?" Daniel asked. "We can't leave without Eric." Ann began to gag. Sara patted her back and talked to her soothingly, but Daniel knew the only cure for her panic was to get her home. He wasn't sure how they were going to accomplish that because the doctor being was now standing in the doorway and Eric was standing next to the doctor. Daniel moved towards the doctor, but there were smaller beings behind it. They rushed past the doctor and Eric and then grabbed Daniel and Sara. They struggled against the beings, but they were finally overwhelmed by them. Ann looked dazed and uncomprehending. The beings dragged all three of them out of the room and down the hallway. He was quite sure the beings were taking them to the exit hatch. A light burst in the hallway. Daniel felt himself fall into the light and then he went down it at a frightening speed. Sometimes the beings would float them home, but tonight they were were not so gentle: The roof of Daniel's house was coming at him far too fast. And he and Sara hit the bed hard enough to knock the breath out of him.

"Where's Eric?" Sara choked. "Where is he?"

"I don't know, Sara." Daniel was sickened at the realization that Eric had not been sent back with them.

The light that brought them home winked out. Sara was hyperventilating. "They're not sending him back to us, Daniel." She took long breaths as Daniel tried to quiet her. "I should never have resisted them, Daniel. They are punishing me," she said, stammering as she talked.

Once again the light burst from the ceiling, and down it came Eric. The relief Daniel felt was so profound, he began to cry as he embraced his new little boy. Eric, too, began to cry. Sara reached for the little boy.

"Ann!" Daniel said. "What about Ann, Sara?"

"I'm . . . I'm sure they returned her. I'm sure they did."

"I have to go and reassure her," Daniel said. "She can't face this alone. I'll have to see her." He felt sick for her. He suspected she was at the point of insanity right now.

"Yes," Sara said as she cuddled Eric. "Yes, please go and talk with her. She will be upset."

Daniel got up from the bed and from the night table he picked up his amulet and put it around his neck. The diamond shaped frame with the black stone set in the center by its electromagnetic force field dangled from the braided chain. He looked down at himself. "I'd better put on my robe." He fumbled in the closet for his bathrobe and pulled it on over his pajamas. Then he put his hand on the pendant and visualized the inside of Ann's home. The pendant became warm and in an instant he was standing in her living room. He could hear someone crying.

Daniel called in the dark, "Is that you, Ann? It's me-Daniel. Don't be frightened. I came here with the amulet."

A light switched on. "Daniel, come in here," Ann sobbed. "I'm afraid to move. Please come."

Daniel made his way through the half light of the living room and then to Ann's bedroom. Ann was lying on the bed in a fetal position. She was the only person in the bedroom.

"This didn't happen, Daniel. Tell me I dreamed it," she said through tearful eyes.

Daniel sat down on the bed. "Has Saul been staying with you?"

"Y. . .yes."

"Where is Saul now?" Daniel asked gently.

"He said he had to work late tonight."

"What does he do that would require him to work until. . ." Daniel glanced at his watch, "four in the morning?"

"He's a landscape architect. He said he had to figure a big job tonight. He said something about having to present the bid tomorrow."

"Do you believe that's what he's doing?" Daniel knew he was giving her the third degree, but he had to get Ann to see the true nature of her fiance.

Ann sat bolt upright. "No, I don't. Not now. Not after what I've just seen."

"And what did you just see, Ann?"

"I saw things I would never have believed possible. I thought all my years of regressive hypnosis on so-called abductees would have prepared me for this, but it hasn't," she whispered.

"What did you see that's so unbelievable?" Daniel dreaded her forthcoming answer.

"At first I felt as if I was in a dream, but as time went on I knew it was real. You were there. Sara and Eric were there. And . . . and Saul was there." She choked on her words.

"Do you remember where you were?"

Ann exploded. "You know where we were! We were with those damned beings you and Sara have described to me over and over again!"

Daniel's thoughts flashed back to the time when he and Sara first got to know Ann. He remembered the lecture Ann had given Daniel about the importance of being docile in their presence. Her attitude, Daniel noted, had changed dramatically now that she had met them face to face, but he wasn't about to bring that up. That would be best left for another time. He took Ann by her arms. "Now you know what Sara and I have been going through, Ann. Now you know," he said softly, trying to comfort her.

"Yes, now I know." Her voice trailed off.

"Maybe Saul really is working tonight," Daniel said, reassuring.

Ann looked up quickly. "That . . . that's Saul coming into the driveway now."

"You're sure?" Daniel asked, uncomfortable now. "I'd better go."

"No, Daniel, don't go. Please stay."

"I don't want Saul to catch me here. I'd better leave," Daniel said.

"You stay right here. I want you here when he comes in," she said, begging.

Daniel heard the garage door close and the door into the house open. Footsteps came across the carpeting and then a man with a salt and pepper beard stood in the hallway. The front of his shirt was torn.

"What in the hell are you doing here?" Saul's face was red with rage. Daniel looked quickly at Ann. Then he looked back at Saul. "Ann called," Daniel said. "She was frightened. It seems she had a nightmare," Daniel lied.

"Your wife could have come," Saul said angrily. "It seems to me there would have been no need for you to come. Tell me, did you know that I had to work tonight?" Saul said with an accusing tone to his voice.

"Saul," Daniel said, "that's not fair of you. Ann was frightened and wanted me to come. Sara couldn't come because she didn't want to leave Eric."

"I want to know what's going on. First you hit me and now you are sitting in this bedroom with my . . . my . . ."

"Look at your shirt, Saul." Daniel pointed to the open shirt with half its buttons gone.

"What . . . ?" Saul looked down at his shirt front. "How did . . . how did that happen? It looks like I've been in a fight." Ann put her head in her hands. Saul said, "I don't understand. This shirt was perfectly fine when I went to work this morning."

Daniel looked at Ann. "I'd better go." He began to back out of the bedroom door.

"Wait a minute," Saul said. "Don't you live in Eagle Bluff? Eagle Bluff's a good half hour drive from Dubuque. I didn't see any car parked out front. How did you get here? And what in the hell are you doing in a bathrobe?"

"I . . .I'm going now, Ann," Daniel said. "Sara will call you tomorrow to see how you're doing." He tried to make his smile reassuring.

"Wait a minute," Saul said gruffly. He put his arm across the doorway to bar Daniel's exit. "First explain."

Gazing steadily at Saul, Daniel said, "Saul, I love my wife dearly. My presence here is not the way it may look to you."

"But how did you get here?" Saul asked insistently.

Daniel put his hand on Saul's arm and slowly pushed it aside so the doorway was no longer blocked. Saul looked surprised. "So you really are stronger than you look," Saul said.

"Yes. And now I'm going home. I won't explain how I came here or how I'll get back home. I have a feeling, though, that someday you'll know." Daniel walked through the bedroom doorway, through the living room, and out the front door. When he closed the front door, he stepped around the corner of the house, touched the pendant of his amulet, and in a blink was home.

Daniel awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of a quiet little voice sobbing from the shadows. "Eric, is that you?"

Little feet hurriedly pattered across the bedroom carpet. Careful not to wake Sara, Daniel picked Eric up and put him between himself and Sara. "I'm afraid," Eric said fretfully.

Daniel snuggled against Eric to give him a feeling of safety. "What are you afraid of, Eric? You can tell me."

"I don't want to live with them anymore."

Daniel wiped a tear off his own cheek. "Eric, you will always live with us. Do you believe me?"

"We always go there," the little boy said. He pointed upwards.

"Someday we won't go there anymore. I promise."

Daniel felt Sara's arm reach out and embrace them both. It was the last thing Daniel remembered before he fell into sleep.

"Why didn't you tell me about Saul's involvement with the beings?" Ann leveled her gaze at Daniel. She had come to the college the next day and now had Daniel trapped in his office.

"We didn't want to hurt you," Daniel said.

"Thanks for giving me no credit at all," Ann said sarcastically. "Now I think I know why you belted him."

Daniel sat quietly. He knew that anything he might add right now would simply inflame her.

Ann leaned forward in her chair and in a whispered measured tone said, "Daniel, I have been abducted by alien beings. Yes or no?" she hissed.

"Yes," Daniel responded as gently as he could.

"And they hurt me?" Tears popped from Ann's eyes.

"Yes," Daniel said again. He felt sorry for her, but he didn't know how to comfort her.

Ann jammed both fists into her eyes and began to sob. "And somehow Saul is caught up in the whole thing. But he's on their side, isn't he? This can't be happening."

Daniel said, "I'm sorry to tell you that you are one of us now, Ann." He almost said, "Welcome to our nightmare," but knew that would have been insensitive. Ann needed his friendship, not his sarcasm.

"I don't want to be one of you," she said, raging now. "I don't want to be one of you."

"Shhh," Daniel said. "Keep your voice down." Anyone walking by Daniel's office door would hear Ann raging at him. Ann quickly lowered her voice. "I'm. . . I'm sorry, Daniel." She sat for a time, then said, "Tell me Saul was not part of this horrible experience." There was pleading in her tone.

"I can't tell you that, Ann," Daniel said kindly, "because he was part of your experience. He was on board the alien ship. Sara and I often see him when we are taken."

The color drained from Ann's face. "So this. . . so this is the man that you've seen in the hybrid nursery?"

"Yes." Daniel knew that trying to spare Ann would have been pointless. The beings would no doubt take Ann again. She might as well be prepared for it.

"And Saul, my Saul, was the man who gave you Eric?"

"The same," Daniel answered.

"I'm going to lose my mind, Daniel," Ann said, matter of fact. "I can't live with this knowledge. And I can't live with the fear that the beings will take me again."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, the beings somehow switch off your fear. Sara and I have these terrible experiences with them, but in a day or two we seem to be able to cope. I don't know why, but I'm always able to sleep afterwards. . ."

"Daniel, I was terrified in their presence. I. . ."

Daniel put up his hands and interrupted. "Yes. In their presence you were terrified. So was I. So was Sara. But when they send you home again, the fear of the experience seems to dissipate. They remove the fear so you can live with abduction after abduction. Right now this experience is new to you and your terror is so real you can almost reach out and touch it, but it will get easier. You may not become less angry, but you will become less fearful."

"Why would they want me? And why now?"

"We ask ourselves that all the time. We don't know what their agenda is."

"But how am I going to cope with Saul? I've seen him in the worst possible place in the worst set of circumstances. How do I go on with our relationship?"

"What did Saul say after I left your house last night?"

"We had a fight-a big one. I've never seen him so jealous."

"Did you accuse him of being on board the ship?"

"No. I was too upset to discuss it. And I so wanted to believe I dreamed the whole thing. What if we are wrong, Daniel? What if Saul is completely innocent in all this? Throwing it up in his face would just wreck everything between us."

"His shirt was ripped, Ann. You ripped it, and I'm sure he didn't go to work that way."

"Yes," Ann whispered. "His shirt was ripped."

"And you didn't pursue that?"

"No. I was too angry with him to think."

"How did you resolve this last night?"

Ann sighed. "He went back to his apartment. It was nearly dawn when he left. We were both exhausted and fed up with fighting."

"Have you talked to him today?"

"No," Ann said miserably. She looked down and fidgeted in her chair, then looked up. "He'll probably leave me, Daniel, and I don't know what to think about that. I should leave him."

"If Saul truly doesn't know what's going on, he will come to you for comfort and support."

"I don't want to see him." Ann spoke softly.

Daniel smiled. "Even though he doesn't know what's going on himself, I think that deep down in his psyche he knows there's something wrong. I think he'll be back and that he'll ask for your help."

"Oh, God. I can't do this alone, Daniel. I'll need the support of you and Sara."

"I know," Daniel said. "We will do everything in our power to help Saul solve his own mystery-if he wants to solve it."

They would protect Eric from his former life-a cold life fostered by emotionless beings. Secretly, though, Daniel hoped that Eric would begin to open up to them. His speech was stilted, and Sara had mentioned on several occasions that she suspected Eric had learned what English he knew from Saul.

The key, they decided, was to treat Eric as they would any other child they might love. Above all else they wanted him to feel safe. The constant visitations the beings heaped upon them would make this task extremely difficult. Still, with determination, Daniel was sure they could raise Eric successfully.

"Eric, Honey, would you please hand me the picnic basket?" Sara asked. The Saturday afternoon was beautiful, and the clearing in Cottonwood Park smelled of new-mown spring grass.

Eric struggled with the size and weight of the basket, but finally managed to hand it to Sara. Daniel suppressed a smile. It was obvious to Daniel that Eric was trying to fit into his new family.

"Eric," Daniel said, "after we eat, let's get the kite out of the car. Shall we do that?"

"Yes," Eric said without displaying emotion.

Daniel made light banter about how he and Sara had flown a kite while they were dating, and about how much fun it was. Eric paid little attention. Daniel felt quiet desperation for his new charge. And he felt a sadness from Eric that he wasn't sure either he or Sara could cut through.They ate quietly, Daniel trying not to watch his new son, but watching him anyway. Eric ate and stared at the trees beyond, as if he was in another world.

"See, Eric? See the kites in the sky way over there?" Sara pointed above the tree line. A small, red diamond shaped kite was floating high in the sky.

Eric turned his eyes to the kites and kept eating, but a small smile flashed across his face.

Daniel stood up and took Eric's hand. "Put down that ham and cheese, Eric; you can finish later. Let's all go kite flying."

Daniel got out the kite and began assembling it. He gently tried to enlist Eric's help, but Eric contributed nothing to the effort. He did watch intently, however. He held the kite's tail in his hand and waited with endless patience.

In the middle of Daniel's kite rigging, Eric abruptly turned around and walked to Sara. Then he crawled up on to the top of the picnic table and sat, crosslegged, staring off into the surrounding trees.

"What's wrong, Honey," Sara asked.

With pain across his face, Eric said in a low voice, "I don't know what to do."

Daniel went to him and sat on the picnic table next to Sara. "What do you mean, Eric? You mean you don't know how to help me put the kite together? Is that what you mean?"

"Yes. I don't know how," Eric said, tears in his whisper.

"Honey," Sara said, "you can talk to us. You can tell us anything you want. Daniel and I will understand." She glanced at Daniel and telepathed, "How can we make him feel comfortable with us?"

Daniel said brightly, "Eric, we have a kite that's waiting to be flown. Let's fly it. And when we're finished having fun with it we can all explore the park. It's a big place. And there's a nice visitors' center that has lots of neat stuff in it."

Daniel lifted Eric from the table and set him on the grass.

"Come on," Sara said cheerily. She took Eric's hand and Daniel took the other. Eric looked up at them both, then walked with them out of the clearing.

Once Eric got the hang of keeping the kite string tight and letting more string out, he managed to keep the little kite up in the air for some time. But he didn't seem to get the thrill from it that Daniel and Sara did. Kite flying had been a spiritual experience for Daniel, but for Eric, at least today, it was another set of actions that led to a predictable result. After a half an hour, Daniel helped Eric reel the kite in.

They spent a good hour walking down the shady paths and browsing through the visitors' center. At times Eric's eyes went wide with disbelief. Daniel felt relief that Eric was expressing some sort of response. Eric was especially fascinated by the aquarium. He pointed at the glass and said, "Like me! Like me!" Neither Daniel or Sara knew what he meant, but they were thrilled at his show of enthusiasm. Daniel hoped that some good family time would help bring Eric out of his shell.

"Why are you blinking, Sweetheart?" Sara set a fresh cup of morning coffee down in front of Daniel. Daniel had been rubbing his eye since he'd awakened that morning. He had first thought that he'd picked up some pollen while in the park the day before, but now he wasn't so sure.

"My eye really hurts." Daniel looked at Sara. His mind's eye saw a fleeting image of the metal petaled contraption move swiftly down and pull his eye from its socket. The image disappeared from Daniel's mind as quickly as it had appeared.

Sara shuddered, "I don't even like to think about it."

Daniel could see the shudder of dread pass through Sara's delicate frame. "Come here. Sit down in front of me," he said gently.

Daniel noticed Eric watching them closely as Daniel came around the kitchen table and seated himself in front of Sara.

"Let me heal you first," Sara said.

"All right." He held his wrists out to her. She grasped them lightly and sat back. He knew she was relaxing herself into that state where she could sense his energy field. Suddenly he felt her healing power surge through him. Daniel gently pulled his wrists from her grasp. "Enough, Sara. You need your strength."

"Do you feel all right, now?"

"Yes. The burning around my eye is gone." He rubbed his eye and was relieved that the pain was no longer there. "Now it's your turn. Give me your wrists."

She offered them to him. He took them in his fingers and allowed his eyes to slip out of focus. He felt his healing power go out to her, and he felt her body right itself as his own energy swept through her pain. Dear God, he thought, what a wonderful gift her father had given them both-the gift of healing.

Eric looked at them with what Daniel perceived to be genuine concern. Daniel picked Eric up off his chair and put him on his lap, then kissed the top of Eric's head. Already he loved this boy as much as he loved his daughter Rachel. Now Daniel ventured a carefully posed question. "Eric, who taught you to speak English?"

"Saul," Eric said. "Saul talked to me when I was with the others." Daniel winced inwardly. Sara looked at him quickly, a look of warning on her face.

But Daniel wanted to know about this boy who had come to them. He plunged ahead. "Eric, what are your friends-the others-like?"

The boy looked perplexed. Daniel tried again. "Were you happy when you lived with your friends?"

"I. . . I was with them always."

"Yes, I know, Eric, but. . ."

"Daniel, don't," Sara said. "We can talk of these things another time."

Daniel ignored Sara and looked squarely into Eric's face. "Tell me about Saul, Eric. Was he nice to you?"

Eric's eyes brightened. "Saul said he was my friend. A friend is something different, Saul told me. A friend is better. I want Saul."

Daniel was devastated. He felt like he had just been kicked in the teeth by a little boy he barely knew. Sara said, "Eric, Honey, how is a friend different? Different from what?"

"Saul said friends stick together. Like glue. They help each other and show each other . . ." He trailed off, not knowing words for what he wanted to say. Tears began to brim in his eyes. "Saul is my friend. Saul is my friend. I want to see Saul. What is glue?"

Daniel picked up Eric and held him. "I know you miss him, Eric." He looked at Sara, not knowing what to do or say. Somehow the little boy had formed an attachment to a human. Yes, he'd chosen Daniel's least favorite person on or off the planet, but that was a hopeful sign. If Eric could love a human, then he could come to love them.

"Umm. . . Eric, Would you like to visit Yankee this morning?" Daniel asked. "Don't you remember that he wanted to be your friend, too?"

"Yes," Eric said, disinterest in his small voice.

"All right. But first we have to help your mom on her way." Daniel stood up, set Eric down, and pulled Sara to her feet. He looked at her lovingly. "I guess I'll have to let you go to work."

"Yes," she said despondently. "I hate to leave Eric." She leaned down, picked Eric up, and carried him to the doorway.

"Be good for Daniel while I'm gone this morning." Sara cuddled and kissed Eric, then set him back down on the floor. Eric looked up at her and put his four-year-old arms around her legs and hugged them.

"Are you my friend?" He whispered to her.

"I-I'm your best friend. Daddy and I are your best friends. I promise." Then she stooped down and whispered, "I'll be home at lunch time. All right? Then you and I can spend the whole afternoon together while Daddy goes to work-just like we do every day."

The boy looked into her blue eyes. "Take your eyes out."

"Honey, I have to go to work now," she said patiently.

"Please," he said plaintively.

Sara got down on her haunches. She tipped her head forward and covered her eyes with her hand to spare her little boy the pain of seeing her remove huge contact lenses from her eyes. The lenses dropped into her hand. She put her head up and looked directly into Eric's eyes. Her eyes were black. Not just the pupil, but the iris and white as well. Sara had no white to her eyes. Her blue eyes were contact lenses she constantly wore to cleverly camoflague the existence of her mutant DNA from the good people of Eagle Bluff-from the people of Earth.

To Sara's great shame, the people from her planet didn't have black eyes like hers: their eyes were exactly like the eyes of humans on Earth. She didn't know why her eyes were black. No one did. Now she was showing her eyes to a little boy who came to them from aliens who also had black eyes.

She cupped her hands over her eyes and put the contacts back in. Then she looked up at Eric and blinked several times, settling the lens surfaces against her eyeball. "Remember, Eric, we can't tell anyone about my black eyes."

"I won't tell," he said.

"I know you won't." She kissed him on the cheek. Then she looked at Daniel and said, "I'd better go now. Save some lunch for me." With that, she was out the door.

Daniel turned to Eric. "Eric, would you please help me clean up the breakfast table?" He handed a plate to Eric. Eric took it and walked to the dishwasher with it. He dropped the plate into the washer rack and looked back at Daniel.

Daniel handed another plate to Eric. Eric took it. As Daniel watched this little blonde-headed boy carefully put the plate into the rack, he thought about how full his life had become. After Rachel had grown up, he missed taking care of his little girl. Without hope of ever finding another mate to share his life with him, he became lonely. Rachel's absence from the house took its toll on him. He wanted to remarry, but he didn't think he had the physical energy to contribute to another relationship, let alone raise another child. Polio sucked the strength from its victims, and as each year passed, he felt himself becoming physically weaker.

And then Sara arrived with her black black eyes and her spaceship. Her disability ran even deeper than his own. She was truly convinced that her black eyes and mutant DNA set her apart from the rest of the human race that was sprinkled throughout the galaxy. But Daniel made her see herself in a more positive light. And she had given him hope as well-and a new body.

When he was given the choice of acquiring a perfect body from her father and his technology, he couldn't accept Santoo's offer. He knew that a new body would cause him far more trouble than it was worth. Daniel was short-five foot four inches-and he walked with a distinct limp. That's the way people knew him. His left shoe was built up to compensate for his shorter leg, and when he met Sara he had a brace on that leg as well as a shorter brace on the other.

Now the exoskeleton Sara's father had helped him build replaced both braces. The exo gave him terrific power and stamina. Soon, even the exo wouldn't be necessary because the perfect cellular structure Santoo's technology blessed him with was already giving him strength he'd never known. He would eventually develop to four times the strength of an Earth human, and his life span was already expanded to two-hundred and fifty years. He and his beautiful black-eyed Sara would live to a very old age.

Only a few intimates knew of his healing. To everyone else his familiar limp was proof of his crippled body, although with time the limp would disappear altogether. But it was crucial his healing remain a secret. If his true nature would be revealed, his family and friends would never have another moment of peace. And he didn't want to even think about how he would explain away his eventual total healing. He had still not found a perfect way to explain that.

"Here's a dish, Daddy." Eric's voice brought him out of his musings. The counter was piled with dishes Eric had brought from the table.

As Daniel, with Eric's hand in his, walked towards Yankee's newly established law office, he thought back on how he first met Yankee. Yankee O'Hara first came to Daniel's attention through Yankee's doctor, Karen Wilson. Yankee had suffered a catastrophic car accident in which he had lost limbs, the inability to move, talk, or breathe on his own; and when Daniel and Sara first saw him no one was even sure if he was aware of his surroundings. Put in cruder terms, they assumed he was a vegetable. Karen asked Daniel and Sara to try to heal Yankee in their own special way. She was one of the intimates who knew their secret. When Sara received clear telepathic pleas from Yankee, they knew he was mentally alive. Sara's father, through his technology, made it possible for Yankee's original body, the body he was born into, make a clone of his original body. But the cloned body was physically perfect. In a matter of seconds Yankee regained his limbs, his muscle control, and his life. Yankee was now living in his clone. And again, only a few intimates knew of Yankee's healing, or even knew he had had an accident at all.

Daniel pulled the door open. A bell on the door tinkled pleasantly. A tall man with a very red beard looked out of his office and grinned mirthfully. "Hi, Daniel. It's good to see you." Yankee motioned for Eric to come to him. Then he bent down and picked Eric up. "Hi, my new little friend. I'm glad to see you, too."

The word 'friend' made Eric look up at Yankee.

"Hello, Yankee," Eric said softly.

"It's sure good to see you both. Eric, do you know what I keep in this desk drawer? Come and see."

Eric moved over to the other side of the broad walnut desk. Yankee opened the drawer and pulled out a large red sucker. He handed it to the little boy, who stared at it.

Yankee bent down and took the sucker from Eric. "Oh, here, Eric. You have to take the wrapper off. . . . .then, you pop it in your mouth, and suck." Yankee demonstrated this process with glee.

Eric imitated Yankee's actions, and his eyes lit up when the sugary tart taste of the sucker registered on his tongue.

"I think he likes it." Daniel watched with satisfaction. "And how is married life agreeing with you?" Daniel took a seat in the leather wing chair nearby.

"It's wonderful. I love Karen as fiercely as you love Sara, Daniel." Yankee smiled at his comparison and then asked, "What brings you here this morning?"

"I, uh, want to talk about the adoption, but . . ." Daniel felt uncomfortable. He didn't want to