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Eric giggled merrily as the toy drifted close to Saul's face and then drifted away, but the other children
simply sat and stared.
Sara said, "I have an idea. We can play a game with this toy." She lined the children up in two rows of
six children each. "Spread out," she ordered, gesturing to show the children how to behave. "Spread out
so there's space between you."
Daniel was sure that with the exception of Eric, the children spoke no English. But they seemed to be
getting the point of Sara's instructions through telepathy. He also had no doubt that since Sara, herself,
was an extremely strong telepath, the children were getting a very clear picture of what she visualized for
them.
Eventually Sara had the children batting the toy back and forth from one team to another. If the toy
managed to slip through a line, the other side got a point. It was nothing more than a very simple game of
tennis with a very sophisticated toy as the ball. Daniel knew that the Zeta were watching. Surely every
wall in this room was transparent to them. What they wanted to know he had no clue. But he knew they
were not far away.
Eric was squealing with delight as he competitively batted the toy every time it came his way, but the rest
of the children were puzzled by this strange game. Daniel wondered if they even knew what a game was.
But Eric's enthusiasm finally began to generate a small amount of play among the children. He noticed that
the more human-like children were more willing to play. They batted at the toy, imitating Eric. They
displayed at least some pleasure in competing. But he noticed that the Zeta children stared at the others,
and made no move to participate. Daniel wondered if taking these poor children off the ship, taking them
down to the ground where there was constant variety, would have a positive effect on them. He
suspected it would.
After time had passed, enough time for any child who wanted to enter the game to have made a move,
Saul walked across the room. There was a look of sadness on his face. He took the toy from Eric.
"Come on. I'm going to take you back to the exit point."
Relieved beyond description, Daniel said, "Come, Eric, we're going home, now."
"No," Saul said. "Eric can't come with you. I'm sorry."
"What are you talking about?" Sara said. Her telepathed anguish along with her speech overwhelmed
Daniel. "What are you talking about, Saul?"
"They want to keep him-for now." He looked at the floor.
Daniel hoped he remembered how they came in. He took Eric's arm in one hand and Sara's in the other
and he walked them quickly out of the room. He bent down and took Eric in his arms. "Come on, Sara.
We're getting out of here."
Before Daniel could take another step, beings appeared on both sides of them and they had stunrods in
their hands. "No, Daddy! No!" Eric sobbed. "Don't hurt my daddy! Don't hurt my mommy!" he sobbed.
A being stepped forward and roughly pulled Eric from Daniel's arms. Daniel lashed out with his fists, but
before he connected, he felt the familiar sharp sting of the stunrod strike him on his temple. He saw Sara
go down first. He was proud of his wife. She was fighting them; she was fighting for Eric.
His arms, already paralyzed as he went down, didn't allow him to reach out to break his fall, and he
struck the floor with such force, he thought he'd broken his nose. He tried to moan, but the stunrod had
paralyzed him so quickly and so thoroughly, he couldn't even do that much. The stunrod was little more
than an electric cattle prod that kept the humans-animals to these black-eyed alien beings-in line.
The beings floated Daniel off the floor. Sara was floating next to him. Daniel felt himself slobbering down
his face. He felt the beings' dry hands pushing their bodies along towards the exit point. "I want my son!"
Daniel telepathed.
The light burst from the floor, and in less than a frantic heartbeat Daniel and Sara, still profoundly
paralyzed by the stunrods that struck them, were heading down the column of alien light towards the roof
of their house. And Eric was still with Saul aboard the ship. Daniel's only desperate hope was that Saul
would begin to remember who he was and get their son home to them.
Chapter Eleven
Daniel was in a somewhat similar situation once when he had given the beings a serious amount of trouble
after taking him on board. That time, too, they had paralyzed him with a stunrod. They were so angry
with him, they had forcefully thrown him on a table. To his horror, he started to roll off the other side, and
he couldn't have caught himself if he would have actually fallen off. But the doctor being grabbed him just
in time, before he bashed his brains out on the deck. Would he be so fortunate this time?
He landed on his back on the living room carpet. The landing was soft, but to his horror he was still
paralyzed! The beings had never returned them in a paralyzed state before. They had had a few rough
landings now and again, but never had they been returned incapacitated. "Sara!" he telepathed. "Sara, are
you all right!"
Sara was silent, but Daniel knew she was terrified. "Sara," he telepathed again. "Sara, are you all right?
Please tell me you're all right!"
"I'm paralyzed, Daniel! Oh, dear One-In-All, I can't move!"
Daniel tried to swallow but was so paralyzed he couldn't. "What are we going to do, Sara?" he
telepathed frantically.
"We're . . . we're not going to panic. Eric? Eric, Honey, where are you? Can you help us?" "He's not
with us, Sara. They kept him-remember?"
"Oh, no! Oh, please, no!"
Daniel had to do something, and quickly. He was afraid Sara would strangle if she had enough muscle
left to hyperventilate. "Sara . . . Sara, listen to me. We can get out of this, but you have to listen to me.
Can you do that? Can you listen to me?" he telepathed.
"Eric!"
"No, Sara, not Eric. Eric's not here now. But he will be. They'll return him. He'll come back. But right
now you have to help us. You can do it; you can help us." Daniel knew the key was to remain calm in his
thoughts. He knew that. The logical side of him began to over-ride his panic and he began to calm. "Sara,
this is what we're going to do. Rachel has a key to the house. You know this, don't you?" he telepathed
gently.
"Yes, I know that. Rachel has a key to the house."
"And if you can talk to her, she will come into our house and help us. Can you telepath to her? Can you
tell her to come and help us?"
"Yes. Yes, I can do that. Let me try doing this now. Give me just a minute to connect . . ."
Already Daniel was relieved. Sara's rational side was beginning to kick in. They'd get out of this yet.
"She and Steve are eating supper together at the Eagle's Nest, Daniel. She is upset. She knows we're in
trouble. She's telling Steve. She says they are coming right now. She's afraid for us. I'm trying to tell her
we're all right, but she's afraid. They're running out of the restaurant. Oh, Daniel, I didn't mean to scare
them so badly."
"Sara, we had to have help. You did well. Let's just try to calm our thoughts until they come."
"Yes. I'll try. I'll try to stay calm."
Why had the beings done this to them? Why had they kept Eric and then literally dumped Daniel and
Sara onto the floor of their own home, paralyzed and panicked. Was this still another of their abominable
tests to see how they would emotionally react, Daniel wondered? Were they really learning something
from these mad, inhumane experiments, or were they just cruel people? In Daniel's wildest imaginings, he
couldn't believe these people were ignorant of their pain.
Daniel heard a key hurriedly clicking in the lock. Then the door flew open and Rachel and Steve's faces
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