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The Siege - Two been there, no landing traces, so Ted tried to dismiss the odd experience as a psychic dream rather than an actual event. Even so, he couldn’t deny how totally real the whole episode had seemed at the time. And, at some deep emotional level, how very disturbing. His focus was shaken, so much so that Ted temporarily with- drew from doing his psychic work and kept a rather low pro- file for a while. Was it a coincidence that the disruptive night- time intrusions by the invisible spirits also stopped at that time? Ted didn’t know, but he was grateful for the chance to catch up on his rest and to let his mind and body recover from the long months of fatigue. Best of all, there were no more voices talking to him during the night, and no sensa- tions of being touched. When Ted finally felt strong enough to resume the psy- chic readings, he said nothing to his friends about the strange dream. And Bud, the only witness to his agitation the morn- ing after, didn’t bring it up, so Ted put the whole thing out of his mind as best he could. His rational side insisted that the dream sprang from conversations about UFOs among his friends at the bookstore, and dreams, even such vivid ones, proved nothing. “Let it go,” he told himself, “just go on with your life.” There was plenty to keep him occupied. His position in the credit office of a large company demanded constant atten- tion, and his reputation as a psychic, which grew rapidly in the area, brought in as many clients as he could manage. He was so busy, in fact, that it was several months after moving to the new location before Ted got around to meeting his neighbors. Almost all of the original families on his street had begun moving away shortly after his UFO dream-he’d been surprised by the number of “For Sale” signs that popped up the next week-so by the time Ted started meeting people in the neighborhood, only his mobile home and one other remained of the original neighborhood. The family who lived across the street were amiable peo- ple, and Ted enjoyed visiting them and their young children. One evening he sat out on his patio talking with Susie and her husband, while the children, a daughter of four or five Masquerade of Angels 14 The Siege - Two and a son around two years old, played nearby. As they chat- ted, the conversation was interrupted by Bud, who was spending a few days with Ted. “Hey!” he called out from the porch, “Unsolved Mysteries is coming on TV, and they’re going to show some material about UFOs. Do you want to come in and watch it?” “Yeah,” Ted replied, “I do want to see it. I’ll be right in.” He turned to the young couple and asked, “How about you? Want to come watch it with me?” “Sure,” Susie agreed, and the adults went inside for the program, while the children stayed out playing. After the presentation, when Susie got up to leave, she said, “You know, that show reminds me of something. Back last spring, my daughter told us the strangest story, about a night the little spacemen came and took everybody for a ride.” Ted looked at her in disbelief. “What do you mean?” he asked, “they took everybody for a ride?” Scanning back quickly, he realized that his dream had been in April. “You know that field out behind the woods over there?” Susie said, pointing to the tree line. “Heidi told us some spacemen came one night and took her and a bunch of other people out in that field to their rocket. She said they took eve- rybody for a ride.” Bud and Ted stared at each other nervously. “Susie,” Ted finally said, “do you think you can get Heidi in here and let her tell me about that herself?” Heidi came in and willingly repeated the story for Ted. “The rocket was round,” she explained, “and there were lots and lots of other people there. You were there, too, I think you were. I didn’t know all the people, though.” “Why did you go with those spacemen?” Ted asked. “Weren’t you afraid?” “Well, I told them I couldn’t go out at night,” Heidi replied, “unless my mommy says it’s all right. But they made me go anyway.” “How did they make you go?” he pressed. “They put their fingers into my mouth,” she demonstrat- ed, “and they pulled me like that, out to the rocket. That’s Masquerade of Angels 15