Dream CLXXXV

I was staying at a friend's house.  It was a nice Summer evening, and I was strolling around the block.

As I returned to the house and walked around to the front door, I noticed that there was a large metallic-looking cylindrical object in his backyard, about six feet tall, with a rounded top and a circular hole near the top.  For some reason the object made me uneasy, so I went inside.

Later that night, from my bedroom window, I noticed that the object was making a low mechanical sound, and the opening was brightly lit.  I grabbed a nearby tool that looked like a projector and aimed it at the light, and pressed the trigger.

Even though nothing seemed to be happening, the light on the object kept fading and returning, until it finally went out and the noise stopped.

I grabbed a small rack-mounted module and took it and the projector to my friend.  He was in his basement, working with his research assistant, a somewhat gruff, slightly older man.

"You won't believe what I just saw," I told them, and I showed them the projector.

My friend seemed somewhat bemused and said, "Oh ho!" and the researcher scowled and said, "Looks like it happened again."

The researcher went over to a corner table that was covered with a blanket and started pulling equipment out from under the blanket.  He seemed to get more and more irritated while my friend stayed amused.

Finally he pulled what looked like an old laptop.  He opened the cover, then turned the unit away and pointed the screen at a wall.  "Shine the projector on that wall," he said.

I pointed the projector and pressed the switch.

On the wall, I saw the same scene I had just witnessed...except that in front of the object was a prone young woman, and crawling over her body were two tiny people, about six inches tall.  They disappeared into the folds of the woman's coat.

When the image faded, my friend and his colleague dressed as if going out into cold weather, opened a hidden door in the wall and went inside.  I followed them to a low wall with a hinged door.  They stepped inside and again I made to follow, but the researcher told me sternly that I could not.  "And close the door!  You might let them out!"

I explored the hidden room for a while.  It was filled with packing material and large sheets of foam rubber, which were stacked against each other like walls in the middle of the room.  They stretched into the corridor walls, and thus made moving around difficult. 

I started to feel afraid, as if I was being watched, and I thought I could hear faint, high-pitched voices. 

I struggled through the sheets to get back to the hinged door; I thought about opening it, but instead leaned over to look over it.

In front of me was a miniature of what I had witnessed outside--the cylindrical object, the woman, and even the corner of the backyard. 

I didn't see the little people, but the high-pitched voices became slightly more distinct--as if they were close by.  I remembered that my friend and the researcher were dressed exactly like the little people I had seen.

I looked for the door back into the basement and started toward it.  I was hoping that nothing was following me, but the feeling of dread would not disappear.