He looked at them..."I don't know," he said, panicked. "I was in my living room, and the TV sucked me in, and...I was here. Please, I want to go home..."
The older girl went and activated one of the glowing machines. "Computer, scan the intruder."
"Scanning," an artificial voice said. "Error: Subject does not conform to any known parameters. Visual appearance approximates human."
"You mean he is an alien?"
"Affirmative."
"No, I'm not!" Mikey insisted.
The girl his age looked at him. "Alien means you aren't from here. You aren't," she said. "What planet are you from?"
"Earth."
"This is Earth."
He told her his entire address. She frowned, and went to the computer to look it up. "There's no such place as Lake Point...You're lying.."
"Pat," the older girl said.
"Now you told him my name," Pat said. "Now what are we going to do with him?"
"What kind of name is Pat for a girl?" Mikey asked.
Pat practically exploded on him. She grabbed him by the shirt. He swore he could see the steam escaping from her ears. "It's short for Patricia."
"Pat...calm down," the boy insisted.
It seemed like an odd and scary reaction to asking about her name that didn't quite seem to fit. She let go of him and stared him down. "Don't make fun of me, alien boy."
"My name is Mikey Madison," he said.
"I guess we're stuck with you," the older boy said. "But what do we do with you? We can't let you wander around. I'm Clancy. That's Linda."
"Let's lock him up," Pat suggested.
