Little Charlie came into the room holding the hand of a guard, who led him to a small chair in the middle of a small, dark room. A small square table sat between him and a man in a suit. A tape recorder sat on the table. An intense light shone behind the man, obscuring his face from little Charlie.

“Hello, Charlie. My name is Mr. Benedict. I’d like to ask you some questions. Is that okay?”

“Okay. Momma said be good and do like the bad men ask.”

“Do you think I’m a bad man, Charlie?”

“Momma said everyone here is bad. Momma said you won’t let us go home.”

“Let’s talk about home. Where is your home, Charlie?”

“Sussex.”

“Have you always lived in Sussex?”

“I think so. I don’t remember anywhere else.”

“Have you ever heard of a place called Altterra? Did Mommy or Daddy ever talk about it?”

“The news lady said Mr. Floyd was from there, but Momma said she was lying.”

“What else did Mommy tell you?”

“That it was another planet.” Charlie shifted in his chair, then proudly said, “And that we were from there.”

“You’re pretty happy about that, aren’t you?”

“I always liked aliens and spaceships.”

“Have you ever seen a spaceship, Charlie?”

“I have three.”

“Yes, I saw pictures of those, it’s quite a collection you have. I meant have you ever seen a real spaceship, maybe hidden away somewhere.”

“No.” Charlie suddenly got very excited. “Do you have one? Are you going to show me?”

“No, Charlie, I don’t have one. I was hoping you could tell me where I could find one.”

“Oh,” Charlie was crushed. “Did you ask Daddy? He’s real smart, he probably knows where a hundred spaceships are.”

“I did ask your Daddy about it, and he says he doesn’t know where any are.”

“Oh.”

“But you know what, Charlie? I think he won’t tell me because I’m not an Altterran like you and him. I bet if you asked him, he’d tell you all about them. Would you ask him for me, Charlie?”

“You really think Daddy knows about spaceships, Mr. Benedict?”

“I do.”

“Okay, I’ll ask him. Can I go ask him now?”

“Yes, Charlie, you can go now.” Mr. Benedict made a motion towards the door, and the guard poked his head back in the room.

“Come on, Charlie, let’s go back to your parents.” The guard held out a hand.

“Good-bye, Mr. Benedict.” Charlie jumped down from the chair and eagerly took the guards hand.

“Good-bye, Charlie.” Mr. Benedict followed them out of the room and headed the opposite direction down the hallway.

Rhoda snatched Charlie away from the guard the moment the door opened. If looks could kill, the guard would have died when he caught her glare. He gave her an apologetic look and closed the security door.

“Oh, Charlie, they didn’t hurt you, did they?”

“No, Momma. Mr. Benedict was real nice. He said Daddy could tell me all about real spaceships.”

“Don’t be silly, Charlie.” Rhoda looked to her husband.

“Are you sure he’s a bad man?” Charlie thought Mr. Benedict had been very nice.

His father stared directly into the nearest security camera mounted on the wall, just out of reach. “No, Charlie. I can’t tell you anything about real spaceships, but I can tell you Mr. Benedict is a very, very bad man.”

“Oh.”

Charlie just wanted to go home.