3 The Best Robot Ever

Three, the best robot ever. THE TWO FRIENDS HEADED downstairs to the workshop in the basement of Zeke's house. Large metal tubes, electric wires, and weird- looking circuits were spread all over the floor and workbench.

"What's all this?" Harris asked. "My dad and I like to tinker with some of the Tragas technology we brought from home," Zeke explained. "I'm pretty good at building stuff."

Zeke levitated some long metal tubes, some flashing bulbs, and a whole bunch of wires above their heads. Harris watched in amazement, and his friend got to work assembling them in the air. As he finished each section, Zeke lowered the completed metal pieces onto Harris. More and more, Harris began to look like a robot.

The robot's body was a square box cut to fit tightly against Harris's own body, complete with blinking dials and knobs. The arms and legs were metal stovepipes attached to his body. For the head, Zeke used what looked like an old TV. He attached a small metal rod to look like a bright antenna.

"Pretty good," said Zeke, stepping back and looking at his creation. "I want to see!" Harris rushed back up to Zeke's room and looked into a mirror. "Wow!" he said. "This is amazing. I really look like a robot!" When Harris turned around, he saw that Zeke had again transformed into his true alien body.

"But I still think you're going to win the contest, Zeke," he said. Downstairs, the front doorbell rang. Zeke's mother called up to them: "Zeke, Harris, your friend Roxy is here!" she shouted. Harris froze. "Oh, no!" Harris said. "This is bad, this is really, really bad!" "I don't understand," Zeke said. "Usually you are happy to see Roxy."