The mysterious alien known only as 3 says it was, "born under a frozen lagoon on a comet that has a 10,000 year cycle," but it is apparently a juvenile and can not distinguish which comet. According to 3, it became lost during the comet's last pass through Beta Zone and drifted for months in space before being rescued by chance when the Universal Parcel and Passenger Service's scanners picked up its gurgled sobbing.

3 and Prof. Edvard Ng are both uncertain about the comet's return and the young alien now lives with the Professor and his family at the Ng Dome. 3's complex robotic life-support vehicle houses his frail physical form which Prof. Ng describes as, "a lizard head on an anchovy body."

When questioned about the enormous time and distance between it and the rest of its kind, 3 says only that its parental unit is sure to destroy it, and that it hopes the comet never returns.