Luke tested the window on the room he was locked into. He figured it was also locked, but it couldn't hurt to try it out, if worse came to worse, he could break it open with something in the room, anything to get away from there.
It seemed luck was with him, as the window opened with no resistance. He opened it just enough for him to slip through, and climbed out. He then took off running and worked his way through the town of Belkend, remembering his way out of the town from the day before and his previous visit.
Unfortunately, his luck did not hold. As he was about to get out of the town, Van happened to be returning from wherever he went to. He saw the boy and grabbed him. "Don't you know how dangerous it is outside the town you foolish boy?"
"I don't care! I just want to go home!" Luke sobbed. "I hate that man and all his awful tests and I miss my home!"
"And you will return eventually. It wouldn't do for you to be eaten by monsters though." Van told him, and took him back to the lab.
When Van re-entered the lab with Luke, who was still putting up a fuss about being returned he looked for Spinoza. "Spinoza! Didn't I tell you that he wasn't to be allowed to leave?"
"The door was locked on the room he slept in, he couldn't have gotten out." Spinoza said.
"Was there a window in the room? He has a great habit of sneaking out windows in Baticul, so it wouldn't surprise me if that is what he did." Van said.
"I will remedy that error then. Come, Luke, you should get some more rest." Spinoza said to Luke.
"No! I want to go home!" Luke wailed loudly enough that likely everyone in the lab heard him.
"You can go home when we have finished here, Luke. Spinoza, when do you expect the project to be finished?" Van asked.
"The testing should be done today, and with that I would estimate the whole project finished by the end of the week." Spinoza said.
"Luke, if you cooperate, you will be home when this project is finished. But if you keep trying to run off and not cooperate, it will just take longer. Now get some more rest so you can be ready for everything."
Luke sullenly went along with Spinoza, who took him to a room he could not escape from this time.