Non-existent DNS query oddity

When I query for a non-existant DNS record, the query returns with our local domain name tacked on to the end of the original query. This is bothersome because our DNS service uses wildcards and will return one of our IP addresses /no matter what non-existent record I query for/. Say I query for nowhere.nothing.it.com…

> nowhere.nothing.it.com
Server: dns.ournetwork.net
Address: 66.0.255.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: nowhere.nothing.it.com.ournetwork.net
Address: 66.0.255.226

This occurs with our local DNS server and our ISP’s DNS server. Might anyone know why my queries are being altered and how I fix this behavior?

NT4 SP6a w/ MS DNS Server