The next day, Razputin woke up early to sit on the steps of the cabin. It was just after dawn, and the trees hadn't yet allowed light to come through just yet. This time of day was tranquil, and it allowed thoughts to flow through Raz's mind more freely. He certainly had a lot to think about: Who killed Ford? Was it the same person who tore up the forest? Did the person who tore up the forest also set the fire? Was it all part of some kind of conspiracy? Why did they do it? What were they after? He'd have plenty of time to think about it- Sasha still wasn't allowing him to participate in class. He was supposed to take up a job as a janitor or something until he stopped being insane. And who knew how long that would take?

Dogen came shuffling up to Raz and sat down next to him. They hadn't seen each other yet this summer, but both of them had been there every summer since they met. Dogen was the youngest of Raz's first campmates, and right now was on the very top of the age cap and still attended as a student. Over the years he'd learned to control his powers. He only wore his special hat when he was stressed, or at least in a potentially stressful situation, and he was past his phase where he burned everything he looked at. Still a bit slow and spacy, he looked up to Raz and they were still pretty good friends.

"Hey, Raz," said Dogen.

"Hey, Dogen," said Raz sadly.

"Is it true what they're saying?"

"Yeah." Raz put his chin on his fists. "They say I've gone completely crazy and I can't teach anymore."

"No, I mean about the lodge."

"Oh. Yeah, the lodge burned down."

"I didn't do it," said Dogen blankly.

"You weren't even there."

"I know, it's just usually I did it."

"No, this time it was someone else."

"That's why I still wear this special hat."

"That's nice."

"I'd ask if you want to try it on but people get loud when I do that."

Raz sighed. Talking to Dogen was the conversational equivalent of a dog who didn't realize his leash was wrapped around a tree. Still, he was a good listener, and a comfort to have as a friend.

"Why do they say you're crazy?" asked Dogen.

Raz didn't know what to say, so he sighed again to buy him time to answer. "Because Ford Cruller was murdured, and I'm the only one who believes it."

"Who's Ford Cruller?"

"You know, he was the greatest leader the Psychonauts ever had. He was also the janitor, ranger, boathouse admiral, and chef."

Dogen reached into his pocket and pulled out a lightly toasted bagel. "If the chef is dead, who made this bagel?"

"Well, we hired a new chef, Dogen."

"Oh." He took a bite out of the bagel. "This is good, though."

"Yeah, she's a whiz with a toaster." Raz stood up and brushed off his pants. "Well, I'm going out to look for more clues. Want to come?"

"No, I have to go to the coach's class. Maybe later."

Raz left into the forest, leaving Dogen sitting by himself on the steps. After a moment, Lili came out. She was wearing a big fuzzy robe, her hair was untied and mussed, and some of her makeup that didn't wash off the night before was smeared across her right cheek. She looked tired, like she hadn't quite woken up yet.

"Did I hear you talking?" she asked in a froggy voice, rubbing one of her eyes.

"Yeah," said Dogen. "Raz was just here."

Lili perked up a bit. "Really? Where did he go?"

"I dunno."

Lili shook her head. "Well, if you see him again, tell him I'm looking for him."

"Mmkay."

Lili ducked back inside the cabin to clean up. Dogen, meanwhile, sat on the stairs, where he would remain until someone told him to do something else.


Raz was in the woods, at the same place where he'd found the destruction. It was more or less untouched, trees knocked down and spread across the ground, earth torn up and scattered, and animals not coming within ten meters of the area. Something about it disturbed them. Maybe it disturbed their psychic senses? Or their ordinary, heightened animal senses? What could the animals feel that he couldn't?

He knelt down. Ford had taught him once that letting answers come to you was easier than chasing them down. Of course, he was pretty old and worn out at the time he'd said that so it might not be the best advice, but it was Ford's and Raz was dedicated to following it.

So... where were the answers?

He looked at the ground. There was a large empty space in the middle of the chaos. The ground where the trees used to be was bare and softened. Loose soil. A dent. A large dent, sort of like a wussy little crater. Dug, maybe? Someone was digging? What were they digging for? It was a big dent, so it must have been something big.

What was under this part of the woods?

Raz jumped up. There were only two possiblities: either someone was looking for buried treasure, or trying to get to one of the secret rooms the Whispering Rocket Underground Transit Something-or-Other went to. Ford's Sanctuary. Ford's Sanctuary which was blocked off. Someone was trying to get there, and whatever he wanted, he wanted it desperately.

He ran straight to Sasha's lab. Sasha might think he was insane, but if he saw the proof Raz had it might be enough to let him use the equipment.

"Sasha!" he hollared as he made his way down the stairs. He made his turns so tight that on the fourth angle he lost his footing and fell the rest of the way to the floor. He landed flat on his back, winded, looking up Sheegor's nose.

"Hi, Sheegor."

"Mr. Sasha isn't in right now, he's out teaching class" she said. "But maybe I can help you? Maybe? Please?"

"Uh, yeah," said Raz. "Where does Sasha keep his computer?"

"It folds under on that console by the brain tumbler," said Sheegor, "but nobody's supposed to touch it except for Mr. Sasha."

"That's right," said Mr. Pokeylope, climbing to perch on the top of Sheegor's hump. "Ain't nobody but Sasha Nein allowed to touch that fine piece of machinary."

"Yeah," said Raz. "Um, can I use it?"

"Okay!" chirped Sheegor happily.

"Baby, that ain't how it's done," Mr. Pokeylope said to her.

"But Raz is so nice," Sheegor protested. "He has to have a good reason to use it."

Raz flipped the computer open. It was a flatscreen built right into the rest of his console, with a keyboard under it and a trackball next to that. Raz clicked down on the trackball and a screen prompted:

USERNAME: SNEIN

PASSWORD:

Well, at least half of that was taken care of. But what was the password? Raz thought carefully. What would the secret word be that would allow access to the secret computer in Sasha's lab.

On a whim, Raz typed in the word redbutton.

The password was accepted.

"Wow," said Raz. "It's a good thing he didn't have a combination of upper and lowercase letters and numbers."

He looked over the screen, hand poised over the trackball. He couldn't tell what anything was, so he clicked on files and opened documents until he stumbled on a 3D rendered map of Whispering Rock. Handy indeed. Both the lodge and the wooded areas had been flagged for further inspection. Raz clicked and held down on the trackball, and rotated the diagram. He clicked and fiddled until he somehow got a map of the underground transit superimposed on the above-ground map.

It was just as he'd suspected. The site of destruction was right over the sanctuary.

Raz's heart started to pound. It was all coming together. Actually, it wasn't, but it was proof that he was on the right track. Something was in the sanctuary, and someone out there wanted it. Raz grabbed a slip of paper from under the console and scribbled down a map. It would take him forever to figure out how to unlock the system, and twice as long to re-lock it. Maybe he could crawl through the tunnel instead.

Raz shut down the computer and flipped it away. "Thanks, Sheegor. Um, you won't tell Sasha about this, will you?"

Sheegor was off in a corner, playing with Mr. Pokeylope.

Great, thought Raz. That takes care of that. He jumped down the tree stump in the corner of Sasha's lab, landing next to the cart, and began walking down the tunnel.