The first day they'd covered about ten square miles on foot (where, statistically speaking, most crash survivors were found), and Mira had flown down a tunnel near Ty's ship, coming to the surface after going a half hour with no end in sight. The tunnel seemed unrelated to the crash, but Mira did check on it every once in a while since it was in her sector. It stretched in a straight line, heedless of obstacles like deep roots or boulders. There was no sign of Ty, or whoever had made the tunnel. They intensified their search, widening the circle but still finding nothing but the occasional footprint in the soft earth.

The second day XR had a false alarm- what he'd thought was Ty's hair was actually a fluffy caterpillar's behind- and Buzz was almost caught by a trapdoor spider. They'd found nothing else, besides more wildlife. Today was day five, and Buzz was getting worried. So was everyone else, but Buzz seemed to be taking their lack of success personally. Booster really hoped they'd find something soon.

Booster patted some millipedes, wishing he could keep one or two as pets. They liked chocolate. He learned this by giving a little piece to one... and then another millipede... and another... soon he was surrounded, as they sat clicking for more. Hopefully chocolate wasn't bad for them, because they'd eaten his entire stash.

"I'm sorry little guys, but I'm all out!" One of them crawled up on his suit as he spoke, stubby antennae poking at some buttons. He gently pushed it off, briefly fighting the scrabbling feet. "And I'm really busy too..." As he continued his search, the millipedes followed him, begging for more handouts. They scattered when they realized it wasn't working. It felt a little lonesome... Sure, they weren't the cutest creatures out there, but they were still cuddly, in their own way. And they were too big to lose, unlike some other pets he'd tried to convince Buzz to allow. One had stayed with him. It looked old- some of its legs were gone, its exoskeleton was dull, and it antennae were raggedy and crooked. He gently scratched its face. "Who's a good boy? You're a good boy!" It chittered as he praised it. Maybe it was actually a good girl. It wandered off somewhere before Booster could make up his mind.

Booster wished he had a camera, and some time to enjoy the environment. The flowers were pretty. Pollen floated through foggy air and stuck to his helmet. Some of the blooms were so heavy with nectar they leaned. Lots of different insects flew and crawled around him, and he occasionally saw holes in the ground or in plant stalks where they'd burst from their cocoons and winter hideaways (had Ty known he'd only seen the start of hibernation's end he probably wouldn't have been so eager to explore). He heard something buzzing loudly overhead and looked up, laser pointing at the source. It was a big round fly, bumbling along to a yellow flower. As he watched it, lowering his arm, the fly vanished with a woosh and a crack.

"Huh?" Booster looked around, and another fly had captured the one he was watching, landing on a stalk with it. This one was smaller. It had a longer, thinner body with longer legs, almost like a dragonfly. Its compound eyes took up most of its head, and its proboscis was rammed inside the first fly's back. The round fly at first jerked its legs as the larger one fed, but quickly stopped. The Jo-Adian made a nervous sound. He hadn't even seen it! Or heard it!

He got on his com link. "Hey guys, it's me. Be careful if you fly anywhere, there's some kind of hunting fly, and it moves really fast."

"Noted. Any sign of Ty? Not just you, Booster. Mira and XR too."

"No, but I'm still looking."

"Nothing here, Buzz."

"I have found zilch."

"Okay, so we'll keep looking for the rest of the hour, then if nobody's found anything we'll have to figure things out from there. I don't want us getting too separated."

Buzz tried to think about where Ty would have gone. Clearly he felt safe enough to wander. So where was he? Ty wasn't as much of a team player as most would expect from a Ranger, but that didn't make him unreliable, or a slacker. It wasn't plausible to Buzz that his friend would just up and vanish. Normally there would be some trace of a person somewhere.

"Captain Buzz Lightyear, personal log... Ty's not in the ship, and we still haven't found him. He's not answering on any lines. The map Talnak gave us says there's a building about forty minutes by foot from here, and since we were headed in that direction anyway I think we'll check that out if nothing else comes up." Would he have gone there? "Nobody else has seen anything so far... Buzz Lightyear, signing out," he murmured into the recorder. He continued his even pace through the dense foliage. His first sector had taken him out past the creek. There were some prints, unmistakably the same kind of boot print a Ranger's uniform made, in the damp soil on the other side of the creek. That was the only clue he'd found. The flowery smell reminded him of the time Ty got stuck in a perfume vat, and he smiled. Ty was furious at not being able to get the smell out of his suit and eventually had to get it replaced. Good times. Buzz vowed that there would be more good times, preferably not involving perfumes, as he searched harder for any other sign of his friend.


"Whoah!" XR's treads got a pebble in them and he tripped. Again. The LGMs did not have all terrains in mind when they made him, that's for sure. Sure, he worked underwater (pretty neat feature, not every robot could), but that was only handy in a few circumstances. Gritty gears were a common complaint of his. Grumbling under his breath, he stood up, and resumed scanning the area. Just like before, there was nothing. That was good, sort of. True, he hadn't found any sign of Ty after the first day, but he hadn't found anything else either...

"Well, our hour's almost up, did anyone else find anything? Or should we reorganize?" Mira asked, bringing XR to the present, where he found he was being followed.

"Negative," said Buzz. "Booster, XR?"

"I couldn't find anything, sorry." Booster added.

"So, everyone come to my location, and I think I have an idea of which way he's gone."

"Roger that," Booster and Mira answered.

"XR, did you catch that?" He didn't get an answer from the robot. "XR, come in." After a few more seconds of no response, "Do you read me?"

Finally, in a hissed whisper, "Yeah, sorry about that. I've got some company, I think they're following me, need backup pronto."

"Apocritans?"

"Unless there's any other giant wasps running around you'd like to tell me about. They're staying out of my sight but-"

"We're on our way. Do not engage," Buzz ordered, before cutting the feed.

As if you need to tell me! The short robot spun his head around. His scanner said there were a few hiding up above him. He recognized a formation when he saw one. And then he caught a glimpse of a face, that just confirmed it for him.

He rolled down the hill, hoping the things following him hadn't heard (or understood) his conversation. They didn't act like it, still tailing from the same distance. He went faster, following the nearly-absent Sentry tracks. "This is not my day." He tried not to look behind him when he heard his followers buzzing along intermittently. They were getting bolder, closing in. Oh man, he might have to pull out the big guns. Literally.

Yeah, that was a good idea, the LGMs gave him a pretty good arsenal. Maybe he'd scare them off, and if that didn't work hopefully he could get a few shots in before they shredded him and he had to get repaired for the three hundred and seventy-ninth time.

One landed on the ground, and he turned to look at it. It was black-and-white, and another similarly-colored one landed a short distance away. They were standing around, watching him. Maybe I should try being friendly? "Hey, how ya doin'? I'm just, ah, looking around... What are you up to?" He smiled with as much friendliness as he could muster.

They didn't answer him, but looked at each other briefly before walking toward him, one to his left and one to his right. He rolled back, and bumped into something. XR looked up. A green Apocritan had joined them, having landed behind him. "I'm detecting a little hostility here," he quipped. The green one tried to grab him, and he ducked away.

"You're going to be like that, are you? Time to show you that XR, Robot Ranger is not to be meddled with!" Mwahaha! Dozens of lasers flew out of his body, and he pointed a few at each one. The trio jumped back, but didn't run away. The black-and-white ones flew up, and the green one ran at him on all sixes, forcing him to take flight. He fired wildly as he fled, and they kept trying to get closer. It was a stalemate. The giant bugs were falling behind, but not fast enough, and suddenly they began to pick up speed. One was even charging ahead to block his escape. He could hear the sound of jet packs. Oh, please hurry before I get scrapped!

Bright red laser beams joined his own. Mira had arrived first, while Booster and Buzz assured them over the com link that they were almost there. The Tangean kicked the Apocritan who'd tried to cut him off, sending it tumbling down. The black-and-white creature righted itself, then fled. The other two suddenly vanished as well, all in different directions. They'd given up, for now. Chasing them would be pointless- whichever two they went after, the third would escape.

Mira and XR looked at each other. "What was that all about?"

"How should I know? They didn't say anything, they just went straight into kill-the-robot mode! Thanks for saving my can by the way, really appreciate it."

"Any time. We should catch up with Buzz and Booster in case they come back."

"Sounds good to me!" XR popped his wings out, and they both headed to Buzz's signal while Mira called Buzz.

Static crackled, then Buzz answered. "Mira! Are you alright?"

"Affirmative, I think they left." She was still keeping an eye out, in case any of them doubled back or if there were others hidden in the plant life.

"Just like that? Where?"

"I don't know, I guess they thought XR was an easy target and weren't counting on me." Buzz's snort told her exactly what he thought about that.

"Going for the weakest link, huh? Typical villains..."

"Hey! I'm not the weakest link, I'm indestructible, remember?" XR protested.

"They might have just been hecklers... But just in case, once we've made rendezvous, we should stay together. I don't want us getting picked off one-by-one," Buzz said. XR started fidgeting, like he expected something to drop down on him that very instant. He'd seen enough horror movies to know some organics had really twisted imaginations, that was for darn sure.


Buzz didn't like what XR and Mira's scuffle with the Apocritans implied. Ty might really be in trouble... He'd been here for almost three weeks. They'd have to hurry, and hope for the best.

"Rescue Fifty-Something, here I come."


Booster had been hurrying to XR along with the others when something crashed into his shoulder, spiraling down to the ground from the impact. On the way, its jaws snagged on his flailing arm. "Ouch!" he said, grabbing his elbow. It hadn't been enough to knock him off course, but... ooh boy did it smart. Then he skidded to a halt in midair. Another Soldier was coming his way, its green shell nearly invisible among the leaves. It reached its arms forward to catch him, but he pulled a switcheroo Pa would be proud of- he caught its wrists and swung around, slamming it into a few of the ones behind him with a "Hiyaa!". They tumbled through the air, and he swung it around onto another one before letting it go.

There was more buzzing from below, and he looked to see a whole group of Apocritans flying up at him. He fired at them, and they scattered. They're speedy! He needed to take cover if he couldn't catch up with his teammates. One of the six insectoids dodged his laser beam and flew at his face. He responded with a punch, and it dropped to the ground with its comrade, where it bounced. The rest watched the fall, looked at him, and charged him at once. He blasted up at the last second, their droning behind him growing more frantic as they had to disentangle themselves or stop from falling. The distraction was enough for him to get away, and he went to join the rest of his team. He looked at his wrist and followed a little readout showing where he should go. He was glad it was not that far.

"What took you so long?" Mira shouted as he came near.

"I was being chased," Booster answered her.

"You too? And let me guess, they just left?" As if to spite them, the sound of buzzing wings breached the air.

"Oh no..!"

"You've got to be kidding me," she groaned at the same time, putting her hand on her forehead. "Buzz! I think we should retreat!"

"Great idea," he answered. Then, instinctively, he whirled around and punched down the Apocritan that leaped out at him from the greenery. "If we weren't already surrounded."