Back on Naboor, Warp Darkmatter and Emperor Zurg had changed into a bit more slugger clothes. They both had tank-tops and woolen pullovers on them, black cotton trousers and Scat-Erpillar's strong boots, as well as heavy backpacks, filled with everything useful, like two tents –the bigger one was of course Zurg's. The day had already gone quite long, and the two fellows were walking across the blooming meadow, towards a nice-looking –but distant –hardwood forest in the east. However, their progress was achingly slow because of their little amount of sleep and their heavy burdens.

The country was harsh, though lovely in its way. Great, dancing waves of reddish poppy-like Unikeko-flowers stretched mile after square mile behind their backs. In front of them, five violet snow-peaked mountains tried to dive into the marine of the sky. But the land where the two runaways now walked on, was dry and dusty. The sun burned mercilessly on their necks and made their way a true agony.

"Craters! Where are you taking us, Izzo?"

Warp could not see any path and wondered if the Emperor had chosen the right direction.

"I know a little woodland pond near those high peaks, in the middle of that distant forest. It takes a few hours to walk there, but it is a great place where to spend the night. Fresh water and shelter from the wind."

"You have been here earlier?"

"Well… I spent some time here when I was a kid."

Warp mused the fact that this evil Emperor had once been a child. What kind of a child had he been? Good-mannered? That was not likely.

"So… Did you come here with your parents?" he ventured to ask.

Zurg did not turn at him but mumbled:

"No… My parents died when I was eleven."

"I'm sorry, Emperor."

Warp felt that he had chosen the wrong topic. But Zurg only glanced at him coolly:

"Don't be. I am not."

The conversation died for a long time. Warp did not dare to speak, and Zurg did not want to. They walked and walked, in uncomfortable silence, until after three hours they reached the moor, which surrounded the forest. Their boots had begun to feel heavy and Warp suggested a pause.

"No pauses, Darkmatter. Not before we get to the pond."

"My feet hurt. These boots are at least two numbers too small –owned by somebody whose letters are L. S. !  Why did you get the bigger pair? You already got the better tent and the bigger water flagon."

"Don't whine, you are a big man. Cheer yourself up, think about some evil things, for instance. Don't think about the pain."

"Ok… Some evil things… Women! They are always a cheerful topic!"

"Women?"

"Yeah! Whee… you should think about them, too, if you feel dull."

"I don't know any."

"What? But you must! I know at least a hundred! A thousand!"

"The only one I have ever known is dead."

Once again Warp found their conversation in a deadlock. But this time he would not let the Emperor win. He would not let him fall into a silence again, for the rest of the evening.

Warp decided to find out a little bit more about this evil man's history, for it interested him a great deal. After all, they had been friends for many years, and he thought he should have gained some trust by now. And he really had plenty of questions to which he wanted an answer from Zurg. The first one was the matter concerning Buzz Lightyear. Therefore Warp continued, with an attacking tone:

"Are you ever going to tell me the truth?"

The Emperor only gave a silent snarl and walked on.

"Don't do this, Emperor! Face the situation! You are here, on this little moon, in exile. You have lost your power and empire, all your might, and still you dare to hold some secrets from me! Do you want to lose your only friend, too? For the last time, open up your mind!"

Zurg stopped. He turned slowly around and looked steadily in Warp's eyes.

"You asked me this morning if I ever was married -and why I hate Buzz Lightyear so much."

He kept a pause. Warp waited.

"I have thought about these questions during the day –and I think I am ready to give you an answer –the answer which I know you are waiting for."

"You are Buzz' father?"

Zurg smiled melancholically.

"Yes, I am."

For a while, the silent caraway of a distant fall was the only voice to be heard. Warp had difficulties to believe what he had just heard, although he had thought of the matter quite often since their depart from the meadow. He now wondered what to ask next, and took a long, golden hey between his teeth. Scratching his bluish black hair he then spoke again:

"Then… If he is your son… Why do you want to kill him?"

"I do not."

"But… your fights… You have shot at him! With real weapons! I don't understand you."

"Listen… If I truly would have liked to end his days, he would be dead already. Do you honestly think that I have lost every battle only because the Team Lightyear was so powerful? I tell you, it has all been illusion. I lost them in purpose. For sunburst's sake, Buzz Lightyear is still my flesh and blood!"

The hey broke from the middle and began to nod. Warp spitted it out. More and more questions popped into his mind, and he was not sure which ones to ask first.

"So... Buzz doesn't know who you are. I mean... he doesn't have a slightest clue... that his father is... Evil Emperor Zurg?"

"No. And he needs not to know, either. He was taken away from me when he was only a baby."

"Are you afraid that he would hate you for what you are? You want him to think that his father is dead rather than an outlaw?"

"You said it. Only that I am worse than an outlaw. I want him to have a good memory of his father –like he has now. He thinks I died fighting for good things."

"Don't do that to yourself -or to Buzz! He told me so many times how much he wished that his father was alive!"

A threatening darkness reflected from the Emperor's appearance. His sharp eyes expressed anger and annoyance, which could have belonged to the devil himself.

"My son will never find out the truth about me! Not even from your lips!"

Warp did not venture to say a thing further and only looked down. It was clear that Emperor Zurg was not happy with his situation. He obviously still loved his son, no matter what. And he probably would have liked to get to know him. There were, however, so many secrets in the whole case still, that Warp could not yet make any sensible conclusion of the true happenings of the Emperor's past. The journey continued in the same silence than what it had been before.

After some hours, the day began to turn into a night. The fat, red sun in the horizon was finally losing her burning touch, and the wind silently gathered power. Emperor Zurg and Warp Darkmatter were an odd group in the middle of the wilderness with their huge loads; their walking reminded more like dragging, and the only things they said to each other were some tired curses. But the first day's journey at Naboor was already close to its end; the pond could at last be seen in the distance.

A fresh, green forest twined the two runaways into her hems just when the darkness descended. It was now impossible to see far ahead without a proper flash- or laser-light, and the Emperor finally decided to put his backpack down.

"I knew we could make it, Darkmatter. Now you can have your pause."

"About the time! But I still cannot see why we couldn't rest earlier."

"Because we can't be sure if we are followed. If we would have stayed at the moor, somebody might have seen us already from the air. Now the trackers have to wonder which direction we took from the M. Falcon."

"You are as clever as always, your evilness…"

"Stop calling me that, Darkmatter… I have got bored with it. We should try to come up with some new delightful title for me. Mwa ha ha!"

They pitched their tents right under a thick-leafed Syöveripoolo-tree that hung its branches far over the pond surface. However, they had no mattresses or relevant on which to sleep, so they built their beds of fallen leaves. Zurg began to gather some dry brushwood to make a fire and Warp filled their flagons with fresh pond water. They both were dead tired already and yawned continuously. Despite Warp was a keen hunter, he had been on this kind of a wild, exhausting and long trip last when he had been a ten-year-old brat and a member of the Galactic Wolf-Cub league.

While gathering the twigs from the sands, Emperor Zurg walked at the water and tried to see his reflection. It was quite dark and unclear, but he could still recognize his majestic looks: strong jaws and rather sharp lines, straight nose with full nostrils, large brown eyes under the blackest and thickest eyebrows of the galaxy, the expressive mouth and robber-like beard that framed his features.

"You are not so much different…", he whispered to himself, "You just have your mother's blue eyes."

The Emperor was kneeled on the sand and sat there at least twenty minutes, silently thinking his own things. Warp could not help paying attention to this odd behavior, but would not go to interrupt. Maybe it was not his business to know every thing.

An hour later, the campfire was flickering on white sand washed with moonlight. Warp threw the too-small boots away from his feet and massaged his toes. Zurg had come to sit vis-à-vis to him, and had brought a selection of canned goods along.

"What's for supper, Mighty Gordon?"

"What? Mighty Gordon?! Rolling moonstones, Darkmatter! That was the most horrible title I ever heard!"

"I thought you would like it!" Warp laughed, "You just admired your reflection for half an hour, didn't ya?"

"For your information, I had some way more serious thoughts in my mind, jester."

"Like what?"

"Like… " The Emperor was close to say something very interesting, but then drew back, "Like what we should eat now!"

Warp guessed that he was hiding some extremely grave things in his heart and therefore looked at him compassionately. However, he did not push Zurg to talk.

"So, what cans have you brought there, then? Perhaps boiled katkarapu-kaalilaatikko or fried jauhemaksapirtelö?"

Zurg took the little tin in his hand and tried to read what it contained. He kept it remarkably far away from his face and screwed up his eyes.

"I think… it says… 'oolated squiggs' here."

"Izzard, what is it? Cannot you see close?" Warp was hilarious. He had never been aware of this little secret.

"It must be the age." Zurg was a little embarrassed and very much annoyed. He grated his teeth and threw the tin away. Warp understood that Zurg would get furious if somebody dared to make fun of the matter. But he could not resist himself, and went to fetch the can from under the nearby bush.

"It says 'boiled eggs' here. Yuck! Boiled eggs in a preserve tin! I would much rather have eaten those 'mole-eaten squirrels' –or what ever they were!"

To his amazement, Zurg did not rage. If his temper was sizzling, it was well kept inside.

"Well, do you want to open it?" he just smiled.

"No! I don't!" Warp threw the can back into the bushes, "Who can ever eat that kind of stuff? Besides, I saw the date –it was the 4th Leppäallergia-month –year 1977!"

"Uh, we were lucky to throw it away. It is as old as the 4th episode of the War Stars! Here, take another one. What does this one contain?"

"Hmm… 'swashed bananas'. Sounds OK to me."

"And this one?" Zurg gave him a relatively big can.

"This is… 'roasted boot'.

"What? Darkmatter, you cannot be serious, that is no food!"

"Darn this label, it is so unclear… wait a second… could this be 'toasted root'."

"Sounds much reasonable… let's open it. And guess what –I have a bottle of Caco Laco here!"

"Whee! Let's eat!"

The air began to turn chilly, although the forest protected the two from the hardest wind, which stormed at the meadow. The campfire soon became their best friend, and they went to sit as close to it as they dared. Warp burned a hey after another in the flames, and Zurg threw little stones into the lake. Sometimes he succeeded to make them jump thrice from the surface before sinking.

"Darkmatter… Would you like to hear a story?"

Zurg's low voice broke the night. For a moment, Warp didn't say anything, just looked at the Emperor's pale face. Then he took a better position and asked:

"What kind of a story?"

Zurg got again that melancholy smile on his face.

"Just a little tale… about a young boy… who gets into wrong kind of circles after the death of his family… but survives out of them… and builds a market-empire with his own wit in the age of fifteen… and falls in love… gets a son… and finally, because of some extremely dreary coincidences, loses it all and becomes the most horrible monster of the galaxy."

"Yea… I would like to hear that."

And so Zurg began to tell his history, for the first time ever to anybody. At first, it seemed to be difficult, but he was determined. And therefore Warp finally got to know why he became what he now was –evil emperor Zurg.

"It was the mid-winter of 2581 in planet Bespin, Dolan's System. My home, the City of the Clouds, was bathing in the most beautiful cumulus, and the land beneath us could not be seen. I still remember how the sun sparkled its rays on my face whenever a hole appeared to the white veil. I was eleven years old then."

Zurg had a short pause.

"I was playing with my sister, Zoreann, on our balcony when my mother ran to us. I saw from her eyes that something was seriously wrong. But I could not ask about it –something just held me back. She lifted my little sister– only three years old –in her arms and told me to follow. And I did. We ran trough tens of aisles, and I saw panic everywhere. My sister cried… I can still hear her ripping cry and the scared expression on her little face."

Warp saw that it was really painful for the Emperor to call back these memories. But he still went on:

"My mother pushed us into a little room, close to the flight decks, and locked the door. She covered my sister in a blanket, wiped off her tears and set her on a sofa. Then she went to a window, obviously to look at the incoming starships. She had an energy saber bound onto her hips, and she walked about the room very nervously. Then I asked her where papa was." Zurg sighed. "She just laid her hand on my shoulder and smiled. When I asked again the same question… she said… that he was with the stars. Of course I thought that he had gone for a flight. But it didn't take me long to realize the truth."

"Then we heard that somebody was coming trough the door by force. Mama gave me the saber and asked me to take care of Zoreann. 'Try to hide into some starship and get away from here, Zored.', she said. 'The devil himself has come to take us. Don't let him get you, my child. Now… take your sister and go."  And I understood everything. It was the Empire. The evil emperor of the time, Dark Fader, had come to get my family for a reason I learned many years later –my father had betrayed him, by not agreeing to serve him."

"Then mama showed a hatch in a corner. The enemies had already got the door half broken, and I went in hurry to get my sister. But the shot was quicker than me; it had come trough the hole in the door and pierced my sister's heart. Only one shot… and it had to be her. I cannot understand. Why she? Oh… I embraced her sweet, little, lifeless body and cried. She had her beautiful brown eyes still open… I called for my mother for I didn't know what to do –but she never came."


Warp had begun to feel very bad. He had never known how terrible a childhood this emperor had had.


"I was full of anger and agony. For the first time in my life, I felt that I wanted to kill somebody. It was a terrible feeling –but it gave me energy and strength. I had just learned to know what it felt to want a revenge. But it was not the time, then. I fled from the hatch and stole a starship –I never before knew I could fly with such a thing. But I really could, and I got far away –and the end of my journey was planet Morph."

"That is Buzz' home planet", Warp recalled.

"Yes… that is his home."

"Then what happened?"

"The first year I was living in the wilderness, begging my food and sleeping under the trees. I was on my own for the first time –I did not know what I should have done. My days went on by practicing the usage of the energy saber. I was preparing for the day when I would get my revenge. And if I may say so myself – I indeed became a good fighter."

"At the summer of 2582, I got a friend. He called himself a 'jedi-master'. I never found out his real name. He had seen my skills and wanted to train me further, or that is what he told me. I was suspicious from the beginning, for he was green and sly-looking –but I stayed with him, because I had no better things to do, either."

"He was a good trainer although he always told me some blabber about the dark side of the force and so on, which I never believed. But he truly made me think clearly and control my anger. He took me into the city with him –he introduced me to some of his friends as his apprentice Zora. I found it funny, for I didn't even know what 'an apprentice' meant, in the age of twelve. But as I grew elder and became more powerful, I got to know his true means. He wanted me to lead his smuggling business after his retirement."

"I was young, just turned fourteen, when he announced that I was to become the leader. He said he would supervise me and give me 30% of the money he earned. And I was fool enough to accept –I had never had any money of my own, and I felt it intriguing. So I began my career –with a totally wrong foot."

"It didn't take me but three of four smuggling trips when I realized that I had been stupid. Only 30% of the profits, although I did the whole job and took the risk. For my luck, I had learnt to be as warp as my 'friend'; I did not go and ask for a bigger part –I did my own arrangements behind his back. One by one, I turned my master's friends against him with most disgusting lies. At the same time, with the money I earned, I was building an own enterprise –a consulting firm for new entrepreneurs. I was taking care of the smuggling trips still –but it often happened that the price was not the one we had had in mind –that is, I stole from him, so that my true share went up to even sixty percent. I was just horrible. Even today I wonder that I never got caught."

"My trainer died the same day I turned fifteen. I was finally set free from my bandages to him, by a natural way. I cannot say that I would have cried after him –no, as terrible as it sounds, I was happier than ever. I had a house, a growing firm, and money –the only thing I lacked was proper education. Do not understand me wrong –I had been at school in my youth in the City of the Clouds –and I had read a lot by myself during my training period. I was not an air-brain. But I needed something real, an examination."

"I went to the Academy of Tangea. It was far away from Morph, but I chose it in purpose: I wanted to know other places than my new home planet, too. Well… I started from the bottom, of course. The first class, where my colleagues were thirteen year old. They could not keep me there long, for despite I had had no real education since I was eleven, I was too clever to be there –so they put me into the class where the other fifteen-year-olds were. But even that did not fit for me –I felt stupid only because I was too smart to be among the others. So I left the Academy and switched to the University of Tangea. And there, I first got to know King Nova."

Warp was extremely surprised.
"Were you in the same school with the king?"

"I knew you would not believe it. But I was. And the next I'm going to tell you, you will believe no better."

"Were you his best friend? Let me laugh!"

"No, definitely not! Let's not go to the impossibilities, Darkmatter!" Zurg grinned.

"Then what?"

"Be patient. I cannot jump too much. You must hear every particular."

"Go on."

"So, as I already told you, I was in the same class with King Nova –at the time, prince Nova. He was rather clever and therefore a little distant, and I think he found a real competitor of me. He had used to be the best in his class, but the times were to change. Soon, we were both competing of the best degrees. But there where I thought it was fun, he was losing his mind with me. He could not endure me –he hated me, he was afraid of me –he wanted get rid of me."

"Doesn't sound like King Nova", Warp put in the middle.

"No, it does not. But I swear I am not telling you lies. He really hated me."

"Ok, what did he do, then?"

"Then? Nothing. But afterwards… Oh, how I was so blind. You see… After the school, I went back to Morph, to expand my enterprise. I also put up several other little businesses, all over the planet. I was eighteen when I reached my hands on other planets, too, and build my market-empire galaxy-wide. Have you not ever heard of such enterprises like 'Zora's Pizza-Planet' or "Zokia?"

"Now that you mention the names… I have heard of them. Actually my mother was working at Zokia's Xatagah-bureau."

"Yes… I ruled the markets in every parts of this galaxy."

"But those enterprises don't longer exist."

"No, they do not. For, you see, nothing can last forever. Least of all good things."

"What happened?"
"I fell in love."

"But… that is not so bad. I have fallen in love hundreds of times, and am still well-off."

"You know nothing about real love, Darkmatter."

"Wanna tell me, then?"

Zurg set himself to lie on the grass. He threw a couple of dry branches into the fire and began to look at the sky.

"I was eighteen when I met the woman of my life. Her name was Zeleica… She was Morphean, very beautiful… She actually reminded me of my mother, somehow, for she was relatively tall in height and had a thick, shining, black hair –I bet it reached her knees. Oh, how she was sweet! Nothing before her nor after had made my heart bounce at such rate. She just walked into my office one day –just like that, no agreed encountering –and told me how much she admired me. She was twenty-one years old, that is three years elder than I. But that did not scare us –actually, our life was as perfect as it can be only in fairy-tales. And a fairy-tale it was."

"We got married in five months. She was a determined and strong woman, and bad whispers told me that she was only after my fortune. But I ignored them –for how could she have been? With such a happy and caring nature, such devoting manners –how could I not have trusted her? She gave me a son after a year and eight months of our marriage… Buzz Lightyear. And I was so proud… so proud…"

For a moment, Zurg did not say a thing. Warp thought he saw a tear in his eye-corner, but was not sure.

"As I said, nothing lasts forever. After five months of my son's birth, everything was to change. I was on a business trip, checking out some of my Habogad enterprises, when she left me. I did not know it until I came back –after weeks of her departure. She had taken Buzz with her… She had left me a short note: 'Do not try to search for us. I do not love you'."

"I was devastated. Crushed. Torn in thousands of pieces. I was even near to end my life. Quasars… I kept asking myself why. Why? WHY? What had I done to deserve this? Why had she done this to me? But of course I tried to search them –I loved my wife, still. And if not for her, I loved my son. I wanted them both back. I wanted to know what had taken them away. I should never have done that search."

"It took me over two years to find even a little clue of them. They had just disappeared in the air –nobody had seen them, nobody had heard of them. I gathered a small searching troop –but they were more like bounty-hunters, for I promised a huge prize to the one who could find my family. Finally, one dark night, when I was sitting on my balcony, watching the lights of the city, one of my hunters called on me –Greedo. And he had some news. Of course I was keen to know what he had to say –oh, how I wished he had found them! But a few minutes later, I wished I would never have heard the name Zeleica again."

"She was on Tangea. In King Nova's palace. A traitor she was –she had done this all to me only because of the mission she had gotten from King Nova. I learned from Greedo that she had never been serious with me –that she had tricked me into our marriage only because King Nova wanted to destroy my market empire. Oh, how I woke up from my beautiful dreams into the real world! I saw it all clearly now: the prince Nova had never forgotten me, had grown even more jealous of me because my success in the markets –and finally, when getting the throne and becoming the King, he had decided to do something to me."

"The whole idea had been to crush me sentimentally. To make my life so miserable I could not lead my businesses any longer. And I admit he succeeded. From the day I concentrated on searching my Zeleica and Buzz, I let all my enterprises fall into destruction. I was not poor, however, far from it. I had gathered a great fortune already –a fortune beyond belief. But nobody knew it. At every business trip I had made, I had hidden an amount of uni-bucks in safe places. Even this moment I cannot recall how big my true fortune actually is… But I promise you, it is big."

"Aw, how angry I felt myself! How angry! I was about to leave towards Tangea immediately. But Greedo stopped me with only one sentence: 'your son was not with her anymore'. Of course I asked where she had left him –but that was a secret still unrevealed, even for Greedo."

Warp was so much in the story that he did not even notice that Zurg had risen up, not before the Emperor asked him if he was tired to hear more.

"No, actually I have never before heard anything as much interesting… Craters… And this is a true story…" Warp's eyes were everything but sleepy. In his mind rolled so many questions, to which he knew he would soon get an answer. He asked Zurg to finish his story.

"Well, I did not go to her. Not then. I was too much concerned of my son to do anything else but to try to find him. But I was not successful –not until he joined the Star Command and began to fight against me. But then I was already an emperor –and he was a grown-up young man."

"You do not know how I got into that high position. I will tell you; the darkest period of my history, this far, begins –it begins with a murder. You see, after ten years of hopeless and fatiguing searching, there was space only to angry thoughts in my mind –terrifying thoughts they were. I was left all alone; all my friends and even the bounty hunters abandoned me. I created myself a new identity, little by little. A new, revengeful, horrible identity. All the new and the old setbacks intruded in my mind so powerfully I could no longer held back my self."

"One night I left my home. I headed straight towards a planet called Zith; nowadays known only as Z. There were the head-quarters of the Dark Lord Fader –you remember, the man who devastated my family. I did not actually know what I was doing –I was just thinking of one thing: I wanted to kill him."

"I do nott remember how I succeeded; I namely did it all like in a foggy dream. But as the next day laid its golden luster on Zith's buildings, I was the new Emperor; a self-made Emperor. I remember how nobody dared to resist me –after all, I had just murdered the most powerful Dark Jedi of the galaxy. I was respected. And so it began. I changed my name –I became 'evil Emperor Zurg'."

"I hid myself under the mask, which is so familiar to you. I did not want anybody to know who I was. And as the days went on, I felt more and more powerful and satisfied. I had got my revenge of the Fader –and that encouraged me to pay back another issue; I wanted to make Zeleica suffer."

"But as I got interested in her again, I still found myself immensely fond of her, which was the reason I sometimes hated myself. I followed her every movement, like a greedy tiger lurking a delicious booty. At the same time, I increased my new Imperial Army into its most brilliant glory. Oh, how I suffered again! I wanted to make her life miserable –and still I wanted her back."

"It was a blistering cold afternoon, 57th Siitepöly-month year 2600, when I sent my troops towards the Capital Planet –that was namely Zeleica's new home. I sent them to kidnap her; I had some real evil plans made ready for her; I wanted her alive into my hands. But everything did not go as I had planned. The Galactic Alliance thought that I was attacking the whole city, and therefore sent its own troops to fight against mine. I had not prepared to that, and therefore they shot my cruisers down. It would have meant nothing but a little loss –had it not been the dreary fact, that one of the falling cruisers hit Zeleica's house –and killed her."

"I felt sad. I truly had my revenge of her, but I was sad. I never wanted her to be dead… At least, not in my heart. But I never showed my sorrow to anyone. I was a new Emperor now –I could not have feelings. Not tender ones, that is. And, as in order to replace my good feelings with bad ones, I created this enormous hate towards the whole Galactic Alliance and King Nova. And here I am now…"


Zurg walked to the fire and kicked it, until it was quenched.

"No more bedtime stories for today, Darkmatter. Go into your tent."

Warp did not resist.

After fifteen minutes, both Warp and Zurg were in the land of dreams. Heavy clouds began to bustle silently over the horizon after the midnight. The patter of rain on the tent canvas would have been too heavy for to be able to sleep in normal circumstances –but the two vagabonds were so exhausted that they slept like little babies despite the little storm outside.

…to be continued….