In the midnight on Pulu, Team Lightyear found itself in a bush area. Sharp branches of little roses, hawthorns and other shrubs tried to tore rips to their suits. The air was humid and heavy, and Buzz was worried about Mira's condition. The injury was in danger to get festered.

"Look, there is a cottage! That must be the one we have been searching for", Booster whispered.

"It is dark. If Zurg and Darkmatter are there, they must be sleeping", Buzz answered, "I will go ahead to check the situation. You keep an eye on Mira, and XR's body."

"Yes, Captain! But be careful!"

Buzz tried to move without making any noise. Sometimes a couple of dry branches cracked under his boots, as always in this kind of situations, and one time he fell down, but for his relief, the hunting box stayed dark and silent. Carefully the ranger sneaked next to the wall and looked inside from the window.

"Hmm… pretty messy place. I see Mr. Nurminen and Darkmatter are not very tidy men…", he thought silently, "Unless the mess is caused by Zurg. I can imagine he is not accustomed to hoover…"

Buzz stepped cautiously under another window.

"Aha, the bedroom! But nobody is here!"

In the weak moonlight Buzz distinguished a wide bed, a desk on which were a couple of open books, and plenty of pictures on the wall.

"Nothing… But what about the other end of the house?"

The Captain rapidly passed by the strong, wooden door and ended up lurking behind the northern corner.
"Phew! I hope nobody saw my shadow!"

Very slowly he straightened himself up and leaned against the wall. At his right side was the last of the three windows of the cottage.

"For the first time during our trip I hope I don't find the Emperor and his apprentice!"

And so he tried to see in. It was very somber, but still Buzz could make out that this was another bedroom. But was there somebody sleeping on the bed? The Captain could not be sure. He opened his visor so that he could press his nose against the window glass and see better.

"Ah… Blast, there is somebody sleeping, definitely. But which one of the two outlaws he is, I cannot tell…"

Then suddenly that somebody rose up and jumped on the table, just in front of Buzz' face. Buzz yelled in surprise and jumped backwards. Immediately he had tuned his wrist laser and targeted it towards the window,

"Don't try any tricks with me! I have a hundred-headed support group right behind those bushes!"

But the one behind the glass was as confused as the Captain, and after crying loudly 'meow', it jumped forward and broke the window with its hoofs.

"Ohh… it is a.. a... a moose!" Buzz switched his ray off, "Luckily I left Booster behind, this is so embarrassing!"

Wiping sweat out of his forehead, Buzz went inside. The cottage was dim and full of spider webs, and some determined weeds were growing trough the floor. After the poky porch, Buzz stepped inside a combination of kitchen and living room. The phosphorescent green shimmer of his suit made everything look very rough.

"Now, where is the light? This place needs really a good cleaning!"

Buzz opened the door to the southern bedroom. It was almost as large as the living room, and it was decorated with violet and bright red canvases.

"This room seems to be perfect for Mira… But where is that stupid animal?"

Walking trough the other rooms, Buzz pushed the other closed door open.

"Miniature Zurg helmets, that big cloven-hoofed animal is stuck!"

"Meow! Mouurr! Uaaah! Ommooo!" the moose moaned, "Snooh, snooh… Maourr! Ieeerk!"

"Oh, stop that horrible noise! I am coming to help you!"

Buzz saw that the brown and gigantic pal was very badly jammed in the window.

"Ok, let's see… How can I get you out of here? Hmm… Your front legs and snout are already outside, but your antlers and the rest of the body are inside. And there's no way that I could push you out –nor drag you back in."

The moose only moaned desperately. Buzz snorted because the animal's natural scent was not the most pleasant one.

"I guess my only option is to cut the window frames off. I hope Mr. Nurminen doesn't mind too much, when he next time comes here."

After fifteen minutes, the job was done and the deer was free to go away. However, it had to take the frames along, because they were stuck into his neck.

"Remember to bring that back!" Buzz shouted after him, and laughed at his own stupid joke, "Ah, now I can call Booster and the others here!"

Half an hour later, a fire was crackling in the cottage's fireplace, and Mira was sleeping on a soft bed in Warp's room. The rangers decided that it had to be Darkmatter's room, because the walls were full of his pictures. However, he had a good taste what it came to the furniture, because the bed was excessively comfortable and the table was handmade of pure cherry-tree. The lamp which softly lightened the room had a brand new golden crystal, and the wardrobe was full of best quality clothes.

"Do you feel better now, Mira?" Booster asked, and the princess gave him a slight smile.

"A cup of water would be nice."

"I'm gonna get it for you."

Buzz stepped inside the room just when Booster was going out to the kitchen-living room.

"Nobody has been here for a while. Hope you don't mind that the bed is a bit dusty. We changed the sheets and beat the most dirt out of  the blankets, still."

"I'm just fine… Uh, only that I am so frustrated!"

"Do you want something to read? Let's see what's on the table… Oho, this must interest you very much. A letter course –five steps to the dark side!"

"A what? No, that does not interest me at all. Who on this galaxy would read something like that?"

"Perhaps Zurg has given this to his 'Agent Z'!"

Booster now came in, and brought the glass of water.

"That would explain the light saber in the garden, right?" he said, supporting Mira gently as she drank.

"Let's have a look at this, just for fun", Buzz smiled, and opened the thin book.

In the first page he read out loud,

"This is a week's course towards the glory of the dark side. Follow the instructions and develop your brains according to this leaflet, and you will find out a totally new side in you."

"How funny! Who is the author?" Mira tiredly grinned from the bed.

"Wait a second… Some guy called E. Palp-18. Never heard before."

"Me neither."

"So… What does it tell you to do?" Booster was a bit interested.

"Here are five different chapters in this book, I see. First one: Make Sure the Your Name Sounds Evil."

"Aha, Warp has done that. Agent Z, you know!" Booster realized.

"Second chapter: Cut Your Right Hand and Replace It With A Mechanical Part."

"Gee, what would XR say about this?" Mira giggled, "But Warp has done what the chapter says, right?"

"He has been a really good student", Booster declared.

"Who else has ever read this seriously? Come to think of it, also that deceased Dark Fader had a mechanic hand –or that's what I have been reading. But only down from the wrist –not the whole arm!" Mira had real fun, "And his original name was something like Ananas Skytalker, wasn't it?"

"Yep, he was most likely the student of this Palp-18 also", Buzz agreed, "Want to hear the next chapter?"

"Go ahead!"

"Hide Your Face Under An Evil-Looking Mask."

"Hahaa! Evil-looking, eh? Agent Z's helmet looks more like an incinerator with horns!"

Mira's head fell down on the pillow with exhaustion.

"This is too rough for me… I need some rest."

"Sure, Mira. But the chapter 4 is about the lightsaber! Learn to Build A Light Saber –Red One."

Booster happened to look in the trashcan right at that moment, and saw there a little silvery tube.

"Hot rockets! Here we got one! A lightsaber!"

"Let me see it!" Buzz was keen on to take it.

After handling the tube for a while, he succeeded to switch on the saber. A purple light mixed with the golden gleam of the crystal made both Mira and Booster gasp.

"How beautiful!" Mira sighed, "I wish I had a lava lamp like that! It would enhance my pink curtains just perfectly!"

Buzz swung the sword in the air and succeeded to drop down a miniature model of Warp's moon, which was hanging from the ceiling, onto the floor.

"Blast, what a weapon!"

"But why was it in the trash can?" Booster wondered, "Wasn't Warp satisfied with it?"

"The guide insists that it has to be a red one!"
"Doesn't Darkmatter know that purple saber is even more powerful than the red one? He is very lucky guy when he can make a saber of that rare color!"

"But what if he was afraid that Emperor Zurg would find it out? You know, that loony royal is really crazy about that color!"

"Quite reasonable."

"Would you guys go out of the room please!" Mira cried from the bottom of the bed, "I really need some rest."

"Oh, of course", Buzz and Booster went out and closed the door behind.

They went to sit in the couch of the living room. Buzz eyed the Leaflet of the Dark Side one last time.

"The final step is to Release Your Anger."

"Bah… Put that stupid thing away."

The new morning was gradually dawning outside. Buzz yawned and he found that his eyelids were very heavy. He looked at Booster, and saw that the red alien had already fallen into a deep sleep.

"Alright… Let's take a few hours' nap… then we have more energy to find XR… huooh…"

The Captain let his head fall onto the backrest of the coach. Soon, a hard snore was filling the room.

…to be continued…