The Mystery of the Rebellious Robot The Mystery of the Rebellious Robot is a children ' s storybook released in 1979 and published by Random House . It was written by Eleanor Ehrhardt ( uncredited in the book itself ) and illustrated by Mark Corcoran . It is one of three such children ' s " Star Wars " storybooks released that year , along with " The Wookiee Storybook " and " The Maverick Moon " . It takes place at an unspecified time after . Publisher ' s summary . Luke Skywalker and his companions are puzzled by the sudden bizarre behavior of their robots and the malfunction of their machines . Plot summary . Han Solo and his Wookiee first mate , Chewbacca , are on their way to Tatooine aboard the " Millennium Falcon " when R2 - D2 suddenly shuts down . Chewbacca oils the droid , who then goes berserk and hijacks the ship . Luke Skywalker arrives from Tatooine in his X - wing starfighter and uses the Force to guide the smuggler ' s craft to safety in a hangar on the planet . Upon arrival , Luke asks Han and Chewbacca to report R2 - D2 ' s behavior in a conference being held to discuss the mysterious acts of sabotage Captain Egoreg ' s super - vaporator project was suffering . The planet was having a severe moisture drought , and Luke and his friends decided to help the residents out by building a super - vaporator in order to pluck more water from the dry desert air . However , the mission was being beset by all manner of strange failures involving faulty machines and erratic droid behavior . During the meeting the conference room was wracked by a minor explosion . No one was hurt except C - 3PO , who was shuttled down to Maintenance for some repairs . After emerging from an oil bath , the protocol droid could no longer talk ! The oil had been contaminated , and was the source of the rebellious droids that the project was having trouble with . Luckily , a nearby maintenance droid noticed and cleaned both R2 - D2 and C - 3PO ' s systems of the fluid . The trio rushed to tell Egoreg that they had found the source of the malfunctioning robots . However , en route they bumped into the true source of the problem — Jawas ! A small group of them had infiltrated the compound and began stealing items for the super - vaporator , damaging machinery and spoiling the oil supply . In the ensuing scuffle C - 3PO and the maintenance droid were knocked down , but R2 - D2 managed to send a distress signal . Han and Chewbacca were the first to show up , and Chewbacca roared a primal Wookiee yell to frighten the small bandits into submission . When asked why they were doing damage to the super - vaporator project , the Jawas stated that they figured damaged machinery is thrown out faster , after which they could take it easily . The Jawas were punished afterwards , and Chewbacca was presented with a medal for saving the day . Behind the scenes . The time period of this story is unspecified . No mention is made of the Rebellion or the Empire , hinting that the war is over . But Luke is portrayed as less than fully adept with the Force , and his and Leia ' s hairstyles match those they sported in " " . There are several internal inconsistencies between the text and the illustrations . For example , although the compound is said to be on Tatooine , the interior looks very much like the Massassi Temple on Yavin 4 ; in fact , outside the hangar in which the " Millennium Falcon " docks , trees are visible , as well as a spire resembling those outside the Rebel base on Yavin 4 . Also , the text calls the maintenance droid that assists R2 - D2 and C - 3PO an R2 unit , but the picture of it resembles an R5 - series model . However , it should be noted that Luke refers to R5 - D4 as an " R2 unit " in " A New Hope " , so this might be seen as a common generalization .