The Rat and Cat Show

Episode 4: I Spy With My Little Eye

As you sit down to rest on the second largest treetop in Critter Valley and summarize all your important characteristics of this world, you are interrupted. Down below, completely alone in the Great Meadows of the Valley, CatNap is walking.

The 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝 part? He runs in the direction of the forest, seemingly with a purpose and a realization. But what exactly does he want in an area that is formally beyond his territory?

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐍𝐚𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞.

-

Here I am again!

Yes, the update took a damn long time, don't worry it had its reasons:

1. I was on vacation for a week.
2. I had to deal with a job offer. (In case anyone is interested: IT specialist)
3. I had to build up my new kitchen all by myself. (Thanks IKEA for the good service)

But here I am again, and with a chapter that is slowly getting the stone rolling.

Have fun reading!

This is an edited Version of the Chapter, found some mistakes and fixed them.

-

Dear diary,

I've been here in Critter Valley for 3 weeks now. I'd like to write that you get used to this world, but you don't. Is it because I'm just a spy and know that everything here is fake? Is it because the only reason I'm here is to monitor the Smilling Critters?

I don't have much space on these notebook pages, plus I only have 10 pages left in this book. So here are my most important findings that I absolutely have to write down before I forget them:

1. The employees of this whole operation come at night and fill the fridges, empty the garbage and take care of everything. I assume that there are cameras in the critters' houses that monitor them and employees are sent out on a fixed schedule. I've already watched them, they disappear on the other side of the valley from where I came and where I have to hand in my reports. Since the forest encompasses this whole world, I assume that there are several exits from this world. However, I only know of two at the moment, the one in the Dark Forest where I hand in my reports and the one where the employees disappear.

2. There are no insects. It's weird, the Valley consists of 90% meadows, but so far, I haven't seen any insects. At first, I thought that insects such as flies were equipped with very small cameras and were a kind of extra surveillance, well, there are none. But there is a small problem, a gap in logic, at least that's what I would call it. Two days ago, when I was on a hill near DogDay's house at night, under the dark starry sky, I heard them. At first, I thought I had something on my ears, after all I feel like assembled scrap metal and fur parts.

They were crickets, the little green insects that chirp. But after I sat down close to the ground, under the cool night breeze, I noticed them: loudspeakers, deep in the ground and almost invisible. I am very sure that there are microphones somewhere deep in the ground, but I didn't look any further.

3. The ration or portion that I get to eat depends on my report. To be precise: the quality. The quantity doesn't matter at all, as I realized last week when I wrote a page and a half instead of just one. It's about the most important thing, and that was the relationships between the critters. Most of the information people get when they watch this cartoon, the Smilling Critters, but of course it's scripted. The real, important stuff is behind the scenes.