Chapter 3
Ten-thousand planet rotations in the future and precisely on the same day at the same hour, another puff as flashy as the last one happened again, and the exact same stupid-looking cat landed in front of the same charming-looking cave.
How do we know it's the same cave?
Because the same stinking Mog, son of Mog, sits gnawing the bones of some unlucky critter.
But … how come?
The kitty just jumped ten-thousand years in the future!
Did the humans just waste ten-thousand years, doing nothing?
Where are all the scientific discoveries? The technological progress? The spaceships and the galactic airports? Ten-thousand years, and they haven't even bothered to innovate their own names?
Mog, son of Mog … still?
Really?
The cat takes another look around, completely puzzled. He tries to determine if the jump in time misfired.
He remembers that the Master Scientist said something about loops and paradigms and how jumping backward is tricky from jumping forward because you have to think that time already moves forward. But he was so sleepy during that lesson, and there were so many, many details with so many long and complicated names…
But not to panic!
He knew he had the keenest spirit of observation (he had the badge of achievement to prove it!) and the bestest special recognition (he had the golden star of achievement for that also!) and the necessary terrain searching intuition (he had the purple medal of valor!). He decides to put all these to good use!
A-ha!
The trees are different!
You can't forget the trees that saved your skin, now can you? Deep sigh of relief right there.
And look! Look! Different rocks!
And … oh, my!
A FIRE!!
So things have started changing around here!
Log entry: "The smart monkeyz make the great fire discovery! And they haz ten more growl-growl in their vocabuhlary!"
This looks encouraging. They're making progress. Maybe we should correct the initial thought: ten-thousand years were not wasted. They're getting somewhere!
That night, a happy kitty sneaks quietly behind the unsuspecting farting humanz and warms itself near the fire. The concert of snores that fills the cave's perfect acoustic arches is slightly enhanced by a warm purr. Barely awake, Mog notices the sound that he has never heard before. Nobody from the tribe has such a peaceful and content snore. That is why he knows he is dreaming and goes back to sleep.
In the morning, strange little fireflies appear from all the corners of the horizon and swarm into the kitty tail, bringing all kinds of data goodies. Then one minute later, with another flash of light followed by another halo, the kitty goes missing for another ten-thousand years.