Conversations with Critters Presents The Case of the Jumping Gene Chapter 13

Walk with the animals. Talk with the animals. And the highly anticipated release of Chapter 13 of the Case of the Jumping Gene!

Sep 02, 2025

Today Critters, we are pleased to present the next chapter, lucky number 13 of our hopping story, The Case of the Jumping Gene! Brought to you by the ever steady and at the ready, J Kitten, Sleuth & Purveyor of Bright Shiny Objects Detective Agency!

Previously! A closer look under a second state of hypnosis, gave our intrepid Critter Detectives the most revealing but also the most elusive clue so far!

Now! The mystery continues to unfold with a truly incredible bright shiny object which is, in fact, the brightest object in the starry starry night sky. But will it be enough to keep the Critters on track?

Please! Let this light be our guide as we welcome our Core Community Critters, Jasper Kitten, Chris and Jojo is excellent shining ever so bright critter commentary and conversation. Take it away!

Jasper: Hello and welcome back for our next steps! We must tread carefully, very very carefully! Cuz.

Chris: Cuz. The Laws of Physics still apply to the action.

Jojo: Friends, we now embark bark bark on putting the plot in motion.

THE CASE OF THE JUMPING GENE
BOOK 3 FROM THE J KITTEN, SLEUTH & PURVEYOR OF BRIGHT SHINY OBJECTS DETECTIVE AGENCY
BY JASPER KITTEN, CHRIS, JOJO AND STAR IN HEAVEN FUREVER AND EVER
DEDICATED IN LUVLUVLUVING MEMORY OF STAR
CHAPTER 13
DOG STAR

Star looked up at the night sky, at Sirius on the rise, both beacon and guide, and the Critters cruised over the uncharted terrain to reach their destination by dawn. The sled team kept a steady, synchronous pace, well practiced and planned, enveloped in companionable silence as they pressed on.

In the warmth of their heated cabin, Fiona and Charlotte dreamed the sweet dream of finding their Furever Home amidst the green pastures and the red barns of the Alpaca Farm. They slept undisturbed and their friends, all tucked in safe and secure in their respective cabins, shared the same dreamscape of a custom built Catio and the comforts of a brand new day.

Riding all the way at the back of the pack, Jasper Kitten felt otherwise. Completely.

“Busby Bubbs,” he mewed under his breath. “Busby Bubbs. Come. And. Get. Me.”

Chris felt his ear flinch and angled his head, his auditory senses on high alert, and turned to look at Jasper Kitten on the sled behind him.

“Why, we’re gonna put that elusive criminal animal in the slammer fur sure,” growled Chris, low and slow.

“Correct, Chris. Once we traverse this uncharted terrain in the mountains and draw the coward out of hiding, we’ll slap the cuffs on Busby Bubbs but good and for good,” Jasper Kitten mewed with the paws up signal.

The sleds curved through a bend and Chris faced forward again, adjusting his balance, the tacit and tactile strength of his toebeans in a protective stance astride the food supply.

They rode on in the night, Jasper Kitten pensive and subdued, his mind in turmoil, roiled. He mulled over the inescapable fact, in fact, that he must be prepared and ever vigilant in any given moment, in any given situation, any condition, out in the vast expanse of the wilderness or secluded in the woods, under starry starry skies or in the swirl and whirl of a snowstorm, to confront this arch rival and go mano a mano. Even, he dared to think, at the haven of the Alpaca Farm itself. If and only if necessary.

“Paw. To. Paw. Busby. Bubbs,” Jasper Kitten mewed to the sky. “Paw. To. Paw.”

Jasper Kitten was not about to leave a single solitary stone unturned. He knew it in every fiber of his Orange stripes, sensed it, felt it through and through.

“Not. By. A. Long. Shot. Bubbs. And never alone.” Jasper Kitten looked ahead, at Chris and then Clementine and Petal, riding in position on the sled just forward of Chris.

And although they were out of his sight at the lead with Sir Skipper, he knew that his Canine Unit, Star and Jojo, were racing through the night, further honing their skills at celestial navigation and drawing the Ginormous Group closer with every deliberate step to the best possible hope of finding a Furever Home at the Alpaca Farm.

“Never alone,” he mewed as the sled surged forward, but he resisted the urge to swat the air with a white gloved paw in a conscious conservation of his energy and his strength, knowing the time would come sooner rather than later for his signature decisive maneuver.

He held on, ready and willing to crack the case as wide open as the wilderness through which he traveled with his capable incredible team. In the silence of their journey, Jasper Kitten leaned into the ride, attuned to a rumble or a tumble of a motor, the blinding streak of a headlight, a side swipe, a bash from the back.

But all was quiet save for the overland glide of the sleds and the rhythm of dog paws constant in the snow. Jasper Kitten stilled his mind like the stillness of the night and maintained his vigil for any and all disturbances.

The sled dogs slowed to a trot, their progress now far to the north of Mt Bachelor, and the high desert plains stretched out far and wide. The faint scent of woodsmoke drifted in the air, the first sign of the domestic circumstance of farm life which awaited them in their long nocturnal trek. The cats stirred in their heated cabins with the change in pace, but slept on, dreaming.

Sir Skipper slowed to a gradual stop and tread over to Jasper Kitten accompanied by Star and Jojo.

“How close are we, Sir Skipper?” inquired Jasper Kitten, hopping down from his sled.

“Approx one hour, Jasper Kitten,” estimated Sir Skipper.

“And the break of dawn? How soon do you anticipate the sunrise?”

“Approx the same. We are making good time and all has gone smoothly. My team is taking a breather, but their energy and spirits are in excellent condition. Our overland expedition is nearly complete,” he relayed.

“Thank you for checking in with me, Sir Skipper,” replied Jasper Kitten. “We are A-okay. If I may, please, I’d like a word with Star and Jojo before we continue on.”

“Roger that, Jasper Kitten,” and Sir Skipper headed back to the head of the pack.

The Canine Unit was all ears while Chris, Clementine and Petal observed from their sleds.

“Star and Jojo, what is your assessment from the head of the pack of the journey thus far?” queried Jasper Kitten.

“The overland express has gone smoothly, Jasper Kitten,” bark bark barked Jojo.

“We have good viz with the clear night sky. There’s been no sign of Busby Bubbs,” added Star, adjusting her progressive glasses.

“Yes, I see, Star and Jojo,” mewed Jasper Kitten. “And that is what concerns me.”

Chris shifted on his toebeans and Clementine and Petal felt the horizontal stripes on their Serval ears rise to a higher level as Jasper Kitten continued.

“We will not be lulled into complacency by Busby Bubbs,” he instructed. “If my instincts serve me correctly here on the high desert plains, we may be out of the woods but there is still plenty of room to hide in plain sight.”

“Jasper Kitten,” replied Jojo, “Busby Bubbs is elusive by his very nature. That’s a given. But we’ve also knocked out his utilization of his foot soldiers who are now perfectly content to sleep through this stage of the investigation.”

“Your point is well taken and you are correct in your estimation of the comfort level of our Clients. We are performing our duties well and continue to maintain their protection, their safety, and their well being. However. I do not believe that we have neutralized the threat against them.” Jasper Kitten paced in the snow.

“What you are saying makes purrfect sense,” growled Chris, low and slow. “Cuz. If that Busby Bubbs materializes seemingly outta nowhere, why I’m gonna shred ‘em with my bare toebeans.”

“Agreed,” barked Jojo. “We may not encounter a motorized vehicle built for the snow, which is our experience with the modus operandi of this perp, but we must not rule anything out.”

“Gosh, we sure don’t need any more surprises like that snowmobile and snowplow trying to run us down,” apprised Star. She looked up at the moon and Sirius and the light flashed in her eyes. “Jasper Kitten, does the possibility exist that Busby Bubbs could be in pursuit of us on foot?”

Jasper Kitten froze in his tracks and his eyes locked with Star’s.

“That is a very good question, Star,” he mewed.

“Perhaps on snowshoes, Jasper Kitten, if I am to wager a wild guess,” she pointed out with a tap of her cinnamon brown paw.

“I see, Star,” he mewed. “Yes. Snowshoes are a highly popular form of footwear in the Mt. Bachelor wilderness area. Critters, let us remain alert to any specific snowshoe related tracks as we fare forward.”

“Copy,” cried the Detectives and they scanned the field of snow around them, glistening, unmarked, and pristine in the moonlight.

Jasper Kitten hopped backed up on his sled. Star and Jojo bounded back to Sir Skipper and without further adieu, the train of sleds moved forward and gathered speed, racing on to greet the morning.

A band of light expanded on the horizon, illuminating the snow, brighter and brighter, and the sun came up to the dawn of the new day. The dogs ran on and soon the peaks of rooftops stood out, distant on the land. A farmhouse came into view with a wisp of smoke rising above it and a big red barn and outbuildings nestled in the golden glow of the sunrise.

Jasper Kitten felt a wave of relief wash over him for the first time since they had left the sanctuary of the Lava Caves. He allowed the feeling to grow with the lightening sky and their final approach to the farm.

“Yes, but” he gave a wary mew under his breath, ragged in the freezing morning temps. “Things. May. Not. Be. As. They. Seem.”

No sooner did he say it then he felt it. His sled tilted at a very sharp angle, skid to the side and could not correct course. He cried out to Chris up ahead, but it was too late. The sled cracked and broke away and Jasper Kitten found himself in a most unnatural state, airborne and flying.

He dropped but did not roll when he hit the ground, having found himself in the previous and precarious position of being unable to defy gravity, and kicked up a flurry of snow, a singular blur of Orange fur.

Chris felt the bags of kibble lurch beneath his toebeans on the supply sled. He gripped harder and harder with his stance, as if running on a log, fighting to hang on from the force and the pressure of Jasper Kitten’s sled breaking away.

At the head of the pack, Sir Skipper shot a look over his shoulder, sensing the kinetic shift rippling forward from Jasper Kitten’s sled, and took urgent emergent action to bring his team to a stop. Star and Jojo raced to the back as Chris, Clementine and Petal vaulted onto the ground. They ran toward the site of Jasper Kitten’s impact, a cat sized crater in the snow.

“Jasper Kitten! Jasper Kitten! Where are you?” Star ran around the crater first clockwise and then counterclockwise, but the Orange striped sleuth was not within any range of her sight, not up close, not in the middle and definitely not in the far distance. “Jojo, dig in!”

The Canine Unit set to work and the snow flew out behind them in rapid clumps. They kept digging and digging. Deeper and deeper. Chris ran back to the supply sled for a first aid kit while Clementine and Petal adjusted their keen Serval auditory senses to the highest perceptible level.

And they heard it first, a muffled but unmistakable mew, subaudible and undetectable to the domestic earshot of Star and Jojo and Chris.

“Jasper Kitten, we salute you!” cried Clementine and Petal.

Star batted away at a layer of snow and an Orange stripe appeared. She swiped and wiped away at the snow, faster and faster with the dexterity and finesse of her cinnamon brown paws and then, freed from the ice, Jasper Kitten sprang out of the crater.

“I’m A-okay!” he cried, shaking off a thick layer of snow.

Chris bounded over to him with bandages at the ready, but Jasper Kitten held up a white gloved paw.

“Are you sure you’re not hurt?” growled Chris, loud and proud.

“Thank you for the question, Chris. I am no worse for the wear,” confirmed Jasper Kitten, grooming the residual ice from his whiskers and eyelashes. “After all, I was not shot out of a cannon.”

“Why, that’s certainly a relief, Jasper Kitten,” replied Chris, zipping the first aid kit closed.

Jasper Kitten padded over to the remains of the broken sled, cracked and shattered and scattered across a wide debris field.

“The sled looks severely damaged," cried Jasper Kitten.

Sir Skipper strode up to him and extended a supportive paw.

“Are you sure you’re A-okay, Jasper Kitten? What happened back here?” he asked, surveying the damage.

“I believe a mechanical incident has occurred with the sled, Sir Skipper. My apologies for the inconvenience. My agency will be sure to compensate you accordingly.”

“Certainly, that will not be necessary. My only concern is for your health and safety,” replied Sir Skipper.

Upon closer inspection, Sir Skipper determined that the sled had in fact been tampered with at a critical point of weight bearing contact and connection.

“Jasper Kitten, a bolt in the hitch has been filed. Furthermore, this caused a weakness in the bolt’s tensile strength over time and it eventually snapped. It’s amazing that the breakdown didn’t happen sooner over this rugged terrain,” he concluded.

“I see,” mewed Jasper Kitten. “Thank you for your full accident inspection and report, Sir Skipper. Is the sled beyond repair?”

“I’m afraid so, but we can continue on without it. The main concern, again, is that you are unharmed,” confirmed Sir Skipper and returned to the head of the pack.

“How is the Ginormous Group handling this disruption in travel?” inquired Jasper Kitten.

“Gosh, fortunately they are still sound asleep, Jasper Kitten, and sleep is quite restorative,” barked Star.

“Yes, this is good news. Our Clients have been through quite an ordeal and do not need or deserve any increase in the traumatic load which they have carried. They must remain safe from any further risk of harm. That is my job as their Detective,” asserted Jasper Kitten.

The Critter Detectives huddled together and Jasper Kitten gave his final assessment of the sled situation.

“Sabotage,” he mewed and swatted the air with a white gloved paw.

🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

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