fo

poked

out

f

om

a

hole

in

the

walk-in

pantry

skirting

board.

roy

and

re

watched,

ed

in

the

darkness,

as

the

machine

trundled

past.

'we're

trapped!

we're

screwed!'

roy

cried,

dropping

the

sack

from

his

back.

'for

the

love

of

god

keep

yo

down!'

growled

re

.

'ten

years

passing,

five

for

theft!

but

if

that

thing

gets

us,

there'll

be

nothing

left!'

remy

pulled

out

his

phone.

he

had

an

idea.

'hi

this

is

remy

from

down

the

road'

he

said,

trying

not

to

sound

like

a

rat.

'oh

hi

remy,

i

don't

think

we've

met'

a

man

replied,

entirely

unratlike.

'i

just

had

some

questions

about

ur

uh..'

he

squinted

at

the

thing

'..ZT50

ratmasher

autonomous

pest-control

robot

cause

i

was

umm

thinking

of

getting

one'

'oh

s

e

let's

hear

it'

said

the

man

'yeah

so

pretty

cool

gadget,

does

it

like

vaporise

those

dirty

uh

rats

instantly

and

painlessly

when

it

es

them

or

something

haha(?)'

'nope,

we've

got

the

old

model

so

it

just

has

the

mechanical

mashing

system.

i

think

they

introduced

vaporisation

in

the

ZT70

model'.

re

gulped.

'ironic

really,

because

they

still

call

the

r

models

ratmashers',

the

man

continued.

remy

didn't

think

it

was

ic.

'and

how

does

it

find

the

rats?

some

sort

of

from

-vision?'

'nah,

it's

mostly

just

.

no

search

and

destroy

mode.

we

just

leave

ours

in

the

pantry,

u

know,

ing

on

the

fact

that

the

rats

will

go

i

there'.

'what's

he

saying

rems??'

asked

roy.

'just

small

talk,

roy'

remy

was

sweating

an

ing

all

over.

he

was

so

disappointed

in

himself.

'umm...

so

for

a

potential

purchaser

what

would

you

say

is

the

worst

??'

he

was

definitely

squeaking

now.

'well...

it

can

only

mash

one

rat

then

we

have

to

go

clean

it

out

-

that's

definitely

a

disadvantage

when

you

compare

the

mechanisms

of

later

models

in

the

ra-'

remy

snapped

the

phone

shut

and

turned

to

roy.

roy

looked

up

at

him.

'follow

me,

bud

',

said

remy.