The special agent crept silently through the thicket in her super camouflage robe. She had an explosive, top-secret mission to fulfill. This was to find, catch and isolate the panda bear. After all, he was suspected of being the cause of one of the most serious epidemics of modern times. “The corona virus, on the other hand, was a trifle,” the agent was told, whose name may not be given for security reasons, not for data protection reasons. That’s why she now crawled through the undergrowth, using every camouflage, because after all, a panda bear was a pretty frightened creature. From time to time she just lay still and listened to the lush green surroundings. So far, she had found not one, but several tracks that could match her panda bear, but she had not yet seen him himself.

„What a beautiful forest,“ she thought. It was oppressively hot, but here, between all the trees, it was bearable. „Why only people have to live in cities, when it’s so beautiful out here and you really don’t need anything but a cave to protect yourself from the rain,“ she asked herself involuntarily. Of course, she knew why that was. After all, people needed houses or at least apartments, because outdoors is nothing, even if the climate actually allows it. But they not only needed these shelters to live in, sleep, shower, eat and whatever else people do in their homes, but also to be able to keep their belongings in a place where they would be safe from strangers’ access would be secure. Of course, that’s not possible in a cave and everyone who comes by simply has to grab it. In order to be able to afford this living space, whether it was bought or rented, people had to have money. But most of our species got money through work, more precisely, outside gainful work. Of course, there were also those who grew vegetables and fruit to sell at the market, but that was very few. Finally, there were huge plantations. More and more forests were cleared for this, even in places where cultivation was actually not possible.

„Pesticides and genetically modified seeds are being used to help,“ the agent added mentally, „These pesticides get into the soil, into the animals, into the drinking water and contaminate our environment. And whether the genetic manipulations contribute to the spread of viruses?” She couldn’t answer this question, after all she was an agent and not a biologist. „Besides, what’s the point of this now,“ she called to order herself, „You don’t have any questions to ask here, you have an assignment to fulfill. That’s what you get paid for. Everything else should be thought about by those who have an idea. They’re probably acting for the good of humanity. That’s why you have to track down that evil panda bear to save everyone.” She already saw herself as a heroine. It’s just stupid that nobody would ever find out about her heroine existence. Nothing was allowed to be said about the panda bear either, or better yet, about the virus mutation that it probably carried. People might panic if they knew about it and buy toilet paper like the possessed. Although, that was with Corona. What kind of meaningful thing do you think everyone’s attention would be on this time? Maybe aluminum foil so you could make more hats.

A noise startled the special agent with all her special agent skills. Confused, she looked around in all directions, but she didn’t look up. Directly above her, the panda bear was perched snugly in a forked branch, munching on bamboo like panda bears do. He observed the human woman with interest. He had met people before who had all left him alone. So, he saw no reason to be afraid. As the agent crawled on, which he thought was a strange way of getting around, he climbed down from his tree and followed her, wanting to know what else she was doing.

Go to part 2 here.