Jim Smith - Future Ratboy and the Quest for the Missing Thingy

First published in Great Britain 2017

by Egmont UK Ltd, The Yellow Building,

1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN

Text and illustration copyright © Jim Smith 2017

The moral rights of the author-illustrator have been asserted.

First e-book edition 2017

ISBN 978 1 4052 8398 4

Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 1780 9

www.futureratboy.com

www.egmont.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet.

CONTENTS

Cover

Copyright First published in Great Britain 2017 by Egmont UK Ltd, The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN Text and illustration copyright © Jim Smith 2017 The moral rights of the author-illustrator have been asserted. First e-book edition 2017 ISBN 978 1 4052 8398 4 Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 1780 9 www.futureratboy.com www.egmont.co.uk A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet.

Title Page

PREVIOUSLY ON FUTURE RATBOY…

SOCKTOBER

SHNOZVILLE TOWN SQUARE

SEVEN BILLION O’CLOCK ON THE DOT

THE UNINVITED GUEST

NORMAN WAKES UP

GOZO THE VENDING MACHINE MONSTER

GOZO EATS ALL THE BOOKS

THE FUN PART

POO-WEE!

THE HOVER-RUBBISH TRUCK

BACK AT BUNNY DELI

IT’S A THINGY!

THE LONG STORY

MR X HAS NO SKULL!

THE GREAT RUBBISH CHUTE

THE BIG HAIRY WOMAN

THE GIANT SPACE STRAW

PROF. SMELL

THE SMELL OF MR X’S BRAIN

SNUFFLING FOR THE THINGY

STUCK ON PLANET BIN

ATTACK OF THE SPACE HEDGEHOG

ON THE WAY BACK

BACK IN SHNOZVILLE

FWOOSH!

DISTANT RUMBLE

GOZO’S SWITCH

ACTUKEELY PUTTING A SOCK IN IT

RETURN OF THE WISE OLD VENDING MACHINE

HOW TO GET THE STATUES BACK

HELP YOURSELF

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH

THE REUNION

GROUP NOT!

BDAY NITS!

ONE WEEK LATER

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PRAISE FOR MY OTHER BOOKS

Back series promotional page

Hello, my name is Colin Lamppost. At least it used to be. Then one day me and my cuddly toy bird were inside a wheelie bin when it got hit by lightning.

We were zapped from our home town of Shnozville millions of years into the future and I was transformed into a half boy, half rat, half TV.

Future Ratboywas born.

Now I’ve got aerials sticking out of my head, a telly on my belly, a cape made out of a bin bag and a plug-tail hanging off my bum.

Oh yeah, and my cuddly toy bird got turned into a real-life bird.

He shouts ‘NOT!’ after everything I say.

That’s why I call him Not Bird.

Now we live with Bunny, the owner of Bunny Deli, the keelestburger shop in Future-Shnozville.

( ‘Keel’is how we say ‘cool’ in the future, by the way.)

Bunny Deli is also a sort of orphanage for children whose mums and dads aren’t around.

Like Jamjar, whose mum and dad shrunk themselves to the size of full stops during a science experiment once.

Jamjar’s got five arms and is really brainy.

Then there’s Twoface, who thinks he’s a superhero like me.

His parents are too busy being real-life superheroes to look after him.

And Splorgthe blue-skinned alien.

Splorg’s parents were eaten by a black hole when they went out to dinner one night.

This is Mr X.

He’s the evil baddy who wants to take over Shnozville.

I’ve promised my friends I won’t zap myself back home to the olden days until he’s defeated.

And this is Wheelie, the bin I got zapped here inside.

Mr X fitted him with a speech module and gave him some arms and dressed him in a waiter’s suit.

But that’s another story.

At the end of the last episode, Mr X kidnapped our friend, The Wise Old Vending Machine, and we haven’t seen either of them since.

Something tells me that’s all about to change though . . .