The whale lunged toward the squid. The giant squid was faster than the whale. It zoomed away.
Then the Water Bug’s headlights fell on another monster head—another sperm whale!
It swooped toward the giant squid. The squid’s two longest tentacles—as long as school buses—whizzed past the whale’s front teeth. The whale chomped down, but not fast enough to catch the squid.
The ends of the squid’s longest tentacles were shaped like clubs. They lashed at the whale. Where the clubs hit the whale’s skin, they left big, round marks.
meep … “Squid got suckers on tentacles,” said Thudd. “Suckers got teeth around edges. Grab prey tight.”
Just then, the headlights glinted on something silver behind a rocky hill.
kk… kkk … kkkkk came a familiar sound through the speaker. It was followed by a gruff voice that made Andrew and Judy jump.
“Well, ah’ll be a barnacle’s brother!” said Soggy Bob. “Ah thought ya water rascals were sunk for good! Well, now ya get to see me make mah biggest catch. Ah can almost taste them squidwiches now! Gotta get me some big buns. Heh! Heh! Heh!”
BAAAAROOOOOOM!
It was a huge underwater explosion!
The whales sped off into the darkness.
For a moment, the giant squid was as still as a statue. Then it dropped to the ocean floor. Its tentacles looked like a pile of gigantic pasta.
kk … kkk … kkkkk
“Heh, heh, heh,” chuckled Soggy Bob. “Ah guess mah fireworks were a little bit shocking.”
“Is it dead?” asked Judy.
meep … “Maybe not dead,” said Thudd. “Maybe shocked. Hafta wait and see if squid move.”
The Crab-Mobile crept from behind the rocky hill. The green glow of its glass dome lit up Soggy Bob’s grinning face.
kk … kkk … kkkkk
“The giant squid is mine!” said Soggy Bob.
The round door at the front of the Crab-Mobile slid open and a big net swirled out. The Crab-Mobile’s claws grabbed the net by its edges and dragged it toward the giant squid.
“Noooo!” yelled Judy. “We can’t let Soggy Bob turn the giant squid into snacks! We’ve worked so hard to save it!”
“But if we get too close,” said Andrew, “we’ll get caught in the net, too.”
Suddenly Thudd’s purple button started to blink. Uncle Al appeared at the end of a purple beam.
“Hey, guys!” he said happily. “Look behind you!”
Andrew and Judy turned and saw a vehicle shaped like a huge sea horse. It was covered with round porthole windows and it glowed with a deep blue light.
Judy smiled and waved with both hands. “It’s the See Horse!” she said. “Uncle Al found us!”
The See Horse flashed orange lights from its portholes.
“Look at that!” said Judy. “The See Horse is saying ‘Hello’ in Morse code!”
“Uh-oh,” said Andrew. “Look!” The Crab-Mobile’s claws were tucking the net around the squid.
“Wait a minute,” said Judy. “Soggy Bob was a good guy before Doctor Kron-Tox hypnotized him with flashing lights. We’ve got lots of flashing lights here. If we could hypnotize Soggy Bob, maybe he’d go back to his old pussycat-loving self. Then he’d let go of the giant squid!”
Awk! “Smart little Dubble!” said Burpp.
He poked his beak into Judy’s frizzy hair and untangled a knot.
“Let’s start blinking!” said Andrew. “Uncle Al, you blink, too!”
Andrew jiggled the switch that turned the Water Bug’s headlights on and off.
Uncle Al flashed lime-green lights from the windows of the See Horse.
Soggy Bob pushed his face close to the glass dome of the Crab-Mobile. His eyes opened wide. He looked surprised. Then he shook his fists.
But after a minute, he slouched in his seat. His head slumped toward the windshield.
meep … “Soggy Bob in a trance,” said Thudd. “Not awake, not asleep. Now is time to give good message to Soggy Bob. Change bad message from Doctor Kron-Tox.”
Judy grabbed Burpp’s speaker headphones.
“Can you hear me, Mr. Soggy Bob?” she asked.
“Yeah,” said Soggy Bob quietly. “But ah’m feelin’ kinda sleepy right now.” His head tipped forward. “Ah want mah bunny slippers,” he sighed.
Andrew grabbed Burpp’s headphones.
“Mr. Soggy Bob,” said Andrew, “you want to go back to the good person you used to be. The person who loves animals and takes care of them.”
Soggy Bob nodded his sagging head.
“Ah sure do,” said Soggy Bob. “And ah want mah friend Burpp back. Ah miss the little guy.”
Burpp pushed himself between the front seats.
His beak poked into Andrew’s shoulder. Andrew saw something wet dripping from Burpp’s eyes.
Could those be tears? Andrew wondered. Can robots cry?
Urf, urf, urf! came a sound through the speaker.
Soggy Bob was crying, too!
“Wake up, Mr. Soggy Bob! Everything’s okay!” said Andrew.
Soggy Bob lifted his head and looked around.
“Where am ah?” he asked. “What am ah doin’ here? And what’s that?”
Soggy Bob was staring at the giant squid wrapped in the net.
“Oh mah gosh!” he said. “It’s a poor little giant squid! And it’s all tangled up! Ah’ve got to get it out of there. Hey! You over there in those strange-lookin’ vehicles! Can ya give me a hand?”
“Sure we can!” said Andrew.
“Here we come!” said Uncle Al.
Andrew zoomed the Water Bug close to the giant squid.
Under the net, it looked like a big balloon in a Thanksgiving Day parade—before it was blown up.
“I hope it’s still alive,” said Andrew.
Judy shook her head. “It doesn’t look good.”
Andrew pressed a black button on the dashboard. “Remove net from giant squid,” he said.
Uncle Al used the wiggly tail of the See Horse to help. The Crab-Mobile’s claws tugged the net all the way off and dragged it through its round door.
“Its eyes are so amazing!” said Judy, looking into the black platter-sized disks.
meep … “Biggest eyes of any animal!” said Thudd. “Maybe use eyes to find animals with living light. Then eat ’em!”
The See Horse shined a spotlight on the tentacles that drooped around the squid’s mouth. There were ten of them. Two of them were much longer and thinner than the others. The eight shorter ones were as thick as fire hoses.
Uncle Al shined the light on the eight shorter tentacles.
“These are the squid’s feeding tentacles,” said Uncle Al. “The squid uses them to stuff food into its mouth.”
Uncle Al traced the two longest tentacles with the spotlight. “The squid uses these to hunt,” he said.
“I can see the suckers!” Andrew said.
Each of the feeding tentacles had two rows of circle-shaped suckers. The suckers were the size of silver dollars. Around each sucker was a ring of small, sharp teeth!
meep … “Squid hang on to prey with suckers,” said Thudd. “Squid fight sperm whale with suckers, too.”
Inside the circle of tentacles was the giant squid’s mouth—a beak as big as a man’s hand.
Awk! “It’s got a beak like me!” squawked Burpp.
meep … “Squid beak strong, strong, strong!” said Thudd. “Bite through steel!”
“Wait a minute,” said Uncle Al. “This guy looks even bigger than a regular giant squid. I want to get a closer look at these hunting tentacles.”
The club-like shapes at the ends of the long tentacles had suckers with swiveling hooks.
“Good golly, Miss Molly!” yelled Uncle Al. “This isn’t a giant squid! An ordinary giant squid doesn’t have hooks on its suckers. The animal that does is … the colossal squid!”
Suddenly one of the squid’s hunting tentacles began to twitch.
&
nbsp; “Jumping gerbils!” said Andrew. “The squid’s alive!”
The other hunting tentacle snaked through the water. The tentacles around the squid’s mouth began to wiggle. The colossal squid sprang to life!
Its tentacles shot toward the Crab-Mobile and wrapped around it.
meep … “Squid love to eat crab!” said Thudd.
“Hey there, big squid fella!” said Soggy Bob. He was shaking. “Hold yer horses! Ah don’t mean ya no harm!”
Awk! “Got to save Soggy Bob!” said Burpp.
“But how can we get near the squid?” asked Andrew.
Uncle Al spoke up. “I’ll try to communicate with it.”
Uncle Al drove the See Horse between the squid and the Crab-Mobile. The See Horse flickered red, then purple, then pink.
The colossal squid turned a deep red. It removed a tentacle from the Crab-Mobile and lashed out at the See Horse!
The See Horse dashed away from the squid.
Uncle Al shook his head. “I think the See Horse looks too different. The colossal squid may think it’s an enemy—or something to eat.”
“You know,” said Judy “the Water Bug with the Octo-Tool looks kind of like a squid. Maybe it can communicate with the colossal squid.”
“Too risky,” said Uncle Al.
“We’ve got to try,” said Judy.
Andrew pressed the black Octo-Tool button and spoke into the microphone. “Tell the colossal squid we’re all friends,” he said. “Tell it that we’ll never bother it again.”
The Octo-Tool crept out bravely. It twirled its tentacles to get the squid’s attention.
The Water Bug glowed bright blue, then purple, then red—the same red as the colossal squid.
The squid let go of the Crab-Mobile—then it jetted toward the Water Bug. Its tentacles waved like the tails of angry cats.
“Let’s all get out of here now!” said Andrew.
He pushed the Octo-Tool button.
“Start escape jet!” he yelled. A fat black tube popped out from under the hood.
“Follow me, guys!” said Uncle Al. “We’re going back to Hawai’i!”
The Water Bug, the Crab-Mobile, and the See Horse raced through the twinkling ocean. It seemed as vast as the sky!
It was only when the sea began to turn from black to blue that Andrew and Judy realized how tired they were.
As the underwater vehicles rose, the sun’s rays made a sparkling ceiling above them. Andrew and Judy had been awake for nearly twenty-four hours! Andrew was almost too sleepy to drive.
Suddenly Judy yelled, “It’s him!”
“Huh?” mumbled Andrew, snapping awake. “What? Who?”
“It’s Nahu!” said Judy, tapping on her window.
A dolphin was tapping his beak outside Judy’s window. The dolphin had a big bite mark in his tail. It was the same dolphin they’d met when they started their underwater adventure!
“So, guys,” said Uncle Al through his hologram, “we’ll be in Hawaii in a few minutes. I’ve got some strange things to tell you. Who wants to have some breakfast pizza?”
“Wowzers schnauzers!” said Andrew. “I want sausage and mushrooms!”
“Breakfast sounds great,” said Judy. “As long as I don’t have to hear about any weird stuff.”
meep … “Comin’, Unkie!” said Thudd.
Awk! “Burpp would love to come. But Soggy Bob and Burpp have got to get back to our kitties. Burpp will miss you, little Dubbles,” Burpp said.
In the rearview mirror, Andrew could see that Burpp’s eyes were wet again.
Uncle Al looked disappointed. “Sorry that Burpp and Soggy Bob can’t join us,” he said. “Because the story I have to tell is stranger than a giant squid. And it’s about Doctor Kron-Tox. He’s not just hypnotizing people anymore—he’s hiding them.”
“Where’s he hiding them?” asked Andrew.
“Now, that’s the strange part,” said Uncle Al. “I think he’s hiding them—in time!”
TO BE CONTINUED IN ANDREW, JUDY, AND THUDD’S
NEXT EXCITING ADVENTURE:
ANDREW LOST
IN TIME!
In stores November 2004
Thudd wanted to tell you more about the strange things that happen in the deep, but he was too busy helping Andrew and Judy save the giant squid. Here’s what Thudd wanted to say:
• The “living light” of most creatures comes from bacteria that live in the animals’ cells. These cells are often like little eyes that can open and close. The relationship between bacteria and bioluminescent animals is an example of symbiosis—creatures living together. In this kind of symbiosis, called mutualism, both creatures benefit from the relationship. The bacteria get food and protection from the animal. The animal gets the ability to produce light.
• “SOS” stands for “Save our ship.” This is the signal that sailors flash from sinking boats. SOS became the short way to say “Help!” in Morse code.
• It’s very hot inside the earth. That’s why there are volcanoes and black smoker chimneys. This heat is left over from when the earth was formed more than 4 billion years ago!
• Baby earth began with huge rocks smashing together in space. Smashing creates heat. This heat got trapped inside the earth. (For a small demonstration, try clapping your hands together a lot. Your hands will get very warm!)
• Almost all life on earth and in the sea is fueled by the energy of the sun. All plants need sunlight to grow. Plants are eaten by plant-eaters. Plant-eaters are eaten by meat-eaters. So without sunlight, plant-eaters and meat-eaters would have no food. But near the black smokers, many creatures live on molecules that boil up from inside the earth. These are the only places on earth where life does not depend on the sun.
• Some sea stars (we used to call them starfish, but they’re not fish!) eat by throwing their stomachs outside their bodies to digest their prey! When the animal is completely digested, the stomach is pulled back into the sea star’s body.
• What’s the biggest animal on earth? If we go by weight, it’s the blue whale. If we judge by length, it’s the lion’s mane jellyfish. These can be as big as washing machines, with 200-foot-long tentacles!
• Sea cucumbers eat dirt! They suck sand off the ocean floor, digest the bacteria and little pieces of dead stuff, and poop out the sand! Some sea cucumbers can throw their guts at predators! This scares the predator and gives it a nice snack. In a few weeks, the sea cucumber will grow a new set of intestines!
• How do sperm whales hunt giant squids in the black waters of the deep? No one knows for sure. One idea is that sperm whales make sounds that shock the squids and make them easier to catch.
Find out more weird stuff!
Visit www.AndrewLost.com.
Want to find out about the amazing and mysterious things that can happen in the underwater world? Check these out!
• Dolphin Adventure by Wayne Grover (New York: Avon, 2000). This is the true story of how a family of dolphins asked humans for help to save their injured baby!
• Shark Lady: True Adventures of Eugenie Clark by Ann McGovern (New York: Scholastic, 1987) and Adventures of the Shark Lady: Eugenie Clark Around the World by Ann McGovern (New York: Scholastic, 1998). In these books, a nine-year-old girl who loves to watch the fish in her aquarium grows up to study sea creatures all over the world. She swims with flashlight fish, rides a monster whale shark, and gets caught in the claws of a giant spider crab!
• Eyewitness: Ocean by Miranda Macquitty (New York: DK Publishing, 2000). Lots of information and great pictures tell the story of the oceans—how they were made, what lives in them, and how we explore them.
• Oceans by Seymour Simon (New York: HarperCollins Children’s Books, 1997). You’ll feel the waves when you see these pictures! Lots of great information, too. For example, there are 100 billion gallons of water in the ocean for each person on earth!
• Sea Jellies: Rainbows in the Sea by Elizabeth Tayntor Gowell (London: Franklin Watts, 199
3). Jellyfish aren’t fish. They don’t have hearts or brains or bones, but they hunt and eat and reproduce. They can be smaller than your fingernail or bigger than a washing machine. You can find out how these blobby creatures live and see lots of them in this book.
• Tentacles: Tales of the Giant Squid by Shirley Raye Redmond (New York: Random House, 2003). Hungry to know more about these mysterious creatures? Munch on this book, as well as …
• Giant Squid: Mystery of the Deep by Jennifer Dussling (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1999).
• Sea Monsters: Search for the Giant Squid (National Geographic Video, 1998). You won’t see giant squids, but you’ll see some awfully big ones! Watch their amazing color changes as they come after a man who is trying to study them!
Turn the page
for a sneak peek at
Andrew, Judy, and Thudd’s
next exciting adventure—
ANDREW LOST
IN TIME!
Available November 2004
“No onions on my pizza, please,” said Andrew Dubble. “They remind me of when we were attacked by deadly snails on the coral reef!”
Uncle Al’s face crinkled into a smile. “The onions protected you from the snails,” he said. “They saved your life!”
Andrew and his thirteen-year-old cousin Judy were sitting in the big, comfortable kitchen of Uncle Al’s log cabin in Montana. Just a few hours ago, they had been deep in the Pacific Ocean rescuing a giant squid.
Uncle Al loaded a thick, cheesy slice of pizza onto a plate.
Judy pulled at a string of hot cheese that had gotten tangled in her long, frizzy hair.
“It’s too bad we had to leave Hawai’i so fast this morning,” she said. “We didn’t even have time to eat breakfast or say good-bye to our friends.”
meep … “Uncle Al had to come back,” came a squeaky voice from Andrew’s shirt pocket. “Big trouble!”
It was Andrew’s best friend, Thudd, a little silver robot invented by Uncle Al. “Thudd” was short for The Handy Ultra-Digital Detective.
In the Deep Page 3