On the Reef

by J. C. Greenburg

  meep … “Lotsa danger near Great Barrier Reef,” said Thudd. He pointed to his face screen. “Got lionfish.”

  meep … “Lionfish got lotsa poison spines on back. Scorpionfish got poison spines, too,” said Thudd.

  Thudd’s screen blinked and showed a fish that looked like a pile of gray rags.

  “That’s not a good-looking fish,” said Judy. “What raggedy lips.”

  meep … “Little fish see scorpionfish lips. Think food! Try to bite lips! Scorpionfish gobble up little fish.”

  “I haven’t seen any lionfish or scorpion-fish,” said Andrew. “But look at these beautiful shells!”

  Andrew swooped down to grab a shell. It was shaped like an ice cream cone with pretty brown zigzags. Suddenly there were lots and lots of shells. They were crawling along the sand. They were dive-bombing off the rocky walls—onto Andrew and Judy!

  “Eek!” squeaked Thudd. “Not touch! Not touch!”

  “Cheese Louise!” said Judy. “Don’t get your shorts in a knot, Thudd. It’s just some silly little snails.”

  meep … “Cone snail!” squeaked Thudd. “Got tongue with tooth on end. Like harpoon! Snail shoot tooth into prey animal. Tooth got lotsa poison! Strong, strong, strong!”

  “Aaaack!” said Judy. She started turning underwater somersaults to keep the snails off.

  “Yaaargh!” said Andrew. He shook himself like a wet dog to get rid of the snails.

  Suddenly Thudd’s big purple button sprang open. The purple beam zoomed out with the hologram of Uncle Al at the end of it.

  “Hey, guys!” said Uncle Al. He was smiling, but his eyes looked worried. “It’s been hard to reach you. Are you okay? At least you’re back in the Water Bug.”

  “Um, sorry, Uncle Al,” said Andrew, spinning like a top. “Soggy Bob captured the Water Bug. Now we’re hiding inside the reef. But we’re going to sneak back and get the Water Bug.”

  “Harry Potter on a ham sandwich!” said Uncle Al. “You kids are danger magnets! Could you please try to be a little bit boring? You’d be safer…. You haven’t seen any more blue-ringed octopuses, have you? Or sea wasp jellyfish? Or snails with beautiful shells? I didn’t get a chance to warn you about the cone snails.”

  “Um,” muttered Andrew, squirming like a nervous worm, “we did get attacked by blue-ringed octopuses. Soggy Bob trained them to attack us. We haven’t seen any sea wasps, but—”

  “But,” interrupted Judy, doing backflips, “we’re getting mobbed by cone snails!”

  Judy saw an umbrella-shaped coral ahead and dragged Andrew under it.

  “That’s stranger than penguins on bicycles!” said Uncle Al. “Cone snails are usually very shy. They sit in the sand and suck in water through their mouth tube.”

  meep … “Called siphon!” said Thudd.

  “The taste of the water tells them if a little fish or worm is close. Then—”

  Judy interrupted. “Then the snail shoots out a harpoon tooth filled with poison. We know. Thudd already told us.”

  Uncle Al rubbed his chin.

  “There is something that can make snails do weird things,” said Uncle Al. “It’s when creatures called parasites get inside them. For example, snails that live on land stay in dark, damp places. They like to be wet and they need to hide from birds that eat snails. But when a certain kind of tiny parasite gets into a snail, it takes over the snail’s body and brain.”

  meep … “Brown snail turn lotsa bright colors,” said Thudd. “Snail go out into sun! Flash colors!”

  Uncle Al nodded. “The flashing colors attract a bird, which will eat it. All this happens because the parasite needs to get inside a bird. It has to do that to make more parasites, to complete its life cycle.”

  meep … “Cone snail got weird parasite, maybe,” said Thudd.

  “Yup,” said Uncle Al. “The parasite could be taking over their tiny snail brains. It could make them do things they wouldn’t usually do, like attack people!”

  “Euw!” said Judy. “I don’t want to be part of anything else’s disgusting life cycle.”

  “Hmmm …,” murmured Uncle Al. “Two things that keep snails away are marigold flowers and onions.”

  “Oh great!” said Judy. “Like we have a garden down here!”

  “Super-duper pooper-scooper!” said Andrew, reaching into a pocket of his Bubble Duds.

  He pulled out a pile of soggy onions.

  “These onions are from a pizza you left in the refrigerator of the Water Bug,” said Andrew. “But I don’t like onions. So I put them in my pocket.”

  Judy rolled her eyes. “Andrew, you are the sloppiest person in the universe!”

  Uncle Al’s eyes lit up. “Sometimes a little sloppiness is just what you need,” he said. “Rub yourselves with the onions.”

  Andrew handed Judy half of his onions, and they rubbed them on their Bubble Duds.

  The cone snails waved their tube mouths through the water. Then they began to creep away.

  “They’re leaving!” said Judy.

  Uncle Al smiled. “I’ve told you before. You have everything you need in your heads and in your pockets!”

  “Are you almost finished with the See Horse?” asked Judy impatiently.

  The See Horse was a new underwater vehicle Uncle Al was building. He was going to use it to find Andrew and Judy and help them save the giant squids.

  “I had a problem with the Nose-O-Matic,” said Uncle Al. “It’s a new, improved Super-Sniffer. But I think I’ve got the nose licked.”

  “Well, hurry up!” said Judy. “This stupid coral reef is scary and dangerous!”

  Uncle Al nodded. “I’ll be there just as soon as—”

  kk … kkk … kkkkk …

  “Uh-oh!” said Andrew.

  The hologram of Uncle Al stretched like an elastic band, snapped, and disappeared.

  Clack! Clack! Clack!

  The blue-green water turned dark. A shadow fell over the reef canyon. It was the Crab-Mobile!

  The canyon was pretty wide where Andrew and Judy were. The Crab-Mobile might be able to squeeze in!

  “Ya little water monkeys are causin’ big mischief down there!” came Soggy Bob’s gruff voice. “Mah Egg-Mobile is on the rocks, mah octopuses are on the loose, and mah snails are confused! Ah’m comin’ to getcha! Heh! Heh! Heh!”

  Andrew and Judy swam faster.

  Ahead of them, long strands of leafy brown seaweed were swaying.

  “Let’s duck in there,” said Judy.

  “It’s an underwater forest!” said Andrew as they paddled into the leathery leaves. The long brown stems felt like rubber hoses. The seaweed went up through the water as far as they could see.

  meep … “Giant kelp!” said Thudd. “Big seaweed! Grow fast, fast, fast! Grow two feet in day! Drewd and Oody eat lotsa giant kelp.”

  “No way!” said Judy. “I would never eat seaweed.”

  meep … “Seaweed in ice cream,” said Thudd. “Milk shake. Pudding. Lotsa sauce, too!”

  “Yuck-a-rama!” said Judy.

  “If it tastes good, I’ll eat it,” said Andrew.

  meep … “Strange, strange, strange!” said Thudd. “Giant kelp not like to grow here. Water too warm. Someone put giant kelp here.”

  “Whatever,” said Judy. She shoved the stems aside and swam ahead. Andrew followed. The seaweed forest was so thick Andrew couldn’t see Judy in front of him.

  “Ugh!” yelled Judy. “They’re so icky!”

  Andrew scrambled through the giant kelp to a circle of open water. In the middle, Judy was kicking her legs and flapping her arms like a big bird.

  “What’s going on?” asked Andrew.

  “It’s the sea wasp jellyfish!” yelled Judy.

  “I don’t see anything,” said Andrew.

  “That’s because they’re transparent, Bug-Brain!” said Judy. “But I can feel them. They’re all squishy and icky. And look!”

  She pointed to a sign hanging on the seaweed:

 
SOGGY BOB’S SEA WASP RANCH

  meep … “Bubble Duds protect Oody,” said Thudd. “But Drewd got big problem.”

  Thudd pointed to Andrew’s foot. It was exposed where the Crab-Mobile had torn away the Bubble Duds.

  Judy pushed her way through the sea wasps and swam over to Andrew.

  “We don’t have any more Bubble Duds patches to cover your foot,” she said.

  A little orange clownfish swimming through a bright pink anemone caught Judy’s eye.

  “Wait a minute!” she said. “Clownfish are covered with mucus that keeps them from getting stung by anemones. Anemones sting like jellyfish.”

  Judy leaned over the anemone. She opened her hands slowly, then quickly grabbed the clownfish.

  “Got him!” she said.

  She held the fish gently and rubbed the side of it with her finger.

  “Andrew, bring your foot up here,” she said.

  Judy took the mucus goo she had rubbed off the fish and spread it onto Andrew’s foot.

  “This might work,” she said.

  Judy looked at the little clownfish. “You’ve got plenty of goo left, little fella!” She put him back into his anemone.

  Judy pulled Andrew’s arm. “Come on, Bug-Brain,” she said.

  They made their way through the swarm of sea wasps. The jellyfish were hard to see, but Andrew felt the soft, Jell-O-ey blobs as he paddled through.

  Then he felt tentacles wrap around his foot!

  Andrew held his breath, but all he felt was a little tickle.

  Andrew and Judy got to the far side of the sea wasp corral and pushed through the giant kelp. They were in a narrow part of a coral canyon.

  It was getting dark. Nighttime was coming.

  Above them, Andrew could see the shadow of the Crab-Mobile. It was towing the Water Bug and the cage of sharks.

  In the craggy walls around them, parrotfish were tucked into mucus-goo sleeping bags. A huge octopus was stuffed into a cave. It looked more like a lumpy rock than a live animal, but its slitty eyes were watching them.

  Suddenly Andrew had an idea. He pulled the pink and purple anemones off his Bubble Duds and placed them gently on some flat rocks.

  “Andrew!” yelled Judy. “What are you doing?”

  Slowly, the octopus curled a tentacle toward one of Andrew’s pockets. It was the pocket where Andrew had put the sleeping mussels.

  Andrew moved away. The tentacle wiggled in Andrew’s direction, but the octopus stayed in its cave.

  Andrew pulled the mussels out of his pocket. “Maybe there’s enough,” he said. “Come on, Judy. Take off your anemones and let’s get the Water Bug.”

  “Are you nutso?” said Judy. “We don’t have anything to protect us from those awful Crab-Mobile claws or to cut the Water Bug loose.”

  Andrew smiled. “Oh yes, we do,” he said.

  Andrew paddled higher in the water and wagged the mussels. The octopus twirled its tentacles toward Andrew’s hand. Andrew swam higher and dangled the mussels out of the octopus’s reach.

  “Here, octopus, octopus, octopus!” said Andrew.

  The octopus jetted out of its cave. Andrew scrambled up toward the surface. He could feel rubbery tentacles poking at his back. One of them wrapped itself around his ankle!

  Andrew came up behind the Crab-Mobile. He stuck some mussels onto the cord of the No-Go Yo-Yo. Then he stuck some onto the giant suction cup.

  Andrew crossed his fingers and hoped the mussels were sticky enough to stay.

  The octopus let go of Andrew’s leg and flung itself at the mussels on the cord.

  “Judy!” yelled Andrew to his cousin just below. “Quick! Get into the Water Bug!”

  Andrew dove under the Water Bug. Judy was already there. They pressed the buttons on the bottom of the Water Bug seats.

  FLAMP!

  The seats flipped out. Andrew and Judy belted themselves in, pressed the buttons on the sides of the seats, and flipped themselves inside.

  glurp … “I tried to escape,” said the Water Bug. “I wanted to rescue you. But the suction cup kept my hood shut.”

  “It’s okay,” said Andrew.

  Outside, the octopus was chomping the mussels. It chewed right through the cord. The Water Bug was free!

  Then the octopus slapped itself onto the hood and munched off the mussels and the suction cup.

  Soggy Bob must have felt the cord come loose from the Crab-Mobile. He turned around and his mouth fell open in surprise.

  kk … kkk … kkkkk … crackled the speaker.

  “I’ll be gol-durned!” said Soggy Bob.

  Andrew pressed the Octo-Tool button. “Octo-Tool inside!” he said.

  “What are you doing?” yelled Judy.

  “You’ll see,” said Andrew.

  The Octo-Tool tentacles squeezed in through the rubber door under the steering wheel.

  Andrew put a mussel in each tentacle.

  “Toss the mussels on top of the Crab-Mobile dome!” he ordered. “Quick!”

  The tentacles scurried out. They pelted the Crab-Mobile with mussels. The giant octopus flung itself toward the Crab-Mobile and plopped itself down on its glass dome!

  “What in tarnation is goin’ on here?” growled Soggy Bob.

  Clack! Clack! Clack!

  The Crab-Mobile claws snapped at the octopus. The octopus wrapped its tentacles around the claws!

  Suddenly the octopus jetted backward and downward—taking the Crab-Mobile with it!

  kk … kkk … kkkkk …

  “Grrrrrrr!” came Soggy Bob’s horrible growl through the speakers. “Ya bad, bad water babies better watch out! Ah’ll be comin’ to getcha!”

  It was dark now. Andrew snapped on the Water Bug’s headlights. They watched the Crab-Mobile disappear into the gloomy ocean below.

  “Wowzers!” said Andrew. He pulled his Bubble Duds helmet off his head.

  “Yay!” yelled Judy. She took off her helmet, too.

  Andrew turned to Judy. “You know what time it is?” he asked.

  “It’s pretty late,” said Judy.

  “It’s time to find the giant squids!” said Andrew.

  Judy rolled her eyes. “I guess so,” she said.

  Andrew pressed the silver button that turned on the Super-Sniffer.

  “Search for giant squids!” said Andrew into the microphone.

  A compass appeared in the middle of the steering wheel. The word squid lit up in green letters at the top.

  glurp … “When the arrow points to squid,” said the Water Bug, “you are going in the right direction. This will be an interesting trip!”

  Andrew turned the steering wheel until the black arrow on the compass pointed to squid.

  The Water Bug began to dive into the black nighttime ocean. Strangely, the water twinkled with light, like a sky full of stars.

  “What’s that?” asked Judy, pointing ahead.

  Huge roundish, shadowy shapes were swooping toward them.

  Uh-oh, thought Andrew. Those couldn’t be flying saucers, could they?

  TO BE CONTINUED IN ANDREW, JUDY,

  AND THUDD’S NEXT EXCITING ADVENTURE:

  ANDREW LOST

  IN THE DEEP!

  In stores July 2004

  Thudd wanted to tell you more about the strange creatures of the Great Barrier Reef, but he was too busy finding mussels and getting rid of blue-ringed octopuses. Here’s what Thudd wanted to say:

  • Fishermen used to spread huge nets, miles long sometimes, to catch fish like tuna. These nets trapped other animals, too, including dolphins, whales, seals, and even seabirds. These nets are forbidden now. But many of them drifted to the bottom of the sea and are still dangerous to animals that accidentally swim into them.

  • Glass is made of the same stuff as sand. If you heat sand to a very high temperature, it becomes liquid and transparent. When the melted sand cools, it becomes glass!

  • “Mayday” is a signal used in emergencies. It comes from the French word m�
�aider (pronounced just like “Mayday”). M’aider means “help me.”

  • The shells of giant clams close too slowly for someone to get a foot caught while just passing by. Judy must have been resting on the giant clamshell while she was waiting for Andrew!

  • The skin of giant clams can be many different colors. That’s because of the little plants called algae (AL-jee) that live inside the skin. The clam provides a protected place for these tiny plants to live, and the plants help make food for the clam.

  • Scientists think the very center of the earth is a giant core of solid super-hot iron. Around the solid iron is a layer of melted iron. This layer spins around slowly. The spinning is what creates the earth’s magnetism. And it’s why compasses work!

  • Mussels use their powerful underwater glue to anchor themselves to rocks. Scientists are trying to adapt this sticky stuff to use in wet places, like cementing teeth into mouths and joining broken bones together.

  • Besides making mucus cocoons, parrotfish have another special ability. Female parrotfish can become male parrotfish!

  • The stinging cells of jellyfish look like tiny hooks at the end of a fishing line. Each cell is so small that it would take a hundred of them to cover the period at the end of this sentence. When a jellyfish stings, millions of these microscopic barbs jab into a creature’s skin and inject their poison.

  • There is a skin cream made from clownfish mucus! Swimmers rub it on to keep jellyfish from stinging!

  Find out more!

  Visit www.AndrewLost.com.

  Want to find out about the amazing and mysterious things that can happen in the underwater world? Read these books!

  • Dolphin Adventure by Wayne Grover (New York: HarperTrophy, 1990). 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!