3 The Floating Brain

Chapter 3 THE FLOATING BRAIN meep… "Called moss animal!" said Thudd. "Moss animal not one animal. Is colony. Millions, millions, millions of tiny animals that live together. "Not hurt Drewd and Oody. Moss animal eat things too small to see—germs and stuff."

"Gross-a-mundo!" said Judy. "Let's get out of here!" "Pedal harder!" said Andrew. It wasn't easy to pedal underwater, but Andrew and Judy kept at it until they were hot and sweaty. The GNAT's wings didn't even flutter. Andrew shook his head. "Um, the GNAT isn't working," he said. "Nothing you make ever works!" said Judy. meep… "Purple-button time," said Thudd. Thudd had three rows of three buttons on his chest. Each button glowed bright green except for

the big purple button in the middle. That was the emergency button for calling Uncle Al. Thudd pressed the big purple button. It blinked three times and went off. Andrew pointed left. "There's a lily pad a couple of feet away. We can paddle to it and wait for Uncle Al." Using their hands as oars, Andrew and Judy rowed the GNAT toward the lily pad. "Yeoouch!" cried Judy, struggling to pull her hand out of the water. "Something's got my arm! HELP!" Andrew undid his seat belt and leaned over to see. Thudd crept out of Andrew's pocket, scurried over Judy's lap, and looked down. Just below the water, an insect hung upside down. Four of its prickly legs gripped Judy's arm. meep… "Backswimmer bug!" said Thudd. "Swim upside down under skin of water. Breathe by trapping air bubble in special hairs on body." Andrew grabbed Judy's arm. "When I count to three, yank!

"One… two… three! Oooomph!" With the yank, Judy's arm came free. But the GNAT flipped over and dumped Andrew and Judy into the water. Eek! squeaked Thudd as he plunked into the pond. "Blurf!" sputtered Andrew, coming up for air. "Blaaargh!" Judy half coughed and half sneezed. Andrew scooped Thudd up and put him back in his pocket. "It's a good thing I gave you three

coats of Protectum," said Andrew. "Your brain chips won't get soggy." He turned to Judy. "Now aren't you glad you were wearing a Wannabee?" he asked. "That bug could have chomped your arm off." "I'm not glad about anything!" said Judy. "Come on," said Andrew. "Let's flip the GNAT over and try to fly it." Andrew and Judy tugged and pulled, but the GNAT was bigger than they were and heavy with water. All the while, they could hear the croaking of the frogs. Underwater, things were poking them. One of the GNAT's wings slipped and the GNAT quickly sank. "Uh-oh," said Andrew. "Guess we'll have to swim to the lily pad." "Swim." said Judy. "It's hard to even stay afloat in this stupid Wannabee." Andrew shrugged. "We don't have much choice," he said. "Unless you want to hitch a ride

on that!" He pointed to a giant bug swimming toward them. It looked like a cockroach. Its back was covered with white bumps. "Aaaaaaack!" said Judy. meep… "Giant water bug!" said Thudd. "Male giant water bug. Female water bug glue eggs onto back of male water bug. Male take care of eggs till eggs hatch. "Giant water bug ferocious. Eat anything. Catch fish. Eat tadpoles." Andrew treaded water quietly till the giant water bug passed by. "He doesn't seem interested in eating us," said Andrew. "Let's get to the lily pad before he changes his mind." Andrew dog-paddled toward the lily pad. Judy pulled ahead of him. She was captain of her swim team at Benjamin Franklin Junior High. All around them, long-legged water striders skittered over the pond. One of their feet brushed against Andrew's face.