3 Going Down!

Chapter 3 GOING DOWN! "Yikes!" yelled Judy. "Yowzers!" yelled Andrew. "Yeep!" squeaked Thudd. The Water Bug sped down and down. Slanted beams of sunlight lit up the blue-green world below. A dial on the dashboard measured how deep they were. The meter said ten feet, then twenty feet, then thirty feet. Judy shook her head. "Well, smarty-pants," she said. "You've gotten us into giant trouble again! The air in here won't last long."

meep… "Water Bug got gills on doors," said Thudd. "Pull oxygen from water same way fish do. Lotsa oxygen molecules in water." "Good!" said Judy. "At least well be breathing when some gross sea monster turns us into a snack. Maybe it will be one of those giant squids! What are those things anyway?" meep… "Giant squid strange, strange, strange!" said Thudd. "Cousin of octopus. Long as two school buses! Got eyes the size of dinner plates! No human ever seen giant squid alive. Look!" Thudd pointed to his face screen. "Wowzers schnauzers!" said Andrew. "It looks kind of interesting."

Judy rolled her eyes. "Oh brother!" she said. "Come on, guys. Let's figure out some way to get back. Quick!" Andrew studied the buttons and dials. "Hmmm…," he said. Judy groaned. "'Hmmm' does not sound like someone who knows what he's doing." meep… "Thudd call Uncle Al," said Thudd. There were three rows of buttons on Thudd's chest. They all glowed green except for the big purple button in the middle. This was the one Thudd used to send emergency messages to Uncle Al. Thudd pressed the big purple button. It blinked three times. Colors flashed beneath the glass floor. Judy leaned down to see. "Look at this!" she said. Below the Water Bug swam schools of fish. Their colors weren't like the colors on land. They glowed like jewels. Some fish were such a bright

blue, they looked like they had light bulbs inside them. Hundreds of lemon yellow fish shaped like dinner plates fluttered by. They moved together so perfectly they seemed to be part of one big animal. There were orange fish with purple tiger stripes, green fish speckled with neon blue spots, and fish the color of yellow and orange flames. Thousands of finger-sized silver fish whirled around and around and made a huge ball shape.

meep… "Little fish swim together, look like one big fish," said Thudd. "Try to fool big fish looking for little fish." "The water is green here," said Andrew. "It was blue when we were near the shore." meep… "Water green cuz lotsa tiny green plants floating here," said Thudd. "Lotsa tiny animals, too. Floating stuff called plankton. Green water mean lotsa plankton. Lotsa food for fish!" Judy pointed to a fish that looked like it was made from black and orange puzzle pieces. "That's the official state fish of Hawai'i," she said. "It's called the humu humu nuku nuku apu ah ah!" Andrew laughed. "I think they picked it because everybody likes to say 'humu humu nuku nuku apu ah ah.'" Suddenly the big purple button in the middle of Thudd's chest began to blink. It popped open and a beam of purple light zoomed out. At the end of the beam, a purple hologram of Uncle Al appeared on the dashboard.

"Hey there!" said the Uncle Al hologram. "Where are you guys?" With his hologram, Uncle Al could hear them but not see them. "Um, we're in the water," said Andrew. Uncle Al shook his head. "I know you love the ocean," he said. "But we have to have breakfast and leave for the airport. It's not time for swimming." "We're not swimming!" said Judy. "We're trapped in the Water Bug in the middle of the ocean!"