6 Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Starfish

Chapter 6 TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STARFISH meep… "Not Atlantis! Not brain!" said Thudd. "Coral. Strange shapes made by lotsa tiny coral animals." Thudd flashed a picture of a coral animal on his screen. meep… "Coral animal got skeleton on outside. Skeleton like little house. When old coral animal die, skeleton stay. Baby coral animal build new skeleton on top of old skeletons. Millions, millions coral skeletons stick together. Pile up! Make coral mountain. Can make whole island!"

The Water Bug paddled over coral that looked like pink cauliflower and skinny green fingers and giant mushrooms. Fish darted in and out among the nooks and crannies of the coral. Some stopped to nibble seaweed. The Water Bug was near a mound of coral that looked like a pile of dirty snow. Crawling over it were bright red star-shaped animals as big as platters. They had lots of arms and were covered with thorny spines. "Scary-looking starfish!" said Judy. meep… "Not fish," said Thudd. "Better name for starfish is sea star. Scary for coral. Eat lotsa coral animals."

"Watch this!" Andrew said. He pressed a black button on the dashboard and the Water Bug's hood popped open. Out wriggled eight long tentacles. They were gray with black speckles and covered with round suckers. "It's the Octo-Tool," said Andrew. He leaned toward the microphone on the dashboard. "Remove sea stars!" he ordered. The tentacles reached out, plucked the sea stars off the coral, and plopped them down in the sand. Andrew turned to Judy. "See?" he said. The tentacles of the Octo-Tool froze. glurp… "You want to see the sea stars?" asked the Water Bug. "It is not a good idea, but if that is what you want…" "Noooooo!" said Andrew. It was too late. Octo-Tool tentacles were pushing in through a rubber door under the steering wheel. Each tentacle was holding a huge wriggling sea star!

meep… "Got poison spines!" said Thudd. "Yiiiiikes!" yelled Judy. She ducked as a sea star whizzed over her head. Andrew grabbed a tentacle of the Octo-Tool. Then he caught another and another. He pushed them back through the door under the steering wheel. "Out!" he yelled. "Take the sea stars out!"

glurp… "Make up your mind, please," said the Water Bug. Andrew and Judy snatched the last two Octo- Tool tentacles and shoved them through the door. "Whew!" said Andrew, wiping his hands on his pants. "Disgusting!" said Judy, pushing her hair away from her face. They leaned back in their seats—just in time to watch the Water Bug slide into the mouth of a stony underwater cave! It was dark as midnight inside. meep… "'Fraid of dark!" said Thudd. Andrew pulled a knob on the dashboard, and the Water Bug's headlights snapped on. "Thunkoo!" said Thudd. The walls of the cave were splotched with bright lumps—red and green and orange and pink and yellow. "Look at those colors!" said Judy. "It looks like some little kid glopped finger paint everywhere!"

meep… "Sponges!" said Thudd. "Sponge animals like to live on walls of underwater cave." A lot of strange animals seemed to like the cave. Creatures shaped like feathery black fans dangled from the ceiling and swayed in the water. A family of lobsters with blue tails scuttled between the rocks. Judy pointed to a small spotted fish in front of the windshield. "What beautiful blue eyes it has!" she said. Suddenly the fish blew up to the size of a basketball! There were spines all over it!