1 Night Lights

Chapter 1 NIGHT LIGHTS Ten-year-old Andrew Dubble was zooming through the ocean in his uncle's underwater vehicle, the Water Bug. All through the dark water, sparks of blue light exploded like mini-fireworks. The headlights of the Water Bug fell on huge dish-y shapes swooping closer and closer. Those couldn't be flying saucers, Andrew thought. We're underwater, so they'd have to be swimming saucers! Next to Andrew sat his thirteen-year-old cousin Judy. This morning, Andrew and Judy had been getting ready to fly home from their vacation in

Hawai'i. But Andrew made a little mistake. Now they were on their way to save the giant squids! The flying-saucer shapes were right in front of the Water Bug's headlights. The shapes had giant mouths. They were wide open! "Cheese Louise!" said Judy. "What are those things? Their mouths are big enough to swallow us!" meep… "Manta ray!" came a squeaky voice from the front pocket of Andrew's underwater suit. It was Thudd, Andrew's little silver robot and best friend. meep… "Manta ray not eat people. Just eat tiny stuff. Manta mouth like big net." Judy frowned. "That's what you said right before we got swallowed by a blue whale!" The manta rays tumbled around the Water Bug, gobbling up the mini-fireworks. "Jeepers creepers!" said Andrew. "They're eating those little lights!" meep… "Ocean animals with light inside," said Thudd. "Called bioluminescence."

"Oh yeah!" said Andrew "Living light! Like we saw in the underwater cave." "Yoop!" squeaked Thudd. "Animals use living light to find mate. Find prey. Sometimes scare predator. Like big camera flash in face! Ocean got lotsa living light. Look!" Thudd pointed outside. The dark ocean twinkled with a zillion tiny lights. Judy leaned over and tapped the compass in the middle of the Water Bug's steering wheel. "Hey, Bug-Brain," she said to Andrew. "Why don't you watch where we're going?" The words GIANT SQUID were lit up in green letters at the top of the compass. But the compass arrow

was pointing away from the words. "Oops!" said Andrew. He turned the steering wheel and the arrow zinged toward the green words. glurp… "Thank you," came the voice of the Water Bug. "We are now back on the trail of the giant squid." Suddenly the manta rays flapped away like a flock of giant flying pancakes. Coming toward them was a fish twice as long as the Water Bug! The fish swam closer. Sticking out of its nose was a long, flat paddle with big teeth all along the edge. "Wowzers schnauzers!" said Andrew. "It looks like a swimming chain saw!" meep… "Sawfish!" said Thudd.

"It looks like something Soggy Bob invented to chop up the Water Bug," said Judy. Soggy Bob Sloggins was searching for the giant squids, too. But he didn't want to save them. He wanted to turn them into squidwiches for his Animal Universe theme park! Andrew, Judy, and Thudd were trying to stop him. meep… "Sawfish not use saw to hurt people," said Thudd. "Saw feel electricity that come from all living things. Use saw to find little crabs and fish in mud and dig them up." "Neato mosquito," said Andrew. "The sawfish has its own tool kit!"

Suddenly from behind the sawfish came a flashing light. It wasn't the random glimmer of sea creatures. There was a pattern: three short flashes, three long ones, then three short ones again. "It's a signal in Morse code!" said Judy. "Mom and Dad taught me Morse code before they took me on my first African safari." "What does it mean?" asked Andrew. "Three short flashes mean 'S,'" said Judy. "The long ones mean 'O.'… So the message says 'SOS.' That's the code word for 'Help'!" The sawfish began to circle the Water Bug. "Look!" said Andrew. "There's a rope around the sawfish's tail!" At the end of the rope was a huge white egg with big metal claws. The bright flashes were coming from a window at the front of the egg!