8 My, What Big Tentacles You Have!

Chapter 8 MY WHAT BIG TENTACLES YOU HAVE! "Super-duper pooper-scooper!" Andrew cheered. "Now four people and two robots have been here! We should celebrate!" "We should get out of here!" said Judy. "Before we get crushed by tons of water. Besides, this place is super creepy. There's nothing alive down here." Awk! "Yes, there is!" said Burpp. He pecked at the windshield. It was hard to see, but lying completely flat on the ground was a flounder. Its two eyes were on one side of its body. The color of its skin matched the color of the sand exactly.

And crawling up to it was a sea cucumber. "See," said Andrew, "stuff lives even down here." "Strange-a-mundo!" said Judy. "But if the water presses against them like tons of elephants, how come these guys don't get crushed?" meep… "Cuz fish made of water," said Thudd. "Water not crush water. Water crush space filled with air. Fish down here not got air spaces inside." IRRRRK! The Water Bug trembled. Then the windshield bulged out! "The Water Bug is shrinking again!" Judy yelled. "We've got to get out of here now!" "Uh-oh!" said Andrew. He turned the key in the ignition and shoved the gas pedal to the floor. "Let's hope the Water Bug works!" Brrrrrrrr… came the sound of the Water Bug's paddle wheels spinning. Andrew pulled up on the steering wheel. The Water Bug shot up from the canyon floor. "Yay!" shouted Andrew.

"Yippee!" squeaked Thudd. Awk! squawked Burpp. "Finally!" shouted Judy. The Water Bug paddled up through the water. Now and then, the headlights fell on a sea star or a herd of sea cucumbers crawling along the canyon walls. "I see hills up there!" said Judy. "We're almost at the top of the Challenger Deep!" "I hope we can catch up with Soggy Bob," said Andrew. "He's had a lot of time to get ahead of us." Suddenly the words GIANT SQUID at the top of the compass began to blink orange. The compass needle twitched nervously. Andrew's eyes grew wide. "Wowzers schnauzers!" he said. "I wonder if this means we're getting close to the giant squid."

"Or if the compass is broken," said Judy. The Water Bug was just below the rocky hills at the edge of the canyon. A stone pillar rose above. Something long and thick and red was twitching around it. "What's that?" asked Andrew. He steered the Water Bug closer to it. "Jeepers creepers!" yelled Andrew. "It's a—" "Giant tentacle!" yelled Judy. meep… "Giant squid!" said Thudd. As the Water Bug paddled up, its headlights fell on two black eyes bigger than basketballs! The squid seemed to be looking at something beyond the Water Bug. Its smooth, rubbery skin changed from red to rose to white. Clik clik clik… Clik clik clik… Clik clik clik… Andrew turned toward the sound.

It looked like a humongous lumpy rock was swimming toward the giant squid. meep… "Sperm whale!" said Thudd. "Sperm whale make clicking sounds like dolphin. Sound bounce off of stuff. Find prey animal. Find giant squid!" The whale sped toward the squid like the engine of a train. The torpedo-shaped squid jetted out from the rocks. It flickered colors like a neon sign. The whale's head was as wide as the Water Bug. When the whale opened its mouth, its bottom jaw was longer than the Water Bug, but it was thin —only as wide as one of the Water Bug's seats! Thudd pointed to the sharp yellow hills that lined the whale's bottom jaw. meep… "Sperm whale got biggest teeth of any animal! Eight inches! Big as teeth of Tyrannosaurus dinosaur!" said Thudd.

The whale lunged toward the squid. The giant squid was faster than the whale. It zoomed away. Then the Water Bug's headlights fell on another monster head—another sperm whale! It swooped toward the giant squid. The squid's two longest tentacles—as long as school buses— whizzed past the whale's front teeth. The whale chomped down, but not fast enough to catch the squid. The ends of the squid's longest tentacles were shaped like clubs. They lashed at the whale. Where the clubs hit the whale's skin, they left big, round marks. meep… "Squid got suckers on tentacles," said Thudd. "Suckers got teeth around edges. Grab