Dolphins at Daybreak - Mary Pope Osborne [4]
He pressed the book picture.
The words SHIP’S LOG flashed onto the screen.
“What’s a ship’s log?” said Annie.
“It’s a diary of an ocean trip,” said Jack.
He peered at the computer screen and read a log entry:
MONDAY, JULY 5
“Hey, that was just last week,” said Jack. He read further:
COLLECTED ROCK AND SHELL SAMPLES
MAPPED OCEAN FLOOR
FOUND TINY CRACK IN HULL
“This is like your notebook,” said Annie.
“Yeah, the oceanographer was writing notes on the computer,” said Jack.
Jack and Annie read further:
TUESDAY, JULY 6
CRACK HAS WIDENED
MUST RETURN TO REEF SOON
“A crack where?” said Annie.
“I don’t know,” said Jack. He read further:
WEDNESDAY, JULY 7
MORE TINY CRACKS
CANNOT BE FIXED
HEADING BACK TO REEF TODAY
“Uh-oh. This doesn’t sound good,” said Jack. He read further:
THURSDAY, JULY 8
DEFECTIVE SUB
RETURN TO REEF
LEAVE FOR HELICOPTER TO TRANSPORT
TO JUNKYARD
“ ‘Defective’ means broken, right?” said Annie.
“Yep,” said Jack.
“So this sub is broken, right?” said Annie.
“Yep,” said Jack. “And it was waiting to be taken away by a helicopter. To a junkyard.”
“Yikes,” said Annie.
“Now we really have to get back,” said Jack.
“Let’s try pressing the waves picture,” said Annie.
She pressed the waves picture on the computer screen.
The mini-sub began to rise slowly.
“Oh, good,” said Jack.
The sub went past a small coral mountain. It went past schools of fish and waving plants.
“Oh!” gasped Annie.
Jack gasped, too.
Two eyes were staring out from behind a giant sea plant. They looked human—except they were as big as golf balls.
The sub moved past the giant plant. Jack breathed a sigh of relief.
“What—? Whose—?” sputtered Annie.
“Don’t ask,” said Jack.
They stared back at the plant.
Just then, a long arm came out from behind it.
Then another arm came out.
Then another—and another—and another—and another—and another—and another!
Jack and Annie stared in horror at a giant octopus.
“It’s coming after us,” said Annie.
Slowly, the octopus crept through the water. Its eight arms reached for the mini-sub.
The octopus hugged the mini-sub. Each of its eight arms had two rows of suckers. The suckers stuck to the window.
The mini-sub stopped.
The octopus stared at Jack and Annie with huge, human-like eyes.
“I don’t think it wants to hurt us,” whispered Annie. “It’s just curious.”
“I—I’m going to research it,” said Jack.
His hands shook as he flipped through the pages of the ocean book.
He found a picture of an octopus and read aloud:
The octopus tends to be a gentle, shy creature. Sometimes, though, curiosity gets the best of it and it comes out of hiding.
“Aw. See, I told you, he’s shy,” said Annie. She yelled to the octopus, “Hi! I’m Annie! He’s Jack!”
“Oh, brother,” moaned Jack. He read further:
But the octopus has huge strength. Each of its arms, or tentacles, has many suckers, which act like rubber suction cups. It is nearly impossible to free an object from their grasp.
“Oh, great,” said Jack. “We’ll never get rid of this thing.”
Just then, Jack felt a drop hit his arm. Water. He looked up at the ceiling.
“Uh-oh,” said Annie.
A thin crack ran along the ceiling. Smaller cracks branched out from it.
Water dripped from the cracks.
“We found the cracks,” said Annie.
“The octopus better let go! Before the whole ceiling breaks!” said Jack.
“Let go, please. Please!” Annie shouted at the octopus.
The creature blinked, as if trying to understand her.
“Please! Please! Please!” she shouted.
“Come on, Annie,” said Jack. “It doesn’t care if you’re polite.”
The octopus blinked at Jack.
“Get out of here!” Jack yelled at it. “Now! Beat it! Scram! Go!”
The octopus shot a cloud of black liquid into the water and disappeared into the dark cloud. Its long tentacles trailed through the water.
The mini-sub started to rise slowly again.
“You hurt his feelings,” Annie said.
“I don’t think so … ” Something bothered Jack.
He looked back at the ocean book.