Akiko in the Sprubly Islands (3 page)

As we bobbed
up and down in the freezing cold waters of the Moonguzzit Sea, we saw the surface begin to bubble and churn just a few yards away. Something was coming up from underneath us, something really, really big. The water started swelling and spraying high into the air. Then it was forced outward in all directions in a giant circular wave, finally falling away to reveal the head of a huge underwater creature! It towered about fifty feet above the sea, staring down at us with four black, glassy eyes. It had shiny skin like a dolphin, but its head was shaped like a giant slug, complete with thick, slimy antennae slowly twirling in the air.

“What . . . ,” I gasped, “. . . what
is
that thing?”

“I ain’t exactly sure,” Spuckler replied. “But I sure hope it ain’t hungry.”

Hungry or not, the gigantic beast started coming after us, mouth open wide. We tried our best to swim away, but it was much too late for that. Plunging its mouth into the sea, the creature just sucked the five of us inside along with a large gulp of water. Before we knew it, we were sliding into the creature’s throat and down into the darkness of its body, with nothing at all to slow our fall. It got darker and darker, and all I can remember is the sensation of falling and sliding, slipping through slimy passageways, being carried along by a wave of water and who-knows-what-else.

Finally I felt myself coming to a stop. I was lying on a slimy, spongy surface that felt like it was covered with a mixture of oil and algae. The air was heavy and moist, and there was a
very
unpleasant smell like rotting fish. It was so dark, I couldn’t tell the difference between having my eyes open and keeping them shut.

A moment later there was a sudden flash of light just a few feet from my face. I jumped back and turned away as my eyes adjusted to the brightness. With a big sigh of relief, I realized that the warm glow was coming from Gax.

“Hey, whaddya know, Gax?” Spuckler said, adjusting a knob on Gax’s side. “This torch of yours still works!”

“
YOU NEEDN’T SOUND SO
SURPRISED
, SIR
,” Gax replied, admiring the steady yellow flame that he had produced. I looked around and saw Poog floating nearby, and Mr. Beeba flat on his back, his eyes still closed, his chest slowly rising and falling. It was a big relief to see that we were all still together.

“Spuckler!” I said as I crawled out of the shadows. “Are you okay?”

“Course I am!” he said with a grin. Knowing how much Spuckler liked adventure, he was probably
enjoying
all this stuff. “How ’bout you?”

“I’m all right, I guess. Where do you think we
are
?”

“I reckon we’re right smack-dab between that snake’s mouth and her belly,” Spuckler answered calmly.

“No wonder it’s so
gross
in here,” I moaned, glancing around at the shiny pink walls. It looked like we were sitting inside a gigantic intestine or a throat or something equally slimy.

“Hey, Beebs!” Spuckler said, crawling over to Mr. Beeba. “C’mon, big guy, snap out of it!”

Mr. Beeba’s eyes opened very slowly. He was still a little groggy.

“Spuckler?” he whispered, coughing once or twice. “Inconceivable! Even in
death
I can’t escape you. . . .”

“Aw, you ain’t dead, Beeba,” Spuckler assured him. “You jus’ got swallered up like the rest of us.”

Mr. Beeba sat up and took a better look at his surroundings. Before long he seemed wide awake.

“Good heavens!” he said at last. “By the looks of these internal walls, we must be inside the belly of a Moonguzzit water snake. If I’m not mistaken, we’ve come to rest inside the
plipto-thotamus
.” Under the circumstances, I’d say Mr. Beeba was handling things pretty well. He was examining the surface of the walls as if he were a scientist sent down here to do research or something.

“Well, I don’t know nothin’ ’bout no plippy-what-zamus,” said Spuckler, “but it sure is
gooey
in here. If you’d take us to the nearest exit, I’m sure we’d all be much obliged.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Spuckler,” Mr. Beeba scoffed. “We’re probably
miles
beneath the water’s surface by now.” There was a pause as we all took in the frightening meaning of this statement. Gax whirred and rotated his head a bit, and Poog floated over to where I was sitting, as if to offer me some sort of protection.

“Besides,” Mr. Beeba added, a pained expression coming over his face, “there’s only one exit I know of, and it’s . . . 
most
disagreeable.”

“We can’t just
sit
here, Mr. Beeba,” I said, a panicky tone coming into my voice. “We’ll get . . . I don’t know,
digested
or something.”

“Girl’s got a point, Beebs,” said Spuckler, folding his arms in front of him. He seemed less frightened than simply uninterested in the confined surroundings.

“Well, I say we have a look around,” Mr. Beeba replied. “There are bound to be some fascinating anatomical lessons to be learned down here.”

Mr. Beeba started walking along the passageway, inspecting certain things very closely and saying stuff like “What have we here?” and “Indeed. Just as I suspected!” Spuckler gave me a knowing look, as if to say “Yeah, he’s kind of a nutcase, ain’t he?” Within seconds Mr. Beeba had made a very important discovery. Important to
him
, anyway.

“Look the spleeductum gland!’’ he announced with a happy shout, pointing at a slimy little thing dangling above his head. It was round and pink and was slowly expanding and contracting. I couldn’t help thinking of those gross medical shows on TV where they stick a camera in somebody’s body while they’re having an operation. Mr. Beeba
caressed
the thing, though, as if it were a long-lost friend or something.

“Boys back at school thought I was perfectly
mad
when I suggested that a water snake had one of these.”

“What’s it do?” I asked, not sure I really wanted to know.

“Why, a great many things, Akiko,” he answered, like a proud father. “I wrote my dissertation on the subject, as a matter of fact. First and foremost, it tells the mouth what to eat and what not to eat. . . .”

“You stupid gland!” Spuckler growled, pulling the thing down to his eye level. “You’ll rue the day you crossed Spuckler Boach!”

Clearly it was time to move on. We all walked together from one passageway to the next, but it didn’t seem to be getting us anywhere. For one thing, we had no idea if we were heading
out
of the creature’s stomach or
into
it. Mr. Beeba knew all about glands and ventricles and stuff, but somehow he was still getting us completely lost.

“Since we took a left at the glorplaxia, we should have reached the troochea by now,” he said, as much to himself as to anyone else. “You don’t suppose this snake could have had a troochectomy, do you?”

“Well, gang,” Spuckler said with a yawn, “I say we make camp here and take a load off our legs for a while.”

“Good idea, Spuckler,” I said. “I think we all need the rest.”

We all sat
down on the spongy surface and tried to get as comfortable as possible. I couldn’t really sleep, so I just sat there thinking about how badly the whole mission was going. I was starting to get homesick again too. Sure, it was nice to have made such interesting friends on the planet Smoo, but at that particular moment I’d have much rather been back on Earth.
Anywhere
back on Earth.

I stared into the darkness and thought about my parents. I wondered what they were doing. It was weird to think that they probably hadn’t even noticed I was gone. As long as that look-alike Akiko robot was on Earth taking my place, they’d both just go about their daily routines as if nothing had changed. It bothered me to realize that I was missing them so much and they weren’t missing me at all.

I started thinking about how badly I wanted just to see them for a minute or two, or talk to them by telephone or something. What if something really awful had happened to them while I was gone? It was certainly possible, There was no way of knowing one way or the other until I got back to Earth. And when would I
get
back to Earth, anyway? How many more days? Or would it turn out to be weeks? Or
months
? The more I thought about it, the more frustrated I became.

“Hey, ’Kiko,” Spuckler said. “What’s with the sad face? Things could be worse, trust me.”

“You’re right, Spuckler,” I sighed. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m just thinking about things too much, I guess.”

“That’ll do it every time,” Spuckler said. I think it’s safe to say Spuckler makes it a practice
never
to think too much.

“Say, I know something that’ll cheer you up,” Spuckler continued, his face brightening. “Let’s see if Poog will hum us a tune!”

“Poog can sing?” I asked. I was pretty intrigued, I have to admit. It had never occurred to me that Poog might be able to sing.

“Can he ever!” Spuckler answered. “Poog sings prettier’n anybody in the whole galaxy!

“C’mon, Beebs,” he continued, turning to Mr. Beeba. “Make him sing that one I like, the one about the Toog Dogs.’’

“I can’t
make
Poog do anything, Spuckler,” Mr. Beeba replied indignantly. “He’s not a
machine
.”

Gax gave a little shudder after this last remark, and Mr. Beeba hastily added, “Er, no
offense
, Gax.”

“
NONE TAKEN, SIR,
” Gax replied graciously.

“Poog doesn’t sing at the drop of a hat,” Mr. Beeba explained, turning back to Spuckler. “He has to be in the right
mood
.”

“Well, let’s try’n
put
him in the right mood!” Spuckler suggested. You could tell he wasn’t going to give up on the idea.

“It’s a very subtle matter of
atmosphere
, Spuckler,” Mr. Beeba said dismissively. “Quite beyond your understanding, I’m afraid.”

“Gax,” Spuckler said without a second’s pause, “cool that torch of yours a little.”

Gax immediately brought the fire on his torch down to a small, flickering glow, and suddenly it felt like we were in a dimly lit cave or something. There was a long pause. We all turned and looked at Poog, wondering if Spuckler’s idea would do the trick.

Slowly we became aware of a quiet little hum coming from Poog, as if he were warming up. A moment later Poog began to sing.

I wish you could have heard it, because it’s
really
hard to describe what it was like. It was a weird mix of clear, high-pitched sounds, like flutes and crickets and other soft little noises all mixed together. One thing’s for sure. It was just about the prettiest music I’d ever heard in my whole life.

I tried to stay awake, but Poog’s singing was so peaceful and relaxing that I just couldn’t resist closing my eyes. A minute or two later I fell into a deep, deep sleep.