War on Whimsy (12 page)

“Nicola,” said Katie. “Don't look now, but there is a horrible shark swimming right next to you.”

“It's not a shark,” said Nicola. “It's a teddy bear.”

“Huh?” said Katie.

Whatever the creature was called, it suddenly swam ahead, moving straight and fast like an expertly thrown dart.

“Shimlara! Greta! Watch out behind you!” called Nicola.

The shark stopped.

“Oh no,” said Katie quietly.

It swam back around to face them, as if it were squaring up for a fight.

Now Nicola saw that it didn't look that much like an Earthling shark at all. It had a curved horn in the middle of its forehead. A horn like you might see on a rhinoceros.

It didn't make it look any friendlier or more teddylike. In fact—

“Watch out!” screamed Katie.

The shark-rhino was swimming straight for Nicola.

Katie grabbed Nicola's arm and dragged her out of the way. Nicola heard the creature's horn clink against the glass of the bubble protecting her face.

“It's coming after you!” cried Shimlara. “Swim!”

Nicola and Katie swam as if they'd just heard the starter gun for the most important race of their lives.

Greta and Shimlara took off, too. The frantic flapping of their mermaid tails created a washing-machine effect.

As Nicola tried to see through the whirlpool of frothy white water, her eye was caught by something.

The little arrow on the inside of her scuba diving suit's glass bubble had turned red. She had less than five minutes before her air ran out.

Which would I prefer?
thought Nicola.

NONE OF THE ABOVE,
screamed Nicola silently.

She looked up and saw she couldn't swim to the surface even if she wanted. She would just bump her head on the top of the tunnel and the shark-rhino would have her cornered. She knew that she should have been breathing slowly and calmly to conserve the last precious drops of oxygen but it was impossible. She was breathing in giant, panicky gulps.

“Nicola!” cried Katie. She pointed at Nicola's leg. “It's got you!”

Nicola turned her head and was aghast to see that the shark-rhino had its huge mouth clamped around her leg.

But actually . . . interestingly . . . she couldn't feel a thing.

She could see the shark-rhino was doing its very best to take a large, satisfying bite out of her leg, but it was like it was trying to munch a leathery piece of steak. As Nicola watched, one of its sharp, pointy teeth actually snapped off and floated away.The shark-rhino pulled away from Nicola's leg with an offended look and swam off in a huff.

Nicola laughed out loud with relief. “Our scuba diving suits are made of lava stone!” she called out to Katie. “They're impossible to break! We're perfectly safe!”

Then she heard a shout from ahead.

It was Sean's voice.

“We're here! This is Whimsy!”

Nicola and Katie swam in the direction of his voice.

The tunnel came to an abrupt end and they swam out into a vastly different world.

Directly below Nicola was an endless landscape of colorful coral, like a mountaintop of wildflowers. Everywhere she looked, she could see schools of brilliantly colored fish and more weird and wonderful sea creatures, some tiny and exquisite, others huge and magnificent. When she looked up, she could see the transparent, rippled surface of the water swishing back and forth like a bedsheet fluttering in the breeze on a clothesline, and far, far above that, a blue sky.

Nicola didn't want to go up to the surface. It was too beautiful down here. She could stay forever! She loved the weightless feeling of scuba diving. It was all so incredibly beautiful, she wanted to write a poem about it. How could it begin?

“Remember to ascend slowly!” Tyler's voice broke through her thoughts like a slap across her face.

Nicola saw the red arrow on the air gauge directly in front of her eyes and remembered that she was nearly out of air.

What a fool! She could have wasted the remaining air she had left writing poetry! She really would have to be careful not to let this planet's beauty make her forget to concentrate.

“Okay, let's go up!” she said to the others.

“I think I'll stay down here for another hour or so,” said Katie dreamily. “I've got an idea for a symphony! It goes like this. La-da-da-dum, la-da-da-da-da-dum!”

Nicola saw Katie's eyes had a dazed, unfocused look. She remembered how XYZ40 had warned them that she and Katie might be more susceptible to Whimsy's beauty than the others.

“Katie!” said Nicola sharply. “You can't stay down here composing symphonies! We've got to rescue Shimlara's family!”

“Oh!” Katie blinked and her eyes came into focus. “Of course we do! Sorry!”

Slowly and carefully, stopping for breaks, the Space Brigade swam up to the surface.

Nicola kept a careful eye on her air gauge. Her breathing had slowed right down. She had never realized that beauty could have an actual physical effect.

Just as the arrow turned black, Nicola's head broke through the surface of the water.

She was first up. She pulled the glass bubble off her head and treaded water as she breathed in air so pure and sweet, she felt like she was drinking it.

The rest of the Space Brigade emerged from the water around her.

She smiled as she saw the expressions of amazement and delight on their faces as they gazed around them.

“Welcome to the Planet of Whimsy,” she said.

The Space Brigade pulled off their helmets and took a look at their surroundings. All of them were struggling to find the right words to describe Whimsy.

“Oh, it's just . . . !” said Katie.

“This is . . . this is . . . this is . . .” repeated Sean over and over.

“I have never seen anything so . . . so . . . I don't know,” said Shimlara.

“Beautiful,” said Greta. “Except beautiful seems too ordinary a word. It's . . .”

“Ineffable,” said Nicola.

They all stared at her as if she were speaking another language.

“It's a word!” Nicola said defiantly. “I saw it in the dictionary one day when I was looking up how to spell
inertia
. Ineffable means something that you can't describe. I didn't think I'd ever get to use that word, but that's what this is—ineffable.”

She gestured at their surroundings. They were in the very center of a brilliant turquoise lake. Waterfalls tumbled over mossy rocks. Birds soared above them, singing like church bells. In the distance, they could see velvet green mountains. The sky was the color of a ripe plum. There was only one sun, just like on Earth, except this sun was four times the size of Earth's sun, and it shone beams of intense scarlet-gold light. Curving over the sky like a rainbow, and hiding Volcomania's suns and volcanos from view, was the halo of pink atmospheric dust. From here, you would never know that Whimsy was attached to a planet like Volcomania.

A shocking sound ripped through the peaceful landscape.

One of the velvet green mountains exploded inward as if a giant fist had punched it. Clouds of smoke billowed black against the plum-colored sky. There was a hammering noise that sounded like machine guns.

The Space Brigade swam closer together and formed a tight little circle of fear. The joy on their faces vanished. They'd forgotten they were in a war zone.

“Let's get to the shore,” said Nicola.

As they swam, more explosions rocked the lake like an earthquake. Suddenly Nicola was furious with Volcomania. What right did it have to declare war on this beautiful planet? It was like a big bully picking on an adorable child.

“Leave them
alone
!” she cried at the sky.

Fortunately, it didn't take them long to make it to the sandy shore. They unsnapped their scuba diving suits and stepped out, their clothes completely dry.

“Maybe we should hide our suits here instead of carrying them around everywhere we go,” said Katie.

“Good idea,” said Nicola.

They found a cave behind a waterfall and hid their suits under a pile of rocks.

“I hope we get to use these,” said Shimlara, her voice filled with emotion, as she hid the three extra suits they'd brought along for Georgio, Mully, and Squid.

“Of course we'll use them,” said Nicola.

“Mmmm
—
” began Greta with a pessimistic look on her face but Nicola glared at her, making a sign with her finger and thumb like a zipper pulling her mouth shut. For once Greta stopped talking.

“We have to remember we're still undercover as a news crew,” said Nicola. “So don't forget your press passes.”

“No problem,” said Tyler. “As long as no one looks too closely at our equipment.” He lifted his battered and soggy camera gear onto his shoulder.

“What will I be now that I'm not the bus driver?” said Shimlara.

“You can be my assistant,” said Greta. “That means you get me cups of coffee and do my photocopying and faxing.”

Shimlara raised her eyebrows. “Seeing as I've never even heard of the words
coffee
,
photocopying
, or
faxing
, I don't think I'd make much of an assistant.”

“You can be our bodyguard,” said Nicola. “It makes sense seeing as you're so much taller than us.”

Shimlara liked that idea immediately. She lifted her fists like a fighter and spoke in a deep, weirdly accented voice. “You wanna take me on? Do ya? Well, do ya?”

She chuckled as if she'd just said something that they would all agree was hilarious. Then she saw the rest of the Space Brigade staring at her blankly. “You know! It's a line from that movie
Galaxy Bust
! You know, the part where the bad guy is talking to himself in the mirror? You must have seen it. I've seen it fourteen times. Every single person I
know
has seen
Galaxy Bust
!”

“We don't get to see movies from other planets on Earth,” explained Nicola.

Shimlara dropped her fists. “Well, anyway, I'll be your security guard, no problem. You're all under my protection. No one gets hurt on my watch.”

“I don't need you to protect me,” said Sean.

“It's just a
role
, Sean,” said Nicola. “It's not real. Remember?”

“Yeah, I know that,” muttered Sean. “I'm just saying . . .”

Shimlara winked at Nicola over Sean's head.

“I
saw
that!” said Sean.

There was another explosion from outside the cave. It was even louder than the ones they'd heard before.

“I think I miss the volcanoes,” said Katie.

“Shhhh.” Tyler held up his hand. “Did you hear that?”

“The explosion?” said Sean. “A bit hard to miss.”

“No,” said Tyler. “It sounded like someone calling for help.”

“I can't hear anything,” said Greta. “You're imagining it.”

“I am not imagining it,” said Tyler. Nicola had never seen him speak so assertively. “Be quiet, all of you, and listen!”

Everyone stopped talking. There was silence. The bombs had stopped and they could hear the birds singing again.

Nicola went to speak and then she heard it. They all heard it.

It was someone screaming. A woman's voice, raw with panic.

“Help! Please!”

The Space Brigade ran.

Tyler took the lead.

“This way!” he called, running out of the cave and around the shore of the lake.

The voice rang out again. “Is anyone there? I need help!”

“We're coming!” called Tyler.

They scrambled over mossy rocks and ran along a wooden bridge that crossed a bubbling creek. Suddenly they were in a forest. Trees with creamy, papery bark and giant red leaves towered above them, and Nicola caught a glimpse of small, big-eyed animals scurrying through the branches.

Tyler came to an abrupt stop. “I don't know which way to go,” he said.

They all stopped, breathing heavily and trying to listen for the voice. They had come to a small clearing. Numerous trails ran off the clearing in different directions. “I think I can hear children,” said Katie, her face creased with worry.

Nicola could hear shouts and cries in the distance but she had no idea which direction they were coming from.

“Smoke!” said Shimlara suddenly. “This way!” She took off down one of the trails. They ran behind her.

Now Nicola could hear the distressed cries of very young children.

“
I want my Mommy!
”

“
I can't see!
”

“
I hurt myself!
”

The Space Brigade picked up their pace.

The trail ended in a small hollow.

“Oh, thank goodness you're here!” A young woman with a long, blond braid down her back came running out of the smoke toward them. She was clutching a wilting yellow flower and wearing a rose-colored dress with puffy sleeves and a big sash tied in a bow at the back. Even though her face was stained with tears and soot, and there was a bloody gash down one cheek, you could see she was very beautiful.