near the Abandoned Warehouse. He passed the piers, waving with green algae and speckled white with barnacles. He shone his lights over the bottoms of sailboats and motorboats, where they rocked on the waves above him. He passed two deep-sea divers giving each other a high five. They had just found a roll of quarters that had dropped off a harbor cruise.
Near the Abandoned Warehouse, the piers were broken and jagged. There were the remains of docks on the bottom, puffy with green slimy growth. Blind fish swam through fields of rusted cars and cans.
Jasper reached a brick wallâthe back wall ofthe Abandoned Warehouse. He knew thatâs what it was because it was painted on the bricks, in big letters:
There, right below the wall, was a secret berthâa big platform made of metal, with all kinds of industrial tools in brackets. The berth was shaped like this:
Jasper narrowed his eyes and scanned the subâs lights over the berth. There was no mistaking itâthis was no flounder factory. This was definitely where the whales had been equipped with all of their âaccessories,â like the lasers and the mind-control helmets.
Now,
he thought,
the trick is to find the whales themselves.
He headed back out into the bay. For hourshe drifted back and forth, marking his path on a chart. He saw great boulders and old decaying trees. He puttered by manta rays. No whales, though.
At dinnertime he surfaced briefly to eat a sandwich. He opened his hatch and sat above water, munching on ham and cheese, sipping a wonderful tall glass of chocolate Gargletine Brand Patented Breakfast Drink, which left him feeling healthy, heroic, and refreshed. Why, every household should have a canister of Gargletineâfortified with seventeen essential nutrients found in no other foodstuff! Give it a try, moms of America, and youâll see why itâs called âPluck in a Bucket.â
As he was sitting there, enjoying the great, sweet, laminated taste of Gargletine, he noticed something on the horizon.
Smoke.
No, not smoke. It was a kind of strange fog, rising from the water. It obscured the little pine-covered islands in the bay. It drifted up toward the moon.
No, not fog. It blew across his face. It was warm. He dropped his sandwich. âSteam,â he said. âSteam! From the lasers! By george!â
Jasper scrambled below, clanged shut the hatch, and threw the Zephyr into Full Speed Ahead. It chugged swiftly through the darkened waters. Peering through his Aquatic Night Goggles, Jasper shut off the lights. His night goggles detected heat, instead of light. In total darkness his vessel shot past rocks and wrecks. He saw them through the goggles as dim purple shapes, lit by the bright green of living thingsâ fish, clams, and sea anemones.
And finally, whales. Yes, heâd found the whales.
There were a huge number of them. Above, the surface of the water was roiling with the motion of them all, bubbling beneath the moon. They were circling around something he couldnât make out... Something purple with lots of swirls and curves ... (He squinted.)... Something with many arms ...
A squidâthe natural enemy of the whale!
But there was something strange about the squid.... Living things showed bright green in Jasperâs goggles. The squid was purple. Was it dead?
No, he realized. Not dead. It wasnât real. It was a target.
A bright light flashed. The whales were using a wooden stand-up squid for target practice. They were training themselves to use their eye lasers.
It was the heat from the lasers that had made the clouds of steam.
Jasper stayed well away from the whales. He didnât want to be detected. With so many of them, they would be able to crush his Zephyr like an aluminum can.
He had seen all he needed to. The whales were getting ready for war.
Quietly he backed his ship away from them. He headed toward shore.
On the way home from the oceanographical institute, Lily
Near the Abandoned Warehouse, the piers were broken and jagged. There were the remains of docks on the bottom, puffy with green slimy growth. Blind fish swam through fields of rusted cars and cans.
Jasper reached a brick wallâthe back wall ofthe Abandoned Warehouse. He knew thatâs what it was because it was painted on the bricks, in big letters:
There, right below the wall, was a secret berthâa big platform made of metal, with all kinds of industrial tools in brackets. The berth was shaped like this:
Jasper narrowed his eyes and scanned the subâs lights over the berth. There was no mistaking itâthis was no flounder factory. This was definitely where the whales had been equipped with all of their âaccessories,â like the lasers and the mind-control helmets.
Now,
he thought,
the trick is to find the whales themselves.
He headed back out into the bay. For hourshe drifted back and forth, marking his path on a chart. He saw great boulders and old decaying trees. He puttered by manta rays. No whales, though.
At dinnertime he surfaced briefly to eat a sandwich. He opened his hatch and sat above water, munching on ham and cheese, sipping a wonderful tall glass of chocolate Gargletine Brand Patented Breakfast Drink, which left him feeling healthy, heroic, and refreshed. Why, every household should have a canister of Gargletineâfortified with seventeen essential nutrients found in no other foodstuff! Give it a try, moms of America, and youâll see why itâs called âPluck in a Bucket.â
As he was sitting there, enjoying the great, sweet, laminated taste of Gargletine, he noticed something on the horizon.
Smoke.
No, not smoke. It was a kind of strange fog, rising from the water. It obscured the little pine-covered islands in the bay. It drifted up toward the moon.
No, not fog. It blew across his face. It was warm. He dropped his sandwich. âSteam,â he said. âSteam! From the lasers! By george!â
Jasper scrambled below, clanged shut the hatch, and threw the Zephyr into Full Speed Ahead. It chugged swiftly through the darkened waters. Peering through his Aquatic Night Goggles, Jasper shut off the lights. His night goggles detected heat, instead of light. In total darkness his vessel shot past rocks and wrecks. He saw them through the goggles as dim purple shapes, lit by the bright green of living thingsâ fish, clams, and sea anemones.
And finally, whales. Yes, heâd found the whales.
There were a huge number of them. Above, the surface of the water was roiling with the motion of them all, bubbling beneath the moon. They were circling around something he couldnât make out... Something purple with lots of swirls and curves ... (He squinted.)... Something with many arms ...
A squidâthe natural enemy of the whale!
But there was something strange about the squid.... Living things showed bright green in Jasperâs goggles. The squid was purple. Was it dead?
No, he realized. Not dead. It wasnât real. It was a target.
A bright light flashed. The whales were using a wooden stand-up squid for target practice. They were training themselves to use their eye lasers.
It was the heat from the lasers that had made the clouds of steam.
Jasper stayed well away from the whales. He didnât want to be detected. With so many of them, they would be able to crush his Zephyr like an aluminum can.
He had seen all he needed to. The whales were getting ready for war.
Quietly he backed his ship away from them. He headed toward shore.
On the way home from the oceanographical institute, Lily
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