War on Whimsy (Space Brigade 3)

"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.

Pain! Blood! Impending death!

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 differen

t 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?

Like a bird, I skim and fly

Through prisms of sun-dappled sapphire

Like a . . .

"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.

Oh my goodness, this is . . .