ROLAND SMITH SCHOLASTIC INC. Nw York Toronto London Auckland Sydny Mxico City Nw Dlhi Hong Kong
If you purchasd this book without a covr, you should b awar that this book is stoln proprty. It was rportd as unsold and dstroyd to th publishr, and nithr th author nor th publishr has rcivd any paymnt for this strippd book. No part of this publication may b rproducd, stord in a rtrival systm, or transmittd in any form or by any mans, lctronic, mchanical, photocopying, rcording, or othrwis, without writtn prmission of th publishr. For information rgarding prmission, writ to Scholastic Inc., Attntion: Prmissions Dpartmnt, 557 Broadway, Nw York, NY 10012. This book was originally publishd in hardcovr by Scholastic Prss in 2009. ISBN 978-0-545-17816-7 Copyright 2009 by Roland Smith. All rights rsrvd. Publishd by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC and associatd logos ar tradmarks and/or rgistrd tradmarks of Scholastic Inc. 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 11 12 13 14 15 16/0 Printd in th U.S.A. 40 This dition first printing, Fbruary 2011 Th txt typ was st in Futura Std. Th display typ was st in Bank Gothic & Agncy. Book dsign by Phil Falco
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p a r t o n b on v o yag
luthr Marty O Hara did not raliz how much h had missd his bst frind, Luthr Smyth, until Luthr jumpd out of th saplan onto th dock at Cryptos Island. In fact, h was so xcitd to s Luthr h didn t vn notic th othr, rathr odd-looking passngr who had flown in with his gangly, fluorscnt-carrot-hadd classmat. Th lanky Luthr ran up to Marty, sporting his tradmark goofy grin and a small backpack slung ovr his bony shouldr. You wrn t lying, nos-pickr! Luthr said. Cryptos Island is ral and vry wird! Marty rturnd Luthr s grin. Duh du jour, h said (maning, Duh of th day, on of his and Luthr s favorit sayings). Just thn, almost as if to accnt Marty s point, a chimpanz ambld down th woodn dock, cam to an abrupt stop dirctly in front of Luthr, and hootd. This is Bo, Marty said. And you r th nos-pickr. Luthr ignord th insult and squattd down in front of Bo bfor Marty could warn him. Bo grabbd a handful of Luthr s bizarr hair and yankd it out. 1
t n ta c l s Ouch! Luthr fll ovr backward and would hav falln into th watr if Marty hadn t grabbd his arm. Thanks, Luthr said. No problm, Marty said. Bo hootd again, ran back up th dock with hr trasur, scald th chain-link scurity gat, and disappard into th trs. Hair-pickr! Luthr ylld aftr hr. Marty shook his had. I wondrd what sh was going to think of your hair. Luthr rubbd his sor scalp. I guss sh dosn t lik it. Wrong, Marty corrctd. Sh wants it. How much did sh tak? Marty lookd at his frind s had. A prtty good chunk, but no on will notic. Luthr s hair had always stuck up all ovr th plac in on giant cowlick that not vn Elmr s glu could kp down. (Luthr had actually trid Elmr s glu onc, but it had just mad things wors.) Th missing hair alrady forgottn, Luthr lookd ovr at th giant ship moord to th dock. So that s th Colacanth, h said, pronouncing th nam koh-l-uh-kanth. It s pronouncd s-la-kanth, you dunc, Marty said. Namd aftr a fish thought to hav gon xtinct sixtyfiv million yars ago, until it was rdiscovrd in South Africa by a woman namd Marjori Courtnay-Latimr in 1938. Wolf has a brding pair in an aquarium up in th library. 2
Wll, that ship looks lik it s sixty-fiv million yars old, Luthr said. You sur that rusty buckt of bolts can mak it to Nw Zaland? It ll mak it, Marty said, not mntioning th scuttlbutt on th island that th Colacanth was hauntd. Badly hauntd. Th ship had driftd into U.S. coastal watrs tn yars arlir minus its cargo and its crw of narly fifty mn and womn, xcpt for th captain s frshly svrd had lying on th pillow in his brth. Grac had gottn th information off th Intrnt, but thr was no point in scaring Luthr by rcounting th ship s grisly history. Marty s uncl, Travis Wolf, had bought th ship at an auction for a fraction of what it was worth bcaus h was th only biddr. No on ls wantd to touch th bad-luck ship. Thir ridiculous suprstition was my good luck, Wolf had xplaind. I had nough mony lft ovr to rtrofit th intrior. Clarly, Wolf was not concrnd with what it lookd lik on th outsid. Th Colacanth was buzzing with activity: popl hauling gar, crans lowring crats into th cargo holds, dckhands battning down a hlicoptr to a landing pad bhind th bridg. Marty was crtain that non of thm had hard th story of what had happnd on th ship, and h wishd that h d nvr hard it, ithr. W r shipping out in a coupl of wks? Luthr askd. Mayb soonr, Marty said. Popl hav bn coming in by airplan, choppr, and boat vry day for th past wk. Thy go right onto th ship. Wolf hasn t lt any of thm onto th island for scurity rasons. l u t h r 3
t n ta c l s Yah, Luthr said, pointing. Lik that guy walking up th gangplank. H cam in on th saplan with m. His nam is Dr. Sth A. Lpod. Barly said a word during th whol flight. I pggd him as a squid scintist. H has longr lgs and arms than I do, and h smlls lik a dad fish. Evn Phil was put off by th stnch. H kpt looking back at th guy, wondring what th problm was. Phil was Phil Bishop, a rtird Air Forc colonl and on of Travis Wolf s pilots. H was marrid to Brtha Bishop, a rtird Army Rangr gnral with th ability to kill somon 106 ways with hr bar hands. Sh was now Wolf s chif cook and mothr to Phyllis Bishop, a.k.a. Phil Jr., anothr rtird Air Forc vtran and Wolf s chif pilot. Hav th Mokélé-mbmbé ggs hatchd? Luthr askd. Not yt, Marty answrd. But Wolf xpcts thm to start cracking any day now. I can t bliv you guys saw an actual, living dinosaur in th Congo. Ar you sur th ggs ar ral? Luthr said. As ral as Bo yanking your hair from your scalp, Marty answrd. Lt s had up to th Fort. Fort? Luthr askd. You ll s. I d bttr gt th rst of my gar. Luthr startd toward th saplan, but Marty stoppd him. Don t bothr. Phil will hav somon haul it up and put it in your room aftr thy sarch it. Sarch it? Luthr said. Marty noddd. Aftr what happnd in th Congo, Wolf hardnd island scurity. About a wk ago a guy namd Albrt 4
Iks took ovr island scurity. H usd to work for th Cntral Intllignc Agncy and h s a complt paranoid nutcas. I don t think h vn trusts Wolf, and Wolf is his boss... at last I think h is. Is this Albrt Iks guy going to Nw Zaland with us? Luthr askd. Unfortunatly, Marty said. And don t call him Albrt. Call him Al or h might shoot you. Com on. Oh H stoppd and handd Luthr a silvr chain with a squar pic of carrotcolord plastic hanging from it. This is th tracking tag you wrot m about, Luthr said. Yah, but ths tags ar nw and improvd, Marty xplaind, pointing to th gray plastic squar hanging from th chain around his own nck. Put it on and don t vr tak it off vn whn you r in th showr. Don t ask m how, but thy know whn you r waring it and whn you r not. Th scond day I had min, I took it off in my slp bcaus it got tangld around my nck and I thought I was choking to dath. Within minuts, two of Al s stormtrooprs burst into my bdroom with guns drawn. I almost had a hart attack. Luthr slippd th chain ovr his had and tuckd th squar undr his swatshirt. You r not joking about any of this. No jok, Marty said. Why all th scurity? Marty countd th rasons out on his fingrs. Noah Blackwood, Mokélé-mbmbé ggs, Td Bronson s top scrt work for th govrnmnt, and Grac. Grac? What dos your sistr I man, your cousin hav to do with all this? l u t h r 5
t n ta c l s Marty startd walking down th dock. I ll tll you all about it aftr w gt through th mtal dtctor. Mtal dtctor? Luthr askd. Marty pointd to th nd of th dock, whr two armd scurity mn wr guarding th chain-link gat. Thy wor camouflag fatigus and dadly srious xprssions. Th guys with th shavd hads ar a coupl of Al s stormtrooprs, who ar actually x Navy SEALs. Thy prtty much stick to th primtr of th island, watching for intrudrs xcpt at th Fort, whr Al has two guys on station 24/7. Onc w gt past thm, vrything on th island is a lot mor rlaxd. I would hav maild you about th changs, but Al cut off our mail bcaus h didn t want anyon on th outsid to know about th nw scurity masurs. Marty and Luthr walkd up to th two bullthadd mn. Empty your pockts and turn thm insid out. You know th drill, Bullt Had #1 said, slapping a plastic tray onto th stainlss stl tabl. I alrady did, Marty said. I lft all my stuff hr with you so I didn t hav to b sarchd again. Rmmbr? Turn your pockts insid out anyway, Bullt Had #2 said. Marty turnd his mpty pockts insid out again. Bullt Had #1 friskd him (making sur h hadn t slippd a nuclar dvic into his undrshorts whil thy wrn t looking), thn had Marty pass through th mtal dtctor. You r nxt, Bullt Had #2 said, glaring at Luthr. 6
You askd for it, Luthr said, rliving his first pockt of a half-dozn colord pncils, a pncil sharpnr, candy wrapprs, a small sktch pad, a pair of sunglasss, a comb (uslss in Luthr s cas), a handhld vido gam playr, two flash drivs, a digital camra, stro arbuds, a stick of gum, an iphon, and dntal floss. I startd with th asy pockt first, h said, thn bgan mptying th scond pockt. Th Bullt Hads rolld thir ys as thy watchd th mound of stuff grow. Did you cram vrything you own into your pockts? Marty askd. Nah, Luthr answrd. Th big stuff is down at th dock. Thr humongous suitcass. I didn t know what to xpct, so I brought vrything I had at Omga Prp xcpt my bd. I could hav gottn vrything into two suitcass, but I ndd a third for thos diaris Grac askd m to bring back for hr. Molskins, Marty said. Thr hundrd and fiftn of thm. Grac had kpt a diary vr sinc sh had larnd how to writ at th ag of fiv. Yah, Luthr said. That suitcas wighs about a thousand pounds. Th valuabl gar is hr in th backpack. Didn t want to risk losing it if thy lost my luggag at th airport. Phil could hardly squz th suitcass in with all th junk Dr. Fish Stink brought along. H noddd at th Bullt Hads. Ths guys ar lucky thy arn t chcking his stuff. It smlld wors than h did. Bouqut of roadkill. On whiff of that and ths two scurity guards would b rtching. W ar not scurity guards, Bullt Had #1 muttrd. l u t h r 7
t n ta c l s Didn t man to offnd you, Luthr said chrfully. Marty had forgottn how plasantly annoying Luthr could b whn somon was annoying him. Cryptos was going to b much mor fun with Luthr around. W ar Scurity Spcialists, Bullt Had #2 said. Sorry, Luthr said. You act lik scurity guards and I just thought... H turnd his last pockt insid out. That dos it for th pockts. H hld his arms out from his sids. I m rady for th pat down, but I hav to warn you, I m a littl ticklish. Oh, and I hav this rash that s highly contagious. Th doctors don t know what it is or how to gt rid of it. Bullt Had #2 snappd on a pair of disposabl rubbr glovs and friskd Luthr mor roughly than h had Marty. Luthr giggld through th ntir procss. What s on th flash drivs? Bullt Had #1 askd. Stuff, Luthr said. W ll xamin th stuff and giv th drivs back to you... mayb. W ll kp th camra and th vido gam playr, too. And th cll phon, Bullt Had #2 addd. I nd th iphon, Luthr said. My parnts ar going to b calling. I don t think thy d b happy with you if you took it away. Luthr s parnts wr billionairs and barly knw thy had a son. Marty had nvr vn mt thm, and h d known Luthr sinc thy d attndd first grad togthr at th Omga Opportunity Prparatory School in Switzrland. H doubtd Luthr s parnts would b calling. 8
It s th ruls, Bullt Had #1 said. You got a problm with th ruls, you can tak it up with Mr. Iks or Dr. Wolf. Don t worry about it, Marty said. You can us my Gizmo to call your parnts or to hav thm call you. You man I don t gt my own Gizmo? Luthr askd, disappointd. Afraid not, Marty said. Only a fw popl hav thm. Grac dosn t hav on, ithr. Al dcidd to limit th units for scurity rasons. To mak a call out or gt on in w ll hav to gt his or Wolf s prmission. Why did thy giv you a Gizmo? Luthr askd. Marty lookd at th guards. I ll tll you latr. You won t bliv th improvmnts Td Bronson has mad to thm. Td Bronson was Wolf s partnr in Wolf, a softwar dvlopmnt and tchnology company. Marty had nvr laid ys on Td, but not for lack of trying. It was rumord that th ccntric gnius hadn t stppd outsid th Quonst hut whr h invntd things in mor than thr yars. Luthr rachd for his pack. That stays hr, Bullt Had #1 said. W ll giv it back to you aftr w v had a chanc to xamin th contnts. Whn? Luthr askd. That s hard to say, Bullt Had #2 said. W r kind of backd up. Luthr lookd at th abandond dock. Phil had alrady takn off in th saplan to pick up mor popl from th mainland. I can s that, Luthr said. Lt m just tak on thing with l u t h r 9
t n ta c l s m. It nvr lavs my sid. If I can t tak it, thn I ll just hav to wait hr with you until you r don. Lt s s what it is, Bullt Had #1 said, clarly not happy about th prospct of spnding anothr minut with Luthr Smyth. Clos your ys, Luthr told Marty. Why? Bcaus it s a prsnt for you and Grac, you dunc. Marty closd his ys and hard pags bing turnd. This is just a bunch of Shh! Luthr said. Do you want to wrck th surpris? Just tak it with you and gt out of hr, Bullt Had #1 said. Marty opnd his ys and saw that whatvr Luthr had takn out of his pack was now stuffd undr his swatshirt. Thy walkd through th gat and ovr to a bat-up four-whlr. Marty strappd on a hlmt and swung onto th front. Luthr did th sam and climbd on bhind him. Whil Marty trid to gt th four-whlr startd, Luthr turnd around and shoutd at th Bullt Hads, I wasn t kidding about th rash. Th last doctor who lookd at it was infctd within an hour and h still has it. H was waring glovs, too. I m rally sorry. Th four-whlr blchd to lif and Marty pld out. 10