Cephalox the Cyber Squid Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  1: Beneath the Waves

  2: Attack on Aquora

  3: Underwater Pursuit

  4: The Merryn Touch

  5: The Secret City

  6: The Skull of Thallos

  7: Cephalox Strikes

  8: Cyber Squid

  9: The Leaping Dolphin

  10: The Quest Begins

  Preview: Deep Dive #2: Silda the Electric Eel

  Acknowledgments

  Also Available

  Copyright

  RIVET’S IRON HEAD ROSE FROM THE WAVES, water streaming off his metal snout. His electronically amplified bark echoed off the walls of the mighty city of Aquora.

  “Hey, Rivet, what’s up? What’s the matter?”

  Max leaned over the rails, and Rivet stared back up at him, still barking, eyes flashing red. The dawn light gleamed on the water. Max loved coming down to sea level in the early morning with Rivet to fish, before his dad was awake and the city was up and buzzing. Rivet was the best fisherdog in all of Aquora. Max had programmed him to be. But no fish had ever gotten him this excited.

  “What’s up, boy?” said Max. “What have you seen?”

  “Don’t know, Max!” Rivet barked. Max had equipped his dogbot with a few simple phrases. Rivet must have seen something he didn’t have a word for. He turned and swam a little way off, propellers spinning rapidly. Then he turned and came back, gazing up at Max. He barked again, and his stumpy metal tail wagged.

  “You want me to follow you?”

  “Yes. Follow.”

  There was a docking bay close to where Max stood — a pair of giant steel “fingers” that held a small seacraft. Max recognized it as a ZX200 Sea Lion — the latest model. He guessed that it belonged to the AMRS — Aquora Marine Rescue Service. It was a beautiful piece of engineering, strong enough to resist the crushing water pressure at the very bottom of the ocean.

  “A submersible,” Max muttered, gazing at the underwater exploration pod. Max had always wondered about the mysterious world below the waves, but had never had the chance to see it for himself — subs were strictly off-limits. But what harm could it do to borrow it? As long as he wasn’t caught …

  Max looked around. Nobody was there, so he vaulted over the rail and landed on the steel gray deck of the sub. He admired its smooth stingray shape as he felt around the edge of the Plexiglas dome. He found the right button and pressed it. The dome opened silently and Max slid into the leather driver’s seat.

  Out in the water, Rivet barked excitedly.

  “Hang on, Riv — just let me start this up.”

  A Marine Rescue officer would have an electronic card to activate the craft. Max didn’t have one, but that wasn’t going to stop him.

  He switched on the sub’s computer, and the screen glowed green. Hmm, it wanted a password. No surprise there. Max found the control panel for the password system. His fingers flew over the keyboard as he set it to “Accept Engineer Password.” Please insert engineer’s password, the computer said. Max keyed in the engineer code. His dad was Head Defense Engineer at Aquora, which meant he had access to a lot of codes. Codes that Max had seen and memorized.

  Max gave a broad grin as the engine roared into life.

  “Easy when you know how,” he murmured.

  The Plexiglas dome closed over his head, and with a jolt, the metal fingers parted, releasing the craft.

  Max had never piloted a sub before, but the controls were simple and well-designed. He knew he could handle it. Still, he felt his heartbeat quicken as he headed out into the open sea.

  Rivet dove beneath the waves, the water closing over the top of his propellers. Max took a deep breath and shoved the throttle forward. The sub dipped and shot down into the water, the force of the engines throwing him back in his seat.

  The deeper he went, the darker it got. He flicked on the Sea Lion’s searchlights, and a powerful beam cut through the water, showing Rivet swimming ahead. Max felt a thrill of excitement. He’d never been underwater before. Dad would freak out if he knew! His father hated the ocean. He didn’t even like Max to go swimming in it. Ever since Max’s mother and uncle had taken a sub on a secret mission ten years ago … a mission from which they’d never returned.

  Max had been two when that happened. He hardly remembered his mom — but he still missed her. A warm, loving presence that had disappeared from his life without warning.

  She and her brother had gone to search for the legendary underwater city of Sumara, home of the Merryn — a mythical race of sea people. Few people had ever seen them, and most thought they were nothing more than a legend.

  Yet down here in the dark water, with fish drifting across the yellow beam of the searchlight, Max wouldn’t have been surprised to bump into a Merryn. The ocean was so vast and deep. Who says they’re not real? he thought. Who can say for sure what lives down here?

  He shivered. If the stories about the Merryn were true, he didn’t want to meet them. It was said that they had strange and dangerous powers. They hated humans and wanted to harm and enslave them. Max remembered his old nanny saying to him, “If you don’t behave, the Merryn will come and get you!”

  Rivet dove deeper and deeper, swimming quickly. What had he found? Sometimes he drifted out of the path of the searchlight, but he sent back regular pulses of electronic sound that beeped across the sub’s sonar screen, telling Max exactly where he was.

  “Good boy,” he murmured, though Rivet couldn’t hear him. “Good dogbot!”

  Rivet was keeping close to the walls of the city, which extended all the way down to the ocean bed. They passed lit apartment windows. The poorest people lived here, far below the surface of the water. It was weird to see people living underwater, as if they were in a goldfish bowl. He passed a window and saw a man and woman in their kitchen. They looked thin in their workers’ overalls. Max accelerated, hoping they hadn’t seen him. If they spotted a twelve-year-old boy piloting a sub, it would be their duty to report it to the authorities.

  Lights glimmered along the giant building — indoor bridges for maintenance workers, steel doors, underwater docking bays, mechanical water-wheels for extracting the wave energy on which the city ran.

  It’s amazing that we built all this! Max thought.

  His people had learned to survive in a world that wasn’t their natural home. And not just survive — the elite of the city enjoyed lives of luxury above the surface, where Max and his dad had an apartment. They lived on Level 523, one of the highest spires of the city — thanks to his father’s important post as Aquora’s Head Defense Engineer. Max thought of the underfed couple he’d just seen in the kitchen, and felt a squirm of discomfort. He and his dad were so lucky compared to them.

  His thoughts were interrupted by another of Rivet’s sonar barks beeping across the screen. Max steered toward it. He saw Rivet in the searchlight, but there was something else there, too, in the darkness beyond.

  It looked like … Could it be a person? Yes — a girl with long hair waving in the current. Rivet had found a body….

  But no. The girl was moving. She swam along the city wall, peering in through the portholes. Impossible! How could anyone get this far down without diving equipment? How could she breathe?

  The girl turned toward the searchlight, gave a flip of her feet, and, quicker than Max would have thought possible, she was suddenly right up against the Plexiglas dome, staring in at him.

  She had smooth skin, small features, and white, even teeth, and her long silver hair billowed around her face. She wore clothing made of some braided green material and … Max gasped. There were gill-like openings on each side of her neck. The hands that pressed against the Plexigl
as dome were webbed.

  A Merryn, Max said to himself in disbelief. I’m looking at a mythical Merryn!

  THE MERRYN GIRL OPENED HER MOUTH. MAX scrambled to switch on the sub’s external microphone. A melodic blend of sighs and whistles filled the cabin like a recording of whale song Max had once heard, but softer. It was beautiful, but Max couldn’t understand a word she was saying.

  He shrugged helplessly.

  Anger crossed the girl’s face. She repeated her speech louder, more urgently.

  “I don’t understand,” Max mouthed. “I don’t speak your language.” If it was a language.

  The girl turned and pointed away from Aquora.

  Max found the control that rotated the searchlight. The beam swept through the black water, lighting up a school of silvery fish and … what was that in the distance?

  It was a vague, dark shape, like a cloud of ink. It was writhing and changing form, getting bigger all the time. It was coming toward the sub! A little closer and Max would be able to see it clearly.

  “ALERT! ALERT!” The sub’s radio crackled into life, making Max jump. “ALL AQUORA SERVICE PERSONNEL, REPORT TO LEVEL ZERO IMMEDIATELY.”

  Max groaned. Someone must have noticed the missing sub. He’d be arrested as soon as he docked, and his dad would be furious when he found out what Max had done. There was a slim chance that if he got to Level Zero before the port cops, he could dock and make himself scarce. He’d have to head back right away and investigate the mystery of the Merryn girl later.

  “I’ll be back — see you back here!” he said to the girl. She wouldn’t understand that, of course. He pointed downward with both index fingers, trying to get across the idea of “here.” She gazed at him blankly. Does she have any idea what I’m trying to say? he wondered.

  There wasn’t time to find out. Max turned the sub, whistling into the microphone to call his dogbot. Rivet came and paddled alongside, propellers whirling.

  Max took one last glance behind him at the strange shape. It seemed to have too many legs. Could it be a group of creatures, not just one? A knot of sea snakes? Something about it made him shudder. For a moment he felt a twinge of guilt for leaving the Merryn girl alone, but he couldn’t stay.

  He pushed the throttle lever, and the Sea Lion accelerated, leaving the girl behind. I’ll find her again later, Max promised himself.

  * * *

  Max cut the motor and nosed the sub into the docking bay. The steel fingers gently closed around it. Then he threw open the dome and jumped onto the dock, with Rivet scrambling up after him.

  There was no chance of getting away undetected. The walkways were packed with people. Sure enough, a man was striding toward him, dressed in the blue uniform and peaked cap of the Aquora City cops.

  “What are you doing here? Don’t you know we have a Red Alert situation? All civilians are to evacuate Level Zero!” he said.

  “Oh,” Max said. He wasn’t in trouble after all. Something else was going on, something more important than a borrowed submersible.

  He ran to the central concourse where the high-speed elevators were, with Rivet scampering at his side.

  Crowds were rushing toward the elevators, pushing and jostling, talking nervously. They looked scared.

  “What is happening?” yapped Rivet.

  “What’s going on?” Max asked a woman as she ran past him.

  She barely slowed as she answered over her shoulder. “There’s something big on the scanners approaching the city! We have to get inside.”

  “The defenses aren’t ready!” said a man in a frightened voice.

  A squad of Aquora City defense officers in black uniforms came marching across the concourse. They carried special-issue blasters, powerful enough to knock a hole in the side of a building, Max’s dad had once told him. Unlike everyone else, they were going toward the waterfront, not away from it.

  “There’s no need to panic!” a defense officer shouted out. “Chief Engineer Callum is on his way down. He’ll activate the defensive shield.”

  Chief Engineer Callum was Max’s father. He felt a surge of pride that the city’s safety depended on his dad.

  “What’s attacking us, exactly?” he asked the defense officer.

  “That’s classified. Just get out of the area. Now!”

  The officers marched off in the direction of the waterfront. Max joined the throng of people pushing toward the elevators, wishing he could stay and find out more about what was going on.

  Then Max saw his father striding through the crowd. The people of Aquora parted respectfully before him. Half a head taller than anyone else, he looked impressive in his neat black uniform with golden patches on the shoulders.

  “Dad!” Max ran to his father, catching up to him by the waterfront. “What’s going on?”

  “Max! Where have you been?” he said. “Get back up to our level right now.”

  “Not till you tell me what’s going on!” Max replied, folding his arms.

  Max’s father sighed, and drew Max away from the crowd. “Don’t spread this,” he said. “I don’t want to start a panic. We are being attacked by some kind of … creature.”

  Max felt his heart rate quicken. “Maybe I can help —” he started to say.

  “No, Max. There’s nothing you can do. Will you just get out of here before it’s too late?”

  Crash! Something exploded out of the ocean. A mighty wave broke over the waterfront, drenching Max and his dad, and a huge, black tentacle reared up from the waves. It was thicker than a man’s body and longer than any water snake Max had ever seen.

  He ducked as the tentacle swept along the docking area. Several cops and defense officers were knocked flat. One man tumbled into the water with a cry.

  The ocean boiled. More enormous, swaying tentacles burst out of it. The defense officers opened fire with their blasters, but the shots bounced harmlessly off the creature’s skin, which must have been tougher than body armor.

  Max saw that the ends of the tentacles were fitted with attachments. One had a grabbing metal claw. Another ended in a sharp, glittering spike. Others had energy cannons, which fired sizzling heat beams at the officers. There was a ragged scream as one man was vaporized on the spot.

  “Get down!” shouted Max’s dad. He pulled Max behind the steel fingers of a docking bay. One of the tentacles towered above them. It had a camera on the end, which swiveled this way and that, as if searching.

  “What’s going on?” Max asked. “What’s it looking for?”

  “I have to get the emergency shield up. It might hold that thing for a while. Stay there!” His dad sprinted across the waterfront toward the Control Center.

  The camera eye swiveled in his direction. It flashed green. It’s as if it spotted what it was looking for, Max thought. As if —

  “No!” Max cried — too late.

  The tentacle with the grabbing claw swooped down and gripped Max’s dad around his waist.

  He was lifted up into the sky, legs kicking helplessly.

  MAX LEAPED OUT FROM BEHIND THE DOCKING bay. Rivet raced alongside him.

  A cop shouted, “Get down!” but Max ignored him. He wasn’t going to hide and watch his dad being carried off by a sea creature.

  Another black tentacle slammed down on the dock in front of them, making the deck shudder. At its tip was a blaster cannon pointed in Max’s direction. He threw himself toward it, grabbed the blaster attachment, and twisted. The beam sizzled harmlessly up into the sky but the tentacle rose and Max felt his feet leave the ground.

  Rivet darted underneath, raced along the dock, and leaped up at the tentacle that held Max’s dad. The dogbot fastened his metal jaws on to the creature’s black flesh.

  “That’s it, Rivet!” Max called down. “We’ve got to save Dad!”

  The tentacle Max was clinging on to smashed down toward the ground. He jumped clear at the last moment, rolling out of reach.

  As he scrambled to his feet, he saw that the tentacles were
slithering back over the edge of the dock and into the sea. Max’s dad was held just above the water now. Rivet hung on, swinging from side to side.

  The creature was going to head back into the open sea, and soon it would be gone. It was fast. But not as fast as a sub, Max thought.

  The sub he’d borrowed before was still docked where he’d left it. He jumped in.

  “No!” someone shouted. Two cops ran toward him.

  Max punched in the engineer code as fast as he could and tugged the thrust lever. The engine roared into life, and Max shot off after the creature. You’re not taking my dad from me, he thought. I won’t lose him, too.

  The creature sank lower in the water, then submerged fully, taking Rivet and his dad with it. A jolt of horror hit Max in the gut. How long could his father last underwater? A minute, at most.

  But if the creature wanted to kill his dad, why hadn’t it already crushed him with its claw?

  Max dove, and everything grew darker as his craft descended. He pushed the thrust lever to “Maximum.” He passed by a shark that twisted in the water to snap at him. The sub’s searchlight picked out the writhing black mass ahead of him.

  Of course, he realized, this was the strange shape he’d seen when he went underwater the first time! The Merryn girl must have been trying to warn him. That was strange. The legends Max had been taught said that the Merryn hated all humans — but the girl had tried to warn him of the creature’s attack.

  They were far out to sea now. Max imagined how his dad must feel, lungs bursting, unable to breathe. He had to do something, and fast.

  His fingers found the torpedo launch button. He lined up the creature in the crosshairs on the launch system’s screen. A direct hit might kill the creature or hurt it enough to make it let go of his dad.

  He fired.