Chapter One
Cody stood on the top deck of the ship, mopping the floor around the smoothie bar. Zack had knocked over the Ice-E machine, resulting in cola and blueberry ice drinks flooding the Sky Deck; Mr. Moesby had confined Zack to his quarters, and left Cody to clean up the mess. It was getting late, very dark, but the moonlight lit the deck, and the stars twinkled in the night sky. He wished he could be with…
"Hey Cody," someone said
Cody looked up from his mopping; Bailey was standing in front of him, with her cute farm-girl smile.
"Hi Bailey," Cody said, "Sorry, I can't make it to our study date tonight. As you can see…"
Cody waved around the deck.
"I know," Bailey said, "I thought I'd keep you company."
"Thanks," Cody said, "But you don't have to do that."
"No, I want to," Bailey sat down on a chair by the bar, "Besides, London's hogging the bed again."
"I thought you two had twin beds?"
"We do. She said her bags of money didn't want to sleep on the floor."
/
Cody and Bailey talked while he worked. Eventually, Zack and London walked up to the Sky Deck.
"What do you want Zack?" Cody groaned
"Look, Cody, I feel bad about Mr. Moesby making you clean this up."
"So you'll help me?" Cody asked
"No, I just wanted to tell you I feel bad about it."
"Oh,"
Cody's expectations weren't that high to begin with; in fact, Zack saying he felt bad was a new level of compassion.
"London, same with you?" he asked
London had her usual sweet-yet-stupid demeanor.
"Cody, Zack told me you investigated the Tipton cosmetic line and found something shocking?" London asked, surprisingly intelligent
"Uh, yeah," Cody said, slightly suspicious
"What exactly did you find?"
"London, are you…?"
"What did you find?" London ordered
"Well, traces of sulfuric acid," Cody admitted, "It was a one-in-a-million chance discovery, but I'm glad I found it. It would have been deadly but un-traceable…"
London reached into her purse, and took out a gun. Her empty-headed smile remained.
"Wow, London!" Bailey gasped, "Take it easy! Guns are dangerous!"
"I'm just doing what daddy said I needed to do," London said, pointing it at Cody, "Now, tell me, who else have you told about this?"
Cody realized the situation.
"London, I'm not telling you anything," he said, "I don't care what you do to me."
London shrugged, and turned the gun to Bailey.
"Talk, or country-girl gets it."
Bailey started to whimper.
"OK!" Cody said quickly, "I told Ms. Tutweiller about it, but she probably wasn't listening!"
"Hm. Well, I suppose she won't talk," London said, "But you…that's another story."
She cocked the gun; Cody winced, anticipating what would happen next.
"No you don't, London!"
Zack, in a bold move, punched London's hand and knocked the gun out of it. It fired past Cody, breaking one of the posts of the safety rail. London saw this as the perfect opportunity; she leaned forward, and shoved Zack and Bailey right into the post. They went overboard.
/
"No!"
Cody ran to the nearest life ring, and hurled it down; he was not a very good throw, it landed several feet away from Zack.
"Oh, real nice!" Zack said sarcastically
Cody groaned, and knew what he had to do. From the life ring post, Cody plucked a GPS block. It was a device the size of a brick that traditionally was thrown to someone who had jumped overboard, but giving his recent attempts with the life ring, he decided not to. Code zipped up the block in his coveralls pocket, and leapt into the water.
"Geronimo!" he yelled
/
Cody's landing skills were better than his throwing skills. He landed right next to Bailey with a great big splash.
"I grabbed a GPS block!" Cody spluttered
"Did you sound the alarm?" Bailey asked
"No," Cody shook his head, "If I ran to the alarm, London would have had time to get the gun back. But I'm pretty sure this thing sends out a signal once you take it out of the life ring post."
"I thought it was when it comes in contact with the water?" Zack asked
"No, it's when it hits a hard surface," Bailey reminded
"Like this?"
Zack grabbed the block, and attempted to hit it against the hull of the ship, but it went flying out his hand. It narrowly missed the hull. Bailey and Cody breathed sighs of relief. Then the block got sucked into the engines.
"No!" Zack groaned
/
The three of them were huddled together, still adrift. They had managed to grab a hold of the life ring, but were getting tired.
"We're going to have to get rid of our clothes," Zack announced, "They're weighing us down."
Bailey looked nervous.
"He's right," Cody said, "It's the first thing they told us in the survival class."
"I'm…not that comfortable being in my underwear," Bailey said
"I won't gawk," Zack groaned
"OK," Bailey gave in
/
Cody took out his Swiss Army knife, and cut his clothes off. His linen shirt and jeans floated away, leaving in his vest and boxers. Zack did the same, ditching his pajama top and bottoms, also only leaving his vest and boxers. Bailey was last, reluctantly taking the knife. She cut open her top and ditched her skirt, revealing what resembled a bathing suit from the 1900s.
"I feel so naked," Bailey grinned
Zack and Cody exchanged glances.
"Yes, I know what I'm getting into," Cody said
/
The three of them were lucky enough to drift onto a small landmass; it was a small island, only about thirty feet in diameter. There were palm trees in the center, and a ring of beach surrounding them.
"Cody, do you know where we are?" Zack asked
"Well, we drifted two miles south, and at the last time I checked the ship's log we were exactly halfway between Morocco and Venezuela."
"So we're nowhere near civilization?" Bailey asked, "Zack, you idiot!"
Bailey started to choke him; Cody tried to pry her off.
"Now we're stranded in the middle of the ocean," "I've lost my clothes, some rich girl just tried to kill us, and on top of everything else the Captain reported sighting of a large narwhal…!"
"Wait, did you say narwhal?" Cody asked
"Oh no…" Zack groaned
"What is it?" Bailey asked
"Cody, for the last time, that was just a dream!" Zack groaned
Cody reached into his pocket, and took out what appeared to be a cell phone. He squeezed it, and it shot open in the middle, revealing a small red button.
"What's that?" Bailey asked
"I'll explain later," Cody tightened his phone's wrist-strap, "I'll need a minute to concentrate."
Bailey watched as Cody pressed the red button, in a certain order; she recognized it as Morse code; back in Kettle Corn, it was their answer to text messaging. It spelt: CAPTAIN IT IS CODY STOP. PLEASE COME AS SOON AS YOU CAN STOP.
"Do you have a friend in the Navy?" Bailey asked
"Hm?" Cody asked
"You said Captain," Bailey explained, "And we're in the sea. I just figured."
"It's not the Navy…"
/
Things went from bad to worse; a tidal wave swept the island, shoving them back into the sea. They drifted some more, clinging to the life ring.
"Huh!" Bailey gasped
"What is it?" Cody asked
"I felt something moving beneath me," Bailey croaked
Zack twitched.
"I felt it too!" he said, "But that wasn't a shark, it felt more like when you step on a metal grate."
"I know what you mean!" Bailey agreed
Bailey thrashed nervously.
"It's getting closer! And it's big!"
Suddenly, the big metal thing revealed itself; from beneath Zack, Cody, and Bailey arose a gargantuan submarine; it was made up of brass panels, and was shaped like a swordfish. Beneath it were iron tentacles gripping at it. Luckily for them, the submarine had managed to ascend so it would catch them on the top deck.
"Cody, what's going on?" Bailey asked, "Is this who you were calling?"
Cody nodded proudly.
"But we're out of the Navy's jurisdiction," Bailey said, "How do we…"
"I'll explain later," Cody got up, and brushed himself off, "Now come on, we'd better get inside."
/
The three of them walked inside. The submarine was fantastic; inside, the corridors where built in a gothic steampunk style, with hissing pipes lining the walls, snaking around the Renaissance-era paintings. The ground had polished hardwood floors, and the ceiling was lit by Edwardian style gas lamps.
"You weren't kidding about this place," Zack said
"How do you know about it?" Bailey asked
"Cody went overboard last year," Zack explained, "It was during those two weeks you were in quarantine. When we found him, he was talking about this place, and some…"
Suddenly, from around the corner came two men; one was white with a shaved head. The other was black and built like an ox. Both of them wore blue overcoats, underneath wearing traditional sailor garb. Following them was an Indian man in a blue tunic and turban; he had a long, thick black beard, and carried a holstered saber that extended all the way down his khaki trousers to his thick leather boots.
"Hello Cody," the Indian man said, "I hope I'm not too late?"
"No Captain, you came just in time," Cody said
"You want to tell me what's going on here?" Zack asked
Cody turned around.
"Zack, Bailey, allow me to introduce Captain Nemo the Fourth," he said
Bailey's eyes widened.
"Then that makes this…" she began
"The Nautilus."