Chapter Seven:

A Postcard Would’ve Been Nice

“What just happened?” Dad asks as I struggle to peel the screwdriver from my palm. It takes some effort, but finally I’m able to push it into Pockets’s paw. He grasps it tight this time.

“It was the stone,” Carp says. “It is not supposed to reach the air.”

The rock has rolled between Dad’s feet. “This little rock?” he asks, bending over to pick it up.

“Don’t!” Carp says, stepping between Dad and the rock. “Over the centuries the people of Nautilus have adapted to the strongly magnetic mineral that is found under our ocean floor. It has no effect on us. But when visitors to our planet come in contact with it when the stone is dry, they become magnetic.”

Dad backs away from the rock and pulls me close to him. “Is it dangerous?” he asks, his voice tight.

Carp shakes his head. “He only touched it with one hand. He’ll be fine in a few days. A few weeks at most.”

“I’m sorry, Dad,” I say. “I thought it would be a cool gift for Penny.”

He sighs. “Maybe next time just get her a postcard.”

Pockets pulls a square coin out of his pocket and tosses it at me. It lands right in the palm of my hand without me even reaching for it. Cool! I peel the alien coin off my hand and slip it in my pocket. I’m not sure I mind being magnetic if it means I get to pick up stray coins from different planets. I might even start a collection!

“Hey!” Pockets says. His tail starts swishing back and forth like windshield wipers.

“Okay, okay,” I say, reaching into my pocket for the coin. “I’ll give it back.”

“No, it’s not that,” Pockets says quickly. “I’ve just realized I know what B.U.R.P. was doing down here. And they weren’t robbing the bank.”

“Sure looks like it,” Carp says.

Pockets shakes his head. “I believe they want what is buried under the ocean floor—the rocks! And judging by the size of the hole, they want a LOT of them. The digging must have set off the bank alarms.”

“If that’s true,” Salmon says, “then where are all the rocks? There’s nowhere to hide them.”

I look down at my small rock, still lying on the floor. If I hadn’t taken it, I wouldn’t have found the screwdriver, and Pockets wouldn’t have figured out what B.U.R.P. was after. Strange how one thing leads to another. Suddenly, the pieces come together like a puzzle. “It’s the water,” I blurt out.

“What’s the water, Archie?” Dad asks.

“That’s how they’re getting the mineral off the planet,” I explain. “It’s like when me and Penny play at the pool, you know, with that water jet, and it’s so strong it pushes our hands away? Couldn’t those really powerful gushes of water be bringing the rocks up to the sky?”

Pockets claps his paws together. “The boy is absolutely right! B.U.R.P. has been grinding up the rocks and then setting off the waterspouts to send the magnetic material right up to the sky. It’s a brilliant plot!”

Carp and Salmon stare with wide eyes at Pockets, then turn to face each other. “I am so ashamed,” Carp says. “We were blaming each other when it was B.U.R.P. taking our water all along.”

“Not our finest moment,” Salmon agrees. “I am sorry, too.”

The two leaders shake hands warmly.

“And the good news is that the water and the rocks are still here,” Pockets says, “inside that huge cloud. They haven’t gotten away with it.”

Pike rushes in from the other room. “Everyone! Come quick! The cloud is moving!”