Astrosaurs 14

by Steve Cole

  Contents

  Cover

  About the Book

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Warning! Think you know about dinosaurs?

  Talking Dinosaur!

  The Crew of the DSS Sauropod

  Jurassic Quadrant Map

  Chapter One: Journey into Fear

  Chapter Two: The Dung and the Danger

  Chapter Three: The Repulsive Palace

  Chapter Four: Monster on the Loose

  Chapter Five: The King and the Cure

  Chapter Six: Something in the Sewer

  Chapter Seven: The Terrible Truth

  Chapter Eight: The Monster’s Mission

  Chapter Nine: Splash it all Over

  Chapter Ten: The End of the Curse

  About the Author

  Also by Steve Cole

  Copyright

  About the Book

  Teggs is no ordinary dinosaur – he’s an ASTROSAUR! Captain of the amazing spaceship DSS Sauropod, he goes on dangerous missions and fights evil – along with his faithful crew, Gipsy, Arx and Iggy!

  Tegg’s new mission is to save a carnivore king from deadly space mumps. If the king can’t be cured, his evil nephew will start a terrible war! The astrosaurs race to the rescue with a special doctor – but are soon trapped in a palace of peril. With enemies all around and a mad meat-chomping monster on the loose, can Teggs escape the heart-stopping horror of the Carnivore Curse?

  To William and Martha

  WARNING!

  THINK YOU KNOW ABOUT DINOSAURS?

  THINK AGAIN!

  The dinosaurs . . .

  Big, stupid, lumbering reptiles. Right?

  All they did was eat, sleep and roar a bit. Right?

  Died out millions of years ago when a big meteor struck the Earth. Right?

  Wrong!

  The dinosaurs weren’t stupid. They may have had small brains, but they used them well. They had big thoughts and big dreams.

  By the time the meteor hit, the last dinosaurs had already left Earth for ever. Some breeds had discovered how to travel through space as early as the Triassic period, and were already enjoying a new life among the stars. No one has found evidence of dinosaur technology yet. But the first fossil bones were only unearthed in 1822, and new finds are being made all the time.

  The proof is out there, buried in the ground.

  And the dinosaurs live on, way out in space, even now. They’ve settled down in a place they call the Jurassic Quadrant and over the last sixty-five million years they’ve gone on evolving.

  The dinosaurs we’ll be meeting are part of a special group called the Dinosaur Space Service. Their job is to explore space, to go on exciting missions and to fight evil and protect the innocent!

  These heroic herbivores are not just dinosaurs.

  They are astrosaurs!

  NOTE: The following story has been translated from secret Dinosaur Space Service records. Earthling dinosaur names are used throughout, although some changes have been made for easy reading. There’s even a guide to help you pronounce the dinosaur names on the next page.

  Talking Dinosaur!

  How to say the prehistoric names in this book . . .

  STEGOSAURUS - STEG-oh-SORE-us

  HADROSAUR - HAD-roh-sore

  DIMORPHODON - die-MORF-oh-don

  IGUANODON - ig-WA-noh-don

  BARYONYX - Bare-ee-ON-ix

  TRICERATOPS - try-SERRA-tops

  SELLOSAURUS - sel-oh-SORE-us

  Chapter One

  JOURNEY INTO FEAR

  Captain Teggs Stegosaur sat in his control pit, chewing tensely on a twig. His amazing spaceship, the DSS Sauropod – finest craft in the Dinosaur Space Service – was zooming deeper into danger with every passing moment. Beads of sweat sat on Teggs’s scaly orange-brown skin, and his ever-hungry tummy gave a nervous rumble.

  “We are now five million miles inside the Carnivore Sector,” reported Gipsy Saurine, the stripy hadrosaur in charge of the ship’s communications. Her pretty face was creased in a frown. “Just think, there must be billions of meat-eating dinos all around us!”

  Her words set off a chorus of squawks and squeals from the dimorphodon, the little flying reptiles that helped to work the Sauropod’s complicated controls. “All right, gang, don’t get your wings in a wobble!” Teggs called to them. “Better keep thoughts like that to yourself, Gipsy.”

  “Sorry, Captain.” Gipsy whistled to the dimorphodon and they settled down again. “But I really wish we were back in plant-eater space where we belong.”

  “I wish we knew more about our mission,” growled Iggy Tooth, the Sauropod’s Chief Engineer. The stocky iguanodon pointed at the scanner screen, which showed two pointed blood-red spacecraft flying alongside. “For instance, why we need to stay so close to those baryonyx battleships. Nasty old rust-buckets – with even nastier old meat-eaters on board.”

  “Don’t be rude about those baryonyx troops, Ig,” Teggs told him. “If they weren’t protecting us from all the other meat-eating trouble-makers out there, we’d be in real trouble!”

  Gipsy sighed. “What a crazy situation.”

  And Teggs had to agree.

  The Sauropod usually whizzed about the Vegetarian Sector of space, keeping peaceful plant-eating dinosaurs safe from hungry carnivore attacks. But right now, Teggs and his fellow astrosaurs were on a secret mission to help some of those carnivores. “We’re taking a super-important dino-doctor to the baryonyx planet, Baronia,” Teggs reflected. “But why?”

  A green triceratops strode onto the flight deck. It was Arx – the Sauropod’s brainy first officer.

  “Hello, Arx,” said Iggy. “Been chatting with your new mate Doctor Herdlip, have you?”

  “Chatting?” Arx frowned. “Herdlip is the biggest expert on space diseases in the galaxy, Iggy. He doesn’t do chatting!”

  “I suppose he’s far too important and busy,” said Teggs.

  Arx nodded and sighed. “Shame, though – I’d love a good natter with Herdlip about space medicine! But he’s locked himself away in my laboratory. I’ve been waiting by the door for ages, hoping he might come out.”

  “Never mind, Arx,” said Gipsy. “I’m sure you’ll both get a chance to talk on Baronia.” Suddenly, she clutched her headphones. “Captain! Incoming message from Admiral Rosso.”

  “At last!” Teggs cried. Rosso was the crusty old barosaurus in charge of the DSS. “Perhaps now we’ll get some answers.”

  Gipsy flicked a switch. The baryonyx ships faded from the scanner screen and Rosso’s stern, wrinkly face appeared. “Ah, Teggs. You’ve almost reached your destination, so it should be safe to explain why you’re needed so urgently.”

  Teggs saluted from his control pit. “What’s happening on Baronia, sir?”

  Rosso held up a picture of a grey baryonyx in regal robes, wearing a crown. Teggs shivered slightly. All baryonyx looked like giant gruesome crocodiles with hunched backs and long, narrow jaws full of pointed teeth – and the one in Rosso’s picture looked scarier than most.

  “This is King Jeck, the elderly ruler of the baryonyx,” said Rosso. “Quite peaceful as carnivores go, but right now he’s very sick. He has caught Ribchomper’s Mump-Bumps.”

  “That’s a nasty illness that only affects meat-guzzling dinos in their old age,” Arx noted. “It’s sometimes called the Carnivore Curse. The older you are, the more dangerous it is.”

  “It could prove deadly to a meat-eater as old as King Jeck,” said Rosso. “And Jeck’s nephew – a vain, battle-hungry creature called Prince Poota – is next in line to the throne. He can’t wait to take his uncle’s crown and lead the baryonyx into battle against us plant-eaters.”

  “But why?” asked Gipsy.

  �
��He wants to hang out with the most powerful carnivore rulers, like King Groosum the T. rex and the Raptor Royal,” Arx noted. “But they won’t take him seriously until he’s started a war.”

  “Now I understand,” Teggs told Rosso. “You want Jeck to get better so that he can stay king and keep things peaceful.”

  “And that’s why we’re bringing an expert in space diseases to Baronia!” Gipsy realized.

  “Correct,” said Rosso. “Doctor Herdlip believes he may have found a cure for the Mump-Bumps, and I have persuaded King Jeck to try it out. It’s his only chance to pull through.”

  “But why is this all such a big secret?” asked Iggy.

  “If it got about that a carnivore king was saved by some puny plant-eaters, there would be an uproar,” Arx said. “King Jeck might be overthrown anyway!”

  “Precisely,” Rosso agreed. “Teggs, you must deliver Doctor Herdlip to Jeck’s palace so that he can cure the king, and then get out again as quickly as possible. Good luck!”

  The astrosaurs saluted. Rosso’s image slowly faded from the scanner screen and the two blood-red battle cruisers reappeared. Teggs could see Baronia now, a red planet, growing larger as they approached.

  “No wonder Herdlip has locked himself in the lab,” said Iggy. “He must still be tinkering with his cure.”

  Teggs nodded, “Arx, why don’t you see if he needs any help before we land? That will give you a chance to talk to him!”

  Arx saluted, smiled and hurried away.

  As he left, one of Gipsy’s controls bleeped. “Urgent message incoming from our baryonyx escorts,” she reported, flicking a switch.

  A roar burst from the Sauropod’s speakers. “Plant-eaters, we are under attack! Prince Poota has—”

  KA-BLAMMM! The Sauropod rocked as the nearest baryonyx battleship exploded into blazing pieces.

  “Battle stations!” yelled Teggs.

  The dimorphodon flapped to their posts. The lights dimmed. “Red alert!” screeched the alarm pterosaur, her shrill warning echoing throughout the Sauropod. “Danger! Under attack! SQUAWWWK!”

  “No sign of enemy ships,” said Iggy, studying the space radar.

  KER-BOOOOM! The next moment, the other baryonyx battleship blew up in a blaze of light! The astrosaurs were thrown to the floor by the force of the blast.

  The flock of dimorphodon helped Gipsy up. “What’s happening?” she cried.

  “You heard that poor baryonyx,” Teggs shouted, leaping back into his control pit. “Prince Poota must have found out we’re coming. He wants to make sure we don’t cure King Jeck so he can start his crazy war!”

  “And he’s firing from somewhere on Baronia.” Iggy pointed to the scanner. “Look!”

  The red bulk of the baryonyx planet was filled the screen and from its middle, a bright white ball of deadly laser-light was streaking from the planet’s surface towards them . . .

  “Iggy, get us out of here!” Teggs shouted.

  But it was too late. The laser blast hit, and the astrosaurs’ yells were lost in an ear-splitting explosion . . .

  Chapter Two

  THE DUNG AND THE DANGER

  Just a minute earlier, Arx had reached his lab on the Sauropod’s sixth level when the warning screech of the alarm pterosaur broke the silence. “Doctor Herdlip?” he shouted through the lab door. “It’s Arx. Open up, quickly! I’m not sure what’s happening, but I’ll make sure you’re safe—”

  Suddenly, the ship was smashed sideways as if it had been knocked over by a giant, and Arx gasped as he was hurled into the nearest wall. The sound of breaking glass and clattering beakers came from the lab – along with a howl of dismay from Herdlip.

  “He must be hurt,” Arx muttered. Summoning all his strength he charged across the tilting corridor, lowered his head and smashed down the lab door. It was smoky and smelly inside, and broken equipment crunched under Arx’s heavy feet. “Doctor Herdlip,” he called from the doorway, “are you all right?”

  For a moment, nothing stirred. Then Herdlip came waddling out in a stained lab coat. He was a purple sellosaurus the size of a Shetland pony, with a long neck, a stripy tail and a face like a startled tortoise. “Oh, dear! Oh, help!” he squealed. “What a to-do!”

  Arx frowned. “You’re dripping wet.”

  “That blast covered me in chemicals!” squeaked Dr Herdlip. He pulled off his wet jacket and hurled it back inside the smoky room. “Nothing to worry about, I’m sure. But I really must have a shower at once!”

  “A shower?” cried Arx as the Sauropod shook again. “But we’re under attack!”

  “Under attack?” Herdlip gulped. “Then I think I’ll go to the lavatory too while I’m there!” He dashed away towards the toilet block. “Good day!”

  With a helpless shrug, Arx pelted back to the flight deck. The emergency lights were flickering and the dimorphodon flapped about, burning their beaks on the sparking controls. Teggs, Iggy and Gipsy were sprawled upside down in the control pit.

  Quickly, Arx helped Iggy and Gipsy climb out. “What hit us?”

  “A laser blast from Baronia,” Iggy groaned. “Strong enough to shatter our shields.”

  “Where’s Doctor Herdlip?” asked Teggs, now Iggy’s bottom was out of his face. “Is he OK?”

  “Er, he’s having a shower,” said Arx. “I think he might be in shock. I don’t suppose he’s seen many space battles.”

  Gipsy frowned. “If that laser hits us again with the shields down, we won’t see many more ourselves!”

  “Then we must make sure it doesn’t.” Teggs chewed heroically on a squashed fern. “Arx, can we trace the blast back to its source?”

  Arx was already at his post. “I’ll lock our dung torpedoes onto the exact location now, Captain.”

  “Sensors detect energy build-up on the planet surface,” Iggy warned them. “Whoever’s down there, they’re getting ready to shoot again.”

  “Fire all dung torpedoes, Arx,” Teggs shouted. “We must zap that weapon – now!”

  Arx whacked the fire button with his nose-horn. “Torpedoes fired!”

  Gipsy gasped. “But the laser blast has just fired too.”

  “They’ll meet each other head-on,” Iggy realized.

  “White hot light against supercharged dung . . . I wonder which will win?” Teggs leaned forward in his control pit. “Let’s get down there fast!”

  The Sauropod zoomed through the murky skies towards the source of the blasts. On the scanner screen they saw a white explosion flare up near the surface of Baronia, closely followed by a huge splurge of brown. And as they broke through the clouds, the astrosaurs saw a massive metal cannon pointing up from a wasteland below. It was scorched black and bunged up with fresh, steaming dung.

  “Clearly the force of the laser blast exploded our dung torpedoes,” Arx concluded. “The resulting thick layer of dung reflected the power back at the gun and then clogged its workings.”

  “In other words, WA-HEYY!” cheered Iggy. “That laser won’t be destroying any more spaceships.”

  “Captain,” called Gipsy urgently. “Video message incoming from King Jeck’s palace.”

  “Put it on the scanner,” ordered Teggs.

  The image of a dark-blue baryonyx appeared. “I am Palace Guard Captain Griffen,” croaked the frightening figure. He had yellow, staring eyes and big gaps in his broken teeth. “We apologize for your near-destruction, plant-eaters. The ground-to-space laser-cannon was operated by agents of Prince Poota.”

  “We thought as much,” said Teggs.

  “The agents were seen as they fled from your downpour of dung,” Griffen went on. “But we have not yet caught them.”

  Gipsy gulped. “So they might try again.”

  “Correct,” snarled Griffen. “You will proceed to the Palace at once and park in the Royal Gardens. Do not emerge until my guards come to fetch you, or Prince Poota may attack again.” He narrowed his yellow eyes. “That is all.”

  The screen went dark, and Iggy
frowned. “Nice to feel welcome, isn’t it?”

  “Stuck on a planet of carnivores,” sighed Gipsy.

  Arx nodded. “At least until Doctor Herdlip cures King Jeck.”

  “I wish I didn’t have to!” twittered a high voice behind them. They turned to find Herdlip in a dressing gown, soaking wet, at the back of the flight deck. “If you ask me, the baryonyx are all sick. War-loving carnivore loopers!”

  “A lot of them just got blown up while trying to protect you,” Teggs reminded him sternly.

  Arx quickly changed the subject. “Did you enjoy your shower, Doctor Herdlip?”

  “Eh? Oh, yes. It was, er, very wet.” The sellosaurus cleared his throat. “Now, I want a cleaning robot to help me clear up the lab.”

  “I’ll help, if you like,” Arx offered.

  “No!” Dr Herdlip snapped. “In unskilled hands, my lotions and medicines could be highly dangerous. It’s robots or nothing.”

  “Then I’m afraid it’s nothing,” said Teggs. “We only have dinosaur cleaners on board.”

  Herdlip scowled and hurried away without another word. Arx’s horns drooped a little.

  “Don’t worry, Arx,” said Gipsy. “He’s probably just a bit shaken up.”

  “Let’s hope Prince Poota doesn’t try to shake us up even more,” said Iggy.

  “Well, with any luck, Griffen’s guards are as scary as he is.” Teggs smiled ruefully. “Then Poota’s agents won’t dare come near us!”

  Iggy chuckled, and Gipsy smiled as the Sauropod flew off towards the palace. But Arx could only frown. Something in his bones told him that the danger was far from over. That, if anything, it had barely begun . . .

  Chapter Three

  THE REPULSIVE PALACE

  Once the Sauropod had landed, Arx and Iggy started repairing its shields.

  Herdlip cleaned up the lab, then locked himself in his room.

  Teggs, Gipsy and the dimorphodon waited on the flight deck.

  Many hours passed, but Guard Captain Griffen did not call.

  “What’s keeping him?” Gipsy complained. “Don’t the baryonyx want their king to be cured?”

  Teggs sighed and ate his fiftieth clump of ferns. “Perhaps they’ve had another run-in with Prince Poota.”

  Suddenly, a loud beep told them a message was coming through. The dimorphodon turned on the scanner and Griffen’s dark, scary head appeared on the screen.