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: The Cursed Treasure
Chapter Two: The Visitor in the Night
Chapter Three: The Secret in the Sand
Chapter Four: The Treasure Trap
Chapter Five: A Roar in the Dark
Chapter Six: Strange Meetings
Chapter Seven: Blast from the Past!
Chapter Eight: Last Laugh to Loki?
Chapter Nine: A Ghost of a Chance
Chapter Ten: Frights and Fights and Final Flights
About the Author
Also by Steve Cole
Copyright
About the Book
DINOSAURS . . . IN SPACE!
Meet Captain Teggs Stegosaur and the crew of the amazing spaceship DSS Sauropod as the ASTROSAURS fight evil across the galaxy!
The astrosaurs are sent to the planet Creepus, where diplodocus miners are being haunted by mysterious space ghosts! What do the spooky spirits want? And what will happen to Teggs when he falls into their clutches?
For Jack and Oliver Greenwood
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
TRICERATOPS – try-SERRA-tops
IGUANODON – ig-WA-noh-don
HADROSAUR – die-MORF-oh-don
TRICERATOPS – HAD-roh-sore
DIPLODOCUS – di-PLOH-doh-kus
KENTROSAURUS – KEN-troh-SORE-us
DIMORPHODON – die-MORF-oh-don
VELOCIRAPTOR – vel-O-si-RAP-tor
THE CREW OF THE DSS SAUROPOD
Chapter One
THE CURSED TREASURE
THE SHUTTLE SWOOPED out of the night sky, like a metal egg falling from a nest of stars. It zoomed over the surface of a barren planet. The landscape was lit by a dozen silver moons, but the view was rotten. There was no sign of life. No trees or rivers. Nothing but rocks, slowly crumbling to dust.
The shuttle landed and Captain Teggs Stegosaur, an orange-brown stegosaurus, stuck out his inquisitive beak.
“So this is the planet Creepus,” he said. Teggs was a captain in the Dinosaur Space Service. He looked up at the sky where his amazing ship, the DSS Sauropod, hung like an extra-shiny star. It was warm and snug and safe up there. Down here, it was cold and creepy. The wind howled. Stone and shingle scrunched beneath his four feet. Anything could be hiding in the caves and canyons of this lonely world.
Teggs smiled to himself. It was just the sort of place for an adventure!
A triceratops followed him out of the shuttle. This was Arx, Teggs’s trusty first officer. “Not a nice place for a picnic,” he noted, ducking his large frilly head as the wind blew sand in his eyes. “Luckily, Camp Kentro is not far from here.”
“I landed the shuttle as close as I could,” said Iggy, scampering after him. He was a stocky iguanodon who had been in a fight or two, and he was a brilliant engineer. “It’s not my fault this old camp has no landing pad!”
“It’s OK,” said Teggs. “The walk will do us good.”
“I’ve got the tracker,” called Gipsy Saurine. This stripy duckbill looked after the Sauropod’s communications. As she stepped out to join her crewmates, the tracker on her wrist was already bleeping. “This will lead us straight to Camp Kentro.”
“Where Shanta and his diplodocus crew will be waiting to give us a nice cup of swamp tea,” said Arx. “I hope!”
They set off through the stinging wind, and Teggs thought about their mission. Shanta Digg was a famous diplodocus miner. He and his team had worked in mines all across the Jurassic Quadrant. They had dug for diamonds on Diplox. They had rummaged for rubies on Raxas Four. And they had come here to Creepus in search of something very special indeed . . .
But they had found only problems. Shanta had called the DSS for help, and Admiral Rosso, the head of the DSS, had sent the Sauropod straight here. But so far, no one had told Teggs exactly what was wrong. All Rosso would say was that it was “a delicate matter”.
What help did the miners need?
After trudging through the wilderness for several minutes, Teggs saw some battered buildings in the valley below. They looked old and deserted in the silvery moonlight – and extremely spooky.
Gipsy checked her tracker. “That must be Camp Kentro.”
“Why is it called that?” wondered Iggy.
Arx, who was very brainy, shouted to him over the wind. “Fifty years ago, some kentrosaurus miners came to Creepus. This was where they set up their camp.”
“Why would a load of diplodocus want to stay in this old place?” asked Gipsy.
“Come on!” Teggs charged off towards the bundle of old buildings. “Let’s go and ask them!”
A few minutes later they reached the camp. Iggy jabbed his thumb spike on the doorbell.
“Who’s there?” a voice whispered.
“Captain Teggs and his fellow astrosaurs!” said Teggs.
A minute later the door slid open. A sleek head the size of a rugby ball pushed out at them, waving about on the end of a neck as thick as a tree and as long as a ladder.
Teggs recognized the diplodocus at once. “Shanta Digg?”
“Aye, my lad,” said Shanta, looking about nervously. “That’s me. Now, come inside, quick. And close the door behind you!”
Arx frowned. “He seems a bit jittery.”
“Yes, what’s up, Shanta?” said Iggy, walking inside. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Ghost?” cried Shanta. He banged his head on the ceiling in surprise and started to stammer. “W-w-what ghost? Where?”
“Nowhere!” said Gipsy. “It was just a figure of speech.”
“F-f-figure? What figure?” The whole camp shook as he stamped around and around in a tizzy. “Plod, quick! There’s another figure!”
“Not another one!” Plod,
a slightly larger diplodocus, swung her neck round the corner. She was older and greyer than Shanta but no less frightened. “Where is it? What was it doing? Who—?”
“There’s no one here but us!” yelled Teggs. His sudden outburst stopped the two diplodocus in their tracks. “Now, what is going on around here?”
Shanta looked a little bit calmer now. “Sorry, folks,” he said. “We’re all a bit on edge.” He nodded his head at the older dinosaur. “This is Plod, my assistant. She runs the base here – and she’s also the toughest miner this side of the Vegmeat Zone!”
“Pleased to meet you,” said Teggs, and he introduced his crew. “Now, what has been going on here?”
“Come through to the crew room,” said Plod. “We’ll tell you all about it . . .”
Gipsy noticed that the diplodocus had to stoop and squash together as they plodded through the old, cracked corridors. “It’s a bit of a squeeze for you, isn’t it?”
“The people who built this camp were much smaller than us,” Plod agreed as she started to prepare a snack in the crew-room kitchen. “Your captain looks a lot like them.”
“A kentrosaurus is a type of stegosaur,” Teggs said brightly. “You could say we’re distant relatives.”
“Aye, well. We had our own base, but it was squashed by a landslide,” Shanta explained. “Most of the lads are staying on our ship over there. But me, Plod and a couple more decided to stay here and look for clues!”
“Clues for what?” asked Iggy.
“Clues that the kentrosaurus may have left behind . . .” Shanta dipped down his head to get a better look at Iggy. “Clues to something that will make us the richest dinosaurs in space!”
Teggs felt a tingle travel down his tail. “Well? What is it?”
“We think they found something in the ground here,” said Plod. “The most precious crystals in the universe – pure dispium.”
“Dispium? Also known as the cursed treasure?” Arx chuckled. “That’s just an old miner’s tale, a legend. There is no such stuff.”
“There is too!” said Shanta hotly. “It looks like little glass cubes, all aglow with a dark fire.”
Arx looked doubtful. “So the old stories say.”
“They’re not stories, they’re true!” Shanta insisted.
“Grub up!” announced Plod. She handed them each a cup of swamp tea and a plate of fried ferns.
Teggs swallowed both down in a single gulp. “Ugh . . .!” he spluttered. They tasted dreadful!
“Sorry,” said Plod. “We’re miners, not cooks!”
Teggs smiled weakly. “Tell us about this cursed treasure.”
“Dispium crystals are said to have many mysterious powers,” said Shanta.
“Like what?” asked Iggy.
Plod shrugged. “We don’t know exactly. Anyone who’s ever discovered dispium has soon disappeared without a trace. Including the miners who built this camp fifty years ago!”
Gipsy’s eyes grew wider. “But . . . I thought the kentrosaurus simply left this place behind when they went back home?”
“They never did go back home,” said Shanta. “Their ship disappeared. And no trace was ever found of the miners . . . until now.”
Teggs was puzzled. “So, where are they?”
“Right here,” Plod whispered, her black eyes wide and afraid. “Haunting us!”
Iggy gulped. “Haunting you?”
“The kentrosaurus are ghosts,” said Shanta quietly. “They found the cursed treasure, all right. And this is their terrible fate – to haunt the planet Creepus for ever!”
Chapter Two
THE VISITOR IN THE NIGHT
THE ASTROSAURS LOOKED at one another nervously. A fierce storm was now raging outside. The wind howled like an animal in pain. It sent a shiver through them all.
Teggs knew now why Admiral Rosso had called this a delicate matter. Had the miners gone nutty, or were they being haunted for real? “So you believe you have seen ghosts here?”
“Many times.” Shanta shivered. “They come out of the darkness and the shadows, all aglow. Rear up in front of us. Swish their tails about. You can see right through them!”
“No wonder you seemed so scared before,” Gipsy murmured.
“We thought the tales of the curses and people disappearing were just silly stories,” said Plod. “We would never have come if we had known the truth!”
“Well, I don’t believe in ghosts,” Arx declared. “I’m sure there’s another explanation for what you’re seeing. Perhaps it’s a trick of the light?”
“They only come when it’s dark,” whispered Plod.
“And there are lots of dark corners in this old camp, my lad,” Shanta warned him.
Thunder rumbled outside, and lightning flashed at the windows. The wind blew ever harder.
Teggs cleared his throat. “Well, it’s getting late, and it was a long journey here. Perhaps we should go to bed and talk about this in the morning? Nothing seems as scary in daylight.”
Shanta nodded. “Aye. Plod will show you to your rooms. Sleep well, folks. I hope there are no . . . interruptions.”
Iggy gulped. “Me too!”
Plod led the astrosaurs through to Camp Kentro’s sleeping block. The rooms were dusty and smelled like old cupboards. Gipsy stuck her head inside one and sneezed. “I bet no one’s been in here for – well, fifty years!”
“Sorry,” said Plod gruffly. “We’re miners, not cleaners. We enjoy a bit of dirt and dust and discomfort. In fact, I can’t sleep anywhere that’s cosy and clean!”
There was a sudden crash of thunder. The wind was blowing harder than ever. “Maybe I should open the window,” Gipsy joked. “That would blow away some of the cobwebs!”
Teggs grinned. “And everything else besides!”
Iggy took the room opposite Gipsy’s. “There are two more rooms free round the corner, at the far end of the corridor,” Plod announced. Teggs and Arx said goodnight and she led them away.
Gipsy sighed. “Do you believe in ghosts, Iggy?”
“Of course not!” Iggy protested.
But then a strange clanking sound started up. Iggy got such a surprise he leaped straight into Gipsy’s arms!
RATTA-TATTA-BZZZZZZZZZZ-CLUNK! went the noise.
Teggs and Arx came skidding back round the corner.
“What’s happening?” asked Teggs. “What’s that sound?”
Gipsy quickly put Iggy down. “I . . . I don’t know!” She gulped. “I think it’s coming from my room!”
“It’s a ghost!” cried Iggy.
TATTA-RATTA-CLUNK-RATTA-BZZZZZZZZZZ!
“No, the ghosts are silent,” Plod told him, peering round. “They don’t make a sound. What you can hear are the toilets next to your room!”
Arx frowned. “Toilets? Making that dreadful noise?”
Iggy smiled. “Someone must have eaten well tonight!”
“It’s the pipes, I think,” said Plod. “They make that noise a lot. We don’t know how to fix them – we’re miners, not plumbers!”
“I’m quite good with a spanner,” said Iggy. “I’ll have it sorted out in no time!”
The astrosaurs said goodnight again, and Plod showed Arx and Teggs to their rooms.
Teggs looked round as he closed the door behind him. The room was dirty.
A pile of pickaxes and spades sat rusting in a corner. A faded picture was pinned up on the wall. It showed a pretty kentrosaurus girl with ribbons tied around the spikes on her back.
As he got into the dry, mossy bed, Teggs felt sad. Where was the girl in the picture now? After fifty years, was she still waiting for the long-lost miner to come home?
With a swish of his tail, he switched off the light. Muffled thumps and bumps floated through the wall. A ghost? No, just Arx getting ready for bed next door.
Teggs smiled and squirmed round onto his side. And then he froze.
There was a ghost in his room!
A shiver ran down every armoured plate on his
back. Standing before him on four squat legs, a see-through kentrosaurus glowed eerie-green in the darkness.
“Arx!” shouted Teggs. “In here, quick!”
The ghost took a step closer. Flat, bony lumps lined the back of its neck. Two rows of twisted spines stretched from its back to its long, stiff tail. A fearsome spike jutted from each shoulder. Its head was small. Its eyes were wide and staring. Its toothless beak flapped open and shut like it was talking – but Teggs heard no words.
Then his door slid open and Arx came inside. His green skin turned pale as the ghost turned to face him. Quickly he jabbed on the lights with one of his horns – and the vision vanished.
“I wasn’t dreaming, was I?” Teggs demanded. “Did you see that thing?”
Arx sat down shakily. “I saw it all right. Did it hurt you?”
“No. But I wonder what it wanted . . .” Teggs looked at him grimly. “It seems Shanta was right. This place is haunted . . . by some kind of space ghost!”
Chapter Three
THE SECRET IN THE SAND
AFTER HIS STRANGE meeting with the ghost, Teggs slept with the light on.
Arx did too.
Gipsy slept soundly through the night, despite the mysterious noise from the toilets.
As for Iggy, he was in the toilets – and he hadn’t slept a wink. The storm had passed, the sun was starting to rise, but still he worked on. He was determined to stop the pipes from rattling and clunking.
The only problem was, he could find nothing wrong with them! The noise seemed to be coming from deep down below. Iggy sighed. If it wasn’t the pipes, that meant there was a blockage in the dung tanks – and he didn’t fancy diving through tons of stinky muck to fix it.
Luckily, at that moment, Teggs came in. “Come on, Iggy. I’ve called a meeting with Shanta in the crew room.”
Iggy saluted sleepily. But when Teggs told the tale of his ghostly visitor, he soon woke up.
“So, you’ve seen one too, my lad,” said Shanta grimly. He looked at Arx. “Told you so!”
Gipsy shuddered. “I’m glad I only had noisy toilets to deal with!”
Teggs turned to Shanta. “Have the ghosts ever tried to hurt you or your miners?”
“Yes!” he said. “They hurt Herman, our best driller. He saw one and fell over – knocked one of his teeth out!”
Teggs shook his head. “That wasn’t the ghost’s fault! I mean, have they ever tried to harm you on purpose?”