Lin and I slipped between the bars and walked through the weeds behind the spooky old house, toward a rickety old barn.
The Microterium was hidden behind a fake wall inside the barn. Professor Penrod had built the space to keep the Microsaurs he’d rescued safe, happy, and healthy. Oh, and to keep them super top secret. There were more than one hundred of the little dinosaurs living and playing inside the secret jungle hideout, and there was easily room for a thousand more. It really was a Microsaur paradise.
We made our way to the old barn and let ourselves in. The door to the Microterium creaked on its rusty hinges. It took a couple of seconds for my eyes to adjust to the dark as we stepped inside. I looked around for a while, then spotted Professor Penrod’s package, right there in the middle of the floor. It was no bigger than one of Lin’s little sister’s bunny slippers. It was covered in bright red stamps and all kinds of writing and marks that I couldn’t read.
“There it is,” I said to Lin, and we knelt down for a closer look.
“It’s not very big. I was hoping for something huge! Something really growly and awesome,” Lin said.
“Those are airholes punched in the top,” I said.
“Yeah, and check out the label,” Lin said.
A bright yellow sticker was stretched across the top of the box. On it were printed a few, not-so-comforting words:
“Oh man. I wonder what’s inside,” I said. I leaned closer. I could hear a tiny scratching, clicking noise that totally gave me the willies. The noise was coming from a spot in the front of the package, where the little creatures had almost chomped through. “They’re trying to bite their way out.”
Lin jumped up and sprang to the back wall. Professor Penrod was pretty careful about keeping the Microterium secret. The room we were in was a cross between a barn and a science lab, but if you twisted a framed picture of his favorite childhood dog, Bruno, who was dressed as a clown in the photo, the back wall would lower, opening up to the massive Microterium. Lin gave the photo a twist.
“I can’t believe he sent us a box full of toothy, scratchy Microsaurs. That is so AWESOME!” she said as the wall started to move.
“Yeah, if you love microsized prehistoric beasts with teeth that chew through walls, then it is really awesome,” I said and even while I said it I could feel electric shivers buzzing up my spine.
“I know, RIGHT!?” Lin said. “It’s exactly what the Microterium needs. CHOMPERS!”
“Actually, I’m more of a ‘eats grass and stomps in mud puddles’ kind of guy,” I said.
“Come on, Danny. Let’s shrink and get a better look,” Lin said. She was standing on a metal step beneath one of Professor Penrod’s fantastic inventions, the Shrink-A-Fier. It was built right into the Microterium. Copper tubing wound around to cool the liquid boiling in a glass bulb the shape and size of a pumpkin, and a nozzle that looked like a big shiny showerhead gleamed in the sunshine that came in through the roof of the Microterium.
“Um, I’m thinking I’d rather meet these guys for the first time when I’m eighty times their size,” I said.
“No way. NO WAY! Dude. We’ve got to see them eye to eye. You know what they say: You only have one chance to make a first impression,” Lin said. She was bouncing up and down on the metal step, which also happened to be the trigger that started up the Shrink-A-Fier. A motor whirled overhead, and the shrinking liquid started to flow into the copper pipes.
“Yeah, I was just hoping that the first impression I made on these guys was less bite-sized,” I said nervously.
I scooped up the package and placed it right next to the Shrink-A-Fier. Then I unloaded The Bolt and the upgrade parts and stacked them neatly next to the package of Microsaurs. I cleared my throat, stood up straight and brave, then I joined Lin on the metal step.
“Why did you do that?” Lin asked.
“The parts are heavy, and besides, I wanted to get a close-up look at The Bolt’s engine after we are Shrink-A-Fied. It’s running pretty good, but I think I might be able to tweak a bit more power out of it,” I said.
Lin snapped her helmet strap under her chin as she prepared for an adventure. “I’m good with more power,” she said, then gave me a wink. “I love the Shrink-A-Fier. It always makes me feel like a snowflake. You ready?”
“No. Not really,” I said, but it was too late. The shrinking had already begun.
CHAPTER 4
DOWN TO SIZE
I looked up at the Mini-Maxitron Reduction Nozzle, which Lin had renamed the Shrinker-Sprinkler. I blinked as it puffed out a small spray of frozen CRPs, Carbonic Reduction Particles. The first time the shrinking process happened, I was pretty freaked out. But after Professor Penrod explained how the technology worked, and I had a couple of chances to get used to it, I actually started to enjoy the whole process.
The CRPs danced around us, and all of a sudden I had a familiar shoved-in-a-freezer-full-of-glitter feeling, and my tummy rolled with excitement. Lin’s eyes were closed and she was smiling while hugging her skateboard. For a moment I almost thought I was falling, then the two of us shrank to the size of tiny, dried-up raisins. But without the wrinkles, of course.
I was still dizzy from the speedy shrinking when I heard Lin jump onto her skateboard. She was speeding toward the little package Professor Penrod sent us, only now it was as big as a house.
“Told ya, Danny. It’s snowflakey, isn’t it?” Lin yelled over her shoulder. “Last one there’s a rotten egg.”
I started running, even though I knew the rotten egg thing wasn’t true. Lin pretty much said it every time we raced, and if it were true, I’d be the rottenest egg ever in the history of rotten eggs.
By the time I arrived at the box, Lin was already looking for a way in. The faint scratching and clicking noise I’d heard when I was regular-sized was as loud as a thunderstorm now that we were tiny. Lin stood on the other side of the scratching, hammering against the box with her skateboard.
“What are you doing?” I asked. My heart was beating so fast I felt like I’d just climbed a thousand stairs, but it wasn’t just from the running.
“I’m letting them run free.” Lin gave up on using her skateboard. “Hold on, little toothy guys. I’ll find another way in,” Lin said, then she ran around to the back of the box.
“Umm, maybe keeping them in the box is a better idea,” I said.
“But Professor Penrod said we should let them out. Remember?”
“Yeah, sure I remember, but I’m not sure we got all the information. Maybe we should call him,” I said, trying to be more logical than brave, which is another way of saying I was a little bit scared.
“Hey, Danny. Come help. I found the way in,” Lin said, then I heard a little RIIIIIP!
I found Lin on the other side of the box, holding a piece of tape as wide as a sleeping bag in her hands. She smiled at me and gave the tape another tug. RIIIIIIP!
“It’s a door, Danny. Penrod thought of everything,” she said.
I took a deep breath, then let it out in one big huff. “Okay, but let me just say, for the record, that I think we should—”
RIIIIP!
“Less talking and more pulling, Danny. What are you worried about? Do you think Professor Penrod would do something that would put us in danger?”
“I think his sense of what is dangerous is as murky as yours. Especially when it comes to Microsaurs. Do I need to remind you that he let us fly in a bottle-cap basket tied to a pterodactyl?” I said.
“You can remind me all you want, as long as you help”—Lin yanked on the tape and it tore a small hole in the box—“me.” She yanked again and the box split a bit more. “PULL!” She yanked the tape one more time. I could see it was going to be impossible for her to do alone, and we did promise Penrod that we would help. Whatever was inside had to come out. Sure, the box was filled with airholes, but I didn’t know if there was food and fresh water inside the package.
“All right, all right. But if I become a Microsaur
’s lunch, I’m leaving my comic book collection to Stanley Hobbs,” I said. Lin dropped the tape and looked at me, wrinkled her eyebrows, and put her hands on her hips.
“Are you kidding me? Stanley Hobbs? He doesn’t even like comics. Why would you say that?” Lin said.
“Better not let me become lunch,” I said. I grabbed the tape, then leaned back and put my weight against it. One of the scratching things inside poked its beak through the little hole and even though I was still scared, I was the tiniest bit excited to see what was inside the package. “You going to help me or what?”
Lin rolled her eyes at me. She grabbed ahold of the tape, then started counting. “3 … 2 … 1 … PULL!” she said, and we both yanked as hard as we could.
The tape gave way and we fell on our backs, thumping down to the hardwood floor and stripping the tape clean off. The door flap fell away, and the scratching from inside the box stopped as Lin and I waited, holding our breath to see what Penrod had sent us from halfway around the world.
Lin couldn’t wait any longer, so she jumped up and called to the new visitors. “Here, toothy-toothy,” Lin said.
“Do you have to call them that?” I shout-whispered.
“Come on out, scratchy-scratchy,” Lin said. She turned her head and looked at me with a smile. “Is that better?”
“Yeah. Much better, thanks,” I said as I dusted off my pants.
Lin took a few steps back and stood right by my side, then she flung her arms out wide like she wanted to hug every creature in the box.
“Welcome to the Microterium!” Lin shouted.
For a second nothing happened, then a pack of feathers, beaks, and scaly legs exploded from the box. They squawked and clicked their way across the hardwood floor. Then they eeeped and shrieked as they surrounded Lin and me. Maybe I panicked, or maybe I really was getting more brave. I jumped in front of Lin, then held out my hands, backing down a half circle of hungry-looking Microsaurs.
“You calm down right now!” I shouted in my most heroic voice. It surprised me, and probably Lin, too, but most of all it got the toothy pack of Microsaurs’ attention. They stopped making their clicking noises and tilted their heads and stared at me.
Controlling a pack of tiny-raptors felt pretty amazing, but I could tell it wouldn’t last long.
“Now what do we do?” I asked Lin.
Lin unzipped my backpack, stuffed her hand inside, and pulled out the answer to my question. She held a corn dog and a slice of frozen pizza over her head.
“Hey, you toothy little guys! I’ll bet you’ve never had pepperoni. Have you?” The raptors’ glares shifted to Lin, then they all started sniffing the air. “And I KNOW you’ve never had a corn dog.”
“I think it’s working,” I said. The biggest of the raptors stuck out a blue tongue and licked his beak, then raised his nose in the air.
“Walk with me, Danny,” Lin said. We backed away slowly. We headed backward, off the hardwood floor and onto the metal step. The pack of tiny-raptors moved with us. They were getting closer and closer. So close I could smell their breath, which wasn’t the best experience I’d ever had in the Microterium.
Focused on Lin and her frozen treats, the pack of Microsaurs forgot all about me. They kept bumping into me, and I was starting to freak out a little. “Lin, ummm, you need to do something pretty soon. They are looking pretty hungry.”
“I know they are,” Lin said in the same voice she used to talk to her dog, Mr. Bones. “Who’s a hungry little toothy-woothy? Are you hungry, wittle puppy-saurus?” One of them took a snap at the pizza in her right hand. The sound made me jump, and I felt like running in any direction that didn’t include pizza, corn dogs, or a pack of hungry raptors.
“How about you, little scratchy-clawsey? You want a bite?” Lin asked the big, blue-tongued raptor. He jumped and nearly yanked the corn dog out of Lin’s hand, but she pulled it away just in time.
As Lin and I walked onto the step with the hungry bunch, the sound of their sharp claws scratching against the metal step was enough to make my hair stand at attention. Then just before we fell off the edge, Lin stopped.
“Fetch!” she yelled. She chucked the pizza and corn dog as far as she could. The pack of tiny-raptors half flew, half fell over the edge, chasing the frozen snacks and entering the sunshiny Microterium.
I looked over the edge, trying to take deep breaths to calm my beating heart. The raptors landed safely on the ground and began fighting over the snacks and exploring their new home.
“Well. That worked better than I expected,” Lin said.
“Really? What did you expect?” I said as I stood and joined her by the package.
“I expected Stanley Hobbs would be getting a new comic book collection by now,” Lin said with a big grin on her face.
I smiled back, glad to be rid of the pack of feathers, claws, and chompers. “Come on. Let’s go see what else is inside this box.”
CHAPTER 5
INSIDE THE BOX
“How many flashlights do you have with you, Danny?” Lin asked as we entered the package.
“Three,” I said. “No wait, four.” I fished two out of my pack. I passed the biggest one to Lin.
“Thanks,” she said. We took a few more steps inside the dark package, then clicked on our lights. It seemed larger on the inside as we waded through shredded paper all around that came up to our knees.
“What’s all this stuff?” Lin asked.
“I think it’s like packing peanuts, but for Microsaurs. You know, stuff to keep them comfy as they made their way halfway around the world,” I said. I swung my flashlight to the back wall. There were two pouches taped to the wall; one had a few drops of water left in it, and the other was about half full of something that looked like runny mashed potatoes. The metal tubes that hung down from the pouches were dented with tooth marks.
“Whoa. Those things really do bite HARD! The sticker on the box was not kidding around,” Lin said. “I’m impressed.” I shined my flashlight on her face and the strange lighting made her look a little crazy as she grinned down at the bite marks.
“Impressed isn’t the first word that came to my mind. Worried? Nervous? Terrified? Yeah, that’s it. Teeth that can dent metal pipes. Yup, that’s terrifying,” I said.
“They’re harmless, Danny. Totally, one hundred percent harmless. Unless you smell like pizza and corn dogs. Then you better worry,” Lin said as she turned and kept exploring the dark package.
“You know that is exactly how I smell right now, don’t you?” I said.
“Hey! Look at this!” Lin said, changing the topic, which was totally, one hundred percent fine with me.
Her flashlight beam reflected off a metal grate stapled into the back of the package. I added my flashlight beam to hers and for a moment, I forgot how to blink. Forgot how to breathe. Heck, I forgot how to forget.
“That’s the mesh wall Professor Penrod was talking about,” I said.
“Yeah, and they almost got through it,” Lin said.
The wire mesh that separated the raptors from whatever was behind it was woven together so thick that we couldn’t see through it. The raptors had twisted, yanked, and fought against the mesh, making it look like iron spaghetti, but the wall looked strong. Too strong for us to cut through even if we were regular-sized.
“They wanted in pretty bad,” I said.
“Yeah. It’s probably full of rare Chinese corn dogs,” Lin said.
A thought popped into my head that I didn’t want to share, but my mouth started talking before I could stop it. “Or maybe the raptors didn’t twist up this metal wall at all. Maybe the raptors were trying to get out before whatever is behind this mesh got out and ate them,” I said, slowly backing away.
“Oh … MY … GOSH! You might be right! What could scare away a pack of tiny-raptors?” Lin grabbed the wall and started shaking it.
She shook the bars until she realized it wouldn’t budge. She slumped to the floor, nearly burying her
self up to her neck in torn paper shreds.
“It’s no use. We’ll have to go to the Fruity Stars Lab, use the Expand-O-Matic, and come back and open it as big guys,” she said. “That’s a lot of walking.”
“Well, there might be another way,” I said, my mouth working faster than my brain again.
Lin’s face brightened, and she smiled up at me. “Lay it on me, science boy. Are we going to math our way in?”
“No. Even better. We’re going to use the Hammer of Doom,” I said.
CHAPTER 6
THE HAMMER OF DOOM
When I was building the upgrade parts for The Bolt, I tried to think of everything. I made the parts out of lightweight plastic and titanium scraps I found in my dad’s lab. But I guess I didn’t think I’d be trying to use the Hammer of Doom to tear down a metal wall while I was the size of a housefly. Moving the huge hammer wasn’t easy, but after a lot of grunting and groaning, we were finally able to get it into place.
“Do you think this will work?” Lin asked.
“That mesh wall is DOOMED!” I said.
I launched the SpyZoom app, then pushed a blinking red button to fire my secret weapon. The Hammer of Doom sprang into action, coming down with a powerful THUD as it tore through the metal mesh wall.
Lin jumped and shouted, pumped her arms, danced like a robot, then ran over to me and gave me a high five so hard that my hand went numb. “That was SO AMAZING!”
I knew I was smiling, but I couldn’t help it. The hammer ripping through a wall was totally satisfying. Little shreds of paper floated down all around us. “Yeah, that was pretty sweet.”
Microsaurs--Tiny-Raptor Pack Attack Page 2