Astrosaurs 7 Read online

  Contents

  Cover

  About the Book

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Warning!

  Talking Dinosaur!

  The Crew of the DSS Sauropod

  Jurassic Quadrant

  Chapter One: The Tunnel in Space

  Chapter Two: Spat into Space!

  Chapter Three: Intruder!

  Chapter Four: A Mechanical Menace?

  Chapter Five: Deadly Discovery

  Chapter Six: Attack of the Dino-Droids!

  Chapter Seven: The Trap

  Chapter Eight: The Evil Plot

  Chapter Nine: One Last Hope

  Chapter Ten: Destination: Dino-Droids!

  Chapter Eleven: The Shattering Showdown

  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!

  The astrosaurs hit trouble when their ship is pulled into a black hole. They are spat out near their space HQ – but nothing is as it seems. As old friends turn into deadly enemies, Teggs must fight alone against an army of unstoppable dino-droids – before they conquer the universe!

  Collect your very own Astrosaurs cards! Included in each book.

  For Samuel Fleetwood

  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

  BAROSAURUS – bar-oh-SORE-us

  HADROSAUR – HAD-roh-sore

  DIMORPHODON – die-MORF-oh-don

  IGUANODON – ig-WA-noh-don

  TRICERATOPS – try-SERRA-tops

  ANKYLOSAURUS – an-KI-loh-SORE-us

  DRACOPELTA – dray-ko-PEL-ta

  TYRANNOSAUR – tie-RAN-oh-SORE

  DASPLETOSAURUS – dass-PLEE-tuh-SAWR-us

  PTEROSAUR – TEH-roh-sore

  THEROPOD – THER-uh-pod

  THE CREW OF THE DSS SAUROPOD

  Chapter One

  THE TUNNEL IN SPACE

  Captain Teggs was a very worried dinosaur.

  Most days, he felt on top of the world – on top of any world. After all, he was in charge of the DSS Sauropod, the best ship in the whole Dinosaur Space Service. He had the finest, bravest crew any captain could hope for. And he even had a private larder crammed with three hundred types of delicious fern.

  His life was one long exciting adventure in space – with just a spot of tummy-ache now and then.

  But today, sat in the Sauropod’s control pit, he was worried. And with good reason. Admiral Rosso – the crusty old barosaurus in charge of the DSS – had disappeared.

  “I’ve double-checked the admiral’s movements,” said Arx, Teggs’s second-in-command, looking up from his controls. “He left in his private starship for a holiday on the planet Trimuda. But no one has seen or heard from him since.”

  Teggs nodded glumly. “And he was due back at DSS HQ yesterday!” He turned to his communications officer, a stripy hadrosaur named Gipsy. “Anything to report?”

  “I’ve listened in to every message sent and every signal received in Trimuda’s part of, space over the last week.” Gipsy put down her headphones with a sigh. “Nothing from Admiral Rosso.”

  Teggs chewed on some bracken. “I just hope we find him safe and well – and fast. The Pick-a-Planet meeting is due to be held in just three days, and if we’re not back at DSS HQ with Admiral Rosso by then . . .”

  “It could mean trouble,” said Gipsy.

  “Trouble with a capital T!” Teggs agreed.

  New planets were discovered at the outer edges of the Jurassic Quadrant all the time. If they were found in the Vegetarian Sector, they were claimed by the plant-eaters. If they were found in the Carnivore Sector, they were taken by the meat-eaters. But any worlds discovered close to the Vegmeat Zone – the no-man’s-land between the two dinosaur empires – were up for grabs. And each side wanted these worlds for themselves.

  In olden times, there would be a big battle for each of the planets. But now, thanks to Admiral Rosso, things were different. Meat-eaters and plant-eaters alike gathered each year at DSS HQ for the Pick-a-Planet meeting. Here, the battles were fought with words, not weapons, and the planets were divided up evenly.

  But Rosso was the only dinosaur trusted by both sides to play fair. Without him, the meeting could go dangerously wrong . . .

  A loud bleep made the astrosaurs jump. The dimorphodon – the ship’s fearless, fifty-strong flight crew – flapped over to perch at their positions, ready for anything.

  Gipsy frowned at her controls. “It’s Iggy,” she said. “He’s sent a code-two warning signal.”

  “What?” Teggs reared up in his control pit. Iggy was the Sauropod’s chief engineer. He was brilliant with all things mechanical. But a code-two warning signal meant he’d found a serious problem with the ship. “Put him on screen!”

  Iggy’s scowling, scaly face appeared on the scanner. “Captain, the engines seem to be playing up. I can’t stop the ship slipping sideways through space!”

  “Sideways?” Teggs frowned. “What do your controls say, Arx?”

  Puzzled, Arx tried to scratch his head – but he couldn’t reach, so a dimorphodon did it for him. “Iggy’s right. We are drifting off-course.”

  “But why?” Gipsy wondered.

  Arx looked very serious. “Something is pulling us towards it!”

  “Let’s see what’s out there,” said Teggs.

  Gipsy whistled at the dimorphodon, and Iggy’s face faded from the scanner to reveal the dark, sparkling wilderness of space.

  “Nothing but a few stars and empty blackness!” Gipsy declared.

  “It may be blackness, but I don’t think it’s empty.” Arx turned to face his friends. “There’s only one thing in space with the power to drag things towards it like this. A black hole!”

  Teggs jumped out of his control pit. “A black hole? But that’s the most dangerous thing in the un
iverse. Once it starts to suck you in, there’s no escape!”

  Gipsy’s head-crest had flushed bright blue with alarm. “How come it’s not marked on any of the star charts?”

  “Perhaps it has just appeared,” Arx suggested, checking his instruments. “Well, that’s very strange. This is no ordinary black hole. It seems to be the entrance to some kind of tunnel – a tunnel in space!”

  “Then if it sucks us inside, who knows where we might come out,” Gipsy hooted. “We could end up on the other side of the universe!”

  “If we even survive the journey,” said Teggs. “We must break free before it’s too late!”

  Another loud bleep startled them all – higher-pitched this time.

  “A code-one warning,” Gipsy gasped. “Iggy again!”

  A dimorphodon bashed a button with his beak, and Iggy’s face swam back into view on the scanner. Beads of sweat sat upon his scaly brow.

  “Captain, the dung-burners are working at full power but I still can’t stop us slipping sideways! We’re going faster and faster!”

  “Iggy, listen,” said Teggs. “There’s some sort of tunnel in space out there and it’s sucking us in! If we can’t break free we’re in big trouble. Can you boost the engines?”

  The iguanodon gulped. “We’ll need more dung,” he said. “And fast!”

  Teggs nodded. “Gipsy, quick! Tell Cook to serve up slimy seaweed and fruit chutney to everyone on board.” Iggy smiled grimly. “That should do it, sir.”

  Gipsy called the chef right away. But the ship had already started to shake, and the temperature was rising.

  The alarm pterosaur started to squawk at the top of her lungs: “Danger! Red Alert! Finish your swamp tea! Hold on tight!”

  A dreadful thought struck Teggs. “Do you think that Admiral Rosso’s starship fell through this black-hole space-tunnel thing?”

  “It seems very likely, Captain,” Arx agreed, his horns drooping. “I’m afraid we may never find him now.”

  Suddenly, the ship rocked with a massive explosion. In the dim light, Iggy’s sooty face appeared on the scanner.

  “Forget the dung,” he said bitterly. “The engines couldn’t take the strain. They just blew up!”

  “That means we will be sucked in even faster!” cried Arx.

  The ship shook harder and started to spin. The lights dimmed. The whole flight deck grew burning hot. Even the ferns started to smoulder in the control pit. Teggs quickly ate them all before they could burst into flames.

  He sighed, licking his lips. “That could be the last hot meal I ever eat!”

  Then the ship lurched, and all the astrosaurs were thrown to the floor.

  “We’re picking up speed!” yelled Arx. “Ten seconds till we’re sucked inside the space tunnel!”

  “Hold on tight, everyone!” shouted Teggs. “I think we’re about to find out how water feels when it goes down the plughole!”

  Even as he spoke, the Sauropod hurtled headlong into the pit of blackness . . .

  Chapter Two

  SPAT INTO SPACE!

  Arx and Gipsy scrambled into the control pit with Teggs. They clung onto one another as the screech of tearing metal echoed all around. The dimorphodon flocked together in the rafters. Then everything went black.

  “We’re travelling through the tunnel,” gasped Arx. “Going faster than the speed of light!”

  The Sauropod started to whizz around ever faster, like the astrosaurs were stuck in a washing machine at full spin. And then suddenly the ship was blown out the other end of the tunnel – a bit squashed, a bit squished, but still in one piece.

  “We made it!” cried Teggs. Gipsy and Arx cheered, while the dimorphodon clapped their wings.

  The ship stopped bucking. The temperature started to fall. A few feeble lights came on again.

  “Quick,” said Teggs, his brain still spinning. “We must find out where we are.” Gipsy and Arx hurried to their posts. “And I’ll need a damage report,” he added. “Double quick!”

  The doors to the flight deck slid open and Iggy tottered inside. “Nothing’s working, Captain!”

  “That’s triple quick,” Teggs muttered.

  “Even the lift’s broken. I had to take the stairs.” Iggy stood there, covered in dirt and bruises, gasping for breath. “It was almost as bad as going through that space tunnel!”

  “I’m afraid we have no way of knowing where we are, Captain,” Arx announced, checking his own controls. “The Sauropod’s systems have been scrambled. We could be anywhere in the universe.”

  “Even somewhere in the Carnivore Sector,” said Teggs gravely. “Helpless!”

  Then suddenly the scanner screen buzzed into life. The picture was blurry, speckled with static. But the astrosaurs recognized the view at once. It was a massive space station, made up of several vast towers linked by metal walkways. A long pole, bristling with aerials and satellite dishes, stuck out from below.

  “It’s DSS Headquarters!” gasped Teggs. “The space tunnel spat us out on our own doorstep!”

  “We’re home!” Gipsy whooped for joy.

  Iggy did a funky victory dance and the dimorphodon flapped about him, merrily cheeping.

  But Arx was just staring at the scanner. “I don’t believe it,” he said. “The chances of finding ourselves back here are microscopic!”

  “This is DSS HQ calling the Sauropod.” The voice crackled over the ship’s battered speakers. “Captain Teggs, can you hear me?”

  Gipsy flicked some switches. “Putting you through, Captain, with the last of our power.”

  Teggs cleared his throat. “This is Teggs. Our ship’s been badly damaged and we need help. We were out searching for Admiral Rosso when—”

  “Searching for me, Teggs?” The booming voice over the speakers was unmistakable. “But I’m right here!”

  The image of HQ on the scanner was replaced by a bespectacled barosaurus, looking kindly down at them.

  “Admiral Rosso!” beamed Teggs. “You’re back safe! But how . . . ?”

  Rosso shook his little head. “All in good time. I’ll have the Sauropod towed to safety. Then you can come aboard and we can swap stories. Rosso out.”

  The scanner screen went dark.

  Teggs beamed at his friends. “All’s well that ends well,” he said happily. “We’ll soon have the ship repaired and be on our way. I think I’ll go round and tell the crew in person.”

  “I’ll come with you,” said Gipsy, and Iggy followed on behind.

  But Arx remained, deep in thought. Something in his sturdy old bones told him that the danger wasn’t over yet – not for any of them.

  Chapter Three

  INTRUDER!

  Within the hour the Sauropod was safely docked with DSS HQ. While the crew made repairs to the ship, Teggs, Arx, Iggy and Gipsy were invited to Admiral Rosso’s office. The walls and floor were thick with vines and vegetables, and Teggs wasted no time filling his stomach.

  A small dinosaur with a knobbly back entered the office balancing a tray of cool swampshakes and grasswater on his back. A flashy velvet sash was tied around his waist.

  “This is Draxie,” Rosso announced. “My special assistant. He’s a dracopelta.”

  The astrosaurs said hello as Draxie shuffled about on all fours, passing round the drinks.

  “So tell us what happened, Admiral Rosso,” said Teggs, draining his grasswater with a contented burp. “Did you get sucked into the space tunnel, like us?”

  “Not a bit of it, Teggs,” boomed the old barosaurus, stretching out his long neck. “I changed my mind about going to Trimuda. I went fishing on Aqua Twenty-three instead!”

  “Everyone was very worried about you, sir,” said Arx. “Especially with the Pick-a-Planet meeting coming up.”

  “Yes, sorry about that,” Rosso chortled. “I was enjoying myself so much that I lost all track of time. I got back not long after you’d started to search for me. Sent you a message to call off the hunt – did it not reach you?” br />
  Gipsy frowned. “Strange. I thought I’d listened in on every single message zinging through that part of space.”

  “Perhaps this mysterious space tunnel sucked up the message before it could reach you, miss,” Draxie suggested, offering her another drink.

  “It’s an incredible coincidence that we were spat out right here,” said Arx. “Has anything else curious arrived on your doorstep lately?”

  “Not that we know of, sir,” said Draxie.

  “We should find that space tunnel and seal it off,” Rosso told him. “Can’t afford any funny business with the Pick-a-Planet meeting coming up.”

  “I’ll lead the mission if you like, sir,” Teggs offered.

  “No, no, no.” Rosso shook his head. “You deserve a rest after what you’ve been through. All of you!”

  Gipsy stretched. “I guess I am quite tired.” “Me too!” yawned Iggy.

  “Take them to the guest rooms, Draxie,” said Rosso. “We can talk again later.”

  So the astrosaurs followed the little dracopelta out of the admiral’s office and into the airy corridor.

  Teggs paused to chomp on some jungle vines. “I haven’t been back to DSS HQ for ages,” he remarked. “The old place looks a bit different.”

  “We are busy redecorating, sir,” said Draxie. “Getting ready for the Pick-a-Planet meeting.”

  “Not many people about, either,” Iggy observed.

  “All crew not vital to the running of HQ have been sent away,” Draxie told him. “Our visiting VIDs don’t like crowds.”

  “VIDs?” asked Gipsy, puzzled.

  Draxie nodded. “Very Important Dinosaurs, of course!”

  They took the lift down to level nine.

  “Your room is through here, Miss Saurine,” said Draxie, gesturing to a sliding door. “The rest of you have rooms on level eight.”

  “Sleep well,” Teggs told Gipsy. “See you in the morning.”

  Gipsy saluted, and watched them go. Then she opened the door. The room was large and softly lit. A lovely bed made from reeds and lilies stood in one corner.

  But just as she stepped inside, a bright crimson light filled the room and started flashing on and off. Gipsy felt very strange – like her brain had got pins and needles. Dazzled, she closed her eyes.

  When she opened them again, the light had gone.

  “Funny,” she muttered. “I wonder what caused that.”