Astrosaurs 2 Read online

  Contents

  Cover

  About the Book

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Warning!

  Talking Dinosaur

  The Crew of the DSS Sauropod

  Jurassic Quadrant Map

  Chapter One: The Edge of Egg-Sti Notion!

  Chapter Two: The Egg-Snatchers

  Chapter Three: Expect the Un-Eggs-Pected!

  Chapter Four: The Long, Long Journey

  Chapter Five: Lightning Strikes Twice

  Chapter Six: The Mysterious Planet

  Chapter Seven: The Tunnels of Fear

  Chapter Eight: The Secret of Platus Two

  Chapter Nine: A Sticky End

  Chapter Ten: The End of the Egg

  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!

  Teggs is taking some desperate dinosaurs and their only eggs to begin a new life on a remote planet. But the planet is not what it seems, and some nasty egg-eating oviraptors are hot on their tail . . .

  For Cassie and Nathan

  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 forever. 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 at the back of the book.

  TALKING DINOSAUR!

  How to say the prehistoric

  names in this book . . .

  STEGOSAURUS – STEG-oh-SORE-us

  COMPSOGNATHUS – komp-soh-NAY-thus

  PTEROSAUR – TEH-roh-sore

  HADROSAUR – HAD-roh-sore

  OVIRAPTOR – OHV-ih-RAP-tor

  TRICERATOPS – try-SERRA-tops

  DIMORPHODON – die-MORF-oh-don

  IGUANODON – ig-WA-noh-don

  ANKYLOSAURUS – an-KI-loh-SORE-us

  Chapter One

  THE EDGE OF EGG-STI NOTION!

  In a very big hall full of very big dinosaurs, a very big announcement was about to be made.

  The Hall of Learning on the planet Odo Minor had never been more packed. Doctors, professors, scientists, TV cameras – they were all squashed up together. The sound of excited dinosaur chatter filled the hall. What was the big news? What had the great Professor Sog discovered now?

  But two people in the hall already knew. And one of them didn’t seem to care very much.

  “I don’t see why we had to come all this way!” grumbled Captain Teggs Stegosaur. “I haven’t been in a learning hall since I passed my astrosaur exams!”

  “Be patient, Captain,” his companion Gipsy hissed. “As soon as the talk’s over, our mission can begin!”

  “About time too,” Teggs declared. He was a captain in the Dinosaur Space Service, and he lived for adventure. With his brave crew of astrosaurs, he travelled through space in the DSS Sauropod, the finest ship in the Jurassic Quadrant.

  Gipsy, a stripy hadrosaur, was his communications officer. She and Teggs had come here to escort Professor Sog back to the Sauropod – along with some very special guests . . .

  She knew her crewmates would be busy up in orbit. Arx Orano, Teggs’s brainy triceratops first officer, would be checking over the Sauropod’s systems. And Iggy Tooth, the tough iguanodon engineer, would be stoking the ship’s mighty engines.

  Their latest voyage into outer space would be their longest yet . . .

  “At last,” cheered Teggs, making Gipsy jump. “Here comes Professor Sog now!”

  Sog was a small, twittery old creature who belonged to a breed called compsognathus. The audience hooted and stamped their feet politely as the funny little figure walked onto the stage. He stopped beside a mysterious, lumpy bundle hidden beneath a black blanket.

  A great hush fell on the hall. The dinosaurs waited breathlessly for the professor's words.

  Sog struggled to put on a small pair of spectacles. He had trouble reaching his head since his arms were so short. But finally he managed it, and he peered round at the curious crowd.

  “Welcome, my friends,” he cried. “You are about to hear of a most exciting discovery!”

  A bright light started glowing above his head. Seconds later, a hologram of a large, long-necked dinosaur appeared. It looked a bit like a stegosaurus but with a longer neck and tail, and no spiky plates running down its back.

  “This is a plateosaurus,” said Sog. “Sweet, peaceful – and almost totally extinct.”

  “Extinct?” asked a puzzled journalist in the crowd.

  Sog nodded sadly. “Their race has almost completely died out.”

  “Dined out?” asked Teggs, perking up. He was famous for his large appetite – some said it was the largest in the whole Dinosaur Space Service. “Dined out where? Can we come too?”

  “Not dined out, died out!” groaned Gipsy.

  Professor Sog continued his talk. “As you all know, we dinosaurs left the Earth long ago. We escaped in spaceships before the meteor struck, never to return. In those days there were many plateosaurus. Nowadays there are hardly any left.”

  “Why?” someone called.

  “Homesickness,” said Sog simply. “At first, they settled on a fine planet called Platus. But they didn’t like it as much as Earth, so they tried to return.” He shook his head sadly. “Their space fleet flew into a cosmic storm. Many of their ships were destroyed. The few survivors limped back to Platus . . . to find that T. rexes had taken over.”

  The audience murmured their disapproval.

  “I remember reading about that,” whispered Teggs. “The T. rexes wouldn’t budge. There was a big battle.”

  Gipsy nodded sadly. “And the plateosaurus lost.”

  “Other vegetarian races came to their aid,” the professor went on. “As you know, they joined together and formed the Dinosaur Space Service, to protect all plant-eaters. In the end they kicked the T. rexes off Platus. But the little planet had been almost ruined by war.”

  The hologram switched off above Sog’s head. “The plateosaurus race never recovered from the tragedy. Today, only a tiny handful survive.” He shuffled closer to the black bundle beside him. “But now I bring new hope!”

  He clamped his jaws down on the blanket and whipped it away. Beneath it was a pile of eight or nine large white eggs. The audience burst out in gasps and hoots. Flying reptiles flapped nearer with their TV cameras to get a closer look.

  “Plateosaurus eggs!” cried the little professor. “Discovered in a wrecked spaceship far out in the Jurassic Quadrant. That ship was a victim of the cosmic storm. It has drifted through space for thousands of years. But the eggs survived – frozen in space!”

  The great hall filled with excited mutterings.

  Professor Sog held up his feeble arms for quiet. “As you know, when it comes to hatching I am something of an expert . . .”

  “Eggs-pert, more like!” Teggs chuckled.

  “I was asked to study these old, old eggs,” said Sog proudly. “And now that the eggs have thawed out, I believe that they will soon hatch! The plateosaurus race will live on!”

  The audience cheered, and stamped their feet so hard that the floor shook.

  “That’s where we come in!” cried Teggs, rising to his feet. He flexed his long, bony tail, and knocked two elderly triceratops off their stools. “Oops!”

  Sog frowned at the commotion. “Is that Captain Teggs?”

  “Speaking!” he called cheerily, as Gipsy helped up the doddery dinosaurs.

  “Hello, everyone. It’s my mission to take the professor, the eggs, and two plateosaurus guardians to a far-off world called Platus Two. A place where their race can make a fresh start!”

  “Is that a fact?!“

  Suddenly, the enormous wooden doors at the front of the hall were kicked open. The great hall rang with gasps of shock from the startled crowd.

  Teggs narrowed his eyes. In the doorway stood a dozen small, ugly creatures. Their short, turtle-like heads bobbed about on scrawny necks.

&nbsp
; One of the creatures darted towards the stage. “A fresh start for these lovely little hatchlings?” He shoved Professor Sog aside. “I don’t think so! Not now the oviraptors are here!”

  “Oviraptors?” frowned Teggs.

  “Uh-oh!” Gipsy turned to Teggs in alarm. “They’re nest-raiders! Egg-stealers!”

  “We’ve got to stop them!” yelled Tegg: But he was blocked in on all sides by shocked old dinosaurs.

  “I am Prince Goopo, and these are mg royal brothers!” The oviraptor snatched up a plateosaurus egg and caressed it with his long, bony fingers. “Eggs are our favourite food, and eggs as rare as these will make a meal fit for a king – and his princes!” He threw back his head and laughed. “Forget your mission, Captain Teggs. The only place these eggs are going is into our bellies!”

  Chapter Two

  THE EGG-SNATCHERS

  “Grub’s up, lads!” yelled Prince Goopo.

  The oviraptors raced into the learning hall. They moved like lightning. In a second they had stolen every last egg. Then they charged back out through the double doors.

  “No!” yelled Teggs. “Get out of my way! They mustn’t take the eggs!” He started pushing his way through the dinosaur audience. “You, near the front – stop them!”

  But no one took any notice. They were rooted to the ground with shock at what they had just seen.

  “Captain, wait!” called Gipsy.

  “Catch me up, Gipsy!” Teggs had made it through the crowd, and now he was tearing down the gangway after the egg-snatchers. With a crash, he burst out of the learning hall and into the beautiful, snowy gardens. He shivered. Winter on Odo Minor was long and cold, and Teggs wished he’d worn his battle armour over his uniform to keep out the chill.

  The learning hall was built on a high hilltop with a terrific view. One glance at the churned-up snow at his feet told Teggs where the speedy oviraptors had gone – straight down the hillside.

  He charged off after them. Then a small oviraptor popped out from behind a tree – with a laser gun!

  Zzzapp! A white-hot laser beam shot over Teggs’s head.

  “Thanks for warming me up!” Teggs called as he dived for the cover of a nearby bush.

  “Just stay where you are, please!” said the oviraptor. He didn’t sound as fierce as his brother on the stage. “I hate guns, and I’m a lousy shot.”

  Teggs frowned. “So why don’t you just put down the gun and let me come out?”

  “I’d love to,” sighed the oviraptor. “But I can’t. Goopo would throw a fit. He told me to stop anyone following us while he fetches the ship.”

  Teggs chewed some frozen leaves for extra strength. “Do you always do what your brother tells” you?” he asked, creeping quietly closer.

  “Goopo’s the eldest. He’ll be king someday. The little figure sighed. “I’m Prince Shelly, the youngest – so I never get any say in what goes on. Now, stay back! I don’t want to hurt you!”

  “That makes two of us!” called Teggs. Slowly, his big bony tail snaked out from the undergrowth and curled itself around Prince Shelly . . .

  “Got you!” Teggs cried.

  The oviraptor gasped as Teggs’s tail tightened round him – he was trapped!

  Teggs dragged his prisoner over to the top of the steep hillside. Goopo and his brothers were nearing the bottom of the slope. Soon they would vanish into the woods, and Teggs would never find them.

  He dangled Shelly over the edge of the hillside. “You know, I think it’s time you caught up with your brothers,” he grinned. “There’s snow time to lose!”

  With that, Teggs flung Shelly down the hillside after his brothers. The raptor hit the snow with a yelp. Unable to stop himself, he rolled over and over. And as he rolled, he gathered snow – faster and faster. Soon, he looked like a giant squawking snowball. As he tumbled towards the fleeing oviraptors he got bigger and rounder and heavier . . .

  Until finally – Splat! The snowball rolled right over Goopo and his brothers, squashing them into the snow.

  “Direct hit!” cheered Teggs. Then he sledged down the hill on his tummy to round up the oviraptors and recover the eggs. Luckily, the soft snow had stopped them from breaking – and the oviraptors were unharmed too.

  Up close, they were not pretty creatures. Their jaws were wide and toothless – instead, they used two bony prongs inside their mouths to crack open their food. Each of the creatures had a high, narrow crest rising up from its head.

  Teggs smiled at the dazed reptiles. “That should cool you off till the space police arrive!”

  “Curse you, Captain!” snarled Prince Goopo, half-buried by snow. “I command you to release us in the name of our king!”

  “No way,” said Teggs. “Anyway, I’m sure your king would be very cross if he knew you were stealing such important eggs!”

  “Pah!” cried Goopo. “It was his idea! King Albu will kill us if we don’t bring him those eggs!” ‘He’ll fry us with butter!” twittered another oviraptor.

  “He’ll boil us in salty water for three minutes!” moaned a third.

  “And then he’ll crack our heads with a big spoon!” quaked one more.

  “It’s quite exhausting,” sighed Prince Shelly, still stuck in his giant snowball. “Me and my brothers are sent out round the universe in search of tasty new treats for the royal menu. Goopo’s right. If we fail . . . the king will have us served with toast soldiers!”

  Just then, Gipsy came scampering down the hill. “There you are, Captain!” she beamed as she reached the bottom. “I see you’ve caught the thieves!”

  Teggs winked at her. “Better still, the eggs are safe and sound!”

  Gipsy frowned. “But, Captain–”

  Whatever Gipsy said, Teggs didn’t hear it. For with a mighty roar of engines, a strange spaceship rose up into the sky above the forest. It was a long, narrow rocket with two spinning engines at one end, like an enormous egg-whisk.

  Goopo laughed. “Using Shelly to squash us was a good trick, Captain,” he said. “But Prince Hibbit was too quick for you! He got away to the woods and fetched the ship!”

  Teggs and Gipsy backed away as the spaceship came in to land. Prince Hibbit was leaning out of the window, pulling rude faces. The heat from the ship’s whisking engines soon melted the nearby snow, and his brothers shook themselves free.

  Hibbit fired a laser bolt at Teggs. It missed by millimetres. He and Gipsy were forced back.

  “Get on board, brothers!” Goopo cried. “We won’t be cracked, scrambled, and mixed with mayonnaise this day!”

  In the wink of an eye, the soggy oviraptors had bundled back on board with the stolen eggs. Shelly was the last inside. With a sad little wave at Teggs and Gipsy, he vanished into the ship. It took off at once.

  Teggs spoke into the communicator strapped to his arm. “Teggs to Sauropod! Arx, can you hear me? An oviraptor ship is getting away! Stop them!” He looked helplessly at Gipsy. “I don’t believe it! I’ve let them take the eggs – I’ve failed!”

  Chapter Three

  EXPECT THE UN-EGGS-PECTED!

  On the flight deck of the DSS Sauropod, high above the planet, Arx Orano heard his captains cry.

  “Quick!” the triceratops barked at his flight crew. “Switch on the scanners! Find that spaceship!”

  The flight crew were dimorphodon, highly trained flying reptiles. They clucked and flapped about the dinosaur spaceship, pulling levers and flicking switches.

  The scanner soon showed the oviraptor ship soaring away at top speed.

  “Fire lasers!” Arx ordered.

  Beams of light fired from the Sauropod. But the oviraptor ship quickly whisked away out of range. Not a single shot found its mark.

  Arx sighed and nudged the communicator with his nose horn. “Captain? This is Arx. I’m afraid the oviraptors were too quick for us. They’ve got away!”

  *

  Captain Teggs felt awful as he walked back to the Hall of Learning. His head hung down in shame. Gipsy patted him on the side of his neck with a gentle hoof. “It’s all right, Captain,” she said. “There’s nothing to worry about!”

  “Oh yeah?” Teggs waved his spiky tail towards the crowds that were starting to spill out from the hall. “Let’s see if they agree with you!”

  Professor Sog was leading his fellow dinosaurs outside. The perky little reptile was hopping about with excitement.

  “Well done, Captain!” he chirped. “Your concern was very convincing. Those oviraptors are bound to think they’ve stolen the real eggs!”

  Teggs stared at him, wide-eyed. “What do you mean?”