Astrosaurs 6 Page 3

  “You don’t understand,” said Spink sadly. “We haven’t been trying to scare you. We’ve been trying to warn you!”

  “Warn us?” Teggs frowned. “About what?”

  “About coming near the dispium, of course!” Spink replied. “It’s not called the cursed treasure for nothing. When we first found those little red crystals, we jumped for joy! What we didn’t know was that they soon turn you completely see-through! No one can see us, or hear us, or touch us . . . we might as well be ghosts!”

  “Pull the other one, it’s got moss on it!” Teggs snapped. “You are as solid as I am!”

  “Yes, I’m afraid that’s true,” said Spink, rather strangely. “Like I said, we tried our best to keep you away . . .”

  “By dropping a mountain on our heads!”

  “That machine isn’t ours,” Spink told him. “We tried to show it to you, so you would realize the danger you were in!”

  “I don’t believe a word you’re saying.” Teggs looked at his watch and gasped. “It’s well past midnight! My crew will be very worried about me. I must get back to them.” He advanced on Spink. “And I should warn you, I’m going to tell them everything.”

  “You will find that much harder than you think.” Spink stood aside for him. “Come on, then, the exit is this way.”

  Teggs frowned. “Aren’t you going to try and stop me?”

  Spink shook his head.

  Feeling uneasy, Teggs followed him out of the mine. In the moonlight, at the far end of the gully, he saw Iggy and Gipsy. They were looking extremely worried.

  “Guys!” he shouted. “It’s all right, I’m here!”

  But Iggy and Gipsy ignored him. They turned their backs. They seemed to be searching for something.

  “What’s wrong?” he called, running up to them.

  “I can’t see Captain Teggs anywhere,” said Gipsy, like he wasn’t there.

  “Stop messing around,” said Teggs. “I have to tell you something!”

  Then Iggy turned round – and gasped in horror. “Look, Gipsy – the captain!”

  Gipsy did – and her jaw dropped in horror. “Oh, no!”

  Teggs was bewildered. “What in space is the matter with you two?”

  But Teggs couldn’t see himself the way that Gipsy and Iggy did. To them he was a transparent figure, glowing eerie-green in the night.

  To them, he looked exactly like a space ghost!

  Chapter Seven

  BLAST FROM THE PAST!

  “POOR CAPTAIN TEGGS,” Gipsy sniffed. “The dispium has cursed him too. He’s just the same as the old kentrosaurus miners!”

  “We must tell Arx right away,” said Iggy, wiping a tear from his eye. “Come on.”

  “Wait!” Teggs yelled as they rushed away from him. “Don’t go!”

  “I tried to tell you,” said Spink, waddling up beside him. “You have changed, Teggs. Now, to anyone who has not been near dispium, you can only be glimpsed in the dark as a spooky, see-through green phantom. And they can’t hear you at all.”

  “But it’s not fair!” grumbled Teggs. “I’m too young to be a ghost.”

  “I’ve been a ghost for fifty years now.” Spink scowled. “It’s rubbish! Other ghosts can see and touch you, but no one else. It gets ever so lonely. We long to fly our ship back home – but being ghosts we can’t hold the controls!”

  Teggs patted his shoulder. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. You really were trying to warn us.”

  “And not just about the dispium,” said Spink gravely. “There are evil creatures at work on Creepus. They have been here for years. They hid our spaceship so no one would come looking for us and our maps so no one could find the mine. And they set the rockfall trap, just in case. They don’t want anyone near the dispium either – but for a very different reason.”

  “Did they make that scary roar I heard?” Teggs asked.

  “No, that was their pet monster, looking for lunch.” Spink shuddered. “They call it . . . the kraggle-scruncher.”

  “The what?”

  “The kraggle-scruncher! So named because if it finds you, it scrunches you into a kraggle and eats you!”

  Teggs wasn’t sure what a kraggle was, but it sounded painful.

  “You were heading straight for it,” Spink went on. “We wanted to warn you away – but then you fell.”

  Teggs nodded gloomily. “Who are these evil creatures and what are they up to?”

  “I’ll show you,” said Spink – and he walked straight through the solid cliff face!

  Teggs stared. “I can’t follow you that way.”

  “Course you can! It’s easy when you know how.” Spink stuck his head back out. “When you were solid you could walk through us ghosts, remember? Well, now you’re a ghost you can walk through anything solid! Just close your eyes and do it – but try not to sink into the ground!”

  Teggs took a deep breath and gave it a try. Spink was right, it was easy! He walked straight through the cliff face like it wasn’t there, and followed the miner through the dark rock.

  Deeper and deeper they went, through tunnels and caves and storerooms, all filled to the brim with dispium or the strange blue marbles.

  Then Teggs heard a familiar noise somewhere close by: RATTA-TATTA-BZZZZZZZZZZZ-tatta-CLUNK!

  “That’s the sound of the toilets in Camp Kentro!” he realized.

  Spink shook his head. “It’s not, you know. It’s the sound of a big loading machine beneath the toilets! The ground under our old base is totally hollow now. Every last cube of dispium is being removed . . .”

  Teggs stamped his foot in frustration. “If only we could tell Shanta and the others!”

  “What do you think we’ve been trying to do!” Spink told him.

  Slowly, the tunnels grew hotter and brighter, filled with the fiery glow of the cursed crystals.

  “Not far now,” said Spink. “We must be very careful. They mustn’t find us!”

  “Who mustn’t find us?” asked Teggs tetchily. But then Spink led him to the mouth of an enormous cavern and he saw for himself.

  Nimble, nasty little creatures were working in the cavern. Some carried picks and shovels. Some used powerful drills. Others pushed trolleys full of dispium crystals. Their hides were striped orange and black. Their mouths were crammed with vicious teeth. Their cold yellow eyes flickered this way and that as they scurried about.

  “Raptors!” breathed Teggs in disbelief. “Raptors, here in the heart of the Vegetarian Sector! Are they ghosts too?”

  “These ones are,” Spink whispered. “But the raptors aren’t stuck the way we are. They have found a way to reverse the process.”

  “That’s wonderful news!” said Teggs excitedly. “Maybe we can get back to normal too. How do they do it?”

  “We don’t know!” said Spink. “Every time we try to get close enough to find out, the kraggle-scruncher comes after us.”

  Teggs was puzzled. “But if you’re ghosts, how can it hurt you?”

  “The kraggle-scruncher has been specially bred to scrunch anything, whether it’s see-through or solid,” Spink informed him. “And it loves to hunt. That’s the only reason the raptors haven’t killed us for real – we make good sport for their perishing pet.”

  Teggs sighed. “Well, at least things can’t get any worse!”

  But, almost at once, they did.

  A big, scaly raptor in a tight black uniform strolled into sight. His whole head was scuffed and scraped. One eye was hidden by a black patch but the other gleamed with sly cunning.

  “Faster, you fools!” he hissed. “Every last cube of crystal must be collected! Soon we will leave this dump for ever . . . and put our evil plans into action!”

  “Oh, no!” groaned Teggs. “Not him!”

  Spink frowned. “You know him?”

  “That’s General Loki – the most dangerous raptor in the universe. A ghost from my past.” Teggs slapped his forehead. “Except I’m the ghost, aren’t I! Whatever Loki’s
up to . . . how can I possibly hope to stop him now?”

  Then suddenly an ear-splitting roar sounded behind them.

  Teggs whirled round to find a terrifying monster was approaching. It glowed like a ghost but it was as solid as rock – a huge, green spiky ball with a huge, red spiky mouth and huge, white spiky teeth. A muscly arm sprouted from its top and ended in a fat fist. The monster hopped along on one gigantic foot with sixteen toes. On each toe was a bloodshot eyeball, staring at them with hatred.

  “It’s the kraggle-scruncher!” hissed Spink. “It has hunted us down!”

  A ball of white fire burst from the kraggle-scruncher’s mouth and exploded at their feet. Teggs gulped as the monster hopped forwards to get them . . .

  Chapter Eight

  LAST LAUGH TO LOKI?

  BACK ABOVE GROUND, Iggy and Gipsy had returned to Camp Kentro. They called Arx, Shanta and the others to the crew room and told them their terrible news.

  “The captain is a ghost,” said Iggy quietly. “I’m afraid . . . he must be dead!”

  Arx’s horns drooped like melted candles. He couldn’t take it in.

  “It’s the curse!” cried Plod. “Teggs has been got by the curse!” Frank and Herman clung to each other in fear.

  “I can’t bear to think of him haunting this horrible planet for ever,” sobbed Gipsy. Arx gave her a hug.

  “That does it,” said Shanta firmly. “Dispium or no dispium, we must leave this place and never come back – or the curse will get us as well!” He stood up, almost banging his head on the roof.

  “Come on, lads. We’ll get to our own base, grab the others and get the ship ready for take-off.”

  Plod dipped her neck down to the astrosaurs’ level. “I’m sorry,” she told them. Then she followed her fellow miners from the room.

  The astrosaurs stood alone in gloomy silence.

  “Are you absolutely sure Captain Teggs was a ghost?” asked Arx.

  “He was all green and glowing,” said Iggy.

  “And he was speaking to us, but we couldn’t hear a word,” Gipsy added.

  “I wonder . . .” Arx looked at them both. “Shanta and I saw a ghost tonight too. Or rather, a kind-of ghost. It appeared in the brightly-lit lab instead of in the dark. It was normal and solid. It even spoke to us before it disappeared!”

  Gipsy stared at him in surprise. “What did it say?”

  ‘“Stop them’ and ‘Beware’.”

  “Stop who?” wondered Iggy. “Beware who?”

  “I don’t know.” Arx sighed. “It might have said more, except Shanta knocked over my experiment then, and it vanished. Even so, it’s got me thinking . . .”

  “Go on,” Gipsy urged him.

  Arx looked at them both. “Maybe the ghosts on Creepus aren’t really ghosts at all. Maybe they are . . . something else!”

  “Like what?” asked Gipsy excitedly.

  “I don’t know,” Arx admitted.

  “You’re just trying to make us feel better,” said Iggy.

  “Well, one thing is for sure,” said Arx. “We’re not ready to run out on our captain, whatever’s happened to him – right?”

  “Right,” Iggy and Gipsy declared.

  “So let’s go back to my lab and see if the kind-of ghost comes back,” said Arx. “I only hope it can answer some of our questions!”

  None of the astrosaurs could have known that, far beneath their feet, their captain was still very much alive.

  But for how much longer?

  The fearsome kraggle-scruncher was hopping towards Teggs and Spink.

  “Swing your tail with mine!” Teggs ordered. “We’ll hit him together. One – two – three!”

  WHUCK! Two spiked and bony tails struck the kraggle-scruncher right in the kisser. It rolled over like a ball – then bounced off the wall and charged after them on its single foot.

  “You could say it’s hopping mad!” cried Teggs.

  “Quick,” Spink hissed. “Through the wall!”

  Teggs shut his eyes and followed Spink through the solid rock – but this was no obstacle to the kraggle-scruncher. It glowed bright yellow for a moment and bounded straight after them.

  They came out into another tunnel. “Let’s try down here,” said Teggs, leading the way.

  But they ran smack into a rabble of ghost-raptors carrying crates full of dispium.

  “Ssstop them! Ssslash them!” The raptors threw down their crates and swiped at the dinosaurs with razor-sharp claws. Teggs and Spink dodged through another wall and into a different tunnel.

  But they could still hear the kraggle-scruncher, hard on their heels – and now, hard on its heel, was the pack of raptors!

  “If only we could get up above and try to warn my crew!” Teggs panted.

  “We mustn’t!” puffed Spink. “We would lead the kraggle-scruncher straight to them!”

  They ran on, through solid rock and gloomy tunnels until their lungs were bursting. Then suddenly they found themselves in another huge underground cavern.

  RATTA-TAT-BZZZZZZZ-CRUNCH! Now Teggs could see the cause of the racket in Camp Kentro’s toilets with his own eyes. A big machine with metal claws was scooping dispium from a crate and dumping it inside the biggest raptor death ship he had ever seen. The craft filled the cavern like an enormous fang.

  “Let’s hide in there,” gasped Teggs. “There might be something we can fight with!”

  They dashed straight through the wall of the ship. Half the rooms were already filled with dispium. The others were stacked high with the strange blue marbles.

  “They have been mining for years,” said Spink. “Now they are ready to take their haul away.”

  Teggs nodded. “But what do they need the blue marbles for?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” came a silky-soft whisper.

  General Loki was standing right behind them!

  Teggs turned to face his old enemy and his eyes narrowed. “You.”

  “Correct!” The evil raptor chuckled. “Me! Commander of the Seven Fleets of Death! Ruler of the meat mines of Raptos! Killer of kentrosaurus, eater of—”

  “Talk to the tail, mister,” said Teggs, turning away. “Quick, Spink, run!”

  “Too late, pea-brain!” sneered Loki.

  Teggs froze as ghost-raptors rushed through the death ship’s walls and surrounded them. And a bloodcurdling roar told Teggs that the kraggle-scruncher was just outside, waiting.

  “I have a score to settle with you, Captain.” Loki’s single eye glinted. “When we last met, your stupid spaceship blasted me all the way to Planet Sixty. The place was full of T. rexes! I had to feed them my entire crew before they would let me go!”

  “You heartless monster!” Teggs scowled. “What are you up to here?”

  “I am in the business of war!” hissed Loki. “And unlike you and those kentrosaurus saps, I can completely control the effects of dispium! The boys and I can make ourselves silent, invisible ghosts whenever we choose – and change back to normal again just as quickly.”

  “Show-off,” grumbled Teggs.

  “Think about it, Captain.” Loki showed his pointy teeth in an evil grin. “I can turn an entire army of raptors into space ghosts. No one will be able to see us in daylight so thousands of us can creep into any city we like – then turn ourselves solid and take over!”

  Spink gulped. “You will be able to invade any planet you like and no one will even notice – until it’s too late!”

  “Precisely,” said Loki. “We can kidnap kings . . . rob banks . . . feed on thousands of plant-eaters . . . anything we want!” He threw back his scaly head and laughed. “The entire Jurassic Quadrant will fall to our invisible might. Soon I, General Loki, will hold the whole galaxy in my jaws!”

  Chapter Nine

  A GHOST OF A CHANCE

  BACK IN ARX’S lab, the astrosaurs were twiddling their thumbs, waiting for the kind-of ghost to come back. All except Arx, who didn’t actually have any thumbs. He just wiggled his horns
a bit.

  They had been waiting most of the night.

  “I wonder if Shanta has got his spaceship ready yet,” said Gipsy.

  “Soon it’ll just be the three of us left here.” Iggy sighed, folding his arms.

  “We could be sitting around for weeks. It’s driving me crazy! If I don’t do something soon, I reckon I’ll lose my marbles!”

  Then the funny noise started up again from the toilets. BZZZZ-CLUNK-ratta-tatta-BZZZZZZ!

  “That’s what I’ll do – fix that stupid noise,” he declared. “It’s getting right up my snout!”

  Gipsy sighed as he stamped out of the room. Then Arx started staring hard at the experiments on his bench. “Marbles,” he breathed. “Lose my marbles . . .”

  “Oh, Arx, not you too!” Gipsy groaned.

  “No! I mean these marbles!” He kicked some of the strange blue stones. “I was just running another test on them when the kind-of ghost appeared. And when Shanta smashed the experiment, the kind-of ghost vanished again.”

  “You think those marbles affect the ghosts in some way?” Gipsy was gripped by sudden excitement. “Turn off the lights, Arx. The ghosts have only ever been seen in the dark, remember?”

  Frowning, he did as she said. Suddenly, in the darkness, a creepy green kentrosaurus appeared. Another stood behind it. And another. They waved their arms urgently at the astrosaurs, swung their tails and yelled silently.

  “I . . . I think they want our help,” whispered Gipsy. She turned the lights back on. “Quickly, Arx. What were you doing with the marbles when the kind-of ghost appeared?”

  “Oh dear!” Arx scratched his frilly head. “I can’t remember!”

  “But you must!” said Gipsy. “You must!”

  Down in the death ship, General Loki had grown bored with showing off about his evil plans. To liven things up and to amuse his miners, he decided he would throw Teggs and Spink to the kraggle-scruncher!

  The raptors shoved their captives out through the side of the ship to where the hideous monster was waiting. Then they stood in a big circle around the walls of the cavern so Teggs and Spink could not escape.

  The kraggle-scruncher hopped up and down with pleasure at the sight of its victims. Its eyes narrowed on every toe. It opened its massive mouth and belched a ball of fire right at them.