Astrosaurs 2 (2 page)

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.

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!”

“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.