Astrosaurs 2 (6 page)

Teggs frowned as he chewed some moss. “Different in what way?” Arx looked at him. “Since the Jurassic Explorers visited Platus Two, it has grown
ten times bigger!”

“Impossible!” Sog said crossly. He tried to fold his arms but they wouldn't quite reach, which made him even
crosser. “Planets do not grow like living things! Arx, you must be wrong! Your instruments are faulty!”

At that, Arx got a bit huffy, and Teggs quickly butted in before a big row started.

“Can you show us Platus Two on the scanners, Arx?” he asked.

Arx jabbed a button with his horn. On the screen, Platus Two glowed bright against black space. Pure white and smooth, it looked like a giant snooker ball.

Then a rocky shape drifted into view.

“It's that stupid meteor again,” grumbled Arx.

“But I thought it was trailing behind us,” said Teggs. “How come it's now heading
straight for us
?”

A split-second later, Teggs got his answer. Everyone jumped as the meteor suddenly split right open! Bursting from inside it – like a terrifying creature hatching from a giant egg – was a familiar whisk-like ship.

“Oviraptors!” gasped Gipsy. Arx nodded grimly. “They disguised their ship as a meteor and tagged along all the way here!”

“They want our eggs!” wailed Coo.

“Oh dear,” said Dippa.

Suddenly the oviraptor ship fired its lasers. Two balls of flame streaked towards them.

“Red alert!” shouted Teggs. “We're under attack!”

Twin bolts of fire slammed into the
Sauropod.
The ship shook like a jelly in an earthquake. Then it tipped up. Coo and Dippa screamed, their egg boxes clanging together like giant bells. Professor Sog was sent somersaulting up to the ceiling. The dimorphodon flight crew screeched and flapped into each other.

Teggs fought to keep his balance in the control pit. Flapping reptiles collided above him. The squawk of the alarm pterosaur echoed round the ship:
“Red alert! Red alert!'

“Damage report!” cried Teggs.

Iggy came tumbling out of the lift and onto the flight deck. “Message from the engine room, Captain!” he yelled. “Engines have been hit!”

“We can't get away now!” cried Sog, as a pair of flying reptiles helped him down from the ceiling.

“Fire lasers,” snapped Teggs.

“Lasers have jammed!” Gipsy reported.

“All right then, fire the dung torpedoes!” he ordered.

Gipsy flicked a row of switches with her tail. “Firing now!”

On the scanner, a brown explosion lit up the oviraptor ship. “Direct hit!" cheered Arx.

“That should cause a stink on the oviraptor ship!” grinned Iggy.

“Message coming in,” Gipsy reported. “It's King Albu!”

“Put him on screen,” Teggs said.

Everyone watched as an ugly, stubby little creature appeared on the screen. He wore a large crown on his head and an even larger clothes peg on his snout.

Teggs smiled grimly. “I see that you've felt – and smelled – what our dung torpedoes can do, King Albu. Leave now, and we'll say no more about it.”

King Albu shook his head. “Doo hab dum-fing I vant, Dap-tin,” he hissed.

“Er . . . pardon?” asked Teggs.

The royal oviraptor pulled the peg from his nose. “I said, you have something I want, Captain!”

“You really came all this way just to eat the plateosaurus eggs?” Teggs shook his head sadly. “You have to be crazy!”

“I certainly am,” King Albu agreed. “So hand them over – or else my power poachers will turn you into toast!”

Teggs shook his head. “Try that and the next round of dung torpedoes will knock your noses clean off!”

“I don't think so, Captain.” King Albu smiled nastily. “Your engines run on dung, and we've just blasted them open. You can't afford to waste any more fuel.”

Iggy sighed. “He's right, Captain!”

“Oh well,” sighed Coo. “I suppose we'd better let him have the eggs, then.”

“Yes, that's probably best,” agreed Dippa. “Never mind.”

“Never mind?” Teggs stared at them. “This is the future of your people we're talking about!”

“But there's nothing we can do,” said Coo.

‘There's always
something
we can do,” said Teggs bravely.