Astrosaurs 2 (12 page)

“Iggy!” yelled Teggs, panting for breath in the doorway. “Are you there?”

“Phew!” gasped Sog. “What's that terrible smell?”

“Must be Iggy and the boys,” said Gipsy. “They've been working hard on our dung problem!”

Iggy appeared round the corner. He looked tired and red-faced, and his scaly hide was dripping with engine oil.

“We need to take off straight away,” said Teggs. “Is that OK?”

Everyone stared at Iggy, hope burning in their eyes.

“Sorry, Captain,” said Iggy, shaking his head. “We've got all the dung we need, but the engines are still stone-cold. And it'll take hours to burn enough dung for take-off!”

“But we don't, hours!” said Teggs.

Coo hung his head. The precious egg boxes fell to the floor. “Then . . . we can't escape!” he sighed. “It' all been for nothing!”

“Wait a minute,” said Dippa. “We can't take off, right?”

“Right,” said Teggs.

She turned to Professor Sog. “And if we stay, we'll be flung off into space like you said, right?”

“It's true,” he said sadly. “No one could survive such a thing.”

“
We
certainly couldn't,” Dippa agreed. “But maybe the
Sauropod
could with us safely inside it!”

Arx hooted for joy. “She's right! There's still a chance! If this jumbo egg is going to hatch, we don't
need
to take off! The egg will launch us into space as it breaks up.”

Teggs grinned at her. “Good thinking, Dippa.” He turned to Iggy. “Do you think the
Sauropod
can stand it?”

Iggy shrugged. “She's a tough old ship . . . but I just don't know!”

“Well, I think we're about to find out,” said Gipsy.

Just outside, a big split in the ground had opened up.

“Quick! Everyone to the flight deck!” yelled Teggs. “Find something to hold on to!”

Minutes later, the flight deck was filled to bursting with worried dinosaurs.

Iggy and his ankylosaurs had strapped themselves to the walls.
Gipsy, Teggs and Sog squashed up together in the control pit. Arx sat at his post, studying his instruments. Prince Shelly sat nervously beside him. Dippa and Coo huddled together, clinging to their egg boxes. The alarm pterosaur perched with the flight crew. She gave a nervous squawk now and then.

Everyone had gathered together. Perhaps for the last time.

Beneath the ship, the ground started to boil and buckle.

“Platus Two is cracking up,” Arx reported.

“Hold tight, everybody,” Teggs called. “And good luck.”

They watched the egg-planet's last moments on the scanner screen.

The cracks in the ground grew wider and darker. They spat sticky goo high in the air. The
Sauropod
rattled and shook.

Then the distant horizon seemed to crack open. Something enormous burst out from beneath. It was groping around as if trying to grab the last stars in the sky.

“It's a claw!” cried Teggs. “A giant claw!”

More and more jagged cracks appeared in the shaking shell.

“This is it!” cried Arx. “Here we go!”

And suddenly, there was a terrific
crack!
as the egg-planet burst apart.

The scanner screen glowed white-hot. The
Sauropod
was sent spinning. No ship had ever stood up to such incredible force.

“You can do it,” Teggs whispered. “I know you can!”

And at last, after what seemed like hours and hours . . . the shaking and the spinning stopped.

For a long time no one moved. No one even dared to speak.

It was left to Teggs to break the silence. “We made it!” he shouted. “We actually made it!”

The flight deck rang with the sound of happy cheers and squawking.

Cautiously, Professor Sog wriggled out from Teggs's armpit. “Look!” he gasped. “On the screen!”

The blackness of space was littered with pieces of broken shell. They gleamed like bits of china in the starlight.

Then something incredible burst into view. It looked like an enormous winged serpent. Its gleaming, golden body stretched out through the stars like
a
comet's tail. Slowly, it opened its jaws and breathed out a big ball of fire as bright as the sun.

“Wait a minute,” said Arx. “That looks like . . .”

“It can't be!” gasped Sog.

“It is!” cried Teggs. “It's a star dragon, it must be! The Jurassic Explorers searched the galaxy, but never found one.”

Arx beamed. “And now we've seen one with our own eyes!”

“In honour of my greatest heroes,” said Teggs, “I name this star dragon Jurassic.”

Jurassic the star dragon performed a slow somersault. Then she flapped away into the endless night on four massive, golden wings.

“I'm glad Jurassic hatched safely,” said Gipsy softly. “I wonder where she'll go now?”

“To warm herself by a sun, perhaps,” suggested Sog. “Or maybe to find her friends in a far-off galaxy. Who knows?”

Iggy smiled. “I'm sure there's a home big enough for her somewhere.”

“Maybe we'll see her again some day,” said Teggs happily. “And find out for sure.”

They watched Jurassic slowly disappear, off on her long journey through the stars. Then Iggy disappeared too, to check on his precious engines.