Astrosaurs 3 (11 page)

“You were right,” he went on. “The cryptoclidus did disturb something when they built their factories here in the south – those whisperfish! Whisperfish must
hate
noise!”

Gipsy nodded slowly “Well, the glass in that tank was very thick,” she said. “I'll bet it made things ever so quiet in there.”

“And once the ship crashed and they escaped, the ocean must have been quiet too,” Teggs went on. “Until the cryptoclidus started building in whisperfish waters!”
“Of course!” cried Gipsy. “Ever since then, these whisperfish have been joining together to chew up anything that makes a loud noise – floating factories . . . submarines . . . that silly siren . . . And once they've stopped the racket, they split up again.”

“And so the ‘monster' seems to vanish!” Teggs nodded. “That's why the whisperfish left us alone in our nice quiet shuttle and the silent diving bell. We weren't disturbing them!”

“Well, now we know what's been going on,” said Gipsy. “But what good does it do us? We're almost out of air.”

Teggs nodded. He felt a bit dizzy. “If we're not rescued soon . . .”

As he spoke, a massive, dark shape swam up to them through the shattered tank.

“Oh no,” groaned Teggs.

It was Mira!

“Coo-eee!” he said, waving a flipper. “I've been looking everywhere for you two! Now, it's my turn to hide . . .” he tailed off. “Wait a moment. This is my spaceship! What are you doing inside my spaceship?”

“Trying to get out!” cried Gipsy.

But then a bright yellow light shone in at them through the glass.

“Don't tell me it's
another
monster!” Teggs groaned.

“It's . . . it's some kind of super submarine!” gasped Gipsy in surprise.

A gleaming sub was gliding through the water towards them.

Mira spun round to see. Then he scowled. “It's those flipper-flappers!” he shouted. “They want to catch us! Well, I'll show them a thing or two!”

With that, he streaked out of the tank and over to the sub. His jaws were open wide.

Teggs stared in horror. “No, Mira, don't!”

But as Mira bit down on the nose of the sub –
Zzzzap!

His eyes bulged. Then he stuck out his tongue, closed his eyes and fell quietly to the sea bed.

A hatch opened on top of the sub and Cripes swam out! Gipsy hugged Teggs with relief.

“So you
did
hear our SOS signal,” smiled Teggs weakly.

Cripes nodded. “Arx worked out the best way to reach you, and Iggy drove us here in record time!” He frowned. “Uh, you're looking kind of. . . blue!”

“We're nearly out of air,” gasped Teggs.

“I think I'm going to faint,” croaked Gipsy.

“Quick!” cried Cripes. “Into the sub!”

With the last of their strength, Teggs and Gipsy made it aboard. Cripes shut the doors and led them out of the water. Gipsy wriggled out of her helmet and gulped down air. Teggs just swung his head into the wall and broke the glass helmet like an oversized egg.

“That's better!” he whooped. “And have
we
got a story to tell you!”

“Tell me about it when you have had a rest,” said Cripes gently. “You two have been through a lot!”

“What happened to Mira?” asked Gipsy.

“He'll be all right,” said Cripes. “He's just sleeping. When Iggy fixed up the sub, he also gave it a special force field!”

“Of course,” beamed Teggs. “A force field's like a wall of solid energy. When Mira tried to bite it, he got a big shock!”

“Poor Mira,” sighed Gipsy. “He's not really bad.”

“We'll tow him back to Sea Station One,” Teggs declared. “Then we can work out how to get him back home.”

The sub's inner door opened and peered in. “Captain! Gipsy!” he beamed with delight. “You're all right!”

“Just about,” sighed Gipsy. She gave Iggy a hug. “Though it's going to take
weeks
to get all the wrinkles out of my skin!”

A few hours later, the astrosaurs were safely back aboard Sea Station One. Teggs and Gipsy were both chilled through from spending so long in the freezing sea. But after a lovely hot bath and a bucket of warm sea-grass, they started to feel a bit better.

The sleeping Mira had been towed to a special undersea pen. The pen was locked, and Cripes had placed guards there. A few hours later, the astrosaurs met Cripes on a balcony above the pen.

“No one is very happy about having a liopleurodon here at Sea Station One,” grumbled Cripes.

“If he meant you any harm, don't you think he'd have attacked you already?” said Gipsy.

“I guess so,” said Cripes. “Speaking of attacks, thanks for finding the truth behind our mysterious monster! Now all we have to do is catch all the whisperfish and they'll never bother us again!”

Teggs gave Cripes a hard stare. “That doesn't seem fair.”

“What do you mean?” asked Cripes.

“It can't be much fun being a
whisperfish on the liopleurodon world,” said Teggs. “Locked up in a tank and eaten for lunch – not much of a life, is it? But here on Aqua Minor, things are different. The whisperfish have enjoyed a peaceful life swimming freely in the sea for years.” Teggs marched angrily up to Cripes. “And what do you want to do now? You want to catch them all and send them back home for supper!”