Astrosaurs 3 (3 page)

“The floating factories prepare the fish we catch before we send it back home to feed our people,” Cripes explained. “On the bottom levels, we suck in thousands of ammonites and belemnites from the pens on the sea bed. We take off the shells and rinse them clean. And then a submarine delivers them here for packaging.”

“We're under the sea, aren't we?” asked Iggy. “So how come this place isn't full of water?”

“We cryptoclidus live on land as well as in the sea,” Cripes reminded him.

“The food is easier to pack when it's not floating around all over the place!”

Arx plodded over to a wall and prodded a button with his longest horn. Everyone jumped as the machines sparked into life. The conveyor belt jerked forwards. Metal scoops swung down from the wonky ceiling.

“Cool – the machines still work!” shouted Teggs over all the noise. “What do they do?”

“The shellfish plop out of this pipe here onto the conveyor belt,” Cripes explained over the din. “Then they're wrapped up in the wrapping machine
and sent upstairs to the spaceships. But nothing has come through that pipe for weeks and in the meantime, the people back home are going hungry.”

Teggs felt sad watching the ruined machines clanking away with no purpose. But before he could turn them off, he felt the ground shake beneath his feet.

“That's not the builders starting work on the repairs already, is it?” asked Gipsy nervously.

Suddenly, the whole factory rocked as if a giant had kicked it. The astrosaurs were knocked off their feet. The cracks in the walls widened. The floor broke open beneath them, and sea water began rushing in.

“Never mind the builders!” cried Teggs over the din of the machines and the churning water. “I think the thing that attacked this place before has come back to finish it off!”

“Quick, you guys!” yelled Commander Cripes. “Back to the lift!”

Iggy and Gipsy didn't need telling twice. They quickly splashed over to the lift. Teggs and Arx began to follow. But before they could reach the others, the floor before them crumbled away into the water.

“We're cut off!” cried Arx.

“Iggy! Gipsy!” shouted Teggs. “Get out of here now, while you can!”

“But we can't leave you!” called Gipsy. “You'll drown!”

“That's an order!” Teggs bellowed.

Iggy sadly saluted him, and Cripes
pressed a button. The lift clanked slowly upwards.

“We'll get help!” Gipsy called. Then they were gone.

Arx yelped as a large chunk of falling ceiling nearly squashed him. “Come away from the edge, Captain!” he shouted. “If you fall down there you'll never get out again!”

“Wait!” Teggs called, rooted to the spot. “Look! Something's moving down there!”

Arx edged closer. Sure enough he saw a dark shadow in the oily water. It looked like the shadow of something very big and very, very dangerous.

“If only we could get a closer look at it,” said Teggs.

“Captain,” Arx gasped. “If the water level keeps rising,
it
might swim up here to get a closer look at
us!”

Together they backed away from the edge. The freezing cold water was now up to their chins.

“This looks like the end,” sighed Arx.

“We'll find a way out,” said Teggs bravely. He tried to think, but it wasn't easy with the noise of the clanking machines all around him.

Then he had a brainwave.

“The machines!” he cried. “If we can climb up onto the machines, we'll be higher up. The water will take longer to reach us!”

Teggs grabbed hold of one of the dangling scoops with his beak. He used it to haul himself up onto the clanking conveyor belt. Arx tried to do the same, but he struggled. Teggs wrapped his tail
round the triceratops's head frill and helped him up.

“Now the water only comes up to our toes!” beamed Teggs.

“But we're heading for the wrapping machine!” cried Arx. “It'll squash us into a parcel!”

“No, it won't,” said Teggs, smashing his big, bony tail into the machine. It exploded in a cloud of sparks. “I think it's out of order!” he grinned.

As the sparks died away, the machines suddenly stopped. The room fell eerily quiet. The only sound was the swoosh of the sea water beneath them.

“I guess I caused a short circuit,” said Teggs.

“At least we can hear ourselves think now,” said Arx. He paused. “Er, Captain . . . can you hear what I hear?”

Teggs listened. “I can't hear anything.”

“Exactly!” said Arx. “Whatever was attacking us, it seems to have given up!”

Teggs peered over the edge of the conveyor belt. There was no sign of the dark shadow beneath the sea. “I think you're right,” he whispered.

But then something large and white came whizzing up through the water.

“Look out!” yelled Teggs.

The big white thing burst out of the sea below them with a massive splash. A huge wave of water crashed over Teggs and Arx, blinding them both.

“It's a sea monster!” shouted Arx, blinking furiously.

“Get behind me, Arx!” cried Teggs, his eyes stinging. “I'll fight it off!”

“Actually,” said a familiar voice, “I only wanted to give you a lift!”

Teggs grinned with delight as he blinked away the last of the saltwater. “Iggy!” he cheered.

The big white thing was only the shuttle. Now it bobbed about on the water in front of them, like a giant rubber duck in a very big bath. Iggy stood in the doorway.

Gipsy leaned out behind him and waved. “We thought this might be a good time to see if the shuttle works underwater.”

“Luckily it does!” added Cripes, peering over Gipsy's shoulder. “At least for short trips!”

“Good work, guys,” said Teggs as he leaped aboard. “Come on, there's no time to lose. We just saw something very big swimming about down here. Let's try to follow it!”

“That's risky, Captain,” said Arx. “That thing must be big enough to swallow the shuttle in one gulp!”

“It's a risk we'll have to take,” Teggs told him.

Once Arx had scrambled into the shuttle, they set off. Like a submarine, the little ship ducked under the waves and hummed quietly through the clear
green water. But all they saw were shoals of tiny fish swimming past them. There was no sign of the mysterious dark thing.