Astrosaurs 21

by Steve Cole

  “It’s a landslide!” Teggs yelled as the dune collapsed completely and tons of sand swept down all around them. “Run for it!”

  But the tide of golden grains was too fast for them. Within seconds, Teggs found himself up to his tummy in heavy sand. He couldn’t move his legs. Grit blew into his eyes, blinding him. He heard his friends gasp and splutter beside him and tried to help them – but the sand’s colossal weight was pressing down on his backplates, tightening around his scaly neck . . .

  Chapter Three

  SECRETS IN THE SAND

  Suddenly – Ba-BOOM! A massive explosion blasted through the desert avalanche. The shockwave wrenched Teggs free of his prison of sand, sent him hurtling through the air until—WHUMP! He slammed into the side of the pyramid and just managed to cling on. “Guys!” he shouted, blinking the sand from his eyes. “Are you all OK?”

  “Just about!” called Gipsy weakly from somewhere below him.

  Teggs found himself halfway up the pyramid. Iggy was dangling from the stonework just to his left, while Arx and Gipsy were sprawled in drifts of sand by the entrance. A huge crater had been blown in the ground close by, and Tute stood at the edge, panting for breath.

  But of the dino-mummies there was now no sign.

  “What happened?” groaned Iggy, starting to climb down.

  “That blasting charge I brought along,” said Tute shakily. “It must’ve fallen out of my robes when that sand-slide came down on us – and exploded under the pressure.”

  “We were lucky.” Arx helped Gipsy to her feet. “The sand absorbed the explosion and the shockwaves set us free.”

  “And look . . .” Climbing down after Iggy, Teggs noticed a large rectangular slab sticking out of the sand opposite the pyramid doors. “We didn’t know that was there before. It looks like some sort of sculpture.”

  “Wow!” Forgetting his shock and breathless with excitement, Tute ran up to it and brushed away more of the sand to reveal five small holes drilled in a straight line across the stone. “I’ve never seen anything like this with the other pyramids in the Egyptus system . . .”

  “Those horrid T. rex things must’ve been standing on the sand above it,” said Gipsy. “Were they zapped in that explosion?”

  Arx shook his head. “There would be some trace of them left behind. They must’ve got away.”

  “Then we’d better get after them,” said Teggs, bounding away up the steep sandy slope. “Gipsy, you stay with Tute in case they come back. Arx, Iggy – with me!”

  Arx and Iggy followed their captain, ready to do battle. They split up and checked right around the pyramid. But there were no tracks and nothing to see. Only the rolling desert sands stretching out in all directions.

  “It’s like they just . . . disappeared!” said Arx. “But how?”

  “There’s one place they could’ve gone.” Teggs pointed to the pyramid. “In there!” He led his friends back down to Tute and Gipsy. “Could there be a hidden entrance to this thing?”

  “It’s possible,” Tute agreed.

  Teggs nodded thoughtfully. “We should get back to the resort and put out a T. rex warning.”

  “Perhaps some of us should stay here and keep watch for more mummies,” said Arx.

  “That’s a good idea,” said Teggs. “Iggy, Gipsy, tell Alass and her security guards to be ready for action and put the dimorphodon on patrol. Then go to Shuttle Alpha in the parking bay and contact the DSS. They must scan for carnivore ships.”

  “Right – those T. rex mummies must’ve got here somehow,” said Iggy.

  “We’ll report back just as soon as we can,” added Gipsy.

  As Iggy and Gipsy raced away up the slope to the space-car, Tute suddenly leaped in the air. “I’VE GOT IT!” he boomed.

  “Got what?” asked Teggs.

  “This slab!” Tute’s eyes were gleaming. “It’s exactly the same shape and size as the door opposite. But it has five holes in it – holes that just happen to be the same size as all these gemstones lying around . . .” He stuck a round diamond into the first hole – it was a perfect fit. “See?”

  Arx nodded. “I said there had to be a reason why there were so many jewels lying about. Perhaps they’re here to help us open the door.”

  “Like a secret key, you mean?” said Tute.

  “Five holes . . . and five different types of jewel,” Teggs said slowly. “Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and pearls.”

  “That might be it, Captain!” Arx stared around, excited. “Maybe, to open the door, we have to put the right jewels in the right holes in the right order.”

  “But how do we work out that order?” Tute asked. “It could take us weeks to try out all the possible patterns.”

  “Hang on,” said Teggs. “If there’s only space for five jewels, why leave so many more lying around out here? It’s got to be a clue . . .”

  “You’re right.” Arx thought hard. “Perhaps we have to count how many there are of each gemstone? The rarest gem goes in the first hole, the second-rarest gem goes in the second hole, and so on.”

  Tute beamed. “That’s genius!”

  “That’s Arx,” said Teggs proudly. “What are we waiting for? Let’s try it out!”

  Working at super-speed, Teggs, Arx and Tute flung the gemstones into different piles, counting as they went. Rubies made the smallest pile, then emeralds, then diamonds and sapphires. The pile of pearls was by far the biggest.

  “Let’s see if we’re right.” Teggs put a ruby in hole one, an emerald in hole two, a diamond in hole three, a sapphire in hole four and – finally – a pearl in hole five.

  A strange light seemed to shimmer through the stones . . .

  And suddenly the pyramid’s door slid smoothly open!

  “Result!” Tute jumped for joy, almost losing his headdress. “I don’t know who those bandaged buffoons were, but I’d like to thank them for showing us the way inside!”

  “Yes, they were running on the spot on top of it, weren’t they?” Staring into the thick darkness beyond the door, Arx’s smile faded. “But how could T. rex builders have come up with such a clever way to open the door?”

  “Perhaps someone helped them,” said Teggs.

  “But who?” Tute gazed around, looking spooked.

  “Come on,” said Teggs grimly. “I think we should explore. Carefully!”

  Slowly, ready for anything, the three dinosaurs entered the mysterious pyramid . . .

  Iggy and Gipsy zoomed over the empty desert, pushing Tute’s space-car to the limit as they raced back to the resort.

  “Turn left at the next sand dune, Ig,” said Gipsy, her nose in a map. “You know, I still can’t believe we found T. rexes at that pyramid.”

  “If you found that hard to believe, how are you going to feel about this?” Iggy pointed through the windscreen. “Look!”

  A battered spaceship was dropping down into sight ahead of them. It looked like an enormous flying saucer with a dark glass dome on top and huge metal claws emerging from its base. Crimson skulls with jagged teeth had been stencilled on the spaceship’s side . . .

  Gipsy gasped. “Iggy, that’s a carnivore ship!”

  “A Dung-Puncher War-Craft Three Thousand, to be precise,” said Iggy, who could spot all kinds of spaceship a mile off. “Designed and built by T. rexes – and most likely steered by them too.”

  Suddenly two bolts of sizzling energy spat from the spaceship.

  “They’re attacking us!” Gipsy yelled as Iggy swerved wildly to avoid the shots. “We’ve got nothing to fight back with – and we’re still hours from the resort.”

  “We must reach Shuttle Alpha and warn the DSS,” cried Iggy, watching another laser bolt scorch past. “An invasion like this could start a new Galaxy War.”

  Gipsy’s head-crest flushed blue with alarm. “And it looks like we’ll be its first casualties. If only we could contact the captain and warn him what’s happening!”

  “No communicators – this is supposed
to be a holiday!” Iggy pushed the planet-rover’s engines to the max, driving at over one hundred miles per hour – but the invading ship was way faster. “We can’t outrun that thing. It’ll blast us to bits at any moment!”

  Gipsy and Iggy watched helplessly as the sinister spacecraft shot past them overhead. The metal claws around its base opened up like rusty petals, and a beam of brilliant light shone out – engulfing the space-car completely.

  “We’ve lost all power,” cried Iggy as the engines sputtered and died and the space-car started to rise up into the air. “And now we’re being sucked inside!”

  “That light . . .” Gipsy slumped against Iggy as the T. rex ship loomed larger and larger above them. “Making me dizzy.”

  “Me too,” gasped Iggy. “Dizzy and sleepy . . .”

  As the T. rex saucer swallowed them up, the lights switched off and left them in blackness . . .

  Chapter Four

  A T. REX TRAP

  Back at the pyramid, Teggs, Tute and Arx were exploring the cold, gloomy chamber on the other side of the pyramid door. Always prepared, Tute had brought along a small torch. Its light picked out stone pillars and archways and spooky statues of weird, three-legged creatures with oval heads.

  “They’ll be worth a fortune!” Tute chuckled. “I bet this whole place is stuffed full of loot.”

  “Where?” wondered Teggs. “I can’t see any other rooms or doors.”

  “They must be hidden.” Tute shuffled round in a circle, training his torch beam carefully all about. A large mosaic covered much of the wall in front of them. It was divided into sixteen squares, and inside every square was a different pattern of circles and dots.

  “What an amazing design!” Arx declared. “It reminds me of something.”

  Tute stared, puzzled. “Well, it certainly doesn’t remind me of T. rexes. They mostly draw rude pictures of poos and big bottoms.” He pointed to one of the statues. “As for this, it’s way too delicate for tyrannosaurs – their sculptures are big, lumpy things, carved with their claws. I’ve never seen anything like this stuff before.”

  “The mummy T. rexes said it was their pyramid.” Arx pondered. “But perhaps they didn’t build it. Perhaps they only found it.”

  “Like we’ve found it now,” Teggs agreed. “Pyramids and mummies were first invented by ancient Egyptosauruses – weren’t they?”

  Tute shrugged. “Some history experts believe we copied the idea from aliens we met in space thousands of years ago, during the long journey from Earth. But our pyramids were just triangular houses. And our mummies didn’t move about – they were dead as doornails and stayed that way.”

  Teggs shuddered at the thought of the sinister mummies. Just where had they gone?

  “Hey!” Arx cried, making Teggs and Tute jump. “I know what these pictures remind me of – star charts!” He pointed to dots and lines inside the first square. “That looks like the Pibble Nebula that marks the start of the Jurassic Quadrant, see? And this one over here looks like the Great Moonfield Reef in the Vegmeat Zone.”

  “You’re right!” Teggs peered more closely. “That square there could easily show Raptos and its surrounding planets. And the pattern in the last one reminds me of the view of deep space we saw from Outpost Q . . .”

  “So it’s not just a pretty pattern,” Tute murmured. “It’s a journey through the galaxy.”

  “Exactly! Starting here in square three, travelling through here, here, here and here . . .” As he talked, Teggs tapped his tail against the patterns. “. . . And finally ending up in square four!”

  And with a heavy, grinding sound, the stone wall split in half – and slid open to reveal an even bigger room beyond!

  Tute punched the air in excitement. “Teggsy, you rock! You opened the hidden door! Come on, let’s go.”

  “Wait.” Arx was looking worried. “Square two shows a part of space that has only been discovered by dinosaurs in the last few years. That means that this place must have been built by aliens.”

  “Aliens who knew about the Jurassic Quadrant long before we did.” Teggs nodded. “But why did they build this pyramid? What happened to them? And where did all those T. rexes vanish to, one thousand years ago?”

  Tute shone his torch into the next chamber – and gulped. “Er, Teggsy? I’d say some of them ended up right here.”

  A tingle of fear shivered down Teggs’s spine, and Arx gasped. The entire floor was littered with little arm-bones, giant leg bones and massive skulls with teeth like spikes.

  “A room full of T. rex skeletons,” Teggs whispered. “Something terrible must’ve happened here . . . but what?”

  “Never mind that.” Tute pointed to something sparkling beyond the bones. “More jewels. Brilliant!” Eagerly, he rushed inside.

  “Careful, Tute!” Teggs and Arx started after him.

  And as soon as they were all inside – GRRRR-THUNK! The wall slid closed again.

  “Hey!” Teggs spun round and banged on the stone with his tail. But the wall would not open again. “We’re trapped!”

  “Sorry, fellas,” said Tute, scooping up the jewels. “When I saw these, I ran in here without thinking.”

  Suddenly a grating, scraping noise sounded above their heads. A triangular hole was opening in the stone ceiling.

  “There’s another door!” said Tute brightly.

  “So there is,” said Teggs. “But we don’t know if it’s a way out for us – or a way in for something else . . .”

  As if in answer, a large metal figure floated down through the hole in the roof. It had three legs, two arms and an oval head that glowed with a pulsing crimson light.

  “Hide!” Teggs hissed as he and Arx ducked behind the nearest skeleton.

  Tute scurried after them. “What IS that thing?”

  “It looks like a robot,” Arx murmured. “It’s the same shape as the statues we saw in the entrance hall.”

  Slowly, the robot turned its head towards them – and a ray of red light shot out at the skeleton!

  “Look out!” Teggs rolled over backwards, pushing his friends clear as the bones exploded in flames. “That thing’s got a death ray – and it’s not afraid to use it!”

  Tute joined the astrosaurs as they scrambled for shelter behind another pile of bones. “Now we know why there are so many skeletons in here.”

  But as the robot slowly bobbed towards their hollow hiding place, another secret doorway opened in the wall behind it.

  “Right,” Teggs breathed. “Arx, Tute – I’ll distract old rust-head here, you make a dash for that door. Don’t argue – just go!”

  So saying, he sprang out of hiding and performed a spiky somersault. ZAPP! The robot fired its deadly ray at Teggs, missing him by millimetres. A stone pillar shook and smoked under the attack.

  “Now!” Arx commanded, sprinting for the door with Tute.

  But before they could reach the open door – “OWW!” The two dinosaurs shook, surrounded by sparks. It was as if they had run into an invisible electric cushion.

  “What happened?” Teggs yelled, ducking as the robot fired again and another pile of bones went up in flames. “Why can’t you get out?”

  “The door is protected by an energy screen!” Arx groaned. “An invisible barrier we can’t get through.”

  “Watch out!” called Teggs as the robot turned and sped towards Arx and Tute, its head glowing redder and redder, ready to fire. “From this distance, it can’t miss!”

  Chapter Five

  THE TEST AND THE TERROR

  Just as the robot was about to fire, Teggs threw a humungous hip-bone at its back and spoiled its aim. ZZAP! The floor at Tute’s feet burst into flames.

  “Whoa!” Tute jumped aside and banged his head on a pillar. As Arx dashed to help him up, he noticed a bank of buttons and switches set into the stone. “Hey! These look like the controls for the energy screen!”

  “Can you work them, Arx?” called Teggs.

  “I’m not sure,” said A
rx. “The system is alien.”

  “You’ve got to do it!” Tute urged him, scurrying away to join Teggs. “We’ll try to keep laser-face off your back!”

  The floating robot spun round to face Teggs and Tute and fired again. Teggs threw himself to the floor but the deadly ray came so close that his backplates were almost burned black. Tute ran in the opposite direction, drawing the robot’s fire.

  “I think I’ve worked it out!” Arx carefully tapped the buttons and flicked the switches. “Try now.”

  Tute sprinted over to the invisible shield – and this time nothing stopped him. “The energy screen’s down! Come on, you guys – scram!”

  Arx charged away, jumping as he did so to avoid another lethal blast. Teggs sneaked up behind the robot and swiped it aside with his tail before galloping after his friends.

  As he skidded through the exit, the door slid shut behind him. Arx helped Teggs up, and together they listened at the door for any signs that the robot was coming after them.

  But the room remained silent.

  “Well done, Arx,” said Teggs gratefully.

  Arx puffed out a breath. “I’m starting to think that if this pyramid really does belong to those T. rex mummies, they’re welcome to it!”

  Tute quickly shone his torch about to reveal a long narrow corridor that stretched on into pitch darkness. “One thing I don’t get, guys,” he panted. “If that robot’s job is to kill intruders, why not attack us straight away? Why wait till we’d entered an empty room?”

  “And why block the exit with an energy screen, but leave the controls that switch it off in plain sight?” Arx pondered. “It’s almost like we’re being tested.”

  “You could be right.” Tute looked around nervously in the darkness. “The jewel code to open the pyramid door was an intelligence test . . . the star-charts mosaic tested our knowledge of space travel . . .”

  “And luckily Arx has just passed the ‘switching off an alien energy screen’ test,” Teggs concluded. “I think that this pyramid was built for a very important reason – and if we can only survive these tests, perhaps we’ll find out what it is!”