Astrosaurs 3 (5 page)

Cripes waved at them through the window. “On top of the bell is a special camera,” he said. “It can see through murky water. So if you
do
find a nasty sea monster down there, we should get a good picture of it.”

“We'll ask it to say cheese,” joked Teggs.

“Good luck, guys,” said Cripes. Iggy pressed a big green button, and Gipsy squealed as the bell was heaved up over the side of the ship on heavy chains.

“This is better than a funfair ride!” Teggs declared. He looked out through the large window in the side of the bell. On the ship's deck, Iggy stood beside Cripes. He gave a small, worried wave to his captain.

Slowly, the diving bell was lowered into the water. Teggs and Gipsy were soon staring out at an undersea world. Curious fish swam up to see them.

Deeper and deeper they went. A friendly squid blinked at them as it drifted by. A weird, spindly fish spiralled lazily past.

The bell came to rest on the sea bed with a soft bump. The water through the window was cloudy and dark. Nothing moved. Nothing stirred at all.

Gipsy felt a shiver go through her. “I hope this thing doesn't leak,” she said.

Teggs nodded. “Let's put on the diving gear, just in case.”

They helped each other strap oxygen tanks to their necks. Then they put on special diving helmets.

“Now we'll be ready for anything,” beamed Teggs.

But neither of them was ready for what happened next.

Wham!

The diving bell shook with an enormous blow.

“What was that?” gasped Gipsy.

“I don't know!” said Teggs. He peered out of the window – and wished he hadn't.

A massive sea monster was staring in at them with huge, yellow eyes. Its skin was a deep blotchy blue and white. Its head was the size of a sofa, and the top of it was wrapped in a tatty bandage. It was easily three times as long as Teggs, and its flippers were the size of small trees.

The sea monster smiled, revealing a long row of terrifying teeth. Then it attacked the diving bell. Its teeth tore through the metal like it was wet cardboard. Sea water flooded in through the gaping hole in the wall.

“Hit the help button, Gipsy!” cried Teggs. “It's coming to get us!”

Up on the tugboat, the chain holding the diving bell was swinging about like a piece of string in a gale.

“Something's wrong!” gasped Iggy. “Quick! Bring up the bell!”

Cripes hit a yellow button on his control panel. The chain clanked and heaved – but the diving bell wouldn't rise.

“It's jammed!” cried Cripes. “Something's got hold of it!”

“I'll boost the power,” said Iggy. He fiddled with some wires beneath the control panel. “Try it now!”

Cripes pressed the button again. This time, the bell began to move from the sea bed.

He beamed at Iggy. “You did it!”

Iggy and Cripes waited tensely. Finally, the diving bell emerged from the foaming waters.

Or what was left of it.

The bell had been mangled and squashed. Half of it was missing altogether. But most worrying of all, it was completely empty.

“Teggs and Gipsy . . .” breathed Iggy. “They've gone!”

“But so has their diving gear,” said Cripes, peering inside. “Maybe they got away.”

“If they did, they're still too heavy to swim up from the bottom of the sea!” wailed Iggy. “We have to find them – fast!”

Cripes clapped his flippers. Two cryptoclidus sailors in white caps and overalls slithered up to him.

“We need to get a search party down there, guys,” said Cripes. “Ten of your fastest swimmers, right now!”

The two sailors nodded. “Straight away, sir,” they cried, and then dashed off.

Iggy sighed, wishing the shuttle worked better underwater so he could look for himself. “How long can Teggs and Gipsy stay down there?”

“Let me see . . .” Cripes counted on his flippers. “They should have enough air to last three hours. After that . . .”

Iggy looked very glum. “I suppose I'd better tell Arx the bad news,” he said.

“We won't just tell him,” said Cripes gravely. “We'll
show
him.” He pointed a flipper at the mangled diving bell. “The undersea camera is still there. We'll take it back with us and see just what happened.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” cried Iggy. “Let's get going!”

Iggy and Cripes found Arx busy working in the storeroom full of broken subs and wreckage from the floating factory. When the triceratops heard what had happened to the diving bell, his horns seemed to droop.

“Don't worry, Arx. The search party will find them soon and carry them safely back up to the surface,” said Iggy stoutly. “Right, Cripes?”

“I hope so,” said Cripes. He pulled out the camera from under his cape. “In the
meantime, these pictures should be ready. Let's see what happened down there.”

Arx and Iggy gathered round him as he pulled the back off the camera. Inside was a set of pictures, bone-dry and crystal-clear. Always impressed by a good invention, Arx was about to compliment Cripes on his clever camera. But he lost his voice when he saw what the pictures showed.

One showed the massive blue and white monster swimming up to the bell.

Another showed its enormous flippers and terrible tail.

“Look at the size of that thing!” gasped Cripes. “It's as big as a battleship!”