H.I. Larry - Fossil Fury

Fossil Fury
published in 2013 by
Hardie Grant Egmont
Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street
Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia
www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior permission of the publishers and copyright owner.

A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia.

eISBN: 9781743580226

Text, illustration and design copyright 2013 Hardie Grant Egmont

Cover and Illustrations by Craig Phillips
Cover design by Simon Swingler

Zac, could you please carry this bag of manure?

Zac Power and his mum were at the garden centre. It wasnt the sort of place youd expect to find a top-secret spy. But thats exactly what Zac was.

Zacs whole family worked for an elite spy agency called the Government Investigation Bureau, or GIB for short.

Being a spy was supposed to be cool. The last time Zac checked, carrying a bag of manure was not cool especially when you were wearing your brand new Axe Grinder T-shirt!

Yuck! said Zac. Do I have to?

Yes, said his mum. You could tell from the look on her face why her secret spy name was Agent Bum Smack. Im carrying all these pot plants. Actually, that reminds me its your turn to take out the compost when we get home.

Zac groaned. The compost smelled even worse than manure! He picked up the heavy plastic bag of Grundys Garden Grower and followed his mum out to the car park.

Zacs nose twitched as he walked outside. He could smell something. Not the manure something good. There was a sausage sizzle in the car park!

Sweet, thought Zac. Ive earned a snack.

Im just going to get a sausage, he told his mum, once hed dumped the manure in the car boot.

As Zac walked over to the sausage sizzle, he noticed something strange. The guy flipping the sausages was staring right at him.

Zacs spy senses tingled. He didnt recognise the man at all, but the man sure seemed to recognise him.

Hello, said the man, handing Zac a sausage in bread. Why dont you help yourself to some extra-spicy chilli mustard sauce? Its your favourite, isnt it?

Zac raised an eyebrow and nodded. How did the man know?

Zac reached for the plastic bottle on the table and held it over the sausage in bread. But when he squeezed the bottle, nothing came out.

Hey, its empty! Zac said.

Try again, said the man, winking at him.

Zac frowned and gave the bottle a shake. Something rattled inside it.

He glanced around to make sure no-one was looking, and then twisted the lid off. He tipped the contents into his hand.

All that came out was a silver object shaped like a coin. A GIB mission disk!

Hello, Agent Rock Star, whispered the man behind the barbecue, giving Zac a small nod. Im Agent Hot Dog.

At that moment, Zac saw a Mikes Mobile Mowing van come swerving through the car park. It was one of those vans that came to your house to do your gardening except this one had tinted windows.

Obviously, this was no ordinary gardening van.

It pulled up right behind Zac, and the doors flew open. Then he heard a familiar voice from inside.

Get in, Zac! said his brother Leon.

This could only mean one thing, thought Zac. A new mission!

Zac climbed into the back of the van. Just as hed thought, there wasnt a lawn mower or whipper snipper in sight. Instead, the walls were covered with wires, computer monitors and blinking lights.

Zac knew he was inside a GIB Mobile Technology Lab. His brother Leon, also known as Agent Tech Head, was standing at a small workbench. Leon was a computer whiz, science whiz and history whiz, all rolled up into one nerdy package. He didnt really go on missions. Instead he stayed behind, getting information to Zac, working on new gadgets, and somehow being uncool and useful at the same time.

The MTL doors swung shut, and the van started moving again. For a second Zac wondered who was driving. Then he remembered that Leon usually set the MTL to autopilot. That kept Leons hands free for doing what he loved most tinkering with gadgets.

Leon made a final adjustment to the new piece of GIB hardware he was working on, then looked up at Zac. Have you read your new mission yet?

Im just about to, said Zac, finishing off his sausage in bread. He wiped his hands on his pants and pulled out his SpyPad.

GIB agents never went anywhere with- out their SpyPad. It was the most useful spy gadget in the world a super-charged tablet with a video phone, chemical analyser, laser, GPS and loads of other features.

Zac sat up on Leons workbench, because he knew that annoyed him. He messaged his mum to let her know where hed gone, and then slid the mission disk into his SpyPad.

Zac looked up at Leon, his mouth hanging open. Dr Drastic is saying hes brought a dinosaur back to life? Thats impossible!

Zac knew that Dr Drastic was a brilliant scientist, but hatching a live dinosaur was a stretch even for him.

Leon shrugged. Its not entirely impossible, he said. They died out millions of years ago, but some of them left behind fossils. If Dr Drastic found a really well-preserved fossil with bits of DNA, he maybe could have used the genetic sequence to

Zac could tell from the gleam in Leons eye that he was going to explain exactly how Drastic might have done it. In precise detail. Possibly with diagrams.

OK, OK, Zac said quickly. He had to stop Leon now. I dont need to know the details. Just tell me whether you think its a real dinosaur or not.

Leon thought for a moment. Probably not, but you need to find out for sure. If its a fake, then Drastic is obviously up to something. And we know hes wanted to take down the council for ages.

Zac nodded. What kind of dinosaur is it supposed to be?

A Spinosaurus, said Leon. A meat-eater, very dangerous and even bigger than a T-Rex.

Bigger? Zac asked.

Leon nodded. Longer, taller, probably faster and with a head like a crocodile. But dont worry, its only a baby-sized one.

Leon shivered excitedly, and then glanced at the speedometer on the dashboard. I think were going to need a bit more speed to get to Bladesville on time, he added. Do you feel like driving?

Zac grinned. Always, he said, sitting down at the controls.

Whether the dinosaur was real or not, there was no time to waste when Dr Drastic was involved!

Zac nudged the controls forward and gave the van an extra burst of speed. Hed been driving for a couple of hours, and the GPS screen on the dashboard showed that Bladesville was just up ahead.

A couple of raindrops splashed on the windscreen as dark clouds gathered in the sky. It looked like a storm was coming. OK, said Leon, pointing to a section of the GPS screen. Drastic has been working out of the BioDome on the other side of the city, so we need to head there.

Zac knew the BioDome was a special greenhouse where nerds like Leon studied different environments. It was weird to think of a garden growing in the middle of Bladesvilles skyscrapers and dirty alleys.