Invasion Of The Fire Breathing Mosasaurs

The boys fly to planet Lectipas (planet of the Dinosaurs) in their new Extolon ship to discover that mosasaurs have somehow learned to burp in such a way to ignite their belly gases. They are coming onto land and starting massive forest fires. The boys become firefighters because being a good guy is fun.

They are brought from location to location as threats are upgraded and downgraded based on how big the fires are and how close they are to a village. While the Tyrannosaur tribes take charge of hunting the mosasaurs, all other species are assigned to firefighting duty. Ditches are dug, rivers are redirected, and trees are chopped down to make firebreaks.

Dinosaur adults, boys, and girls work together. Girls annoy adults and boys by giggling loudly. Adults meanwhile get more caught up in who has the authority to make a decision than they do with whether the decision is a good one or not. Rather than doing what they think best until another tells them not to, they do nothing and wait for another to tell them what to do while the forest burns and Nathaniel gets frustrated.

Nathaniel, Fred, and Haticat are injured by a falling tree and sent to the hospital. Doctor Bill goes with them. When they are almost recovered, the hospital is attacked by mosasaurs and lit on fire. The boys are separated from everyone else who escape out the front door. Haticat gets the idea to use a medical numb-ray as a weapon, stunning the mosasaurs and escaping out the back. There is now an insurmountable wall of fire between them and the hospital staff.

Since they are nearly healed anyways, they decide to explore the already-burned areas of the forest behind the advancing fires. They have trouble finding food and water. Three days later, the boys are caught in a trap and taken prisoner by very tall aliens called Barts.

The Barts come in all shapes but each one is exactly fifteen meters tall. Their skin is bright green but otherwise resembles raw hamburger. The aliens have no noses and no external ears. Their mouths are wide and full of several rows of pointed teeth. Bart necks are short but very flexible, allowing them to turn their heads five hundred forty degrees. Their necks sit in short, bony hoods situated to their back left, which also are able to rotate five hundred forty degrees. They have rather long forearms and clawed hands. Their hips and legs are rotated ninety degrees relative to the torso so that their knees always face left. The feet are much more symmetrical. The upper legs are fixed in place slightly splayed but the highly flexible knees give the lower legs a much greater range of motion. The aliens are also very bony, fast-moving, and jerky. They smell like vomit. Other than that, they look almost Human.

The Barts admit to the explorers that they are moving in and cannot allow the Dinosaurs to know. They have also been training the mosasaurs. They appear to keep the mosasaurs as pets. That night, when it is dark, the boys cut the nets and escape. The Barts give chase, but Haticat shoots one with the numb-ray.

Sometime after daybreak, they catch the attention of a passing helicopter and are rescued by Tyrannosaurs. They tell them all about the Barts and how they are behind the mosasaur invasion, but are not believed. The Tyrannosaurs inform the boys that the Barts are there with permission, that they are helping the Dinosaurs rebuild, and that the mosasaurs learned how to breathe fire all by themselves before the Barts ever arrived.

The four boys return to fighting fires until the mosasaurs are under control. They receive medals. Afterwards, a Diplodocid officer approaches them for their official statement on the Barts. As it happens, these particular Barts that captured them were criminals, settling in an area they did not belong and training the mosasaurs to catch fish. The boys are summoned to court to testify against them.

At last, the ordeal is over. The explorers are able to find a pristine forest to relax in. Nathaniel catches some lizards and sphenodons for lunch, sprinkling them with pungent pine needles. “We’ve fought fun sponge farmers, bullies, two club-wielding monsters, Boss Zack, giant flies, fire, and criminal Barts. I guess we’re heroes now,” Haticat muses.

“That’s what my medal says,” Fred says.

“Being a good guy is fun. Let’s be good guys forever,” Nathaniel proposes.

“Okay,” Haticat says.

“Okay,” Fred says.

“Okay,” Doctor Bill says.

They spend the rest of the day watching pterodactyls fly overhead.

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