Doctor Fossil Read online

  A new, greater enemy, however, then arose, in the terrifying form of Lord Tenoroc. Tenoroc managed to steal the Life Cells. He planned to release their Super Villains to do his evil bidding – and destroy the Multiverse. In an epic one-on-one struggle, Alfred Hatter managed to thwart Tenoroc, locking him away in an isolated prison dimension – though doing so meant bravely accepting the same fate himself. With Alfred trapped, the Multiverse had been left without a champion …

  … until Matt, in search of his grandfather, had blundered through the portal on his first day at the Coronet. Now the role of Hatter Hero had fallen to him.

  Matt wondered if his parents might have been more understanding if they’d known that as well as homework, he had the fate of another world resting on his thirteen-year-old shoulders.

  Trouble is, I can’t tell them …

  Matt tried to put thoughts of the Multiverse aside, so as to focus on his immediate problem.

  ‘We need a plan to save us from The Crumpepper,’ he told Marlon. ‘There has to be some way out …’ He fell silent, thinking hard.

  Marlon, too, looked thoughtful. He stroked his chin with a tiny paw, frowning.

  Before either of them could come up with an idea, their concentration was broken by the outbreak of a high-pitched bleeping noise.

  The alert sound was coming from a large, leather-bound book that lay face-up on Matt’s bed. The Interactive Chronicles of Action and Adventure was no ordinary book. It was Matt’s discovery of the Chronicles that had kicked off his amazing exploits in the Multiverse. Its front cover had a hexagonal amber jewel set in its centre, which right now was glowing brightly. Matt hurriedly reached to press it. The bleeping stopped. With a flare of golden light, the jewel began to project a three-dimensional holographic image, which hovered just above it. It was a miniature likeness of a crimson-haired girl in a purple martial arts-style outfit.

  ‘Roxie!’

  The girl in the projection was one of two close friends Matt had made in the Multiverse. She was a feisty, fearless Tracker, his fellow adventurer – and occasional critic.

  ‘Matt!’ cried holo-Roxie. ‘Big trouble in the Sea of Sands. Get down here – now!’

  As abruptly as it had appeared, the projection vanished. The jewel’s amber light faded to a gentle glimmer.

  In a flash, Matt was his usual self, bursting with all-action energy. He snatched up the Chronicles and sprang from his bed, beaming.

  ‘Saved by a different dimension!’

  Roxie’s call for help provided the perfect get-out. Matt wasn’t about to turn his back on his Multiverse friends to keep an appointment with The Crumpepper. But someone would have to deal with her …

  ‘Marlon …’ Matt addressed his furry pal sincerely. ‘Cover for me!’

  Marlon was always ready to take on an assignment, however tough, to help his best friend. With a determined squeak, he gave Matt a tiny thumbs-up.

  Satisfied that he was leaving the Crumpepper situation in good hands – or paws – Matt raced for the staircase. With the Chronicles tucked under one arm, he vaulted the bannister, and flew down the spiralling steps, heading at top speed for the doorway to a different dimension.

  4

  Hero Time

  Matt took the last flight of stairs the fastest way he knew – by riding the spiralling bannister. As soon as his feet touched the first-floor landing, he was racing towards the large bookcase that occupied an alcove in its wall. He still had firm hold of the Chronicles. The book’s cover jewel was now pulsing with golden light.

  As Matt approached the bookcase, a second hexagon of amber, inset above its top shelf, answered the cover jewel by starting to flash and bleep. The entire bookcase suddenly began to rotate, like a revolving door. Matt quickly ducked through the revealed entrance. A moment later, the bookcase completed its 360-degree spin, and the hidden doorway was sealed once more.

  Matt now stood at one end of the corridor that led to the Coronet’s secret second auditorium. Screen Two had been closed off many years ago. Since then, the Hatter Heroes alone had known of its continued existence. It gave Matt a buzz to think that only Great-grandpa Samuel and Grandpa Alfred had shared the secret of the revolving bookcase.

  Matt held out the Chronicles, and thumped the amber hexagon inset in the centre of its cover. The jewel popped up from its brass-and-glass mounting, like the knob of a control dial. Matt grabbed it and twisted it clockwise one sixth of a turn.

  ‘Time to dive into the Sea of Sands!’

  Beneath the glowing jewel and its transparent surround, a mechanism of ghostly cogs and wheels began to whirr. The brass cover clasp clicked undone. The pages of the book swung open, releasing a blaze of amber light, and it rose free of Matt’s hands. As it came to hover in front of his face, something emerged from its dazzling pages – a pair of ultra-cool shades, with one red lens and one blue.

  The Multivision Specs – the first essential piece of Hatter Hero gear – drifted across to settle on Matt’s nose. He felt a familiar tingle as their DNA-lock kicked in. The Specs had recognized their owner – the only person for whom they would work their magic.

  The Chronicles suddenly shot away along the corridor. As it went, it ejected the rest of Matt’s Multiverse equipment, in holographic form – a cool action outfit; a neat pair of gloves; an explorer’s backpack. The holograms hung in the wispy light-trail left behind by the Chronicles, which had now disappeared through the doors at the corridor’s end.

  Matt set off along the corridor at a sprint. As he reached each hovering hologram, he leapt, lunged or twisted to move through it – and instantly became reclothed in the real thing. By the time he reached the end of the corridor, he was fully kitted out.

  Or almost fully. Last, but by no means least, came the Cell Blaster. Matt grabbed at its shimmering hologram and felt another tingling thrill as it took solid form in his grasp. Like the Multivision Specs, the Cell Blaster was locked to the unique DNA of the current Hatter Hero. In non-Hatter hands, it was useless. In Matt’s, it was a multi-function weapon and super-gadget rolled into one.

  Without slowing, Matt stowed the Blaster beneath his backpack. With his transformation from schoolboy to hero complete, he burst through the double doors into the Screen Two auditorium. The rows of red seating were eerily lit by the intense purple glare of the screen itself. A whirlpool of dazzling energy swirled at its centre. This was the Hatters’ great secret – the inter-dimensional portal that led to the Multiverse. At its heart, the Chronicles blazed invitingly, lighting the way.

  Matt sprinted down the aisle towards the front row, crouched to spring, then launched himself head first into the portal. He grasped the glowing book in both hands, and immediately felt it tug him fiercely forward. As it dragged him into the depths of the swirling vortex, Matt clung on and prepared to enjoy the ride.

  5

  The Sea of Sands

  The sand-surfer skimmed across the golden desert, cutting a path between the smooth rolling dunes that rose all around it like giant waves of sand, some with crests nearly ten metres high. The little craft was making good speed, despite there being only a gentle breeze to fill its single sail. Its secret was its lightweight build. Its narrow, boat-like body, from pointed prow at the front to squared-off stern at the back, was made from canvas stretched over timber struts. It ran on two large spoked rear wheels and a single front surfing skid. It was ideal for navigating the vast desert expanse of the Sea of Sands.

  ‘Are we nearly there yet?’

  A boy in a green hooded tunic and head-band was reclining in the back of the sand-surfer, enjoying the ride. For Allejandro Diego Gomez Monteros – plain ‘Gomez’ to his friends – such a relaxed attitude was far from typical. Gomez spent most of his time being frightened of things.

  ‘I think so …’ replied his female companion, who sat further forward in the surfer, doing all the hard work. She was using the craft’s steering handle to control the position and angle of its sail. Piloting a sand-surfer was
a tricky business, but Roxana Alexis, number one Tracker, was a natural. Roxie could read the wind like she could read a trail – instinctively, and better than anyone.

  ‘Yup, I’m fairly sure we must be nearly there,’ said Roxie. ‘Only it’s hard to be certain, when we don’t know exactly where “there” is!’

  ‘The directions were a bit hazy, weren’t they?’ admitted Gomez. ‘But hey – you’re a Tracker, Rox. You don’t need directions!’

  Back in Al-Harbar – the walled desert town from which Roxie and Gomez had set out earlier that morning – they had asked several townsfolk about the whereabouts of Relic Gorge. All had known its name well, but not one had been able 1to pinpoint its precise location. Some of the Al-Harbarians had been reluctant to speak of the gorge at all. The desert region within which it lay had something of a reputation. According to the locals, bad things happened there.

  So when a terrified captain of the Sultan’s Guard had come staggering through the gates of Al-Harbar the previous day, wailing that his camel caravan had been attacked – by dinosaurs, no less – the townsfolk had been unsurprised to hear that the doomed caravan had been somewhere in the region of Relic Gorge at the time.

  ‘Any idea what’s meant to be so bad about the place?’ Roxie asked Gomez. ‘I thought it was just famous for its fossils, right? How come everyone is so keen to steer clear?’

  As a Keeper, Gomez was an expert on the various cultures of the Multiverse. He was only too happy to show off what he knew about Al-Habarian folklore.

  ‘Relic Gorge has something of a dark past,’ he told Roxie. ‘It’s said that long ago, before you and I were born, it served as the lair of a dangerous lunatic.’ Gomez lowered his voice. ‘A man who could summon ferocious monsters!’

  Roxie looked intrigued. ‘Dino-type monsters?’

  Gomez shrugged. ‘All I know is that Alfred Hatter got involved. He was just getting the hang of being Hatter Hero. They say he had a big showdown with some villain or other at the gorge. There’s been no trouble since – but the locals still stay away.’

  Roxie frowned. ‘I’ll bet old Mister Monster Maker was one of Tenoroc’s cronies,’ she said. ‘But no long-gone loony is going to put me off. The gorge is where we need to start, I’m certain. Captain Yasser was pretty sure he and his camels were near it when they were attacked. And if he’s right about what attacked … well, I can’t think of a better place to look for dinosaurs than Relic Gorge, can you?’

  The mention of Tenoroc had made Gomez sit up straight. He began to look more like his usual twitchy self.

  ‘I guess not,’ he said. ‘But I hope Matt gets a move on. If there’s any chance we’re going to run into a bunch of prehistoric predators, I’d feel a lot happier with a Hatter Hero at my side!’

  ‘In front of you, more like!’ laughed Roxie. ‘And don’t worry – Matt got my call. He’ll be here.’

  Gomez smiled to himself. It wasn’t that long since he had first shown Roxie how to use her Tracker’s staff to send a signal to Matt in his own dimension. Now she was proud to find it second nature. But Roxie had yet to discover even half of what her staff could do. Only Gomez, whose task it had been to provide the staff, knew the true range of its powers. It wasn’t just the staff’s amber jewel that pulsed with mystical energy. Its wooden shaft had been carved from the last branch of the Tree of Life, sacred among Keepers. Gomez had yet to reveal this to Roxie. He was waiting for the right time.

  ‘See?’ Roxie pointed into the distance. ‘What did I tell you?’

  Gomez looked – and saw a familiar purple swirl forming high in the sky, some way ahead. The portal was opening. As its mouth widened, it began to snake lower, like a tornado touching down.

  ‘One Hatter Hero, heading our way!’ cried Roxie cheerfully. She expertly adjusted the sand-surfer’s course, sending it racing across the sand to intercept the portal’s swooping dive.

  6

  Mind the Boom!

  Matt’s Multiverse landings had improved a lot recently. His first, unexpected portal ride had not ended well. A messy crash-landing had left him flat on his face in the dust. He was proud to have managed nearly half a dozen (fairly) solid and (mostly) painless touchdowns since. He liked to think they’d been increasingly stylish, too.

  Now, however, as Matt burst from the portal’s mouth into clear blue sky, it seemed all too likely that his streak of safe landings was about to come to an end.

  A sail-powered vehicle was racing across the golden desert that stretched below him. It was heading straight for the spot towards which he was falling fast. From his previous visits to the Sea of Sands, Matt recognized it as a sand-surfer. Knowing what it was didn’t make him feel any happier about the fact that it was about to mow him down.

  ‘Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh …!’

  Yelling and flailing his arms, Matt dropped helplessly into the vehicle’s path …

  … and landed, with a thump, on the sand-surfer’s narrow prow. For a moment, he teetered there, almost managing to get his balance. He just had chance to see who was riding the speeding surfer before a dip-and-rise in its motion sent him toppling overboard.

  As he fell, Matt clutched hopelessly at thin air. To his great surprise and relief he caught hold of Roxie’s trusty wooden combat staff. Somehow, Roxie had managed to unsheathe and extend it in time to block his fall. She’d done all this with one hand, while controlling the surfer with the other. When it came to multi-tasking, Roxie was in a league of her own.

  With the staff’s help, Matt regained his balance on the surfer. He clung to its sturdy boom as the little craft continued to race across the sand.

  ‘Roxie!’ Matt gave his friend an exasperated look, yelling to her over the sound of the air rushing past. ‘You call me down on to a moving sand-surfer?’

  Roxie didn’t appear to hear. She was staring straight past Matt, and her violet eyes had grown suddenly wide. She had just spotted a deep desert crevasse only a little way ahead.

  ‘Matt!’ yelled Roxie, taking urgent action. ‘Mind the boom!’ She thrust the sand-surfer’s steering control to one side. At the same time, she swiped at the back of Matt’s legs with her staff, flipping him high into the air.

  ‘Waaaahhhhhh!’

  As Matt, wailing, performed an unexpected mid-air tumble, the surfer’s boom came whipping across, narrowly missing him. The repositioned sail billowed out, acting as a brake. Roxie sent the surfer slewing around into a long side-on skid. It came to a standstill on the brink of the crevasse – just as Matt landed back on board with a bump.

  Roxie’s dramatic emergency stop was followed by a long silence. It was broken by the faint vzzzz-tk of Matt’s Multivision Specs deactivating. Their lenses separated and withdrew behind his temples. Matt tore his gaze from the deadly drop they had just narrowly avoided, and threw Roxie another look.

  ‘Mind the boom? What’s the rush, Rox?’

  Roxie released her hold on the steering control. ‘The Sultan’s caravan has been attacked, Matt!’ she replied. ‘By dinosaurs!’

  ‘Dinosaurs?’

  ‘I know, right,’ said Gomez excitedly. Even he couldn’t help finding the prospect of meeting a real live dinosaur thrilling – if also terrifying. Prehistoric beasts were one of the fact-mad Keeper’s specialist subjects.

  ‘So – we’re checking out Relic Gorge!’ Roxie told Matt.

  ‘It’s full of dinosaur fossils,’ explained Gomez.

  Matt looked from one to the other, puzzled. ‘I might be having trouble at school,’ he said, ‘but last I heard, fossils don’t attack people.’

  Before either Roxie or Gomez could reply, all three friends were startled by a screeching animal cry. They turned to look in the direction from which it had come – and gasped.

  ‘Holy Camoly!’ wailed Gomez, paling.

  ‘It’s not the fossils we need to be worrying about!’ cried Roxie.

  A high dune rose nearby. Over its crest had just appeared four large green scaly-skinned beasts. They had pow
erful back legs, thick tails, tiny arms and long, sharp-toothed jaws.

  Matt didn’t need his dino-mad friend Gomez to tell him what he was looking at …

  7

  Dino Danger

  Matt watched in horror as the dinosaur pack came scrambling down the face of the dune, their reptilian eyes fixed on the sand-surfer. He tried to sound calmer than he felt.

  ‘Think you can get this thing up to speed, Rox?’

  Roxie was already hurriedly adjusting the position of the surfer’s sail.

  ‘You better hope so!’

  She tugged on the steering control, coaxing the little craft into life. It took all her skill to harness the light wind. The surfer pulled off along the clifftop, away from the fast-advancing predators. It quickly began to gather speed.

  But not quickly enough for Gomez.

  ‘Come on!’ he wailed. ‘Hurry!’ His position in the stern meant he was the closest to the pursuing beasts. All four were now sprinting after the surfer. Gomez cried out as one of them, having put on burst of speed, got near enough to take a giant bite out of the hull.

  ‘Yaaaagh!’

  As the surfer surged forward, the dinosaurs dropped back a metre or two. But within moments, they were gaining once more.

  ‘Lose these things, Roxie!’ urged Matt.

  Roxie made a decision. If they couldn’t outrun the beasts, they would have to outmanoeuvre them.

  ‘Hang on!’

  She sent the sand-surfer veering to the right, away from the cliff edge – then yanked hard on the steering control to turn the craft full about. It went zooming flat-out, straight at a banked dune that rose on the very edge of the crevasse.