4 On Shaky Ground

Chapter 4 ON SHAKY GROUND meep… "Tyrannosaurus footprints!" said Thudd. Andrew leaned down to take a closer look. "Wowzers schnauzers!" he hollered. "There are sneaker prints inside this gigunda footprint! This has to be the way that Beeper went." Judy shook her head. "I can't believe we've gone back to the beginning of the universe in our pajamas, we almost got bitten by a six-foot centipede, and now we're disguised as poopy ferns following the footsteps of a Tyrannosaurus. This is so your fault, Bug-Brain."

Andrew shrugged. "We have to rescue Professor Wilde and Uncle Al," he said. "Cheese Louise!" said Judy, looking down. "We can both fit inside the Tyrannosaurus footprint!" "Yeah," said Andrew. "Beeper would fit, too."

Suddenly the big purple button in the middle of Thudd's chest popped open and a purple beam zoomed out. A smiling Uncle Al was at the end of it. "Hey there!" he said. The last time Andrew and Judy had seen him, Uncle Al had been completely wrapped in a furry skin to keep warm. Icicles had been hanging off his nose. Now there were no icicles and the furry skin was tossed over his shoulders. "Hi, Uncle Al!" said Andrew. "Hiya, Unkie!" said Thudd. "Wait till you hear where we're stuck now!" said Judy. Uncle Al's eyebrows came together in one fuzzy line. "Where are you?" he asked. Uncle Al was using his Hologram Helper to communicate with Andrew and Judy. He could hear them, but he couldn't see them. "We're walking in the footsteps of a Tyrannosaurus rex!" said Judy.

"We stopped at sixty-five million years ago," said Andrew. "Three hundred million years ago, we picked up Doctor Kron-Tox's nephew, Beeper Jones. He's got a DNA Detector. It gave us a signal that Professor Winka Wilde might be here." Uncle Al's eyebrows went up. "Professor Wilde!" he exclaimed. "I was going to tell you where she was last time, but my batteries went out." "And now we have to get Beeper back, too," Judy said. "The little bozo took off into the forest." "I know Beeper," said Uncle Al. "He visited my lab when he was knee-high. An… um… interesting boy. He was nutty about dinosaurs. He found a fossil dinosaur egg when he was only three years old." "Wowzers!" said Andrew. "He's still an annoying little creep," said Judy. "But I guess we can't let him get eaten by a Tyrannosaurus."

Uncle Al shook his head. "You kids are amazing," said Uncle Al. "But I'm very worried." "Oh, we've got protection," said Judy, rolling her eyes. "We're wearing fern fronds dipped in Alamosaurus poop. The ferns were my idea. The Time-A-Tron came up with the poop idea." Uncle Al smiled. "Judy, you're a brilliant young woman," he said. "And the Time-A-Tron is very intelligent. But the most important thing is that it cares. "By the way Doctor Kron-Tox stole a DNA Detector from my laboratory. He must have given it to Beeper. "But that's good. The DNA Detector has the records of our family DNA and Winka Wilde's, too. I'm sure Doctor Kron-Tox added Beeper's DNA and maybe his own. So you'll be able to find…" The Uncle Al hologram was getting fuzzy. Uncle Al's voice sounded far away. "Uncle Al!" shouted Judy. "Don't go!"

The last words they heard were "…batteries not…" The Uncle Al hologram disappeared into a purple fog. Swsssshhhh… The sound was coming from the bushes. Akkkkk! Akkkkk! Akkkkk! Screeee! Screeee! A possum-like creature ran by them. Something was chasing after it! It looked like a bird and was about the size of a big chicken. But this animal had few feathers and arms with claws at the end! meep… "Bambiraptor dinosaur chase mammal called Alphadon," said Thudd. "Mammals very small in dinosaur time."