The Stegosaurus

The fire at Base Camp crackled a happy song. POP. SNAP. It smelled of woodsmoke. And just a little bit of Professor Hatch’s morning porridge. His porridge was always a character-building kind of burnt.

Ned opened his Grandfather’s big, bumpy notebook. He turned the page carefully. On the paper was a blurry charcoal sketch of a dinosaur.

It was a very large dinosaur, with a back as flat as a tabletop. Sticking up from its spine were two rows of tall, jagged shapes. They looked like a row of broken fence posts.

Professor Hatch leaned over Ned’s shoulder. “My, oh my. What do we have here?”

Ned traced the jagged shapes with his finger. “It looks like it’s wearing armor. But the Jigsaw Earth is so hot. All that armor would make it cook like a potato.”

“A very good point, my boy,” said the Professor.

Ned tapped the page. “I have a hypothesis! An idea we can test! What if those plates aren't for fighting? What if they are for… cooling off?”

Vera smiled from the doorway of the Steam-Crawler. “A dinosaur with its own air conditioning? Let’s go find out! All aboard!”

CLICK. The door to the Steam-Crawler sealed shut. WHIRR. The brass dials on Vera’s dashboard lit up. Bram tightened one last bolt with his wrench. “All systems ready, Vera!”

Vera pulled a big wooden handle. HIIISSSSSSS. The Steam-Crawler rumbled like a waking giant. It rolled out of Base Camp, past the misty waterfalls, and into the thick, green Tangle.

The air inside the cabin grew heavy and warm and wet. Big, fat drops of water slid down the outside of the windows. DRIP. DROP. DRIP. “It’s like we’re driving through a big, soggy leaf,” said Vera.

Soon, the damp green leaves gave way to brown, dusty ground. The Steam-Crawler rolled out of the Tangle’s shadow and into the bright, hot sun. They had arrived in the Jigsaw Earth.

The ground was all cracked, like a giant puzzle made of dried mud. The air was thin and shaky with heat. “Alright, team,” Vera called out. “It’s a long, hot ride across this plateau. Let’s get the rhythm!”

She started the chant. “Chuffa-chuffa-CLACK! Chuffa-chuffa-CLACK!” Everyone joined in, their voices making a beat for the engine. “Chuffa-chuffa-CLACK! Chuffa-chuffa-CLACK!”

The Steam-Crawler bounced over a deep crack in the ground. LURCH! Everyone wobbled in their seats.

From Bram’s corner, there came a familiar sound. CLANG! “Ow!” said Bram. He rubbed his foot. Then he giggled. “Wrench on the toe! All good, everyone!”

Vera pointed to a brass gauge on her dashboard. A little needle was creeping towards a thick red line. “Whew,” she said, fanning her face. “This ground is baking hot. The Crawler’s boiler is getting too warm.”

“We’ll have to be quick,” said Professor Hatch. “Before the afternoon sun pushes us into the red.”

Vera brought the Steam-Crawler to a gentle stop. HIIISSSSSS. The engine went quiet.

They were in a wide, flat clearing. The air was still and very, very hot. It felt like standing over a campfire. “Okay, team,” Ned whispered. “Help us look. Can you see anything moving out there?”

A hush fell over the cabin. And then… it happened. The clouds above parted just a little. A single, wide beam of sunlight broke through, painting a golden stripe across the dusty ground. It was the Sun-Bridge.

And standing right in the middle of it was the dinosaur from the notebook. It was bigger than the Steam-Crawler. Its skin was the color of mossy stones. And rising from its back were two rows of those tall, bony plates, catching the golden light.

The dinosaur let out a long, low sound. RRRUUUUMMMMBLE. It sounded sleepy.

It took one slow step. Then another. It swayed a little, like it was too tired to move. “It looks so sluggish,” whispered Ned. “Just like I feel on a super-hot day when I don’t want to play outside.”

Just then, a tiny breeze started to blow. WHOOSH. It wasn’t a strong wind. It was just a little puff of air, stirring up the dust.

But the giant dinosaur felt it. It stopped walking. It slowly, carefully, turned its whole enormous body sideways. It pointed its big, flat plates right into the gentle wind.

It stood perfectly still, letting the air flow over and around and between each bony plate. The Crew watched, holding their breath.

After a moment, the dinosaur blinked its big, slow eyes. It lifted its head a little higher. It took another step, but this time, the step was stronger. It let out another rumble, but this one sounded… happier. RRRUMBLE!

Ned bounced in his seat. “It worked! It’s using the plates to cool down! The wind is like a fan, pulling the heat right off its body!”

Professor Hatch clapped his hands together. “Scientific Fact! Absolutely extraordinary!” he boomed. “Those plates work like the cooling fins on our Steam-Crawler's engine! They are full of tiny pipes, like little drinking straws, full of warm blood. The wind blows past the plates and cools the blood right down.”

Vera pointed to her dashboard. The needle was touching the bright red line. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. “That’s our signal,” she said. “Our own engine is about to overheat. Time to roll!”

Back at Base Camp, the air was cool and sweet. The sun was setting behind the mountains, painting the clouds pink and purple. The campfire crackled softly, sending tiny orange sparks into the sky. The whole team was sipping tall glasses of cold berry juice.

Bram pulled out the big, leather-bound Expedition Ridge Census Log. He opened it to a fresh new page and picked up his heavy ink stamp. “What should I write for this one, Ned?” he asked.

Ned took a long sip of his juice. “Discovery Number Three,” he said. “A gentle giant from the Jigsaw Earth, with its very own built-in air conditioning.”

Bram nodded and lined up the stamp over the page. FWUMP! He held it up for everyone to see the fresh, dark ink. “Discovery Number Three,” he announced proudly. “Logged!”

Ned looked at his cool glass. “I’m glad we have juice to cool us down,” he said. Professor Hatch chuckled. “Indeed. Much less drafty than having giant plates on our backs.”