Free In the Ice Age : In the Ice Age (9780307532497) by Jan (ILT) J. C.; Gerardi Greenburg Page A

leaning back in her seat.
    Andrew looked out the window. The blazing fire had disappeared. There was nothing but darkness and swirling green light.
    “I’m glad we got out of there,” said Andrew. “But I feel awful that the dinosaurs are all going to die.”
    Winka sighed. “Some of them survived the fires and the heat,” she said. “Animals that were in the water, or underground, or even under a pile of leaves may have lived. But then they had another big problem.”
    bong …
“The asteroid blasted trillions of tons of dirt and water into the sky,” said the Time-A-Tron.
    meep …
“Stuff go halfway to moon!” said Thudd.
    Winka nodded. “Most of it came down again quickly. The rocks fell back to Earth as billions of meteors. But the dust circled the Earth for months.”
    meep …
“Sky dark, dark, dark for long time,” said Thudd. “Lotsa plants die.”
    bong …
“Then the giant plant-eating dinosaurs didn’t have enough to eat,” said the Time-A-Tron. “And the meat-eating dinosaursdidn’t have enough plant-eating dinosaurs to eat.”
    “Awwwwww,” sighed Beeper.
    bong …
“But consider this,” said the Time-A-Tron. “If huge dinosaurs did not go extinct, mammals might have stayed small, like mice and opossums.”
    “Or like our friend the shrew, huh?” said Judy.
    bong …
“Yes,” said the Time-A-Tron. “Mammals might never have had the chance to become large, smart creatures—like you.”
    “Like three of us, anyway,” said Beeper, pulling Judy’s hair.
    Winka swatted Beeper’s hand away from Judy’s head. Then she said, “All the dust blocking the sun made the Earth as cold as an ice age for many months.”
    meep …
“Earth have lotsa ice ages,” said Thudd.
    Winka nodded. “It helped that mammals were warm-blooded,” she said. “Warm-bloodedmammals could survive the cold better than cold-blooded reptiles.”
    “Ice age!” said Judy. “Andrew, did you set the DNA Detector to find Uncle Al in the Ice Age?”
    Andrew and Judy’s uncle Al was a super-smart scientist. He had invented the Time-A-Tron and Thudd, too.
    Beeper’s uncle, Doctor Kron-Tox, had kidnapped Uncle Al and hidden him in Ice Age Montana. He was stranded somewhere between 20,000 and 11,000 years ago.
    500,000 YEARS AGO blinked on the Time-A-Tron’s display.
    “Uh-oh,” said Andrew. “I almost forgot.”
    From his pajama pocket, Andrew pulled the DNA Detector. It looked like a black remote control. He pressed the keys to spell “Alfred Dubble.”
    100,000 YEARS AGO
    50,000 YEARS AGO
    20,000 YEARS AGO
    It got very quiet inside the Time-A-Tron as they waited for a signal from the DNA Detector.
    15,000 YEARS AGO
    14,000 YEARS AGO
    ping … ping … ping …
    The DNA Detector had detected Uncle Al!
    Judy let go of the Fast-Forward button, and the web of green light around the Time-A-Tron vanished.
    The time-travel machine was sitting on a rocky plain. Low plants and scruffy bushes grew between the stones. Here and there were patches of snow.
    “Wowzers!” said Andrew. “Montana sure is different from when the dinosaurs lived here.”
    “Let’s get out and look for Uncle Al,” said Judy.
    They unlatched their seat belts. Andrew pulled up the door in the floor and climbed down the rope ladder into the lower compartment. The others followed.
    bong …
The Time-A-Tron’s oval door opened. A chilly breeze blew in.
    “Woofers!” said Andrew with a shiver. “It’s cold out there!”
    There was a whiff of pine in the clear air, and the sky was blue and sunny.
    Andrew glanced around the compartment. “I wonder if there’s anything warm to wear,” he said.
    Hoooo … hoooo … hoooo …
    It was the hooting of a little pygmy owl. It had chased the shrew into the Time-A-Tron before their trip.
    The hoots were coming from a tangle of black fuel tubes. Andrew crawled behind the tubes.
    “Holy moly!” he said, staring down at a pile of black coils. The owl was sitting on top of a huge egg! It was exactly