‘It’s a good day for a mission. Clear weather, clear coast. Can I have confirmation that the Jellyfish is behaving as normal?’

‘As normal, sir,’ called one of the men.

‘As normal,’ called another.

The Jellyfish gave another low vibration beneath us; a tiny, almost unnoticeable ripple ran across the whole of the creature like it had just woken up and was starting the day with us.

‘And any active movement spotted on the shore?’ said Soldier John.

‘None definite,’ said Staring Crone. ‘Though there might be something in the treeline at the top of the cliffs.’

‘Noted,’ said Soldier John. ‘Keep an eye on that for us, please.’ He turned to the crowd, a serious expression on his face. ‘There is to be no maverick behaviour here. It’s important, if this plan is to be successful, that we all work together. Is that clear?’

There were more murmurs and nods. I wasn’t sure what he was asking, but it was clear there had been some sort of disagreement last night that we hadn’t been aware of.

‘So most of you are creatin’ a distraction. You’re bein’ loud, and you’re movin’ around a lot. Got it?’

We nodded.

‘Pete is goin’ in the boat, and you lot are ’oldin’ the tentacles out of the way so ’e can get through. OK?’

He pointed to the people with the important tasks.

‘Does everyone know what they’re doin’?’ he asked.

Again, everyone nodded. I couldn’t see that he was talking to any one person in particular, but there was an edge to the question which made it look as though he was.

‘Can the boat volunteer step forward, then?’

Pitiful Pete gave a wave as he walked off towards the boat.

We gave him a round of applause, but by this stage you could really feel the excitement, so it was a quick clap, and nobody really looked at him.

‘I’m nervous,’ whispered Kate. She held out her shaking hands to show us.

I gave her a reassuring smile, but I felt strangely distant from it all, like I was looking down at it happening to somebody else. Like I could see a load of people, little specks on a piece of wobbling phlegm, buzzing around pointlessly on a tiny, insignificant corner of the sea.

‘Can I have the tentacle teams up?’

Four others stepped forward. They grabbed the plastic-bag ropes and went off towards the boat.

‘The rest of you. Get to your positions. And good luck to us all.’

‘Good luck.’

‘Good luck.’ We all nodded at each other, and walked slowly towards the centre of the Jellyfish. James still had his arm around my waist, just casually, as though he’d forgotten where he’d left it. Today, right now, I didn’t want to remind him. And I didn’t care if the others made fun of me afterwards. It felt good to be close to somebody.