‘So if we disguise ourselves more with the corpses and put them over us completely, that should do the trick?’

‘No, I don’t think so,’ said Kate quietly. But I don’t mean she said it quietly so that everyone would listen. I mean, she said it so quietly that only we could hear. There was a general ruckus on board, with loads of shouting and sobbing and helpful suggestions. Nobody was listening. Kate would never join in with all that shouting.

‘What, Kate?’ I whispered.

‘It’s weight. It’s not the senses at all. It can tell because the weight changes.’

‘Why do you think that?’ I whispered back. ‘Are you sure?’

‘It can feel us, though,’ said James. ‘It definitely can.’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘but is it us it’s feeling, or just the weight of us? I mean, it can feel us when we all go to one side and tip it over with our weight, but can it feel us moving around and stuff? I don’t know if it can.’

We were silent for a bit, while everybody continued talking around us. Near the edge of the Jellyfish, Stinky was still sitting where the tentacle had dropped him. His shoulders were shaking like he was sobbing, but his eyes were wide open and tearless, his face expressionless.

‘I don’t care,’ said Lana suddenly. ‘I really don’t friggin’ care. Does it matter if it’s weight or feel or if it’s got eyes or whatever? Does it matter if it’s even friggin’ just tracking our movements by secretly licking our feet every time we walk around? If we don’t keep trying to escape, then it’s going to eat us anyway.’

‘Do you think it would eat the corpses instead of us, if we pull them on board?’ I asked.

Right now, the corpses were still attached to the disintegrated raft, and were bobbing up and down in the wake of the still-agitated tentacles. The Jellyfish didn’t seem to be paying particular attention to them, other than to push them from side to side occasionally.

‘What, delay it from starting on us?’ said James. ‘How long do you think those . . . bodies . . . would keep it going for, exactly?’

‘I don’t know if it would even eat them,’ I said. ‘I mean, they don’t look great.’ They looked pretty disgusting, actually, particularly the corpse which was now floating around headless, and with a missing arm, having been smashed by the giant tentacle. ‘It’s just . . . well, we eat dried fish, don’t we?’

‘Oh my god . . .’ said Lana. She blew air into her cheeks, then puffed it out slowly.

I went on. ‘So I don’t see why the Jellyfish wouldn’t eat dried humans?’

‘A stronger flavour and a meatier texture?’ said James, with an exaggerated lick of his lips.

‘James, NO!’ I said. ‘Those bodies were people once. Bit of respect.’

‘Yummmm . . . chewy,’ he said.