Dr Jones, Stinky and Soldier John weren’t visible on the shore now, but they’d stood talking for a few minutes after they’d arrived, and had then run off in different directions. It didn’t look like they were leaving us here. It looked like they had a plan.

On the Jellyfish, people were walking around while Old Albert shouted at them randomly. Staring Crone was staring at the shore, but her presence seemed reassuring now, something normal, and maybe she would say something brilliant again soon. Some people were doing fitness training – though it seemed now like it might be a little late to get fit for fighting kriks on the land. Others were just walking round, restlessly.

‘Does anybody need a wee?’ said James. ‘I’d like to at least try and poison the Jellyfish before we leave.’

‘I don’t know if that’s ever worked much, James,’ I said.

‘Lana, you’ll help me, won’t you?’

Lana stood up to go with him.

The surface was quivering with the human energy. But suddenly I felt like Kate. Or, at least, not quite like her, but not excited to be leaving anyway. Suddenly I felt quivery myself, in a different way.

‘No, sit down,’ I said. ‘Come back here.’

James pulled a face, but Lana sat back down immediately. Cutting holes in the Jellyfish and weeing in them is only something she does when there is nothing better to do, or when she’s really angry.

‘What?’

‘Just come in closer, would you?’

They shuffled closer.

‘No, I mean, don’t make it look like we’re plotting.’

‘But are we plotting, Martha?’ said James.

Lana immediately edged forward more, her face gleeful with scandal.

‘No. Well . . . yes. What I want to know is, what happens when the boat comes? There are no boats on the shore that can fit us all on properly at the same time . . .’

We all turned and looked at the shore, which was pointless, because we all knew exactly what was out there anyway, and it also made it obvious what we were talking about.

‘And they’re not going to be able to bring anything on those boats that weighs the same amount as all of us.’

‘If we don’t get on the first boat, we could just wait until another boat comes back?’ said Kate. But even she said it without meaning it. I knew she was just saying the nice words she thought we expected her to say.

Lana screwed her face up immediately. ‘They’ll let us be first on the boat anyway,’ she said. ‘You know they will.’

‘But what if they don’t? What will we do?’

‘I don’t know, Martha. What would you suggest?’ said James.

‘I don’t know.’ I did know, but I didn’t want to say it out loud.