“Dave,” shouted Carrie.
His eyes rolling, he gasped. He took several short breaths and spoke, his words slow and precise. “I think I’m touching the bottom. On tiptoe.”
Carrie exhaled. “Okay. Now don’t move. Do you understand? Not a single muscle.”
Dave spat out the liquid that had oozed into his mouth. “’Kay.”
“If I spread my weight over the surface, I bet I can wriggle across. Once you’re in this kind of liquid there’s no point fighting it, you just sink.”
Dave spat again. “I think I’ve discovered that.”
“The shore’s only about ten metres away. Move slowly, and try to work your way upward.” Carrie was already doing this herself, and it was working. Her top half lay across the surface, and she wasn’t sinking. She gently wriggled her legs, easing them free of the gloop.
Dave wasn’t s
