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now. ‘I can’t move my feet. I’m sinking!’
    Gwen looked back at the road. She couldn’t even see the car any more let alone the professor; but then she heard him – heavy splashes through the mud and a tall, lurching figure emerging like a caveman from the mist. He had seen Toshiko in trouble and was coming to help.
    ‘Keep still!’ she heard him call.
    Gwen turned back to Toshiko. ‘Keep still,’ she urged. ‘Professor Len’s coming now.’
    There was a horrible silence for a few moments as Toshiko sank slowly into the water. Gradually they heard the professor’s footsteps splashing towards them. He caught up, winded, panting, and immediately grabbed Toshiko around the waist. ‘Come on, girl! Up you come!’
    But no matter how hard Gwen and Professor Len pulled, the mud just continued to suck Toshiko down. The rate of descent was becoming inexorable and she was starting to panic. ‘Gwen, it’s really cold! I’m sinking! Help me!’
    ‘We’re doing our best, girl!’ grunted Professor Len. His face was red with the effort above his beard.
    Gwen moved around so that she could put her arms under Toshiko’s shoulders and heave. She strained hard but there was no moving her.
    ‘Lie down,’ gasped the professor, shifting position as well. He couldn’t get any decent leverage because he was trying to make sure he didn’t step on the same patch of marsh that Toshiko had. If they both got stuck there was no way out.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Lie down, spread your surface area across the moss,’ the professor instructed. ‘You won’t sink so fast.’
    Toshiko looked at him wide-eyed. ‘Lie down? Are you mad?’
    ‘It’s OK,’ Gwen assured her, but she felt far from confident. Her own heart was thudding madly in her chest. ‘Lie down, quickly!’
    Awkwardly, Toshiko started to lower herself towards the ground, into an uncomfortable squatting position.
    ‘You need to lie down flat, like you’re floating on the surface of a swimming pool,’ the professor urged.
    Gingerly, Toshiko lowered herself even further, her face a mask of fear and revulsion. She was already soaked to the skin, a thick brown tidemark rising up the white top she was wearing beneath her leather jacket. Carefully Gwen moved around until she was behind her, checking each step, probing with the flat of her foot to see if the mossy ground would take her weight. ‘Lean back to me, and I’ll see if I can pull you out,’ she said. ‘It may be easier at this angle.’
    Once again Gwen got a good grip under Toshiko’s arms and heaved. At first she seemed immovable, but then, with a sudden wet sucking noise, Toshiko slid out of the marsh’s grip and both Gwen and Professor Len fell backwards, dragging her with them.
    They lay on the wet ground for a minute, Gwen gasping and laughing with relief. Professor Len was less amused. ‘I told you not go out on the moss!’ he roared. ‘You could’ve been killed!’
    Toshiko crawled weakly away from the mud, shivering in the cold.
    And then stopped.
    ‘Gwen.’
    Gwen twisted around. ‘What is it?’
    Professor Len had already seen it. He climbed slowly to his knees, his eyes wide in shock and horror.
    ‘Look.’ Toshiko’s face was drawn and mud-stained, but there was a look in her dark eyes that had an immediate, sobering effect on Gwen.
    There was a face in the mud. Emaciated skin was stretched tight over the skull, yellow teeth bared as if with the strain of coming to the surface. The crusty eye sockets were full of silt and worms.
    ‘It was right beneath me,’ Toshiko whispered, her voice trembling. ‘Under the water all this time.’
    ‘We must have disturbed it,’ Gwen said, bending over for a closer look. ‘It’s male. Look – there’s the rest of the body, half-submerged. He was probably trapped under the moss. The struggle freed the corpse and it floated to the surface.’
    Suddenly Toshiko was fumbling for her scanner. Her muddy fingers slid all over the controls but in a few