“Least I won’t drown now.”
He was wrong. He was no longer sinking, but the water level was slowly rising.
“We need to do this together. You sit down on the pod, brace your legs, and pull as hard as you can. I need to move just a meter or so, to be able to grab hold of the pod.”
She did as he’d told her. When Hunter gave the signal, she started pulling as her huge friend tried to use his arms in a frantic swimming motion. He didn’t move. He didn’t manage to free his feet.
“Stop,” she shouted. They stopped. “I have an idea. Throw me your knife.”
Hunter managed to chuck the blade onto the pod. She cut the rope and tied the loose end to the hatch handle. Then she started turning the handle. It was the same system they’d used back home, with donkeys walking in a circle, pulling water up fr
