'Our next meal,' Paulo explained to Hex and Amber as they slammed the bleeding tail down onto a second sledge and tied it on. 'Trust me. It'll be delicious.'

EIGHTEEN

The afternoon was drawing to a close by the time they arrived back at the beach. Hex was limping badly and the skin around the gash in his leg was looking stretched and shiny. Alex filled up the storage tin from their bamboo aqueduct and put it to boil on the fire. Then he added potassium permanganate from his survival kit and took the steaming, red brew over to the bed where Hex lay.

Carefully he began to clean the wound. Hex barely noticed except to wince and glare when Alex pressed too hard. He was propped up on his elbows, working on the radio with Paulo. Alex frowned at the wound in Hex's leg. Something was not right. The leg was becoming more swollen by the minute and pus was already forming in the cut. He laid the back of his hand against the leg. It felt very hot.

'How're you feeling, Hex?' he said, casually.

'Fine,' said Hex, glancing at Alex with a slightly irritated look before returning to the radio. The back was off and Hex was making sure all the wires and switches were still connected up. His cheeks were flushed, but Alex could not tell whether that was from fever or excitement.

Paulo was concentrating on the generator. He had finished cleaning the rust from all the connections and now he was using coconut oil on the stiffened crank handle. His clever fingers worked on the handle until he could turn it easily. His face was intent, with no trace of his usual wide smile, as he checked and re-checked the connections. He was concentrating so hard that, when Amber laid a hand on his shoulder, he jumped.

'Sure you know what you're doing?' asked Amber, leaning over his shoulder to stare at the radio.

'Shut up, Amber,' said Hex, automatically, arming the sweat from his face as he squinted at the dials. For some reason, he was finding it hard to focus and he had a thumping headache.

Paulo grinned up at Amber. 'My father calls me his hombre de la maquina - his Machine Man. I can fix most things. If this radio has even a spark of life left in it, I will find it.'

'Make sure it's on channel sixteen,' warned Amber. 'That's the emergency channel.'

Hex checked his dials, then nodded, his fingers hovering above the morse code key. He looked at Paulo. 'Ready?' he asked.

Alex stopped cleaning Hex's wound and Li stepped closer to watch as Paulo began to crank the handle, slowly at first, until he was sure it would keep turning. 'Anything?' he asked.

'Keep going,' said Hex, staring at the dials. 'Step up the speed a bit.'

Paulo cranked until the sweat was dripping from his face. He was about to give up when Amber yelled, 'Something's happening!'

A light began to flicker behind the clouded dial window. There was a crackle of static. Then the generator handle began to squeal. Paulo gave it an anxious glance. 'Now, Hex!' he called. 'Send the message. Quickly! It will not last much longer.'

Hex tapped out the SOS signal on the morse key.

Dot, dot, dot – dash, dash, dash – dot, dot, dot.

'Again!' yelled Paulo as the squeal of the generator handle turned into a shriek and a thin line of smoke rose from the box.

Dot, dot, dot – dash, dash, dash – dot, dot dot.

Dot, dot, dot – dash, dash-

The crank handle snapped off with a sharp crack and Paulo fell forward onto the sand. Startled, Hex stopped signalling but Paulo frantically waved him on.

'Keep going,' he snapped, spitting sand out of his mouth. 'There may be stored power…'

Hex turned back to the morse key and resumed sending the SOS message, but everyone could tell it was hopeless. The radio was completely dead.

'Maybe that was enough,' said Li, into the silence.

'Two and half SOSs? I don't think so,' said Hex, lying back on his bed.

'It might be,' persisted Li.

'Even if it was enough,' sighed Hex, 'I couldn't give them our position.' He laughed without humour. 'How could I? We don't know where we are!' The smile turned into a grimace of pain as he shifted his wounded leg, trying to get comfortable.

'But what if a – a satellite picked up the signal? The satellite could pinpoint our position, couldn't it?' Li sent Alex a pleading look. He smiled, but did not know what to say. Li was clutching at straws and, in reality, she knew it.

Alex stood up and walked over to the fire. Spitted chunks of the komodo's tail were roasting over the flames. Amber followed him reluctantly. She was supposed to be keeping an eye on the meat.

'Oh, that is gross,' she said, softly, peering down at the pieces of tail. 'Paulo! The skin is splitting open!'

Paulo was still tinkering with the radio, but his heart was no longer in it. 'Good,' he called over his shoulder. 'That's exactly why we've been roasting them. You should be able to peel the skin back now. Cut the meat into chunks and put it into the bamboo steamers.'

'Do I have to?' muttered Amber, gazing with barely disguised disgust at the pink meat bulging from the split tail skin. 'Give me a hand, will you, Li?'

'One minute,' said Li. She was watching Alex. 'We need to talk,' she said, softly. Alex looked up, saw Li's serious expression, and nodded. Li walked a little way away from the campsite and Alex followed.

'How's the leg wound looking?' she asked, glancing back at Hex.

'Not good,' said Alex.

Li sighed. 'Do you have any antibiotics in your survival tin?' she asked.

'Why?'

'Do you?' repeated Li, biting her lip and looking at him hopefully.

'No,' said Alex.

Li groaned and sank down onto the sand. Her eyes were brimming with tears. Alex felt a cold chill run down his back.

'Tell me,' he said, sitting down beside her.

'If a komodo doesn't manage to disembowel its prey right away, it has another, slower way of killing,' said Li. 'All it needs is one bite. It doesn't even need to be a serious bite. They have special grooves in their teeth. Shreds of meat collect in the grooves and rot – it's a bacteria breeding ground. Even their saliva has over fifty different strains of bacteria – and at least seven of those strains are highly septic. Once an animal is bitten, it may run off, but all the komodo has to do is follow along behind.'

Li looked at Alex and saw in his face that he understood exactly what she was saying.

'Septicaemia,' he said, flatly. 'Blood poisoning.'

Li nodded.

'How long has he got?' asked Alex.

'Without antibiotics?' Li looked over at Hex and felt her throat close up. 'Three days at the most. Probably less.'

NINETEEN

Alex rested his head in his hands. Suddenly he felt very tired. He had worked so hard to keep everyone alive and healthy. All the basic survival problems had been solved. They had established a good camp, with a separate latrine. They had food, water and fire. But this? Alex sighed. This problem was beyond him.

'Alex?' whispered Li. 'Maybe our SOS got through. And maybe they have the technology to locate us just from that message. What do you think?'

Alex lifted his head and stared out to sea. His expression was bleak and a muscle jumped in the angle of his jaw. 'We'll know soon enough,' he said. 'If someone pinpointed our position, they'll be here before nightfall.'

'And if they're not?' asked Li.

Alex shrugged and looked down at his hands.

'Don't,' said Li in a quavering voice. 'Please don't.'

Alex turned to look at Li. Her chin was trembling and her eyes were brimming with tears. 'Don't what?' he asked.

'Don't give up,' said Li. She shook her head and the tears spilled over onto her cheeks. Alex put an arm around her shoulders and she turned her face into his shoulder. 'You can't give up, Alex,' she wept. 'Not you. You're the strong one. You keep us all going. If you give up, then we're all going to end up like – like that Japanese soldier in the cave. We'll all be skeletons, picked clean by the insects-'