43

Now, as I have said, Greenstockings and Ge Ge had been sharing a bunk since the early days of the expedition. She was the first to start worrying about Ge Ge. It took her some time to gather the energy, but she made a cursory search of the ship, calling his name.

‘Have you seen Ge Ge?’ she asked Richards.

‘No, not since last time we ate,’ said Richards.

‘I’ve checked the whole ship, and I still can’t find him.’

The idea that one of them had collapsed somewhere, and was unconscious and perhaps being preyed on by the devilish cat, Trim, terrified all of them. Weak as they were, Richards organized a search. The crew spread out in the ship. It was soon obvious that Ge Ge was not there. Franklin discovered that one of the spacesuits was missing, and Richards confirmed that the access tube was depressurized. No one could quite believe that Ge Ge had left the ship.

‘Why didn’t he tell anyone?’ said Richards.

‘Maybe he was chasing that cat or something,’ said Hood.

‘Or maybe he was tired of starving,’ said Back.

‘He would have told me,’ said Greenstockings.

They searched the ship again, halfheartedly, and of course, they didn’t find Ge Ge.