We got out of that room in the end, but I won’t pretend any part of it was easy. Trusko had a suit tucked away in a partition behind one of his charts, but we’d never have found it if Surt hadn’t been there. ‘Half the things people thought were secrets on this ship,’ the Integrator confided in us, ‘I’ve known ’em for years.’ I thought of Jusquerel on the Monetta, Lusquer on the Iron Courtesan, and reckoned it was probably just as true of them. Never mind what they say of Bone Readers, it’s Integrators that a captain needs to keep cosy.

The connecting way between Trusko’s quarters and the bridge was double-doored, so we could get in and out of the room without losing all our lungstuff in one gasp. But there wasn’t a proper pump on it, and we lost a little lungstuff each time anyone had to go in or out through the door, into what was left of the rest of the Queenie. By the time Surt had put on Trusko’s suit and gone scouting for more suits and lungstuff, we were at the thin edge of what was remaining. In the space of an hour, as the lungstuff grew chokey, I went from thinking kind thoughts of Trusko all the way back to despising him again, for putting us through slow asphyxiation.

‘It’s a mess out there,’ Surt told us. ‘We ain’t got ourselves a ship any more, that’s plain.’

‘Good job there’s another one not too far off,’ I said.

Surt’s eyes met mine through her visor. ‘I knew you meant to take the Nightjammer. But I didn’t think you were counting on taking it over as well.’

I forced a smile. ‘Not exactly spoilt for choice, are we?’

‘There’s something else. That Ghostie gun mangled things up pretty good. Knotty to say what was what. I found Trusko, and I don’t think he suffered too much. Only thing that’s nagging me is there’s no clear sign of Bosa, or any part of her.’

‘We decompressed pretty hard,’ Strambli said. ‘If the gun didn’t get her, she might have been swept out.’

‘Could she have made it back to the Nightjammer?’ I asked.

‘We’re close enough,’ Surt said. ‘And that hole in us is lined up pretty good with Bosa’s ship. But jumping between ships ain’t like skipping puddles. Odds are she still sailed off into the Empty, if that gun didn’t take care of her.’

‘There’s more Empty than not,’ Strambli said. ‘My guess is she’s falling a bit further into it by the second. You want to find her and taunt her, Fura?’