Blayg nodded. He walked away and began to climb the steps.

‘Hurry!’ Davinch shouted after him. ‘Gobleka may even want to request an outside assist to get this squared away.’

Blayg disappeared out of sight. Davinch had drawn both pistols. He circled the platform and began to move towards the steps close to Eisenhorn and Drusher.

Eisenhorn placed a hand on Drusher’s arm.

Drusher felt an uncomfortable psykanic tap. The tattooed man suddenly looked around as if he’d heard someone call his name. He made off in the opposite direction and quickly vanished behind the gears of the Great Machine.

‘You could have shot him,’ said Drusher quietly.

‘I could,’ said Eisenhorn, ‘but I don’t want to bring the whole place down on us. We are the last two, Drusher. Silence and shadows are our friends.’

‘Our friends while we do what exactly?’

‘He mentioned Sark. And Gobleka.’

‘I’ve seen them both,’ said Drusher. ‘A long way above us, there’s a cage on a gantry. A psychometric monitor. Is that the right term? Magos Sark is in it. Caged like an animal. He’s become the… I don’t know… focus of this machine. He’s part of it. It’s working because of him.’

‘So Jaff said.’

‘But his mind is gone,’ said Drusher. ‘He’s very damaged. This Gobleka fellow, he seems to be the one running the operation now.’

‘Goran Gobleka is an expert fixer. The Cognitae value his skills. But Sark is the primary target. We have to stop him. Stop this Loom manufacturing any more graels for the King in Yellow.’

‘I didn’t understand any of what Jaff told you,’ said Drusher. ‘What are they trying to achieve?’

‘I don’t expect you to understand, magos,’ Eisenhorn replied. ‘Frankly, I don’t want you to understand. But so you grasp the vital nature of this, the Cognitae – through the King in Yellow – are working to bring down the Imperium. I believe their goal is no less than the assassination of the Emperor. So when we are done here, I will go to the Angelus Subsector, to Sancour, and I will find this place called Queen Mab, and, there, I will hunt down and destroy the King in Yellow. But first, this place must be ended so it can construct no more monsters to serve his scheme.’

Drusher nodded. ‘Then let’s get Macks and–’

‘She’s not a priority,’ said Eisenhorn.

‘She’s alive, Eisenhorn.’

‘And I’m sorry for that. But she is not the priority here, magos.’

‘We can’t just leave her–’

‘We can.’

‘No,’ said Drusher. ‘I can’t.’

‘Magos, do you still not understand the importance of–’