He pointed to a narrow service ladder nearby that connected their catwalk to a platform six metres above.

‘We stay together,’ said Voriet.

‘This is probably going to come down to shooting,’ said Nayl. ‘Be good if we had two angles on them.’

Macks nodded.

‘Don’t be an idiot, Nayl,’ she said.

‘Too late to change my approach to life now, marshal,’ he replied. ‘Just shepherd Voriet and Balls of Steel around to the hatch, all right?’

Nayl started to climb the ladder. Macks hoisted her autorifle, flapped locustforms off her nose and mouth, and began to lead Drusher and Voriet around the catwalk ring.

Nayl reached the top of the ladder. It connected to a control platform immediately below the main gantry. There were banks of cogitator units, several of which had been smashed or damaged. On the deck, he saw traces of blood, some discarded and bloody medical dressings, and a broken injector unit.

Keeping low, he clambered over the rail onto the deck. Swarming insects billowed around him.

‘Where are they all coming from?’ Davinch asked in disgust, looking at the insects that were streaming in the air and swirling under the lighting rigs.

‘I don’t know,’ replied Gobleka. He was more fascinated by the cage and the man inside it.

‘Is this a manifestation?’ asked Davinch. ‘Is the Loom backwash doing this?’

‘I hardly care…’

‘This has never happened before, Gobleka,’ Davinch snapped. ‘We’ve had a few apports and some light displays… never this!’

He turned and looked down from the gantry rail.

‘Maybe they’re coming from below,’ he said. ‘Down in the sump, maybe. The fire…’

He trailed off. There was a man on the control platform below them. He was moving forwards, his head down.

‘Gobleka!’ Davinch yelled. He snatched out his twin laspistols and began blasting.

‘What the hell?’ Gobleka cried, turning.

‘There’s someone down there,’ yelled Davinch. ‘I think it’s one of the old bastard’s men!’

He fired again. The man he’d spotted had ducked out of sight. Davinch edged along the rail, trying to get a better angle.

He glimpsed the man again, and fired with both guns. Below, a cogitator unit blew out in a cascade of sparks.

‘Get round! Get round!’ he yelled to Gobleka.

Gobleka snatched up his autorifle, and began to move around the edge of the gantry, aiming down.

‘Where?’ he called.

‘Control deck,’ Davinch answered. He fired again. ‘Just below us!’

‘If you can’t plug him, push him my way!’ Gobleka shouted, aiming over the rail at the platform below.

Davinch swung back to the rail and rattled off shots with his weapons. He blew out a desk, hacked divots from the decking, overturned a wheeled stool and sent a stack of paper fluttering into the air.