A Plague of Nightmares, Part IV Summary

Chapters 27-33

Derkhan Blueday, a member of one of the upper-crust families of New Crobuzon, meets with a "communicatrix" or psychic medium named Umma Balsum, to learn the whereabouts of Benjamin Flex. Through the medium, she contacts Benjamin and learns he'd been taken prisoner by Mayor Rudgutter's thugs because of his editorial support for the strikers, and is about to be tortured to death. Mayor Rudgutter and his cronies go far underground below Perdido Street Station to meet the Weaver, a huge spider with legs six feet in length, highly intelligent and focused on aesthetics. Rudgutter offers the Weaver a pair of scissors, knowing that the insect is fascinated with them and keeps a collection. In exchange for the scissors, Rudgutter asks the Weaver to help rid New Crobuzon of giant slake moths...