he took a moment to inhale , spinning on the turntable gear , the blue light from his chest painting the naked metal blue , and he huffed a mouthful of mental bravery and squeezed through -- his coats were snagged ! -- pinned like poor lemny , caught against the sharp wormgear teeth -- tightening as they pulled his coats into their slow rotations -- could n't rip the coats off , his arms were both caught behind him at a funny angle and in moments his arms 'd be torn right off his shoulders and then where would he be ? -- struggling , could n't brace his feet against the gears or his shoelaces would catch , that 'd be no improvement , a crawlyweb 's no better than a flyswatter to an absent-minded dancerfly , that 's what lemny always said -- he had to survive for lemny 's sake , he had to survive -- no one was coming to save him , there was no one to save either of them , no one would ever come this way -- his arm pulled back suddenly , and then there was nothing else for it , he put his feet up against the wormgear , felt his shoelaces thread into the grooves and catch , and , remembering how greasy it was , propped up both feet and pushed -- gobber heard the sound of fabric tearing away .