Arriving in Bokhara with its Tower of Death, verminous dungeons and treacherous Emir, Wolff grandly ordered that the British prisoners be handed over to him.
The verminous swarm which always threatens mankind has made great wartime gains due to shortages of insecticide and manpower and to heavy wartime travel (especially of insects .
Typewriters turn into bugs, and so do the humans Bill meets, who are verminous to begin with.