It's something Childermass has to consider. He could ask a lot of things, have him point out and name every carnival member back in the fields, but he isn't sure how important that will be in the long run. So, he goes for the next most obvious of the questions to ask and that's—

"Were we working on a way out of here? I'll see what I can find with my shadows but if there's more and I've forgotten it, I would like to know."