diff --git a/astrai/inference/cache.py b/astrai/inference/cache.py
index f548bc8..ddd8241 100644
--- a/astrai/inference/cache.py
+++ b/astrai/inference/cache.py
@@ -170,15 +170,13 @@ class PagedCache:
             written += chunk
 
     def gather(self, layer_id: int, page_table: Tensor) -> Tuple[Tensor, Tensor]:
-        k_parts, v_parts = [], []
-        for pi in range(page_table.size(1)):
-            phys_pages = page_table[:, pi]
-            if not (phys_pages >= 0).any():
-                break
-            k_parts.append(self.k_cache[layer_id, phys_pages])
-            v_parts.append(self.v_cache[layer_id, phys_pages])
-        k = torch.cat(k_parts, dim=1)
-        v = torch.cat(v_parts, dim=1)
+        # page_table: [batch, max_pages] with -1 padding for tasks with fewer pages.
+        # clamp(min=0) maps -1 to page 0 (irrelevant data) — truncated by CacheView total_len.
+        safe = page_table.clamp(min=0)
+        k = self.k_cache[layer_id, safe]
+        v = self.v_cache[layer_id, safe]
+        k = k.flatten(1, 2)
+        v = v.flatten(1, 2)
         return k, v