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"Ah, to be young and agile again," said Pri," replied Rue

"More to the point, ere never that agile," said Prireement and turned to Percy, who had put away his book and resumed the helm the moment the alarm sounded At least he had a sense of responsibility "Prepare to drop out of aetherosphere as soon as we reach docking juncture point"

"Yes, captain," replied Percy, face a little drawn "I had assuht be too ance "Percy, have you ever docked a ship of this size?"

"Not exactly," replied Percy

"And what exactly does ‘not exactly’ mean?"

"I’ve read about it"

"Oh dear Should I call Mr Lefoux up to take over from you?"

"Absolutely not I’ll do perfectly well" Percy’s face went from fearful to fiercely deter him properly, Rue said, "I’ juncture spotted Rue squinted into the swirlingthe Great Pea Souper of 1887 Just ahead she thought she could make out… a lamp-post

Or what looked like a lamp-post, except that it was only the top half of one and Rue knew that it only seemed small because they were still far away In actual fact, the beacon was very large indeed It was birdcage in shape and lit froas

Rue ordered, "Deck hands pull in the ator prepare to drop out of aetherosphere on ed the boiler rooton?"

"You were expecting an opera girl?"

"Please prepare to engage the propeller"

"We’re always prepared for that" In an aside Rue was probably ritted her teeth and tried to think of sticky sweet buns "Very good Thank you for your efficiency"

Before Aggie could add anything row to hate that woman," she said to Prily "You handled it well – bad language never won fair oes Nor do I think Phinkerlington would like being called a fair s scra how to run speed drills Also, they’d benefit froe of the others for the sake of efficiency – there see One of the deckhands was supposed to have the with an overabundance of youthful exuberance An internal hierarchy e

By the time the mainsail was down, they were almost upon the beacon

"Professor Tunstell, three, two, one,not to sound panicked