doomed! If it is hungry enough, it can dissolve many of the materials that keep the vehicle aloft!"
He motioned forward toward the open-air deck with his rifle. I immediately rose to my feet and we rushed out into the noon-day sky. Pirates were leaping onto the deck, exchanging blows with the automaton crewmembers. The pirates ' airships were tethered by grappling hooks immediately off our starboard side, their balloons and sails much patched and worn. Apparently the pirates had come in numerous dirigibles, attacking from as many sides as possible. The ships had an altogether disreputable appearance, as did their crew. We should have been able to beat them off quite handily... if so many of our automatons had not been previously damaged or destroyed.
One pirate slipped on the goo of the blob, and the monster seized onto his arm. The pirate pulled most violently away, pulling the blob across a rope which was holding a lifeboat safe. The moment the blob touched the rope, it snapped, dropping
the boat from one side and knocking the sailor overboard. The lifeboat swung in the wind while dangling by one cord. I was most troubled by this event, for I couldn ' t help but think that if the lifeboat fell into the waves below, it would not be available for our escape— should such an escape be required. But it held fast by that one rope.
The blob began wandering around towards a duct. It leaned against the wall, and part of the wood was devoured, while the metal of the duct corroded, but was left intact. The duct seemed to swallow the goo of the monster and the blob slipped down the grate!
I was distracted and the pirates overcame us. Cyprien could not fight them off alone! Rather than murdering us outright, the pirates first disconnected the automatons, then locked all of the tour within the only room on board the ship for which the pirates had no use: the library.
" There are pirates about," Percy stated, obviously, greeting our arrival. " I have seen them!"