’ ‘And a wager?’ ‘I don’t know.’ I thought for a second. ‘I have nothing to wager. Cien grinned. ‘Mayhap you do.’ He shuffled his fe...t and looked at me again. ‘ ‘Twere I to win this wager, I shall have your hand in marriage.’ I felt my jaw drop, but I couldn’t seem to bring it back up.’ ‘And if the lassie wins, Cien? What will she win?’ Maggie asked. Thank God Maggie was paying attention to the conversation. Cien seemed to think for a minute before snapping his fingers. ‘If the Lady Rose wins,’. After the break, it was back to the studio, and George suggested a jam session, so I could become accustomed to playing with them, learning various cues, and he could work out how I could best fit in. We spent the rest of the morning playing various songs; some classic blues pieces; early Stones and other heavy rock songs; we even ran through extended versions of the two Easybeats songs that George and I were playing earlier on. No one seemed in much of a hurry to start laying down some. If they had the manpower to put two hundred men on each ship that was over five thousand men and we were in trouble. The city itself didn’t look that large, though. Certainly no larger than several of the mainland cities I’d seen.Were these ships coming to meet us the dregs of their fleet, relegated to patrol duty? Or were they their elite, the ones kept ready at all times? I figured that the simple fact that they were coming out to meet us answered that. If they were older and slower ships. Can youforgive your foolish old Mom?"Well, that certainly was information that I'd never heard before andhad never even anticipated having a need for stuff like that. It struckme that I'd better check the HUD and see if there was some way to turndown the sensitivity um, up front. It didn't make sense to haveanything be that sensitive on this suit.I told Mom that, of course I would forgive her, but only if she'dforgive me for cussing in front of her. That was something you justdidn't do where my.