"Since I wasn't actually mad at her, I couldn't think of a good reason to decline her offers. Besides, my back was cramping being pressed against the ...wall corner and really needed a good stretch. Maybe I was getting a bit too old to enjoy sleeping on floors."Sure thing." I said, as she offered me a hand in getting back up. "They both sound like good ideas to me."We remained on our best behavior during dinner and the vast majority of our conversation concerned the twenty-year reunion on Saturday. While he was in as big a hurry to get started as anyone else aboard Copernicus, Captain Kozlowski opted to have the new instrumentation installed and calibrated by professionals. It only delayed their departure by two weeks and gave him greater confidence in the reliability of the instruments and the integrity of his ship. He balanced his concern about being diverted by another special project against the safety of his crew and success of their mission.Rather than carrying a large supply of. The idea was that we would spend a couple of hours driving to the casino, the kids would amuse themselves for two hours, then we would drive back. Naturally, only the first part of the trip went according to plan. We got to the casino about 8:00 PM and the kids hit the slot machines like there was no tomorrow. They were fooling around having a good time wasting money when, suddenly, one of them hit the trifecta! Suddenly, there was money all over the place! The machine kept dumping silver. When she awoke, she didn't know when, she was able to examine the tent where they had been left. There was very little to it. There were some wooden boxes and crates, and the bare uneven ground on which the tent had been erected. Behind her was a metal post pushed into the ground, and from that came a metal chain which was attached to her left ankle and restricted her to less than a yard in which she could crawl, and was not long enough to permit her to stand. She wasn't alone in the tent. She.