"Indeed we do," said Solomon. "Most of the worlds the Foreigners came from seem to be some version of Earth." Then he chuckled. "You can always argue with logic. It's just often foolish, unless you know you can prove the logic illogical. And you're going to practice--on me, if anything else offends your sensibilities."

But he smiled at her, to show there was no edge to the words, save the sardonic one. "Or, if you want to earn some currency before we actually leave, you can be my manager and let me do the charity-pocketing, and I'll teach you on the side."