“That’s just why I went to your service,” said Rob. “I was convinced that the knowledge I wanted was in a file somewhere, but I couldn’t drag it out through the key-words that the terminals would accept.”
“You’re the exception — most people don’t even try.” Anson leaned back in the chair. “If you were rich enough and lazy enough, you wouldn’t bother with the terminal. You’d tell me what you want, and leave it at that. It’s not cheap, though. I charge a lot — even by your standards.”
Rob raised his eyebrows. “And what are my standards?”
“You’re pretty well loaded with money, from your contracts in bridge construction.” Anson smiled disarmingly. “Don’t be annoyed. I would be a fool if I had an Information Service and didn’t use it for my own benefit. After I left Senta and the Perions, I ran a quick check on you. It was easy, because you were already listed as one of our clients.”
“Well, you’re a long way ahead of me.” Rob felt mild irritation. “I don’t have an Information Service, so I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know why you’re here. Don’t you think that you owe me an explanation for banging on my door at three in the morning?”
“Sorry.” Anson waved a conciliatory arm at Rob, inviting him to sit in the chair opposite. “You’re quite right. I should have told you why I came here at once, instead of giving you my own life history. I don’t know why it is, but we all have an irresistible urge to talk about ourselves. Beware of the man who doesn’t — he’s always trying to hide something.”
Howard Anson smiled, revealing strong, even teeth. “I came here because I’m worried, and I think you may be able to help. When you’ve heard what I have to say, you may tell me that it’s none of your business, and I’ll have to live with that. But I think it may be your business, yours and Senta Plessey’s.”
Rob was sitting quietly, watching Anson’s expression. The other man was much more concerned and serious than his casual manner suggested. “Go on. That meeting with Senta has been on my mind too.”
“I thought it might be. You may have already noticed that I’m very fond of Senta.” Anson shrugged again. “Fond is a poor word for it. I’m more than fond. She’s afraid of becoming poor, and she’s afraid of getting old, and she’s torn apart by that damned drug. But I can’t blame her for any of that. You’ve only seen her when the taliza has hold of her. When she’s free of it, she doesn’t have that self-confidence. She’s very vulnerable and very afraid.”
“That’s a more favorable version of what I heard from Corrie. I find it hard to think highly of a woman who doesn’t want to see her own daughter.”
Anson shook his head. “It’s not that simple. There are problems on both sides. After all, it was Corrie who went off to work in Atlantis, when she was still almost a child. That wasn’t Senta’s doing — she opposed it completely. I don’t think it will get us anywhere to try and understand their relationship tonight. I’ve struggled for years and it still baffles me.”
“I’ll go along with that. But you still haven’t told me why you’re here. If you don’t want to talk about Corrie, what is it that you want to discuss?”
“You know taliza. So you know what it means when I tell you that Senta has been an addict for at least twelve years. I’ve known her for eleven of those, and we’ve lived together for nearly ten. I must have helped her through a couple of thousand flashbacks like the one we saw tonight. You never know what the trigger might be. It can be something that she sees, or says, or hears. Did you notice that she didn’t trigger tonight when you said your name, only when she repeated it for herself?”
“I’ve seen taliza addicts before. You’re not telling me anything new.” Rob’s face was expressionless, but his total attention was on Anson.
“Then perhaps this will be new to you.” Howard Anson had dropped the facade of graceful charm. He was coldly serious and purposeful. “You heard and saw Senta trigger on your name tonight when she went into taliza trance. What you don’t know is that it isn’t the first time she has done it. I’ve seen the same thing, six times. What I want to know is, have you two ever met before? If so, when was it and where?”
“Never.” Rob saw Anson’s skeptical expression. “I’m quite positive of that. We haven’t met — I’d have remembered her, so would any man. In any case, she didn’t trigger on my name at all. She triggered on my father’s name, Gregor Merlin. That’s why I’ve been so puzzled, and why I’m willing to sit here and talk about it so late at night. He died long ago — before I was born.”
“Your father.” Anson drew in a deep breath. “And you are twenty-seven now, according to the file on you.”
“Twenty-seven and a half.” Rob was solemn.
“Then you think that Senta is cycling back into something that happened almost thirty years ago?” Anson tugged suddenly at his collar to loosen it, spoiling the perfect line of his crimson suit. “Do you understand the implications of that? Taliza addicts usually access the most recent memories first. It must have been an intense experience, to pull her so often that far into the past. Look, Merlin, do you know if your father was ever involved with both Joseph Morel and Darius Regulo?”
“Until tonight, I’d have said that he was not. Now, I’m not so sure. My mother died before I was born, as your files probably told you, so I have no one that I can really check it with. I met Regulo recently, and he didn’t admit to any knowledge of my mother or my father.”
“That doesn’t mean he has no such knowledge.”
“I know.” Rob sat silent for a while, his smooth face unreadable, his eyes far away. “Joseph Morel is another matter,” he said at last. “My parents worked at the Antigeria Labs in Christchurch, developing treatments for rejuvenation. Joseph Morel told me that he knew my father, but only when they were students together in Germany. Morel works for Regulo, but I’m not sure what he does for him. There’s the possibility of closer relationships that we don’t know about. I still don’t understand your interest, though, or what difference all these old facts can make.”
“All I want to do is to help Senta.” Anson’s manner had in it no trace now of the social charmer. “The treatments they have for curing taliza addiction don’t work. Maybe they’ll come across something in the next few years, maybe they won’t. At the moment, the only way that you can treat an addict is to weaken the triggers to the past. Either you treat them directly, with Lethe or some similar drug, or you avoid mention of them altogether. But it’s hard to avoid triggers if you don’t know why they are triggers. Reasonable?”
“Fair enough.” Rob nodded in agreement. “You think that Morel, Senta and I — or my father, more likely — are all tied together inside Senta’s brain. What we saw tonight would support that.”
“You, Morel, Senta, and something else. Something that I don’t understand at all. I’ve heard Senta use several different names for it — Goblins, the way we heard tonight, or the Minnies, or something that just sounds like letters, the XPs, or Expies. It is never clear what they are.”