permanent name." He saw the expression on the man's face and added
hastily: "We haven't given up, if that's what you're thinking. But
it's not easy to determine your identity. The most important source of
information is your mind, and that was at the two year level when we
found you. The fact that you recalled the word Putsy is an
indication."

"Fingerprints," said the man vaguely. "Can't you trace me through
fingerprints?"

"That's another clue," said the counselor. "Not fingerprints, but the
fact that you thought of them." He jotted something down. "I'll have
to check those re-education tapes. They may be defective by now, we've
run them so many times. Again, it may be merely that your mind refused
to accept the proper information."

The man started to protest, but Borgenese cut him off. "Fingerprints
were a fair means of identification in the Twentieth Century, but this
is the Twenty-second Century."

* * * * *

The counselor then sat back. "You're confused now. You have a lot of
information you don't know how to use yet. It was given to you fast,
and your mind hasn't fully absorbed it and put it in order. Sometimes
it helps if you talk out your problems."

"I don't know if I have a problem." The man brushed his hand slowly
across his eyes. "Where do I start?"

"Let me do it for you," suggested Borgenese. "You ask questions when
you feel like it. It may help you."

He paused, "You were found two weeks ago in the Shelters. You know
what those are?"

The man nodded, and Borgenese went on: "Shelter and food for anyone
who wants or needs it. Nothing fancy, of course, but no one has to ask
or apply; he just walks in and there's a place to sleep and
periodically food is provided. It's a favorite place to put people
who've been retroed."

The man looked up. "Retroed?"

"Slang," said Borgenese. "The retrogression gun ionizes animal tissue,
nerve cells particularly. Aim it at a man's legs and the nerves in
that area are drained of energy and his muscles won't hold him up. He
falls down.

"Aim it at his head and give him the smallest charge the gun is
adjustable to, and his most recent knowledge is subtracted from his
memory. Give him the full charge, and he is swept back to a childish
or infantile age level. The exact age he reaches is dependent on his
physical and mental condition at the time he's retroed.

"Theoretically it's possible to kill with the retrogression gun. The