the counselor looked sleepily out of the screen. "i wish you people didn't have so much energy," he complained. then he looked again and the sleepiness vanished. "i see you found it the first time."

luis knew it himself, because there was a difference from the dwelling luise lived in—not much, but perceptible to him. the counselor, however, must have a phenomenal memory to distinguish it from hundreds of others almost like it.

borgenese noticed the expression and smiled. "i'm not an eidetic, if that's what you think. there's a number on the set you're calling from and it shows on my screen. you can't see it."

they would have something like that, luis thought. "why didn't you tell me this was it before i came?"

"we were pretty sure you'd find it by yourself. people who've just been retroed usually do. it's better to do it on your own. our object is to have you recover your personality. if we knew who you were, we could set up a program to guide you to it faster. as it is, if we help you too much, you turn into a carbon copy of the man who's advising you."

luis nodded. give a man his adult body and mind and turn him loose on the problems which confronted him, and he would come up with adult solutions. it was better that way.

but he hadn't called to discuss that. "there's another person living in the shelters," he said. "you found her three weeks before you found me."

"so you've met her already? fine. we were hoping you would." borgenese chuckled. "let's see if i can describe her. apparent age, about twenty-three; that means that she was originally between twenty-six or thirty-eight, with the probability at the lower figure. a good body, as you are probably well aware, and a striking face. somewhat oversexed at the moment, but that's all right—so are you."

he saw the expression on luis's face and added quickly: "you needn't worry. draw a parallel with your own experience. there were pretty nurses all around you in retro-therapy, and i doubt that you noticed that they were female. that's normal for a person in your position, and it's the same with her.

"it works this way: you're both unsure of yourselves and can't react to those who have some control over their emotions. when you meet each other, you can sense that neither has made the necessary adjustments, and so you are free to release your true feelings."

he smiled broadly. "at the moment, you two are the only ones who have been retroed recently. you won't have any competition for six months or so, until you begin to feel comfortable in your new life. by then, you should know how well you really like each other.

"of course tomorrow, or even today, we might find another person in the shelter. if it's a man, you'll have to watch out; if a woman, you'll have too much companionship. as it is, i think you're very lucky."

yeah, he was lucky—or would be if things were actually like that. yesterday he would have denied it; but today, he'd be willing to settle for it, if he could get it.

"i don't think you understand," he said. "she took the same name that i did."

borgenese's smile flipped over fast, and the other side was a frown. for a long time he sat there scowling out of the screen. "that's a hell of a thing to tell me before breakfast," he said. "are you sure? she couldn't decide on a name before she left."

"i'm sure," said luis, and related all the details of last night.

the counselor sat there and didn't say anything.