The short story which started the series.

Publication year: 2000
Format: ebook
Page count: 67
Publisher: Fictionwise, originally published in Analog Magazine

I love the Retrieval Artist series and it was great to read the first story. I’ve just recently listened the newest audio book in the series, the Anniversary Day, so it was a bit strange to now read about the hard-boiled Miles Flint at the top of his career. There are also issues in this story which are explored further in the books.

Miles Flint is surprised to find a prospective client on his office’s doorstep. At first Flint turns the young woman away but she returns. She turns out to be Anetka Sobol, the daughter of an extremely wealthy man. She’s looking for her mother who Disappeared because her father was so violent. The Mother took with her Anetka’s original who is now going to inherit their father’s riches. Anetka is a clone and so she can’t inherit. Reluctantly, Flint takes the case.

All of the elements in the series are already in this story. The aliens, who we see only briefly, and their draconian cultural customs which are also talked about only briefly. The poor status of clones. The links embedded into people and the rejuvenatory treatments they use to disguise their age. The Moon itself and the domes where people live. Flint’s office is in an old area and it’s clearly different, and rundown, from the recently built part where the wealthy tourists stay. There’s also a short trip to Mars where the Disty rule.

Flint is his usual suspicious self and he uses public computers for his work so that it can’t be traced. He feels the heavy burden of his work and he does his best to discourage potential clients. He’s a loner presumably by choice. However, he seems to be more vindicative than in the books which was a small surprise. Anetka shows just how devious clients can be and why Flint goes to such lengths to discourage them. However, in the end, we don’t know her motivations or feelings.

The writing is very good, as usual, and the story feels just the right length. The story has just two main characters: Flint and Anetka. Others appear but often enough they aren’t even given names. Because of the nature of Flint’s work that feels right. Oh, in this story Flint is the first person narrator.