"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
person can be taken back to a stage where there's not enough nervous
organization to sustain the life process.
"However, life is tenacious. As the lower levels are reached, it takes
increasing energy to subtract from anything that's left. Most people
who want to get rid of someone are satisfied to leave the victim
somewhere between the mental ages of one and four. For practical
purposes, the man they knew is dead--or retroed, as they say."
"Then that's what they did to me," said the man. "They retroed me and
left me in the Shelter. How long was I there?"
* * * * *
Borgenese shrugged. "Who knows? That's what makes it difficult. A day,
or two months. A child of two or three can feed himself, and no record
is kept since the place is free. Also, it's cleaned automatically."
"I know that now that you mention it," said the man. "It's just that
it's hard to remember."
"You see how it is," said the counselor. "We can't check our files
against a date when someone disappeared, because we don't know that
date except within very broad limits." He tapped his pen on the desk.
"Do you object to a question?"
"Go ahead."
"How many people in the Solar System?"