Free Viscous Circle by Piers Anthony

love—and knew better than to ask Cirl for instruction.
    They arrived at the education center. Here were many polished walls, some curving so that the flashes of the instructors reached many students simultaneously, while the student responses were reflected from all around the site to a single spot for the instructor's assimilation. The massive trunk lines split into many lesser lines, so that all students could sustain themselves comfortably in class. Rondl found that he liked this place, both for its academic association and for its physical layout. Was that a natural Band reaction, or a clue to the nature of his prior life?
    Cirl found the instructor she knew. This was an old Band she called Proft, a weathered green-brown in hue, who no longer flew the lines between planets but still had excellent mental facility. Proft, she claimed, knew almost everything.
    This seemed to be true. The old Band conversed with Rondl casually, then flashed: "You were educated at this planet; you have not been far from it."
    "You remember me?" Rondl asked, excited.
    "I recognize your accent. A Band's mode of flashing varies with the region he frequents during his formative stage. Your accent is pure local."
    "But how do I know about strange things?"
    "You must have done strange research. That would account for stray bits of information, without depth, and lacunae where you omitted your homework or skimped. Students are not what they used to be! I am sure your life has not been remarkable heretofore; there is no evident trauma. You have to have been one of hundreds of thousands who resided in this vicinity."
    "Then why should I suffer amnesia?"
    "Several possibilities. You could have had an accident, such as passing through a random magnetic flux of burnout intensity, or attack by a wild creature that frightened you away from your memories, such as a Kratch."
    "Or a Trugd," Rondl agreed.
    "Indeed. Such things occur routinely to careless individuals. It is of no special significance, since you retain your ability to function."
    "But suppose—" Rondl hesitated, but realized he had to express his concerns now or lose the opportunity. Proft had granted him an interview at Cirl's behest, and otherwise would surely be busy elsewhere. "Suppose I have commitments in that prior life?"
    "Disbanding ends all commitments in this incarnation," Proft explained. "You have evidently suffered partial disbanding. I doubt you have any commitments remaining now."
    "But if I were married—"
    "Marriage is a voluntary association of male and female for the purpose of rebanding. It can be terminated at any time by either party. If you were married then, and no longer wish to be now, then it is finished."
    "But what about dissolution procedure, property settlement, legal reversion of status, adjustment of records, disposition of and provision for offspring?"
    "You do have unusual notions!" Proft flashed, amused. "Bands have no procedures, no reversions, no records, no dispositions, and do not even know the meaning of property."
    "Who does?" Cirl put in quickly.
    "Property is an alien concept. It is the allocation of a particular segment of the surface of a planetary body for the use of a particular individual."
    "Why would anyone want that?" Cirl asked, perplexed.
    "Land is valuable," Rondl said. "It can be used for many things. Some property, too, is portable. It can be a form of wealth."
    "Wealth?"
    Proft flashed amusement. "The true Band response. Wealth is a function of personal possession. Without a concept of possession, wealth does not exist."
    "But I know about it!" Rondl protested. "If no Band knows—"
    "Research, again," Proft said. "Any good course in alien mores and management will acquaint students with such notions, and the more apt ones will actually comprehend them to some extent, as you seem to. The various Spherical aliens have many remarkable conventions, property among them. You must have been a specialist; you retained portions of