"Alberto, I like your work. I like what I’ve seen. I look forward to seeing more. Your River Phoenix piece was my first experience of the medium, a powerful one." His face went very still, expectant. "I need your help, Alberto. I haven’t done a piece like this before. I’m trying to get a feel for how things work at Node , and Node is asking me to talk with Bobby. There’s no reason I should expect you to trust me—"