Serendipity, Inc.

David Falkayn visits the information brokers, Serendipity, Inc., and is puzzled by the partner he meets:

"Giving a basic sales pitch to a man who'd already bought an appointment...in God's name, why?" (David Falkayn: Star Trader, pp. 344-345)

Because the reader needs to know about Serendipity, Inc., of course. But Falkayn can't think that. And Poul Anderson can think of a plausible rationalization:

"He believed he could tell why she behaved the way she did, dwelt on elementary details though she must realize he knew most of them already. He'd encountered that pattern elsewhere. It was usually called fanaticism." (p. 347)

And that begins to tell the reader what Serendipity, Inc. is about.