[Zope] forcing a ZEO client to retrieve something from it's server.

For testing the state of a system, I want to be able to do a request that confirms that a ZEO client is alive, and that it's backend server is alive. I know I can do something like a write, but I really, really don't want to do that - Data.fs bloat. Is there a way to make a ZEO client get something from the server? Can you make an object that the ZEO client won't cache? ta, Anthony