Books In English "City Of Illusions" Ursula K. Le Guin | Page 108

company—men of Earth, of the planet to which, after so many centuries,
you were returning. They were rebels from Continent Three, which is
neither so primitive nor so sparsely inhabited as this Continent One; they
were using stolen interplanetary cars; they assumed that any lightspeed
ship must belong to the 'Shing,' and so attacked it without warning. This
we could have prevented, had we been more alert. We owe to you any
reparation we can make."
"They have sought for you and the others all these years," Orry put in,
earnest and a little pleading; obviously he very much wanted Falk to
believe it all, to accept it, and to—to do what?
"You tried to restore my memory," Falk said. "Why?"
"Is that not what you came seeking here: your lost self?"
"Yes. It is. But I…" He did not even know what questions to ask; he
could neither believe nor disbelieve all he had been told. There seemed to
be no standard to judge it all by. That Zove and the others had lied to him
was inconceivable, but that they themselves were deceived and ignorant
was certainly possible. He was incredulous of everything Abundibot
affirmed, and yet it had been mindsent, in clear immediate mindspeech
where lying was impossible—or was it possible? If a liar says he is not
lying—Falk gave it all up again. Looking once more at Abundibot he said,
"Please do not bespeak me. I—I would rath er hear your voice. You found,
I think you said, that you could not restore my memory?"
Abundibot's muted, creaking whisper in Galaktika came strangely
after the fluency of his sending. "Not by the means we used."
"By other means?"
"Possibly. We thought you had been given a para-hypnotic block.
Instead, you were mindrazed. We do not know where the rebels learned
that technique, which we keep a close secret. An even closer secret is the
fact that a razed mind can be restored." A smile appeared for a moment on
the heavy, mask-like face, then disappeared completely. "With our
psycho-computer techniques, we think we can effect the restoration in
your case.В However, this incurs the permanent total blocking of the
replacement-personality; and this being so we did not wish to proceed
without your consent."
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