Books In English "City Of Illusions" Ursula K. Le Guin | Page 153

the world by aircar and planetary car, all-day tours under the guidance of
Abundibot or Ken Kenyek, jaunts to each of Earth's continents and even
out to the desolate and long-abandoned Moon. The days went on; they
went on playing the play for Orry's benefit, wooing Ramarren till they got
from him what they wanted to know. Though he was directly or
electronically watched at every moment, visually and telepathically, he
was in no way restrained; evidently they felt they had nothing to fear from
him now.
Perhaps they would let him go home with Orry, then. Perhaps they
thought him harmless enough, in his ignorance, to be allowed to leave
Earth with his readjusted mind intact.
But he could buy his escape from Earth only with the information they
wanted, the location of Werel. So far he had told them nothing and they
had asked nothing more.
Did it so much matter, after all, if the Shing knew where Werel was?
It did. Though they might not be planning any immediate attack on
this potential enemy, they might well be planning to send a robot monitor
out after the New Alterra, with an ansible transmitter aboard to make
instantaneous report to them of any preparation for interstellar flight on
Werel. The ansible would give them a hundred and forty year start on the
Werelians; they could stop an expedition to Terra before it started. The one
advantage that Werel possessed tactically over the Shing was the fact that
the Shing did not know where it was and might have to spend several
centuries looking for it. Ramarren could buy a chance of escape only at the
price of certain peril for the world to which he was responsible.
So he played for time, trying to devise a way out of his dilemma,
flying with Orry and one or another of the Shing here and there over the
Earth, which stretched out under their flight like a great lovely garden
gone all to weeds and wilderness. He sought with all his trained
intelligence some way in which he could turn his situation about and
become the controller instead of the one controlled: for so his Kelshak
mentality presented his case to him. Seen rightly, any situation, even a
chaos or a trap would come clear and lead of itself to its one proper
outcome: for there is in the long run no disharmony, only
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