Books In English "City Of Illusions" Ursula K. Le Guin | Seite 159

lightspeed course to Werel, satellite of the sun Eltanin. Only Ramarren
could do that.
Falk had his own resources, however. "Give me your gun."
Ken Kenyek at once handed over a little weapon kept concealed under
his elaborate robes. At this Orry stared in horror. Falk did not try to allay
the boy's shock; in fact, he rubbed it in. "Reverence for Life?" he inquired
coldly, examining the weapon. Actually, as he had expected, it was not a
gun or laser but a lowlevel stunner without kill capacity. He turned it on
Ken Kenyek, pitiful in his utter lack of resistance, and fired. At that Orry
screamed and lunged forward, and Falk turned the stunner on him. Then he
turned away from the two sprawled, paralyzed figures, his hands shaking,
and let Ramarren take over as he pleased. He had done his share for the
time being.
Ramarren had no time to spend on compunction or anxiety. He went
straight to the computers and set to work. He already knew from his
examination of the onboard controls that the mathematics involved in
some of the ship's operations was not the familiar Cetian-based
mathematics which Terrans still used and from which Werel's
mathematics, via the Colony, also derived. Some of the processes the
Shing used and built into their computers were entirely alien to Cetian
mathematical process and logic; and nothing else could have so firmly
persuaded Ramarren that the Shing were, indeed, alien to Earth, alien to all
the old League worlds, conquerors from some very distant world. He had
never been quite sure that Earth's old histories and tales were correct on
that point, but now he was convinced. He was, after all, essentially a
mathematician.
It was just as well that he was, or certain of those processes would
have stopped him cold in his effort to set up the coordinates for Werel on
the Shing computers. As it was, the job took him five hours. All this time
he had to keep, literally, half his mind on Ken Kenyek and Orry. It was
simpler to keep Orry unconscious than to explain to him or order him
about; it was absolutely vital that Ken Kenyek stay completely
unconscious. Fortunately the stunner was an effective little device, and
once he discovered the proper setting Falk only had to use it once more.
~ 157 ~