Shevek awakes on his first morning on Urras with an allergy attack. He explores his luxurious room and inspects the view, which makes Anarres seem barren and ugly by comparison. He even has a servant, who comes in to make up his bed.
He is visited in his room by a group of scientists - among them, Dr. Atro, whom he admires. Atro gives him a small gold statue for an award he won years ago. They discuss physics, and a debate rises about the "fad" of alien scientific theories, such as the relativity theory of the Terran Ainsetain. For the first time Shevek feels that he is conversing with his intellectual equals. When he asks where the women are, the other men mistakenly think he is asking for a sex partner; they are.....
