by Ben Bova
duel immediately,"his Minister of Defense was saying. "Wait until tomorrow. Rest andcalm yourself."
Dulaq's round face puckered into a frown. He cocked an eye at thechief meditech, hovering at the edge of the little group.
The meditech, one of the staff that ran the dueling machine, pointedout, "The Prime Minister has passed the examinations. He is capable,within the agreed-upon rules of the contest, of resuming."
"But he has the option of retiring for the day, does he not?"
"If Major Odal agrees."
Dulaq shook his head impatiently. "No. I shall go through with it.Now."
"But--"
The prime minister's face suddenly hardened; his advisors lapsed intoa respectful silence. The chief meditech ushered Dulaq back into hisbooth. On the other side of the room, Odal glanced at theAcquatainians, grinned humorlessly, and strode to his own booth.
Dulaq sat and tried to blank out his mind while the meditechs adjustedthe neurocontacts to his head and torso. They finished at last andwithdrew. He was alone in the booth now, looking at the dead-whitewalls, completely bare except for the viewscreen before his eyes. Thescreen finally began to glow slightly, then brightened into a seriesof shifting colors. The colors merged and changed, swirled across hisfield of view. Dulaq felt himself being drawn into them gradually,compellingly, completely immersed in them.
* * * * *
The mists slowly vanished, and Dulaq found himself standing on animmense and totally barren plain. Not a tree, not a blade of grass;nothing but bare, rocky ground stretching in all directions to thehorizon and disturbingly harsh yellow sky. He looked down and at hisfeet saw the weapon that Odal had chosen.
A primitive club.
With a sense of dread, Dulaq picked up the club and hefted it in hishand. He scanned the plain. Nothing. No hills or trees or bushes tohide in. No place to run to.
And off on the horizon he could see a tall, lithe figure holding asimilar club walking slowly and deliberately toward him.
* * * * *
The press gallery was practically empty. The duel had more than anhour to run, and most of the newsmen were outside, broadcasting theirhastily-drawn guesses about Dulaq's failure to win with his own choiceof weapon and environment.
Then a curious thing happened.
On the master control panel of the dueling machine, a single lightflashed red. The meditech blinked at it in surprise, then pressed aseries of buttons on his board. More red lights appeared. The chiefmeditech rushed to the board and flipped a single switch.
One of the newsmen turned to his partner. "What's going on downthere?"
"I think it's all over.... Yes, look, they're opening up the booths.Somebody must've scored a victory."
They watched intently while the other newsmen quickly filed back intothe gallery.
"There's Odal. He looks happy."
"Guess that means--"
"Good Lord! Look at Dulaq!"
II
Dr. Leoh was lecturing at the Carinae Regional University when thenews of Dulaq's duel reached him. An assistant professor perpetratedthe unthinkable breach of interrupting the lecture to whisper the newsin his ear.
Leoh nodded grimly, hurriedly finished his lecture, and themaccompanied the assistant professor to the University president'soffice. They stood in silence as the slideway whisked them through thestrolling students and blossoming greenery of the quietly-busy campus.
Leoh remained wrapped in his thoughts as they entered theadministration building and rode the lift tube. Finally, as theystepped through the president's doorway, Leoh asked the assistantprofessor:
"You say he was in a state of catatonic shock when they removed himfrom the machine?"
"He still is," the president answered from his desk. "Completelywithdrawn from the real world. Cannot speak, hear, or even see--aliving vegetable."
Leoh plopped down in the nearest chair and ran a hand across hisfleshy face. He was balding and jowly, but his face was creased from asmile that was almost habitual, and his eyes were active and alert.
"I don't understand it," he admitted. "Nothing like this has everhappened in a dueling machine before."
The university president shrugged. "I don't understand it either. But,this is your business." He put a slight emphasis on the last word,unconsciously perhaps.
"Well, at least this will not reflect on the university. That is why Iformed Psychonics as a separate business enterprise." Then he added,with a grin, "The money was, of course, only a secondaryconsideration."
The president managed a smile. "Of course."
"I suppose the Acquatainians want to see me?" Leoh asked academically.
"They're on the tri-di now, waiting for you."
"They're holding a transmission frequency open over eight hundredparsecs?" Leoh looked impressed. "I must be an important man."
"You're the inventor of the dueling machine and the head ofPsychonics, Inc. You're the only man who can tell them what wentwrong."
"Well, I suppose I shouldn't keep them waiting."
"You can take the call here," the president said, starting to get upfrom his chair.
"No, no, stay there at your desk," Leoh insisted. "There's no reasonfor you to leave. Or you either," he said to the assistant professor.
The president touched a button on his desk communicator. The far wallof the office glowed momentarily, then seemed to dissolve. They werelooking into another office, this one on Acquatainia. It was crowdedwith nervous-looking men in business clothes and military uniforms.
"Gentlemen," Dr. Leoh said.
Several of the Acquatainians tried to answer him at once. After a fewseconds of talking together, they all looked toward one of theirmembers--a tall, purposeful, shrewd-faced civilian who bore aneatly-trimmed black beard.
"I am Fernd Massan, the Acting Prime Minister of Acquatainia. Yourealize, of course, the crisis that has been precipitated in myGovernment because of this duel?"
Leoh blinked. "I realize that apparently there has been somedifficulty with the dueling machine installed on the governing planetof your star cluster. Political crises are not in my field."
"But your dueling machine has incapacitated the Prime Minister," oneof the generals bellowed.
"And at this particular moment," the defense minister added, "in themidst of our difficulties with the Kerak Worlds."
"If the Prime Minister is not--"
"Gentlemen!" Leoh objected. "I cannot make sense of your story if youall speak at once."
Massan gestured them to silence.
"The dueling machine," Leoh said, adopting a slightly professorialtone, "is nothing more than a psychonic device for alleviating humanaggressions and hostilities. It allows for two men to share a dreamworld created by one of them. There is a nearly-complete feedbackbetween the two. Within certain limits, two men can do anything theywish within their dream world. This allows men to settle grievanceswith violence--in the safety of their own imaginations. If the machineis operated properly, no physical or mental harm can be done to theparticipants. They can alleviate their tensions safely--without damageof any sort to anyone, and without hurting society.
"Your own Government tested one of the machines and approved its useon Acquatainia more than three years ago. I see several of you whowere among those to whom I personally demonstrated the device.Duelling machines are in use through wide portions of the galaxy, andI am certain that many of you have used the machine. You have,general, I'm sure."
The general blustered. "That has nothing to do with the matter athand!"
"Admittedly," Leoh conceded. "But I do not understand how atherapeutic machine can possibly become entangled in a politicalcrisis."
Massan said: "Allow me to explain. Our Government has been conductingextremely delicate negotiations with the stellar governments of ourneighboring territories. These negotiations concern the rearmaments ofthe Kerak Worlds. You have heard of Kanus of Kerak?"
"I recall
the name vaguely," Leoh said. "He's a political leader ofsome sort."
"Of the worst sort. He has acquired complete dictatorship of the KerakWorlds, and is now attempting to rearm them for war. This is in directcountervention of the Treaty of Acquatainia, signed only thirty Terranyears ago."
"I see. The treaty was signed at the end of the Acquataine-Kerak war,wasn't it?"
"A war that we won," the general pointed out.
"And now the Kerak Worlds want to rearm and try again," Leoh said.
"Precisely."
Leoh shrugged. "Why not call in the Star Watch? This is their type ofpolice activity. And what has all this to do