Ben Bova - The Duelling Machine

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The Dueling Machine
By Ben Bova
Scanned by BW-SciFi
Scan Date: May 8, 2002
The Perfect Warrior
Dulaq rode the slide to the upper pedestrian level, stepped off, and walked over to the
railing. The city stretched out all around him-broad avenues thronged with busy people,
pedestrian walks, vehicle thoroughfares, air cars gliding between the gleaming, towering
buildings.
And somewhere in this vast city was the man he must kill. The man who would kill
him, perhaps. It all seemed so real! The noise of the streets, the odors of the perfumed trees
lining the walks, even the warmth of the reddish sun on his back as he scanned the scene
before him.
It is an illusion, Dulaq reminded himself. A clever, man-made hallucination. A figment
of my own imagination amplified by a machine.
But it seemed so very real.
Real or not, he had to find Odal before the sun set. Find him and kill him. Those were
the terms of the duel. He fingered the stubby, cylindrical stat-wand in his tunic pocket. That
was the weapon that he had chosen, his weapon, his own invention. And this was the
environment he had picked: his city, busy, noisy, crowded. The metropolis Dulaq had known
and loved since childhood.
Dulaq turned, and glanced at the sun. It was halfway down toward the horizon. He had
about three hours to find Odal. And when he did-kill or be killed.
Of course no one is actually hurt. That is the beauty of the machine. It allows one to
settle a score, to work out aggressive feelings, without either mental or physical harm.
Dulaq shrugged. He was a roundish figure, moon-faced, slightly stoop-shouldered. He
had work to do. Unpleasant work for a civilized man, but the future of the Acquataine
Cluster and the entire alliance of neighboring star systems could well depend on the
outcome of this electronically synthesized dream.
He turned and walked down the elevated avenue, marveling at the sharp sensation of
solidity that met each footstep on the paving. Children dashed by and rushed up to a toyshop
window. Men of commerce strode along purposefully, but without missing a chance to eye
the girls sauntering by.
I must have a marvelous imagination. Dulaq smiled to himself.
Then he thought of Odal, the blond, icy professional he was pitted against. Odal was an
expert at all the weapons, a man of strength and cool precision, an emotionless tool in the
hands of a ruthless politician. But how expert could he be with a stat-wand, when the first
time he saw one was the moment before the duel began? And how well acquainted could he
be with the metropolis, when he had spent most of his life in the military camps on the dreary
planets of Kerak, sixty light-years from Acquatainia?
No, Odal would be helpless and lost in this situation. He would attempt to hide among
the throngs of people. All Dulaq had to do was to find him.
The terms of the duel limited both men to the pedestrian walks of the commercial
quarter of the city. Dulaq knew this area intimately, and he began a methodical search
through the crowds for the tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed Odal.
And he saw him! After only a few minutes of walking down the major thoroughfare, he
spotted his opponent, strolling calmly along a crosswalk, at the level below. Dulaq hurried
down the ramp, worked his way through the crowd, and saw the man again, tall and blond,
unmistakable. Dulaq edged along behind him quietly, easily. No disturbance. No pushing.
Plenty of time. They walked down the street for a quarter-hour while the distance between
them slowly shrank from fifty meters to five.
Finally Dulaq was directly behind him, within arm's reach. He grasped the stat-wand
and pulled it from his tunic. With one quick motion he touched it to the base of the man's
skull and started to thumb the button that would release a killing bolt of energy.
The man turned suddenly. It wasn't Odal!
Dulaq jerked back in surprise. It couldn't be. He had seen his face. It was Odal... and
yet this man was a stranger. Dulaq felt the man's eyes on him as he turned and walked away
quickly.
A mistake, he told himself. You were overanxious. A good thing this is a hallucination,
or the autopolice would be taking you in by now.
And yet... he had been so certain that it was Odal. A chill shuddered through him. He
looked up, and there was his antagonist, on the thoroughfare above, at the precise spot where
he himself had been a few minutes earlier.
Their eyes met, and Odal's lips parted in a cold smile.
Dulaq hurried up the ramp. Odal was gone by the time he reached the upper level. He
couldn't have gotten far.
Slowly, but very surely, Dulaq's hallucination crumbled into a nightmare. He'd spot
Odal in the crowd, only to have him melt away. He'd find him again, but when he'd get closer,
it would turn out to be another stranger. He felt the chill of the duelist's ice-blue eyes on him
again and again, but when he turned there was no one there except the impersonal crowd.
Odal's face appeared again and again. Dulaq struggled through the throngs to find his
opponent, only to have him vanish. The crowd seemed to be filled with tall blond men
crisscrossing before Dulaq's dismayed eyes:
The shadows lengthened. The sun was setting. Dulaq could feel his heart pounding
within him, and perspiration pouring from every square centimeter of his skin.
There he is! Yes, that is him. Definitely, positively him! Dulaq pushed through the
homeward-bound crowds toward the figure of a tall blond man leaning casually against the
safety railing of the city's main thoroughfare. It was Odal, the damned smiling confident
Odal. Dulaq pulled the wand from his tunic and battled across the surging crowd to the spot
where Odal stood motionless, hands in pockets, watching him dispassionately. Dulaq came
within arm's reach....
"TIME, GENTLEMEN. TIME IS UP. THE DUEL IS ENDED."
The Acquataine Cluster was a rich jewel box of some three hundred stars, just outside
the borders of the Terran Commonwealth. More than a thousand inhabited planets circled
those stars. The capital planet-Acquatainia-held the Cluster's largest city. In this city was the
Cluster's oldest university. And in the university stood the dueling machine.
High above the floor of the antiseptic-white chamber that housed the dueling machine
was a narrow gallery. Before the machine had been installed, the chamber had been a lecture
hall in the university. Now the rows of students' seats, the lecturer's dais and rostrum were
gone. The room held only the machine, a grotesque collection of consoles, control desks,
power units, association circuits, and the two booths where the duelists sat.
In the gallery-empty during ordinary duels-sat a privileged handful of newsmen.
"Time limit's up, " one of them said. "Dulaq didn't get him. "
"Yeah, but he didn't get Dulaq either. "
The first one shrugged. "Now he'll have to fight Odal on his terms. "
"Wait, they're coming out. "
Down on the floor below, Dulaq and his opponent emerged from their enclosed booths.
One of the newsmen whistled softly. "Look at Dulaq's face... it's positively gray. "
"I've never seen the Prime Minister so shaken. "
"And take a look at Kanus' hired assassin. " The newsmen turned toward Odal, who
stood before his booth, quietly chatting with his seconds.
"Hmp. There's a bucket of frozen ammonia for you. "
"He's enjoying this. "
One of the newsmen stood up. "I've got a deadline to meet. Save my seat. "
He made his way past the guarded door, down the rampway circling the outer wall of
the building, to the portable tri-di camera unit that the Acquatainian government had
permitted for the newsmen to make their reports.
The newsman huddled with his technicians for a few minutes, then stepped before the
camera.
"Emile Dulaq, Prime Minister of the Acquataine Cluster and acknowledged leader of
the coalition against Chancellor Kanus of the Kerak Worlds, has failed in the first part of his
psychonic duel against Major Par Odal of Kerak. The two antagonists are now undergoing the
routine medical and psychological checks before renewing their duel.... "
By the time the newsman returned to his gallery seat, the duel was almost ready to
begin again.
Dulaq stood in the midst of his group of advisers before the looming impersonality of
the machine. Across the way, Odal remained with his two seconds.
"You needn't go through with the next phase of the duel immediately, " one of the
Prime Minister's advisers was saying. "Wait until tomorrow. Rest and calm yourself. "
Dulaq's round face puckered into a frown. He cocked an eye at the chief meditech,
hovering on the edge of the little group.
The meditech, one of the staff that ran the dueling machine, pointed out, "The Prime
Minister has passed the examinations. He is capable, within the rules of the duel, of
resuming."
"But he has the option of retiring for the day, doesn't he?"
"If Major Odal agrees. "
Dulaq shook his head impatiently. "No. I shall go through with it. Now. "
"But...."
The Prime Minister's expression hardened. His advisers lapsed into a respectful silence.
The chief meditech ushered Dulaq back into his booth. On the other side of the machine, Odal
glanced at the Acquatainians, grinned humorlessly, and strode into his own booth.
Dulaq sat and tried to blank out his mind while the meditechs adjusted the
neurocontacts to his head and torso. They finished and withdrew. He was alone in the booth
now, looking at the dead-white walls, completely bare except for the large view screen before
his eyes. The screen began to glow slightly, then brightened into a series of shifting colors.
The colors merged and changed, swirling across his field 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 an immense and
totally barren plain. Not a tree, not a blade of grass; nothing but bare, rocky ground stretching
in all directions to the horizon and a disturbingly harsh yellow sky. He looked down at his
feet and saw the weapon that Odal had chosen. A primitive club.
With a sense of dread, Dulaq picked up the club and hefted it in his hand. He scanned
the plain. Nothing. No hills or trees or bushes to hide in. No place to run to.
And off on the horizon he could see a tall, lithe figure holding a similar club walking
slowly and deliberately toward him.
The press gallery was practically empty. The duel had more than an hour to run, and
most of the newsmen were outside, broadcasting their hastily drawn guesses about Dulaq's
failure to win with his own choice of weapons and environment.
Then a curious thing happened.
On the master control panel of the dueling machine, a single light flashed red. The
chief meditech blinked at it in surprise, then pressed a series of buttons on his board. More
red lights appeared. The chief meditech reached out and flipped a single switch.
One of the newsmen turned to his partner. "What's going on down there?"
"I think it's all over.... Yeah, look, they're opening up the booths. Somebody's scored a
win. " "But who?"
They watched intently while the other newsmen quickly filed back into the gallery.
"There's Odal. He looks happy. "
"Guess that means.... "
"Good lord! Look at Dulaq!"
More than two thousand light-years from Acquatainia was the star cluster called
Cannae. Although it was an even greater distance away from Earth, Carinae was still well
within the confines of the mammoth Terran Commonwealth. Dr. Leoh, inventor of the
dueling machine, was lecturing at the Carinae University when the news of Dulaq's duel
reached him. An assistant professor perpetrated the unthinkable breach of interrupting the
lecture to whisper the news in his ear.
Leoh nodded grimly, hurriedly finished his lecture, and then accompanied the assistant
professor to the university president's office. They stood in silence as the slideway whisked
them through the strolling students and blossoming greenery of the quietly busy campus.
Leoh was balding and jowly, the oldest man at the university. The oldest man anyone
in the university knew, for that matter. But his face was creased from a smile that was almost
habitual, and his eyes were active and alert. He wasn't smiling, though, as they left the
slideway and entered the administration building.
They rode the lift tube to the president's office. Leoh asked the assistant professor as
they stepped through the president's open doorway, "You say he was in a state of catatonic
shock when they removed him from the machine?"
"He still is, " the president answered from his desk. "Completely withdrawn from the
real world. Cannot speak, hear, or even see. A living vegetable. "
Leoh plopped down in the nearest chair and ran a hand across his fleshy face. "I don't
understand it. Nothing like this has ever happened in a dueling machine before. "
The president said, "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 won't reflect on the university. That's why I formed Psychonics as a
separate business enterprise. " Then Leoh grinned and added, "The money, of course, was
only a secondary consideration. "
The president managed a smile. "Of course. "
"I suppose the Acquatainians want to talk to me?" Leoh asked academically.
"They're on tri-di now, waiting for you. "
"They're holding a transmission frequency open over two thousand light-years?" Leoh
looked impressed.
"You're the inventor of the dueling machine and the head of Psychonics, Incorporated.
You're the only man who can tell them what went wrong. "
"Well, I suppose I shouldn't keep them waiting. "
"You can take the call here, " the president said, starting to get up from his chair.
"No, no, stay at your desk, " Leoh insisted. "There's no need for you to leave. Or you
either, " he added to the assistant professor.
The president touched a button on his desk communicator. The far wall of the office
glowed momentarily, then seemed to dissolve. They were looking into another office, this one
in distant Acquatainia. It was crowded with 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 few seconds of
talking simultaneously, they all looked toward one of their members-a tall, determined,
shrewd-looking civilian who bore a neatly trimmed black beard.
"I am Fernd Massan, the Acting Prime Minister of Acquatainia. You realize, of course,
the crisis that has been precipitated in my government because of this duel?"
Leoh blinked. "I realize that there's apparently been some difficulty with one of the
dueling machines installed in your cluster. Political crises are not in my field. "
"But your dueling machine has incapacitated the Prime Minister, " one of the generals
bellowed.
"And at this particular moment, " a minister added, "in the midst of our difficulties with
the Kerak Worlds. "
Massan gestured them to silence.
"The dueling machine, " Leoh said calmly, "is nothing more than a psychonic device...
it's no more dangerous than a tri-di communicator. It merely allows two men to share a dream
world that they create together. They can do anything they want to in their dream world-settle
an argument as violently as they wish, and neither of them is physically hurt any more than a
normal dream can hurt you physically. Men can use the dueling machine as an outlet for their
aggressive feelings, for their tensions and hatreds, without hurting themselves or their society.
"Your own government tested one of the machines and approved its use on Acquatainia
more than three years ago. I see several of you who were among those to whom I personally
demonstrated the machine. Dueling machines are becoming commonplace through wide
portions of the Terran Commonwealth, and neighboring nations such as Acquatainia. I'm sure
that many of you have used the machine yourselves. You have, General, I'm certain. "
The general flustered. "That has nothing to do with the matter at hand!"
"Admittedly, " Leoh conceded. "But I don't understand how a therapeutic machine can
possibly become entangled in a political crisis. "
Massan said, "Allow me to explain. Our government has been conducting extremely
delicate negotiations with the governments of our neighboring star-nations. These
negotiations concern the rearmament of the Kerak Worlds. You have heard of Kanus of
Kerak?"
"Vaguely, " Leoh said. "He's a political leader of some sort. "
"Of the worst sort. He has acquired complete dictatorship of the Kerak Worlds and is
now attempting to rearm them for war. This is in direct contravention of the Treaty of
Acquatainia, signed only thirty Terran years 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 of police activity.
And what has all this to do with the dueling machine?"
"Let me explain, " Massan said patiently. He gestured to an aide, and on the wall
behind him a huge tri-di star map glowed into life.
Leoh recognized it immediately: the swirling spiral of the Milky Way galaxy. From the
rim of the galaxy, where the Sun and Earth were, in toward the star-rich heart of the Milky
Way, stretched the Terran Commonwealth- thousands of stars and myriads of planets. On
Massan's map the Commonwealth territory was shaded a delicate green. Just beyond its
border was the golden cluster of Acquatainia. Around it were names that Leoh knew only
vaguely: Safad, Szarno, Etra, and a pinpoint marked Kerak.
"Neither the Acquataine Cluster nor our neighboring nations, " said Massan, "have ever
joined the Terran Commonwealth. Nor has Kerak, for that matter. Therefore the Star Watch
can intervene only if all the nations concerned agree to intervention. Naturally Kanus would
never accept the Star Watch. He wants to rearm. "
Leoh shook his head.
"As for the dueling machine, " Massan went on, "Kanus has turned it into a political
weapon.... "
"But that's impossible. Your government passed strict laws concerning the Use of the
machines. The dueling machine may be used only for personal grievances. It's strictly outside
the realm of politics. "
Massan shook his head sadly. "My dear Professor, laws are one thing, people are
another. And politics consists of people, not words on tape. "
"I don't understand, " said Leoh.
"A little more than one Terran year ago, Kanus picked a quarrel with a neighboring
nation-the Safad Federation. He wanted an especially favorable trade agreement with them.
Their minister of trade objected most strenuously. One of the Kerak negotiators-a certain
Major Odal-got into a personal argument with the minister. Before anyone knew what had
happened, they had challenged each other to a duel. Odal won the duel, and the minister
resigned his post. He said he could no longer fight against the will of Odal and Kerak... he
was psychologically incapable of it. Two weeks later he was dead- apparently a suicide,
although I have my doubts. "
"That's... extremely interesting, " Leoh said.
"Three days ago, " Massan continued, "the same Major Odal engaged Prime Minister
Dulaq in a bitter personal argument. Odal is now a military attaché of the Kerak embassy here
on Acquatainia. The argument grew so loud before a large group at an embassy party that the
prime minister had no alternative but to challenge Odal. And now.... "
"And now Dulaq is in a state of shock, and your government is tottering. "
Massan's back stiffened. "Our government will not fall, nor shall the Acquataine
Cluster acquiesce to the rearmament of the Kerak Worlds. But... " his voice lowered, "without
Dulaq, our alliances with neighboring nations may dissolve. All our allies are smaller and
weaker than Acquatainia. Kanus could pressure each one individually and make certain that
they won't take steps to prevent his rearming Kerak. Alone, Acquatainia cannot stop Kanus. "
"But if Kerak attacks you, surely you could ask the Star Watch for help and...."
"It won't be that simple or clear-cut. Kanus will nibble off one small nation at a time.
He can strike a blow and conquer a nation before the Star Watch can be summoned. Finally
he'll have us cut off completely, without a single ally. Then he'll strike Acquatainia, or
perhaps even try to subvert us from within. If he takes Acquatainia, he'll have whetted his
appetite for bigger game: he'll want to conquer the Terran Commonwealth next. He'll stop at
nothing. "
"And he's using the dueling machines to further his ambitions, " Leoh mused. "Well,
gentlemen, it seems I have no alternative but to travel to the Acquataine Cluster. The dueling
machine is my responsibility, and if there's something wrong with it, or with the use of it, I'll
do my best to correct the situation. "
"That is all we ask, " Massan said. "Thank you. "
The Acquatainian scene faded away, and the three men in the president's office found
themselves looking at a solid wall once again.
"Well, " Leoh said, turning to the president, "it seems that I must request an indefinite
leave of absence. "
The president frowned. "And it seems that I must grant it-even though the year isn't
even half-finished. "
"I regret the necessity, " said Leoh. Then, with a broad grin, he added, "My assistant,
here, can handle my courses for the remainder of the year quite easily. Perhaps he'll even be
able to deliver his lectures without being interrupted. "
The assistant professor turned red from collar to scalp.
"Now then, " Leoh muttered to himself, "who is this Kanus, and why is he trying to
turn the Kerak Worlds into an arsenal?"
Chancellor Kanus, Supreme Leader of the Kerak Worlds, stood at the edge of the
balcony and looked across the wild, tumbling gorge to the rugged mountains beyond.
"These are the forces that mold men's actions, " he said to his small audience of
officials and advisers. "The howling winds, the mighty mountains, the open sky, and the dark
powers of the clouds. "
The men nodded and made murmurs of agreement.
"Just as the mountains thrust up from the pettiness of the lands below, so shall we rise
above the common walk of men, " Kanus said. "Just as a thunderstorm terrifies them, we will
make them cower and bend to our will. "
"We will destroy the past, " said one of the ministers.
"And avenge the memory of defeat, " Kanus added. He turned and looked at the little
group of men. Kanus was the smallest man on the balcony: short, spare, sallow-faced. His
gaudy military uniform looked out of place on him, too big and heavy, too loaded with braid
and medals. But he possessed piercing dark eyes and a strong voice that commanded
attention.
He walked through the knot of men, and stopped before a tall, lean, blond youth in a
light-blue military uniform. "And you, Major Odal, will be a primary instrument in the first
steps of conquest. "
Odal bowed stiffly. "I only hope to serve my Leader and my Worlds. "
"You shall. And you already have, " Kanus said, beaming. "Already the Acquatainians
are thrashing about like a snake whose head has been cut off. Without Dulaq, they have no
brain to direct them. For your part in this triumph... " Kanus snapped his fingers, and one of
his advisers quickly stepped to his side and handed him a small ebony box, "I present you
with this token of the esteem of the Kerak Worlds, and of my personal high regard. "
He handed the box to Odal, who opened it and took out a small jeweled pin.
"The Star of Kerak, " Kanus announced. "This is the first time it has been awarded to
anyone except a warrior on the battlefield. But, then, we have turned their so-called civilized
dueling machine into our own battlefield, eh?"
Odal smiled. "Yes, sir, we have. Thank you very much, sir. This is the supreme
moment of my life. "
"To date, Major. Only to date. There will be other moments, even higher ones. Come
inside. We have many plans to discuss... more duels... more triumphs. "
They all filed into Kanus' huge, elaborate office. The Leader walked across the plushly
ornate room and sat at the elevated desk, while his followers arranged themselves on the
chairs and couches placed about the floor. Odal remained standing, near the doorway.
Kanus let his fingers flick across a small control board set into his desk top, and a tri-
dimensional star map appeared on the far wall. At its center were the eleven stars of the Kerak
Worlds. Off to one side of the map was the Acquataine Cluster-wealthy, powerful, the most
important political and economic power in this section of the galaxy. Farther away from
Kerak, the slimmest edge of the Terran Commonwealth showed; to put the entire
Commonwealth on the map would have dwarfed Acquatainia and made Kerak microscopic.
Pointing at the map, Kanus began one of his inevitable harangues. Objectives, political
and military. Already the Kerak Worlds were unified under his dominant will. The people
would follow wherever he led. Already the political alliances built up by Acquatainian
diplomacy since the last war were tottering, now that Dulaq was out of the picture. Kerak was
beginning to rearm. A political blow here, at the Szarno Confederacy, to bring them and their
armaments industries into line with Kerak. Then a diplomatic alliance with the Etra Domain,
which stood between the Acquataine Cluster and the Terran Commonwealth, to isolate the
Acquatainians. Then, finally, the military blow against Acquatainia.
"A sudden strike, a quick, decisive series of blows, and the Acquatainians will collapse
like a house of paper. Even if the Star Watch wanted to interfere, we would be victorious
before they could bring help to the Acquataine Cluster. And with the resources of Acquatainia
to draw on, we can challenge any force in the galaxy-even the Terran Commonwealth itself!"
The men in the room nodded and smiled.
They've heard this story many times, Odal thought. This was the first time he had been
privileged to listen to it. If you closed your eyes, or looked only at the star map, the plan
sounded bizarre, extreme, even impossible. But if you watched Kanus and let those piercing,
almost hypnotic eyes fasten on yours, then the Leader's wildest dreams sounded not only
exciting, but inevitable.
Odal leaned a shoulder against the paneled wall and looked at the other men in the
room. There was fat Greber, the Vice Chancellor, fighting desperately to stay awake after
drinking too much wine during luncheon and afterward. And Modal, sitting on the couch next
to him, was bright-eyed and alert, thinking only of how much money and power would come
to him as Minister of Industry once the rearmament program went into full speed.
Sitting alone on another couch was Kor, the quiet one, the head of Intelligence and-
technically-Odal's superior. Silent Kor, whose few words were usually charged with terror for
those whom he spoke against. Kor had an unfathomed capacity for cruelty.
Marshal Lugal looked bored when Kanus spoke of politics, but his face changed when
military matters came up. The Marshal lived for only one purpose: to avenge his army's
humiliating defeat in the war against Acquatainia. What he didn't realize, Odal knew, was that
as soon as he had reorganized the army and re-equipped it, Kanus planned to retire him and
place younger men in charge. Men whose only loyalty was not to the army, nor even to the
Kerak Worlds and their people, but to the Leader himself.
Eagerly following every syllable, every gesture of the Leader, was little Tinth. Born to
the nobility, trained in the arts, a student of philosophy, Tinth had deserted his heritage to join
the forces of Kanus. His reward was the Ministry of Education. Many teachers had suffered
under him.
And finally there was Romis, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. A professional diplomat,
one of the few men in government before Kanus' sweep to power who had survived this long.
It was clear that Romis hated the Chancellor. But he served the Kerak Worlds well. The
diplomatic corps was flawless in their handling of the Safad trade treaty, although they would
have gotten nowhere without Odal's own work in the dueling machine. It was only a matter of
time, Odal knew, before one of them--Romis or Kanus-killed the other.
The rest of Kanus' audience consisted of political hacks, roughnecks-turned-
bodyguards, and a few other hangers-on who had been with Kanus since the days when he
held his political monologues in cellars and haunted the alleys to avoid the police. Kanus had
come a long way: from the blackness of oblivion to the dazzling heights of the Chancellor's
rural estate.
Money, power, glory, revenge, patriotism: each man in the room, listening to Kanus,
had his reason for following the Chancellor.
And my reasons? Odal asked himself. Why do I follow? Can I see into my own mind as
easily as I see into theirs?
There was duty, of course. Odal was a soldier, and Kanus was the duly elected Leader
of the government. Once elected, though, he had dissolved the government and solidified his
powers as absolute dictator of the Kerak Worlds.
There was gain to be had by performing well under Kanus. Regardless of his political
ambitions and personal tyrannies, Kanus rewarded well when pleased. The medal- the Star of
Kerak-carried with it an annual pension that would nicely accommodate a family. If I had
one, Odal thought sardonically.
There was a power, of sorts, also. Working the dueling machine in his special way,
hammering a man into nothingness, finding the weaknesses in his personality and exploiting
them, pitting his mind against others, turning sneering towers of pride like Dulaq into helpless
whipped dogs-that was power. And it was a power that did not go unnoticed in Kerak.
Already Odal was easily recognized on the streets; girls especially seemed to be attracted to
him now.
"The most important factor, " Kanus was saying, "and I cannot stress it too heavily, is
to build up an aura of invincibility. This is why your work is so important, Major Odal. You
must be invincible! Because you represent the will of the Kerak Worlds. You are the
instrument of my will, and you must triumph at every turn. The fate of your people and your
Chancellor rests squarely on your shoulders each time you step into a dueling machine. You
have borne that responsibility well, Major. Can you carry it even further?"
"I can, sir, " Odal answered crisply, "and I will. "
Kanus beamed at him. "Excellent! Because your next duel--and those that follow it-will
be to the death. "
It took the star ship two weeks to make the journey from Carinae to the Acquataine
Cluster. Dr. Leoh spent the time checking over the Acquatainian dueling machine, by direct
tri-di communication link. The Acquatainian government gave him all the technicians and
time he needed for the task.
Leoh spent as much of his spare time as possible with the other passengers of the ship.
They were all enormously wealthy, as star-ship travelers had to be, or else they were traveling
on government business-and expense. He was gregarious, a fine conversationalist, and had a
nicely balanced sense of humor. Particularly, he was a favorite of the younger women, since
he had reached the age where he could flatter them with his attention without making them
feel endangered. But still, there were long hours when he was alone in his stateroom with
nothing but memories. At times like these, it was impossible not to think back over the road
he had been following.
Albert Robertus Leoh, Ph. D., professor of physics, professor of electronics, master of
computer technology, inventor of the interstellar tri-di communications system. And more
recently, student of psychology, professor of psychophysiology, founder of Psychonics,
Incorporated, inventor of the dueling machine.
During his youthful years, with enthusiasm unbridled by experience, Leoh had
envisioned himself as helping mankind to spread its colonies and civilizations throughout the
galaxy. The bitter century of galactic war had ended in his childhood, and now human
societies were linked together across the stars into a more-or-less peaceful coalition of
nations.
There were two great motivating forces at work on those human societies, and these
forces worked toward opposite goals. On the one hand was the urge to explore, to reach new
stars, new planets, to expand the frontiers of man's civilizations and found new colonies, new
nations. Pitted against this drive to expand was an equally powerful force: the realization that
technology had put an end to physical labor and almost to poverty itself on all the civilized
worlds of man. The urge to move off to the frontier was penned in and buried alive under the
enervating conflicts of civilization.
The result was inescapable. The civilized worlds became constantly more crowded.
They became jam-packed islands of humanity sprinkled thinly across a sea of space that was
still studded with unpopulated islands. The expense and difficulty of interstellar travel was
often cited as an excuse. The star ships were expensive: their power demands were frightful.
They could be used for business, for the pleasure of the very rich, for government travel; but
hauling whole colonies of farmers and workers was almost completely out of the question.
Only the most determined and best financed groups of colonists could afford them. The rest
of mankind accepted the ease and safety of civilization, lived in the bulging cities of the
teeming planets.
Their lives were circumscribed by their neighbors and by their governments.
Constantly more people crowded into a fixed living space meant constantly less freedom. The
freedom to dream, to run free, to procreate, all became state-owned, state-controlled
privileges.
And Leoh had contributed to this situation.
He had contributed his thoughts and his work. He had contributed often and regularly.
The interstellar communications system was only one outstanding achievement in a long
career of achievements.
Leoh had been nearly at the voluntary retirement age for scientists when he realized
what he and his fellow scientists had done. Their efforts to make life richer and more
rewarding had only made it less strenuous and more rigid. With every increase in physical
comfort, Leoh discovered, came a corresponding increase in spiritual discomfort-in neuroses,
in crimes of violence, in mental aberrations. Senseless wars of pride broke out between star-
nations for the first time in generations. Outwardly, the peace of the galaxy was assured
except for minor flare-ups; but beneath the glossy surface of man's civilization smoldered the
beginnings of a volcano. Police actions fought by the Star Watch were increasing ominously.
Petty wars between once-stable peoples were flaring up steadily.
Once Leoh realized the part he had played in all this, he was confronted with two
emotions: a deep sense of guilt, both personal and professional; and, countering this, a
determination to do something, anything, to restore at least some balance to man's collective
mentality.
Leoh stepped out of physics and electronics, and entered the field of psychology.
Instead of retiring, he applied for a beginner's status in his new profession. It took
considerable bending and straining of the Commonwealth's rules, but for a man of Leoh's
stature the rules could sometimes be flexed a little. Leoh became a student once again, then a
researcher, and finally a professor of psychophysiology.
Out of this came the dueling machine. A combination of electroencephalograph and
autocomputer. A dream machine that amplified a man's imagination until he could engulf
himself in a world of his own making. Leoh envisioned it as a device to enable men to rid
themselves of hostility and tension, safely. Certainly psychiatrists and psychotechnicians used
the machines to treat their patients. But Leoh saw further, saw that-as a dueling machine-the
psychonic device could be used to prevent mental tensions and disorders. And he convinced
many governments to install dueling machines for that purpose.
When two men had a severe difference of opinion, deep enough to warrant legal action,
they could go to the dueling machine instead of the courts. Instead of passively watching the
machinations of the law grind impersonally through their differences, they could allow their
imaginations free rein in the dueling machine. They could settle the argument as violently as
they wished, without hurting themselves or anyone else. On most civilized worlds, the results
of properly monitored duels were accepted as legally binding.
The tensions of civilized life could be escaped- temporarily-in the dueling machine.
This was a powerful tool, much too powerful to allow it to be used indiscriminately.
Therefore Leoh safeguarded his invention by forming a private company, Psychonics,
Incorporated, and securing an exclusive license from the Terran Commonwealth to
manufacture, sell, install, and maintain the machines. His customers were government health
and legal agencies. His responsibilities were: legally, to the Commonwealth; morally, to all
mankind; and finally to his own restless conscience.
The dueling machines succeeded. They worked as well, and often better, than Leoh had
anticipated. But he knew that they were only a stopgap, only a temporary shoring of a
constantly eroding dam. What was needed, really needed, was some method of exploding the
status quo, some means of convincing people to reach out for those unoccupied, unexplored
stars that filled the galaxy, some way of convincing men that they should leave the comforts
of civilization for the excitement and freedom of new lands.
Leoh had been searching for that method when the news of Dulaq's duel had reached
him. Now he was speeding across light-years of space, praying to himself that the dueling
machine had not failed.
The two-week flight ended. The star ship took up a parking orbit around the capital
planet of the Acquataine Cluster. The passengers trans-shipped to the surface.
Dr. Leoh was met at the landing disk by an official delegation, headed by Massan, the
Acting Prime Minister. They exchanged formal greetings at the base of the ship while the
other passengers hurried by, curious, puzzled. As they rode the slideway toward a private
entrance to the spaceport's administration building, Leoh commented:
"As you probably know, I have checked your dueling machine quite thoroughly via tri-
d for the past two weeks. I can find nothing wrong with it."
Massan shrugged. "Perhaps you should have checked the machine on Szarno instead."
"The Szarno Confederation? Their dueling machine?"
"Yes. This morning, Kanus' assassin killed a man in it."
"He won another duel," Leoh said.
"You do not understand," Massan said grimly. "Major Odal's opponent-an industrialist
who had spoken out against Kanus-was actually killed in the dueling machine. The man is
dead!"
One of the advantages of being Commander in Chief of the Star Watch, the old man
thought to himself, is that you can visit any planet in the Commonwealth.
He stood at the top of the hill and looked out over the grassy tableland of Kenya. This
was the land of his birth, Earth was his home world. The Star Watch's official headquarters
was in the heart of a star cluster much closer to the center of the Commonwealth, but Earth
was the place the Commander wanted most to see as he grew older and wearier.
An aide, who had been following the Commander at a respectful distance, suddenly
intruded himself in the old man's reverie.
"Sir, a message for you."
The Commander scowled at the young officer. "Didn't I give express orders that I was
not to be disturbed?"
The officer, slim and stiff in his black-and-silver uniform, replied, "Your chief of staff
passed the message on to you, sir. It's from Dr. Leoh of Carinae University. Personal and
urgent, sir."
The old man grumbled to himself, but nodded. The aide placed a small crystalline
sphere on the grass before the Commander. The air above the sphere started to vibrate and
glow. "Sir Harold Spencer here," the Commander said.
The bubbling air seemed to draw in on itself and take solid form. Dr. Leoh sat at a desk
chair and looked up at the standing Commander.
"Harold, it's a pleasure to see you again," Leoh said, getting up from the chair.
Spencer's stern eyes softened and his beefy face broke into a well-creased smile.
"Albert, you ancient sorcerer. What do you mean by interrupting my first visit home in fifteen
years?"
"It won't be a long interruption," Leoh said. "I merely want to inform you of
something…"
"You told my chief of staff that it was urgent," Sir Harold groused.
"It is. But it's not the sort of problem that requires much action on your part. Yet. Are
you familiar with recent political developments on the Kerak Worlds?"
Spencer snorted. "I know that a barbarian named Kanus has taken over as dictator. He's
a troublemaker. I've been trying to get the Commonwealth Council to let us quash him before
he causes grief, but you know the Council... first wait until the flames have sprung up, then
wail at the Star Watch to do something!"
Grinning, Leoh said, "You're as irascible as ever."
"My personality is not the subject of this rather expensive discussion. What about
Kanus? And what are you doing, getting yourself involved in politics? About to change your
profession again?"
摘要：

TheDuelingMachineByBenBovaScannedbyBW-SciFiScanDate:May8,2002ThePerfectWarriorDulaqrodetheslidetotheupperpedestrianlevel,steppedoff,andwalkedovertotherailing.Thecitystretchedoutallaroundhim-broadavenuesthrongedwithbusypeople,pedestrianwalks,vehiclethoroughfares,aircarsglidingbetweenthegleaming,tower...

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