Ben Bova - The Duelling Machine.pdf - Ben Bova - margozap

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. "

Ben Bova - The Duelling Machine.pdf

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