The Dueling Machine Page 8

ofcourse, the machine was a totally new and different experience.

  The Acquatainian staff plunged into the project without question,providing Leoh with invaluable help in monitoring and analyzing theduels.

  At first, Leoh and Hector did nothing more than play hide-and-seek,with one of them picking an environment and the other trying to findhis opponent in it. They wandered through jungles and cities, overglaciers and interplanetary voids, seeking each other--without everleaving the booths of the dueling machine.

  Then, when Leoh was satisfied that the machine could reproduce andamplify thought patterns with strict fidelity, they began to fightlight duels. The fenced with blunted foils--Hector won, of course,because of his much faster reflexes. Then they tried otherweapons--pistols, sonic beams, grenades--but always wearing protectiveequipment. Strangely, even though Hector was trained in the use ofthese weapons, Leoh won almost all the bouts. He was neither fasternor more accurate, when they were target-shooting. But when the two ofthem faced each other, somehow Leoh almost always won.

  _The machine project more than thoughts_, Leoh told himself. _Itprojects personality._

  They worked in the dueling machine day and night now, enclosed in thebooths for twelve or more hours a day, driving themselves and themachine's regular staff to near-exhaustion. When they gulped theirmeals, between duels, they were physically ragged and sharp-tempered.They usually fell asleep in Leoh's office, while discussing theresults of the day's work.

  The duels grew slowly more serious. Leoh was pushing the machine toits limits now, carefully extending the rigors of each bout. And yet,even though he knew exactly what and how much he intended to do ineach fight, it often took a conscious effort of will to remindhimself that the battles he was fighting were actually imaginary.

  As the duels became more dangerous, and the artificially-amplifiedhallucinations began to end in blood and death, Leoh found himselfwinning more and more frequently. With one part of his mind he wasdriving to analyze the cause of his consistent success. But anotherpart of him was beginning to really enjoy his prowess.

  The strain was telling on Hector. The physical exertion of constantwork and practically no relief was considerable in itself. But theemotional effects of being "hurt" and "killed" repeatedly wereinfinitely worse.

  "Perhaps we should stop for a while," Leoh suggested after the fourthday of tests.

  "No, I'm all right."

  Leoh looked at him. Hector's face was haggard, his eyes bleary.

  "You've had enough," Leoh said quietly.

  "Please don't make me stop," Hector begged. "I ... I can't stop now.Please give me a chance to do better. I'm improving ... I lasted twiceas long in this afternoon's two duels as I did in the ones thismorning. Please, don't end it now ... not while I'm completely lost--"

  Leoh stared at him, "You want to go on?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "And if I say no?"

  Hector hesitated. Leoh sensed he was struggling with himself. "If yousay no," he answered dully, "then it will be no. I can't argue againstyou any more."

  Leoh was silent for a long moment. Finally he opened a desk drawer andtook a small bottle from it. "Here, take a sleep capsule. When youwake up we'll try again."

  * * * * *

  It was dawn when they began again. Leoh entered the dueling machinedetermined to allow Hector to win. He gave the youthful Star Watchmanhis choice of weapon and environment. Hector picked one-manscoutships, in planetary orbits. Their weapons were conventional forcebeams.

  But despite his own conscious desire, Leoh found himself winning! Theships spiraled about an unnamed planet, their paths intersecting atleast once in every orbit. The problem was to estimate your opponent'sorbital position, and then program your own ship so that you arrivedat that position either behind or to one side of him. Then you couldtrain your guns on him before he could turn on you.

  The problem should have been an easy one for Hector, with his knackfor intuitive mental calculation. But Leoh scored the firsthit--Hector had piloted his ship into an excellent firing position,but his shot went wide; Leoh maneuvered around clumsily, but managedto register an inconsequential hit on the side of Hector's ship.

  In the next three passes, Leoh scored two more hits. Hector's shipwas badly damaged now. In return, the Star Watchman had landed oneglancing shot on Leoh's ship.

  They came around again, and once more Leoh had outguessed his youngeropponent. He trained his guns on Hector's ship, then hesitated withhis hand poised above the firing button.

  _Don't kill him again_, he warned himself. _His mind can't acceptanother defeat._

  But Leoh's hand, almost of its own will, reached the button andtouched it lightly. Another gram of pressure and the guns would fire.

  In that instant's hesitation. Hector pulled his crippled ship aroundand aimed at Leoh. The Watchman fired a searing blast that jarredLeoh's ship from end to end. Leoh's hand slammed down on the firingbutton, whether he intended to do it or not, he did not know.

  Leoh's shot raked Hector's ship but did not stop it. The two vehicleswere hurtling directly at each other. Leoh tried desperately to averta collision, but Hector bored in grimly, matching Leoh's maneuverswith his own.

  The two ships smashed together and exploded.

  Abruptly, Leoh found himself in the cramped booth of the duelingmachine, his body cold and damp with perspiration, his handstrembling.

  He squeezed out of the booth and took a deep breath. Warm sunlight wasstreaming into the high-vaulted room. The white walls glaredbrilliantly. Through the tall windows he could see trees and peopleand clouds in the sky.

  Hector walked up to him. For the first time in several days, theWatchman was smiling. Not much, but smiling. "Well, we broke even onthat one."

  Leoh smiled back, somewhat shakily. "Yes. It was ... quite anexperience. I've never died before."

  Hector fidgeted, "It's uh, not so bad, I guess--It does sort of, well,shatter you, you know."

  "Yes I can see that now."

  "Another duel?" Hector asked, nodding his head toward the machine.

  "Let's get out of this place for a few hours. Are you hungry?"

  "Starved."

  They fought seven more duels over the next day and a half. Hectorwon three of them. It was late afternoon when Leoh called a halt tothe tests.

  "We can still get in another one or two," the Watchman pointed out.

  "No need," Leoh said. "I have all the data I require. Tomorrow Massanmeets Odal, unless we can put a stop to it. We have much to do beforetomorrow morning."

  Hector sagged into the couch. "Just as well. I think I've aged sevenyears in the past seven days."

  "No, my boy," Leoh said gently. "You haven't aged. You've matured."

  IX

  It was deep twilight when the groundcar slid to a halt on its cushionsof compressed air before the Kerak Embassy.

  "I still think it's a mistake to go in there." Hector said. "I mean,you could've called him on the tri-di just as well, couldn't you?"

  Leoh shook his head. "Never give an agency of any government theopportunity to say 'hold the line a moment' and then huddle togetherto consider what to do with you. Nineteen times out of twenty, they'llend by passing your request up to the next higher echelon, and you'llbe left waiting for weeks."

  "Still," Hector insisted, "you're simply stepping into enemyterritory. It's a chance you shouldn't take."

  "They wouldn't dare touch us."

  Hector did not reply, but he looked unconvinced.

  "Look," Leoh said, "there are only two men alive who can shed light onthis matter. One of them is Dulaq, and his mind is closed to us for anindefinite time, Odal is the only other one who knows what happened."

  Hector shook his head skeptically. Leoh shrugged, and opened the doorof the groundcar. Hector had no choice but to get out and follow himas he walked up the pathway to the main entrance of the Embassy. Thebuilding stood gaunt and gray in the dusk, surrounded by aprecisely-clipped hed
ge. The entrance was flanked by a pair of tallevergreen trees.

  Leoh and Hector were met just inside the entrance by a femalereceptionist. She looked just a trifle disheveled--as though she hadbeen rushed to the desk at a moment's notice. They asked for Odal,were ushered into a sitting room, and within a few minutes--toHector's surprise--were informed by the girl that Major Odal would bewith them shortly.

  "You see," Leoh pointed out jovially, "when you come in person theyhaven't as much of a chance to consider how to get rid of you."

  Hector glanced around the windowless room and contemplated the thick,solidly closed door. "There's a lot of scurrying going