Ben Bova - The Dueling Machine

“Let me remind you,” Odal said calmly, “that you have gone to great lengths to prove to the people of Acquatainia that the dueling machine is safe and harmless. If I may quote one of your many tri-di speeches, Tampering with the dueling machine is a thing of the past.’ If you refuse to meet me in a duel, it will seem that you’re afraid that the machine is not so safe… when I am the opponent.”

Leoh said, “And you would, of course, see to it that my refusal became public knowledge.”

Smiling again, Odal nodded. “You are a great celebrity. I’m sure the news media would learn about it one way or another.”

“Don’t do it,” Hector said to Leoh. “It’s a trap. Don’t agree to duel with him. I’ll…”

“You, Watchman, have already beaten me in a duel,” Odal said, his smile vanishing. “You can’t ask me to face you again. It would be unfair.”

“I’ll agree to the duel,” Leoh answered, “if you’ll agree to have the tape shown publicly.”

“Very well,” Odal said. “We will meet in three days, as is customary?”

“Make it a week,” Hector said. “Give us a chance to… uh, inspect the machine and make sure, that is…”

“Make certain that the monsters from Kerak haven’t tampered with it?” Odal laughed. “Very well, a week from today.”

Odal walked toward the door, stepped between Hector and Leoh, and left. The door clicked shut behind him.

Hector turned his eyes from the closed door to Leoh. “You shouldn’t have accepted… I mean, well, it’s a trick of some kind, I know it is.”

The Professor looked thoughtful. “Is it? Or is Odal—or Kanus, or whoever—getting desperate? I’ve been able to show the Acquatainian people that they have nothing to fear from the dueling machine, you know. They might be trying to restore the machine to its symbol of terror.”

Hector shook his head.

“But I can beat Odal in a fair duel,” Leoh said. “After all, I’ve won every duel I’ve fought, haven’t I? And you beat Odal. The only duels he won were when he had outside help. I think I can beat him, I honestly do.”

Hector didn’t answer, but merely stared in disbelief at the old man.

The building that housed the dueling machine was surrounded by throngs of people. Their restless, anxious murmuring could be heard even inside the normally quiet room. The press gallery, high above the machine itself, was packed with reporters.

For a solid week every tri-di outlet in the Acquataine Cluster had drummed continuously on the coming duel between Leoh and Odal. Good against evil, with the issue seriously in doubt. The old, overweight, shaggy professor against the blade-slim professional killer.

Hector and Leoh stood before the machine. The meditechs were bustling about making final checks on the controls. On the other side of the room, tiers of temporary seats had been put in. They were filled with government and social leaders, military men, policemen, and a small contingent from the Kerak embassy. Geri Dulaq sat in the front row, next to the empty chair that would be Hector’s.

“I still don’t like it,” Hector said in a near whisper to Leoh.

With his eyes sweeping the room, watching the restless onlookers and the busy meditechs, Leoh answered, “Relax, my boy. We’ve turned the machine inside out. The worst he can do is to defeat me. At the slightest medical irregularity, the machine will automatically stop us. And beside, I still think I can beat him. I’ll be using the neutron star environment again, the same one I used against that college student. He’ll have no advantage over me there.”

A roar went up from the crowd outside.

“Here he comes,” Hector said.

The main doors opened. Flanked by two rows of uniformed policemen, in walked Odal and his two seconds, all in the light blue uniforms of Kerak. Odal was annoyedly brushing something from his tunic.

“Evidently,” Leoh said, “diplomatic immunity didn’t protect Odal entirely from the crowd.”

The introductions, the medical checks, the instructions, the choice of weapon and environment—all seemed to take hours instead of minutes. Until suddenly they were over, and Hector found himself walking alone to his spectator’s seat.

He sat beside Geri and watched Leoh and Odal enter their booths, watched the meditechs take their stations at the control desks, watched the panel lights turn from amber to green. The duel was on.

The crowd stirred uncertainly. A buzzing murmur filled the room. There was nothing to do now but wait.

Geri leaned close to Hector and asked sweetly, “Did you bring a gun?”

“Huh? A… what for? I mean…”

She whispered, “For Odal. I have a small one in my handbag.”

“But… but.…”

“You promised me!” Still in a whisper, but harsher now.

“I know, but not here. There’re… well, there’re too many people here. Someone might get hurt… if shooting starts.…”

Geri thought a moment. “Maybe you’re right. Of course, if he kills Professor Leoh in there, he’ll walk right out of here and board a Kerak star ship and we’ll never see him again.”

Hector couldn’t think of a reply, so he just sat there feeling thoroughly miserable.

The two of them remained silent for the rest of the half-hour. At the end of the time limit for the duel, all the lights on the machine went amber. The crowd let out a gust of disappointed-yet-relieved sighs. Hector sprinted to Leoh’s booth while Odal’s seconds marched in time to his.

Leoh came out of the booth looking very thoughtful.

“You’re all right?” Hector asked.

“What? Oh yes, fine. He played exactly by the rules,” Leoh said. He looked toward Odal, who was smiling icily, calm and confident. “He played extremely well… extremely well. There were a couple of times when I thought he’d really finish me off. And I never really put him into much trouble at all.”

The chief meditech was motioning for the two duelists to come to him at the main control desk. Hector accompanied Leoh.

“The first part of the duel has been a draw,” the chief meditech said. “You—both of you—now have the option of withdrawing for a day, or continuing the duel now.”

“I will continue,” Odal said unhesitatingly.

Leoh nodded, “Continue.”

“Very well,” said the chief meditech. Turning to Odal, “Yours is the choice of environment and weapon. Are there any special instructions necessary?”

Odal shook his head. “The Professor knows how to drive a ground car?” At Leoh’s affirming nod he said, “Then that is all the skill that is necessary.”

Leoh found himself sitting at the wheel of a sleek blue ground car: plastic-bubble canopy, two bucket seats, engine throbbing under an aerodynamically sculptured hood.

Ahead of him stretched a highway, arrow-straight to the horizon, where jagged bluish mountains rose against the harsh yellow sky. The car was pulled off to the side of the road, in neutral gear. The landscape around the highway was bleak desert—flat, featureless, cloudless, and hot.

Odal’s voice came from the radio in the dashboard. “I am parked about five kilometers behind you, Professor. You will pull out onto the highway and I will follow you.

These cars have wheels, not air cushions; there are no magnetic bumpers, no electronic controls to lock you onto the highway. A few kilometers ahead, as we enter the mountains, the road becomes quite interesting. The object of the game, of course, is to make the other fellow crash. But if you can outrun me for a half hour, I will acknowledge you as the winner.”

Leoh glanced at the controls, touched the drive button, and nudged the throttle. The turbine purred smoothly. He swung onto the highway and ran up to a hundred kilometers per hour. The rearview screen showed a blood-red car, exactly like his own except for its color, pulling up precisely ten car lengths behind him.