at 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 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 into
a respectful silence. The chief meditech ushered Dulaq back into his
booth. On the other side of the room, Odal glanced at the
Acquatainians, grinned humorlessly, and strode to 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 at last and
withdrew. He was alone in the booth now, looking at the dead-white
walls, completely bare except for the viewscreen before his eyes. The
screen finally began to glow slightly, then brightened into a series
of shifting colors. The colors merged and changed, swirled 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 disturbingly harsh yellow sky. He looked down and at his
feet 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 weapon and environment.

Then a curious thing happened.

On the master control panel of the dueling machine, a single light
flashed red. The meditech blinked at it in surprise, then pressed a
series of buttons on his board. More red lights appeared. The chief
meditech rushed to the board and flipped a single switch.

One of the