"

"My commanding officer, all the way back at Alpha Perseus VI? That's a
hundred light-years from here."

"No, no, no." Leoh shook his head. "The Commander-in-Chief, Sir Harold
Spencer. At Star Watch Central Headquarters. That's several hundred
parsecs from here. But get through to him as quickly as possible."

With a low whistle of astonishment, Hector began punching buttons on
the phone switch.

XIV

The morning of the duel arrived, and precisely at the agreed-upon
hour, Odal and a small retinue of Kerak representatives stepped though
the double doors of the dueling machine chamber.

Hector and Leoh were already there, waiting. With them stood another
man dressed in the black-and-silver of the Star Watch. He was a
blocky, broad-faced veteran with iron-gray hair and hard, unsmiling
eyes.

The two little groups of men knotted together in the center of the
room, before the machine's control board. The white-uniformed staff
meditechs emerged from a far doorway and stood off to one side.

Odal went through the formality of shaking hands with Hector. The
Kerak major nodded toward the other Watchman. "Your replacement?" he
asked mischievously.

The chief meditech stepped between them. "Since you are the challenged
party, Major Odal, you have the first choice of weapon and
environment. Are there any instructions or comments necessary before
the duel begins?"

"I think not," Odal replied. "The situation will be self-explanatory.
I assume, of course, that Star Watchmen are trained to be warriors and
not merely technicians. The situation I have chosen is one in which
many warriors have won glory."

Hector said nothing.

"I intend," Leoh said firmly, "to assist the staff in monitoring this
duel. Your aides may, of course, sit at the control board with me."

Odal nodded.

"If you are ready to begin, gentleman," the chief meditech said.

Hector and Odal went to their booths. Leoh sat at the control console,
and one of the Kerak men sat down next to him.

* * * * *

Hector felt every nerve and muscle tensed as he sat in the booth,
despite his efforts to relax. Slowly the tension eased, and he began
to feel slightly drowsy. The booth seemed to melt away....

He was standing on a grassy meadow. Off in the distance were wooded
hills. A cool breeze was hustling puffy clouds across the calm blue
sky.

Hector heard a snuffling noise behind him, and wheeled around. He
blinked, th