g."

"You can take the call here," the president said, starting to get up
from his chair.

"No, no, stay there at your desk," Leoh insisted. "There's no reason
for you to leave. Or you either," he said 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 on 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 together, they all looked toward one of their
members--a tall, purposeful, shrewd-faced 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 apparently there has been some
difficulty with the dueling machine installed on the governing planet
of your star 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," the defense minister added, "in the
midst of our difficulties with the Kerak Worlds."

"If the Prime Minister is not--"

"Gentlemen!" Leoh objected. "I cannot make sense of your story if you
all speak at once."

Massan gestured them to silence.

"The dueling machine," Leoh said, adopting a slightly professorial
tone, "is nothing more than a psychonic device for alleviating human
aggressions and hostilities. It allows for two men to share a dream
world created by one of them. There is a nearly-complete feedback
between the two. Within certain limits, two men can do anything they
wish within their dream world. This allows men to settle grievances
with violence--in the safety of their own imaginations. If the machine
is operated properly, no physical or mental harm can be done to the
participants. They can alleviate their tensions safely--without damage
of any sort to anyone, and without hurting 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 device.
Duelling machines are in use through wide portions of the galaxy, and
I am cert