Leoh blinked. "I realize that apparently there has been some difficulty with the dueling machine installed on the governing planet of your star cl.u.s.ter. 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."

Ma.s.san 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 partic.i.p.ants. 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 certain that many of you have used the machine. You have, general, I'm sure."

The general bl.u.s.tered. "That has nothing to do with the matter at hand!"

"Admittedly," Leoh conceded. "But I do not understand how a therapeutic machine can possibly become entangled in a political crisis."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Ma.s.san said: "Allow me to explain. Our Government has been conducting extremely delicate negotiations with the stellar governments of our neighboring territories. These negotiations concern the rearmaments of the Kerak Worlds. You have heard of Ka.n.u.s of Kerak?"

"I recall the name vaguely," Leoh said. "He's a political leader of some sort."

"Of the worst sort. He has acquired complete dictatorship of the Kerak Worlds, and is now attempting to rearm them for war. This is in direct countervention of the Treaty of Acquatainia, signed only thirty Terran years ago."

"I see. The treaty was signed at the end of the Acquataine-Kerak war, wasn't it?"

"A war that we won," the general pointed out.

"And now the Kerak Worlds want to rearm and try again," Leoh said.

"Precisely."

Leoh shrugged. "Why not call in the Star Watch? This is their type of police activity. And what has all this to do with the dueling machine?"

Ma.s.san explained patiently, "The Acquataine Cl.u.s.ter has never become a full-fledged member of the Terran Commonwealth. Our neighboring territories are likewise unaffiliated. Therefore the Star Watch can intervene only if all parties concerned agree to intervention. Unless, of course, there is an actual military emergency. The Kerak Worlds, of course, are completely isolationist--unbound by any laws except those of force."

Leoh shook his head.

"As for the dueling machine," Ma.s.san went on, "Ka.n.u.s of Kerak has turned it into a political weapon--"

"But that's impossible. Your government pa.s.sed strict laws concerning the use of the machine; I recommended them and I was in your Council chambers when the laws were pa.s.sed. The machine may be used only for personal grievances. It is strictly outside the realm of politics."

Ma.s.san shook his head sadly. "Sir, laws are one thing--people are another. And politics consists of people, not words on paper."

"I don't understand," Leoh said.

Ma.s.san explained, "A little more than one Terran year ago, Ka.n.u.s picked a quarrel with a neighboring star-group--the Safad Federation.

He wanted an especially favorable trade agreement with them. Their minister of trade objected most strenuously. One of the Kerak negotiators--a certain Major Odal--got into a personal argument with the minister. Before anyone knew what had happened, they had challenged each other to a duel. Odal won the duel, and the minister resigned his post. He said that he could no longer effectively fight against the will of Odal and his group ... he was psychologically incapable of it. Two weeks later he was dead--apparently a suicide, although I have doubts."

"That's ... extremely interesting," Leoh said.

"Three days ago," Ma.s.san continued, "the same Major Odal engaged Prime Minister Dulaq in a bitter personal argument. Odal is now a military attache of the Kerak Emba.s.sy here. He accused the Prime Minister of cowardice, before a large group of an Emba.s.sy party. The Prime Minister had no alternative but to challenge him. And now--"

"And now Dulaq is in a state of shock, and your government is tottering."

Ma.s.san's back stiffened. "Our Government shall not fall, nor shall the Acquataine Cl.u.s.ter acquiesce to the rearmament of the Kerak Worlds.

But"--his voice lowered--"without Dulaq, I fear that our neighboring governments will give in to Ka.n.u.s' demands and allow him to rearm.

Alone, we are powerless to stop him."

"Rearmament itself might not be so bad," Leoh mused, "if you can keep the Kerak Worlds from using their weapons. Perhaps the Star Watch might--"

"Ka.n.u.s could strike a blow and conquer a star system before the Star Watch could be summoned and arrive to stop him. Once Kerak is armed, this entire area of the galaxy is in peril. In fact, the entire galaxy is endangered."

"And he's using the dueling machine to further his ambitions," Leoh said. "Well, gentlemen, it seems I have no alternative but to travel to the Acquataine Cl.u.s.ter. The dueling machine is my responsibility, and if there is something wrong with it, or the use of it, I will do my best to correct the situation."

"That is all we ask," Ma.s.san said. "Thank you."

The Acquatainian scene faded away, and the three men in the university president's office found themselves looking at a solid wall once again.

"Well," Dr. Leoh said, turning to the president, "it seems that I must request an indefinite leave of absence."

The president frowned. "And it seems that I must grant your request--even though the year is only half-finished."

"I regret the necessity," Leoh said; then, with a broad grin, he added, "My a.s.sistant professor, here, can handle my courses for the remainder of the year very easily. Perhaps he will even be able to deliver his lectures without being interrupted."

The a.s.sistant professor turned red.

"Now then," Leoh muttered, mostly to himself, "who is this Ka.n.u.s, and why is he trying to turn the Kerak Worlds into an a.r.s.enal?"

III

Chancellor Ka.n.u.s, the supreme leader of the Kerak Worlds, stood at the edge of the balcony and looked across the wild, tumbling gorge to the rugged mountains beyond.

"These are the forces that mold men's actions," he said to his small audience of officials and advisors, "the howling winds, the mighty mountains, the open sky and the dark powers of the clouds."

The men nodded and made murmurs of agreement.

"Just as the mountains thrust up from the pettiness of the lands below, so shall we rise above the common walk of men," Ka.n.u.s said.

"Just as a thunderstorm terrifies them, we will make them bend to our will!"

"We will destroy the past," said one of the ministers.