“You see,” Leoh pointed out jovially, “when you come in person they haven’t as much of a chance to consider how to get rid of you.”
Hector glanced around the windowless room and contemplated the thick, solidly closed door. “There’s a lot of scurrying going on on the other side of that door, I’ll bet. I mean ... they may be considering how to, uh, get rid of us ... permanently.”
Leoh shook his head, smiling wryly. “Undoubtedly the approach closest to their hearts—but highly improbable in the present situation. They have been making most efficient and effective use of the dueling machine to gain their ends.”
Odal picked this moment to open the door.
“Dr. Leoh ... Lt. Hector ... you asked to see me?”
“Thank you, Major Odal; I hope you will be able to help me,” said Leoh. “You are the only man living who may be able to give us some clues to the failure of the Dueling Machine.”
Odal’s answering smile reminded Leoh of the best efforts of the robot-puppet designers to make a machine that smiled like a man. “I am afraid I can be of no assistance, Dr. Leoh. My experiences in the machine are ... private.”
“Perhaps you don’t fully understand the situation,” Leoh said. “In the past week, we have tested the dueling machine here on Acquatainia exhaustively. We have learned that its performance can be greatly influenced by a man’s personality, and by training. You have fought many duels in the machines. Your background of experience, both as a professional soldier and in the machines, gives you a decided advantage over your opponents.
“However, even with all this considered, I am convinced that you cannot kill a man in the machine—under normal circumstances. We have demonstrated that fact in our tests. An unsabotaged machine cannot cause actual physical harm.
“Yet you have already killed one man and incapacitated another. Where will it stop?”