"I've got him set for his fastest draw, too," said Handworthy. "At this point, he's just no match for me."
"I guess that wraps it up," said Manny, knowing full well that it couldn't end this way. "You're just too damned good."
Amos Handworthy shook his head slowly.
"You don't believe that and neither do I. Its an unfair battle, unfair because we've excluded the most vital element of all."
"What element is that?" said Manny although the answer popped into his head even as he spoke and he began to envision the approach that had to be taken.
"There's no fear in this situation," said Handworthy. "When two men were in an actual shootout they were both afraid of being killed. But the Marshal is oblivious to fear and so for the most part am I. Suppose for instance in some way you could make him shoot better if I were nervous and shoot less accurately if I were deadly calm."
"There is a way to do that," said Manny. "I can electrically monitor your vasomotor reflexes by means of your pulse and sweat reactions. Then I would program the Marshal's reflexes in just the way you suggest. But the thing I can't understand is how such a step would have any real meaning. Why in God's name would you ever be frightened? There's nothing in this situation to make it happen."
"I have a very vivid imagination," said Handworthy. "As a child I had no playmates and still I populated an entire world in my mind, every one a distinct person. Don't you see, I can project myself into feeling that I'm in the real life and death situation just as long as the Marshal becomes a creature sensitive to fear."
It took Manny almost three weeks this time to make the requisite changes and he carried out in addition an extensive series of pulse and skin resistance measurements on Handworthy. When he was satisfied that the Marshal had reached the ultimate state, he called in Handworthy and demonstrated what he had done.