“Now remember,” he said carefully, “I’ll be holding the emergency control unit in my hand. It will stop the duel the instant I set it off. However, if something goes wrong, you must be prepared to act quickly. Keep a close watch on my physical condition; I’ve shown you which instruments to check on the control board.”
“Yes, sir.”
Leoh nodded and took a deep breath. “Very welt, then.”
He stepped into the booth and sat down. Hector helped to attach the neurocontacts, and then left him alone. Leoh leaned back and waited for the semihypnotic effect to take hold. Dulaq’s choice of the city and the stat-wand were known. But beyond that, everything was ealed in his uncommunicating mind. Could the machine reach past that seal?
Slowly, lullingly, the dueling machine’s imaginary yet very real mists enveloped Leoh. When they cleared, he was standing on the upper pedestrian level of the main commercial street of the city. For a long moment, everything was still.
Have I made contact? Whose eyes am I seeing with, my own or Duaq’s?
And then he sensed it—an amused, somewhat astonished marveling at the reality of the illusion. Dulaq’s thoughts!
Make your mind a blank, Leoh told himself. Watch. Listen. Be passive.
He became a spectator, seeing and hearing the world „ through Dulaq’s eyes and ears as the Acquatainian Prime ^ Minister advanced through his nightmarish ordeal. He felt the confusion, frustration, apprehension, and growing terror as, time and again, Odal appeared in the crowd— „ only to melt into someone else and escape.