“No, no, no,” Leoh shook his head. “The Commanderin-Chief, Sir Harold Spencer. At Star Watch Central s Headquarters, or wherever he may be, no matter how far. Get through to him as quickly as possible. And reverse the charges.”
With a low whistle of astonishment. Hector began punching buttons on the phone,
The morning of the duel arrived, and precisely at the specified hour, Odal and a small retinue of Kerak seconds stepped through the double doors of the dueling machine chamber.
Hector and Leoh were already there, waiting. With them stood another man, dressed in the black-and-silver of the Star Watch. He was a blocky, broad-faced veteran with iron-gray hair and hard, unsmiling eyes.
The two little groups of men knotted together in the enter of the room, before the machine’s main control boardThe white-uniformed staff meditechs emerged from a far doorway and stood off to one side.
Odal went through the formality of shaking hands with Hector. The Kerak major nodded toward the older Watchman. “Your replacement?” he asked mischievously.
The chief meditech stepped between them. “Since you are the challenged party. Major Odal, you have the first choice of weapon and environment. Are there any instructions or comments necessary before the duel begins?”
“I think not,” Odal replied. “The situation will be selfexplanatory. I assume, of course, that Star Watchmen are trained to be warriors and not merely technicians. The situation I have chosen is one in which many warriors have won glory.”
Hector said nothing.