The Dueling Machine

Planets both within the Terran Commonwealth and under Star Watch control, and outside it, have made use of dueling machines for many years to settle tensions and private arguments peacefully. Men in disagreements can have their brains hooked in and conduct a virtual duel with the weapons and in the environments of their choosing -- with no ultimate harm to anyone. Suddenly Odal, a warrior from the Kerak empire, somehow manages to send the Acquatainian prime minister into an irreversible com...