"So what's Lon Oliver going to argue?" said Hatch.
        "I've no idea," said Paraban Senk.
        "Can we be heard?" said Hatch. "Right now, I mean? By those
in Forum Three?"
        "They get to watch you while you're in the illusion tanks,"
said Senk. "They get a full-color full-sound split-screen
presentation of the battles. But right now you've got a guarantee
of privacy."
        "Then while we're closeted together in private," said Hatch,
"let's talk about Dalar ken Halvar."
        "Why?"
        "Because there's revolution in Dalar ken Halvar."
        "Why should I worry about that?" said Senk.
        "Because it's going to compromise your ability to fulfill
your mission," said Hatch. "Your mission to train Startroopers for
the Nexus."
        "So?" said Senk. "I thought I'd made my position on that
clear. Some lawful authority will establish itself swiftly in the
city, and I will then deal with that authority."
        "So," said Hatch, "let's talk about dealing. Obviously it's
something you've got to do, so why not now rather than later? Why
not deal with someone you know, someone you trust, rather than
someone unknown and untested? Why not manipulate the situation in
Dalar ken Halvar rather than taking whatever random leadership
gets thrown up by the present disorder? Senk, if you're willing,
then I'd like to cut a deal. If you make me the instructor, I'll
do my level best to restore order in Dalar ken Halvar and help you
fulfill your mission."
        "I thought you didn't want to be instructor," said Senk.
        "What gave you that idea?" said Hatch.
        "Lon Oliver gave me that idea," said Senk. "He told me today
that you offered to sell him the instructorship. You invited him
to bribe you. Lon Oliver asked me to disqualify you from this
competition on that account."
        "But you didn't," said Hatch.
        "That's right," said Senk. "I didn't. Even so, the
information made me doubt the strength of your commitment to the
Nexus."
        "You're not saying you believe Lon Oliver, are you?" said
Hatch.
        "You're not denying the truth of his accusations, surely."
        "Of course I am!" said Hatch. "It's a nonsense, an utter
nonsense, the whole lot of it."
        "Perhaps," said Senk. "But Lon Oliver was very persuasive.
He makes much of the fact that the Silver Emperor is missing."
        "Temporarily, perhaps," said Hatch. "But - "
        "He tells me," said Senk, "that the Free Corps is going to
end up in effective control of Dalar ken Halvar. I'm inclined to
believe him, Hatch. I've come to a decision. As you say, I've got
to do deals with whoever ends up in control of Dalar ken Halvar,
and I may as well start now. So I'm starting. I've decided that
it's best that Lupus Lon Oliver becomes the instructor."
        "So you're going to adjudicate in his favor," said Hatch.
        "That depends on what argument you put up," said Paraban
Senk. "But I give you fair warning. If you fight with Lupus Lon
Oliver a third time, then I'm going to ensure that you go down to
defeat. I'm going to ensure that you die."
        "Die?" said Hatch.
        "Yes, die," said Senk. "I'm going to ensure that you meet
with your death. First you'll die in the world of the illusion
tanks, and then you'll die in the fact of the flesh."
        "And how do you propose manage that?" said Hatch.
        "Wait and see," said Senk. "Wait and see."
        "The initiation seat," said Hatch. "Is that how you're going
to do it? Kill me with the initiation seat?"
        "That's for you to work out," said Senk. "Think about it,
Hatch. Think about it."
        Hatch did think about it. He thought about it fiercely all
the way to Forum Three. Kill him. Senk was going to kill him. But
how? With the initiation seat? Maybe, maybe. Or. Or what?
        - Purpose.
        The hotbright thought burnt bright in Hatch's mind. Purpose.
What was the purpose of deciding the instructorship through trial
by combat? Hatch knew the answer to that. Dalar ken Halvar
understood trial by combat. Everyone could understand that. So the
instructor who triumphed over all others was graced with an
authority which everyone in Dalar ken Halvar could understand.
        - Assume that Senk wants Lupus as instructor.
        - Senk will want Lupus to win authority through triumph in
battle.
        - So.
        So the implication was that Paraban Senk must ensure that
Lupus Lon Oliver defeated Asodo Hatch in combat. In front of
witnesses. How could Senk do that?
        - The MegaCommand.
        The ominous thought rose in Hatch's mind and could not be
suppressed. Lupus was much better than Hatch when it came to
making war with the MegaCommand.
        - But first, the adjudication.
        As Hatch entered Forum Three, striding onstage in front of
the tiered seating, he was hailed by a familiar voice.
        "Wah, Hatch!" cried Beggar Grim.
        Beggar Grim was sitting with his comrades Zoplin and X'dex.
All three members of this besognio scumpack had entered the Combat
College as the official guests of Asodo Hatch. Deloused, ungrimed
and dressed in the limegreen uniforms of beneficiaries of Nexus
Welfare, they looked superficially disciplined, but their unruly
cheers nullified the effect of the superficialities. Though each
had been provided with a double eye-patch to hide empty eye
sockets, they had strung these round their necks, and were passing
the Eye from hand to hand, from socket to socket.
        Master Zoplin socketed the Eye then said, chanting the words:
        "I see you loud, I see you clear, I see you killing - kill
him, Hatch!"
        Hatch acknowledged the beggars' applause, not because he
welcomed it but because he knew the gesture would infuriate Lupus.
        It did.
        Lupus swore at the beggars, who jeered at him, then threw
food at him. The strange food of the Nexus which tasted soft in
their mouths, like food made to feed some monstrous race of earth-
dwelling grubs.
        Lupus was furious.
        "Senk!" said Lupus, addressing the Teacher of Control. "Call
them to order!" Then, when there was no reply from Paraban Senk:
"Hatch! Control your filth!"
        "Filth!" said Lord X'dex. "Are you referring to me?"
        "Of course he is," said Master Zoplin. "You look as if you
took a bath in liquid snot then cleaned your ears with a dog turd.
How else should you be called but filth?"
        "I am not filth but royalty," said Lord X'dex. "Know me in my
might, for I am Lord X'dex Paspilion, master of the Greater Tower
of X-n'dix in the mighty kingdom of X-zox Kalada."
        "Then know the boy Oliver as your superior," said Beggar
Grim, "for he has the greatest of Greater Towers at spring between
his thighs, whereas yours is but a worm, and useless, yes, and
last month's piss the smell of it."
        "I dispute it!" said Lord X'dex. "Come! A trial of proof!
Hey, Oliver-boy! Bring your piss-stick this way!"
        "He lingers," said Master Zoplin.
        "He knows himself secretly a woman," said Lord X'dex.
"Wherefore he lingers where a man would leap."
        "A woman?" said Beggar Grim. "Why, if a woman then all the
more reason for leaping, for I am man sufficient to rape him out
of his virgin ugliness."
        "You will bring your people to order," said Lupus to Hatch, a
note of desperation intermixed with his anger.
        "Or?" said Hatch.
        "The Season starts in a month," said Lupus.
        There was only one Season in Dalar ken Halvar, a city where
the climate was ever a constant. The Season referred to by Lupus
was the three months of the year in which the Grand Arena became
a stage for gaudy death and bloody execution.
        Lupus's words constituted a challenge. Lupus Lon Oliver was
inviting Asodo Hatch to join him on the sands of the Grand Arena
where they could duel it out for real, fighting with swords like
the atavistic heroes of the more childish entertainments of the
Eye of Delusions.
        "I await then the start of the Season," said Hatch, with due
formality.
        It was an empty formality. He would never face Lupus on the
sands of the Grand Arena, for their quarrel would be resolved one
way or the other much sooner - probably by the mob.
        "The day," said Lupus, with conviction, ducking a wodge of
tofu thrown at him by Master Zoplin, "cannot come too soon."
        The beggars then began to systematically pelt the unfortunate
Lupus with all the food at their disposal.
        "Settle, settle," said Paraban Senk, calling for order.
        But the audience did not settle until the beggars ceased
fire, which they only did because they had exhausted their supply
of ammunition.
        "Lon Oliver," said Paraban Senk, speaking into the relative
silence. "State your case."
        Whereupon Lupus stated his position very clearly and simply:
        "I seek adjudication of my combat with Asodo Hatch," said he.
        "If I have been overhearing aright," said Paraban Senk, "then
you seek to meet Hatch on the sands in the Season." At this a
murmer went up from the audience. Senk ignored it and continued:
"Will you seek to have that battle also resolved by adjudication?"
        This hinted of sarcasm, and Hatch was momentarily surprised.
Why would Paraban Senk make Lupus the butt of his sarcasm when he
wanted Lupus to be the next instructor? Why - of course! - so
nobody would suspect Senk of partiality.
        In any case, Lupus was unmoved by Senk's sally.
        "I am of the Nexus," said Lupus staunchly, "and seek a
resolution of an affair of the Nexus in accordance of the laws of
the Nexus. Hatch fled from battle. I demand adjudication. I ask
that the combat be awarded to me."
        "Is that it?" said Senk. "Is that your case, complete in its
entirety?"
        "That is all," said Lupus. "It's enough, isn't it?"
        "We will see," said Senk. "Asodo Hatch. State your case."
        "He has no case!" said Lupus, giving way to anger. His
volatility spoke of stress, of uncertainty, of strained nerves and
fatigue. "Stop playing games with me, Senk! He ran. He lost."
        "That is for him to say," said Senk.
        "Fates!" said Lupus, irritated beyond bearing. "You watched
it! You've got a record. What more do we need?"
        "Motive," said Senk. "Asodo Hatch has a mind for which he
must speak because I cannot."
        "Battles are not decided by motive," said Lupus. "The combat
decides. Decided. Hatch ran."
        "On the contrary," said Senk. "The very fact that you are
here seeking adjudication is a self-sufficient proof of the fact
that this battle was not decided at all. Hence I require from
Hatch a statement of his motive - his why for doing what he did.
Hatch."
        "My motive was simple," said Hatch. "I desired to bring
Lon Oliver to his death. I chose as my weapon of war the very
environment itself. I call your attention to the Book of War. It
states, does it not - here I paraphrase, but it does so state -
that the environment is ever the greatest killer. Is that not what
it states? The jungle was my weapon. My weapon of choice. I did
not run from battle. Rather, I made a tactical withdrawal
calculated to expose Lupus to certain disaster."
        "These tactics are orthodox," said Senk.
        "Orthodox!" exploded Lupus. "What made him think me meat for
death?"
        "Hatch?" said Senk.
        "I have dwelt in the wilderness," said Asodo Hatch. "I can
live there with ease for a day or forever. Lon Oliver has not.
He is a child of the Nexus, soft and weak. My choice of tactics
necessarily doomed him down into the jungle. We all know the
flight life of a singlefighter. My tactics forced him into the
swamp, the snake-heat, the jungle. By my tactics he dies and I
claim myself the killer."
        "Wah!" said Lupus.
        "Hatch has spoken," said Senk. "And you?"
        "I stand by my record," said Lupus. "You know my record.
Perhaps you would care to share it with Asodo Hatch."
        Senk sighed, and then:
        "Asodo Hatch, your tactics displayed audacity and wit, a
sound knowledge of your own strengths and points of weakness, and
a remarkable degree of originality. Yet you erred in one thing,
and that was your assessment of your enemy."
        "I erred?"
        "Do you think yourself beyond error?"
        "But I - "
        "Hatch," said Senk, "Lupus has stacked up time in the
illusion tanks doing survival training. Wilderness survival
training."
        "How much time?" said Hatch.
        "Seven full days and a fraction in the last standard year,"
said Senk.
        "But that's nothing!" said Hatch.
        "Taken as a series of arduous survival sessions of a duration
of ten arcs each, it is rather a lot," said Senk.
        "Ten arcs is nothing," said Hatch. "It means he's never had
to sleep in the wilderness. It means - "
        "Hatch," said Senk, with a sharpness of tone which spoke of
extreme displeasure.
        "My lord," said Hatch, suitably abashed.
        "Hatch, I am not your lord, but I am your teacher," said
Senk. "Earlier in his training in the Combat College, Lupus
Lupus did several long-duration wilderness survival sessions in
the illusion tanks. The sessions of the last year were simply
refreshers."
        So.
        Of course.
        It was all starting to make sense now.
        Lon Oliver was of the Free Corps, and the Free Corps
preached a doctrine of the supreme individual, the masterman who
could overcome all through intellectual audacity and physical
skill. Of course Lupus would be attracted to Ultimate Tests of
all kinds, wilderness survival being just one of these.
        "Your ruling, then," said Hatch.
        "I adjudge the wilderness survival chances of Lon Oliver
to be equal to those of Asodo Hatch," said Paraban Senk.
"Accordingly, I adjudicate the results of the last combat session
between Lupus and Hatch to be a draw. I award the contestants
half a point each. Lon Oliver now has a score of half a point,
of 0.5. Asodo Hatch now has a score of 0.5000057."
        So Hatch was still leading.
        But only just.
        "Do you wish to take a rest now?" said Paraban Senk.
        "A rest?" said Lupus. "I - "
        "The choice is not yours," said Senk, cutting Lupus short.
"I addressed Hatch. He has seniority. The choice is his."
        "Seniority?" said Lupus in outrage.
        "He was in the Service when you were still bullying your
brothers at the bottom of the Heights of Learning," said Senk.
"Hatch. You choose."
        Hatch calculated furiously. Paraban Senk had privately stated
his partisanship. Senk wanted Lupus to win. Yet Senk had given
choice of timing to Hatch. Hatch was strongly motivated to defer
the combat, because he wanted to maximize the length of time which
his wife, his daughter and his mistress enjoyed the protection of
the Combat College. Senk would surely know this, which implied
that Senk wanted the combat deferred. Which meant that Senk
thought that Lupus would do better if he was given a chance
to cool down, a chance to discipline his present anger.
        Or perhaps Senk thought Lupus needed to sleep. In Hatch's
judgment, Lupus was suffering very badly from lack of sleep.
        "What time is it?" said Hatch.
        "Midnight has been and gone," said Senk. "The Day of Three
Fishes is behind us, and we are entered upon the Day of Two
Fishes."
        The Day of Two Fishes.
        Just two days short of Dog Day.
        "But it is not yet dawn?" said Hatch.
        "Dawn is still a long ways distant," said Paraban Senk.
        "Then," said Hatch, rousing his voice to an artificial
vibrancy which masked the true depths of his own fatigue, "since
the night is so young, I am ready to fight on further. However,
Lupus is young in his own flesh, and it is well known that the
young need more sleep than their seniors. Accordingly, it may well
be that Lupus would prefer to sleep, even though I for my part am
ready to fight on. Since that is so, I defer to the choice of my
junior colleague."
        Lupus was incensed. He was inflamed and furious at being
called junior colleague - but he was now in such a state that he
would have been equally enraged even had he been called the hero
of the millennium. In his fury, Lupus declared:
        "I will fight Hatch now. And I will kill him."
        "Then," said Paraban Senk, "let me brief you. No, Hatch!
Don't leave! I will brief you here."
        So Asodo Hatch and Lupus Lon Oliver stood fast, and Paraban
Senk looked down at them from Forum Three's display screen and
told them their doom.