The Dueling Machine

The Dueling Machine is a novel by Ben Bova and Myron R. Lewis, first published in 1963.

A professor "cures" aggression by inventing a dueling machine--a cyberspace place for enemies to meet and fight to the death. But nobody is supposed to really die. When the champion of a murderous dictator begins killing politicians in the dueling machine, the fate of star systems hangs in the balance.

The trouble with great ideas is that someone is sure to expend enormous effort and ingenuity figuring out how to louse them up.

The Dueling Machine is the solution to settling disputes without injury. After you and your opponent select weapons and environments you are injected into an artificial reality where you fight to the virtual death… but no one actually gets hurt.

That is, until a warrior from the Kerak Empire figures a way to execute real-world killings from within the machine.

Now its inventor Dr. Leoh has to prevent his machine from becoming a tool of conquest.

The Dueling Machine, written with Myron R. Lewis, first appeared in the May, 1963 issue of Analog Science Fact & Fiction. 

Benjamin William "Ben" Bova (born 1932) is an American writer. He is the author of more than 120 works of science fact and fiction, he was six-time winner of the Hugo Award, a former editor of Analog Magazine, a former editorial director of Omni; he was also president of both the National Space Society and the Science Fiction Writers of America. He currently lives in Florida.