Bloodless Victory — Ben Bova

BLOODLESS VICTORY is a collection of short works by one of science fiction's grand masters: six time Hugo Award-winner, Ben Bova. Dr. Bova does not write many short stories. This volume includes five classic stories and a brand new story, "Bloodless Victory."

“Bloodless Victory” is the most recent of four works that grew out of Bova's skill as a championship fencer and fascination with dueling as a way to settle disputes. In “The Perfect Warrior” he introduced the concept of a virtual reality dueling machine in which two opponents could battle each other to death. He expanded on the idea in his intergalactic novel, THE DUELING MACHINE. “Duel in the Somme,” which is included in this collection, describes the dueling machine's origin.

In “Bloodless Victory,” Bova asks the question, “What if this new form of bloodless dueling was afforded the weight of law?” Could clogged civil court dockets be purged if the parties in a personal dispute agreed to abide by the outcome of a virtual duel? Would the legal establishment accept such an idea?

Other stories include:

The Last Decision
In Trust
The Question
Duel in the Somme
Waterbot

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