The Archadministrator nodded. “And then?”

Devi-en said. “What should have happened was that a nuclear war ought to have begun shortly afterward, and that in the course of the war, nuclear weapons would have developed quickly in destructiveness, have been used nevertheless in typical large-primate fashion, and have quickly reduced the population to starving remnants in a ruined world.”

“Of course, but that didn’t happen. Why not?”

Devi-en said, “There is one point. I believe these people, once mechanization started, developed at an unusually high rate.”

“And if so?” said the other. “Does that matter? They reached nuclear weapons the more quickly.”

“True. But after the most recent general war, they continued to develop nuclear weapons at an unusual rate. That’s the trouble. The deadly potential had increased before the nuclear war had a chance to start, and now it has reached a point where even large-primate intelligences dare not risk a war.”

The Archadministrator opened his small black eyes wide. “But that is impossible. I don’t care how technically talented these creatures are. Military science advances rapidly only during a war.”

“Perhaps that is not true in the case of these particular creatures. But even if it were, it seems they are having a war; not a real war, but a war.”

“Not a real war, but a war,” repeated the Archadministrator blankly. “What does that mean?”

“I’m not sure.” Devi-en wiggled his nose in exasperation. “This is where my attempts to draw logic out of the scattered material we have picked up is least satisfactory. This planet has something called a Cold War. Whatever it is, it drives them furiously onward in research, and yet it does not involve complete nuclear destruction.”