Garry wiped the perspiration from his gleaming head of skin and proceeded to her instruction. "Listen, dear, it says here some scientist thinks the human race is going to be wiped out. It's too dumb to survive, or too smart. I think that's crazy but he's got a lot of points. Listen, he says-- "'To date there has been no indication whatever of any barrier to the indefinite extension of the frontiers of science. It is breath-taking to think what this means. It means that so far as we know the scientific method is capable of carrying humanity to any conceivable heights and beyond.'" "Garry, stop talking so loud and let me read this, 'Fun With Fish--Hints for the Hurried Housewife.' You're always saying, 'Give me something different.' Science. What do I know about science?" "You should know something beyond the kitchen. Listen--'But reflection turns hope to alarm, with this thought--In the vast and ancient universe surely some races must have had time already to attain godlike power and yet they have not manifested themselves. Many answers are offered to this riddle, but none very satisfactory.'" "Garry, will you be quiet?" * * * * * Nancy's question was sharp. "I will not," said Garry. "'One answer is that our civilization is very young, and the hypothetical super-civilization somewhere just hasn't found us yet. But that is a contradiction in terms, because it takes most of the "super" out of the super-civilization, considering that a technological culture advances on an exponential curve.'" "Garry, are you going to let me read in peace?" "I am not," said Garry. "'Another is that a super-civilization would have advanced beyond any concern about us or our petty problems. This is an uneasy possibility, but rather thin for this reason-- "'From all indications our mastery of the physical world is proceeding much faster than our mental evolution, and while this condition may change I am inclined to think we would be flitting about the galaxy before we would have lost our humanity.'" "Garibaldi Jones, if you don't stop with that crazy stuff I'll go out of my _mind_!" "You will not," said Garry remorselessly. "'We are thus led to the proposition that there is no super-civilization and to the corollary that intelligence, at least technological intelligence, has no survival value. This is a sobering thought, and we ask-- "'Why? Aside from metaphysical hypotheses vain to pursue, there is one outstanding answer. Someone, someday, will find a chain reaction for one of the light elements like oxygen and silicon, or perhaps some other even deadlier agent will be loosed upon the world--for as science progresses more and more power is more and more often concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.'" "Garry, do you intend to _ever_ stop talking?"