Clarke kicks off this chapter by describing World War 3. He was writing in 1986, and he describes the war that erupted between the Soviet Union and US/NATO forces in 2018.

And it's a rousing tale. Workers in East Germany are forced to work extra hours and they start a protest. Police and troops are called in, and the East Germans want to flee to the west. Cattle are driven across a minefield and people follow. Troops on both sides go on high alert, tanks are deployed, and the Soviets and Germans target each other's weapons systems. A one-minute, computer-controlled exchange wipes out hundreds of tanks, and then the bombing runs begin.

After the initial exchanges, the Soviets invade West Germany's industrialized Rhineland, hoping to capture as much territory as possible. Tanks, air cover and missiles wreak havoc. The NATO alliance worries that there may not be time for American troops and materiel to reach the battlefield. Convoys rapidly deployed from the US struggle to avoid Soviet destruction as they cross the Atlantic.

Meanwhile, an American submarine carrying missiles for the "Star Wars" defense system leaves Charleston, South Carolina. It soon falls into a trap set by the Soviets and is destroyed. As a result, American and NATO territory becomes much more vulnerable to nuclear attack.

The Soviet premier knows how serious the loss of the sub is to NATO, so he gives peace a chance by declaring victory. NATO reacts by declaring victory for having stopped the Soviets. The treaty that ends the war redraws the boundary between East and West Germany, ceding to the USSR the territory it gained.

During the course of this chapter Clarke pauses here and there to discuss the state of weaponry in the future. It's a long chapter and I didn't want to relate the minutiae, but he seems to have been largely on target about what the future held. Weaponry seems to advance more quickly than any other technology, so I'm surprised he got as much right as he did.

And I'm pleased that he got to write a rousing Cold War thriller. That's the biggest thing Clarke got wrong here, not anticipating the fall of the Soviet Union, but in 1986 it looked as if the Cold War would go on forever.

This was a brisk, Tom Clancy-like chapter. I enjoyed it.