The Answer (short story)

"The Answer" is a science fiction short story by American writer H. Beam Piper.

It made its first appearance in the December 1959 issue of Fantastic Universe Science Fiction.

[1] It is 1984, fifteen years since the nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union devastated the entire Northern Hemisphere of the planet Earth, nuclear scientists Professor Doctor Lee Richardson and Comrade Professor Alexis Petrovitch Pitov are working together on a project in Argentina.

During their research, they have created fifteen kilograms of negamatter iron, and they are going to drop it from space to see what happens.

The American government had assumed that the explosion was the result of a premeditated attack by the Soviets, and had retaliated, resulting in a general exchange of nuclear weapons.