w, the President and his Cabinet have been in session
with dozens of scientific leaders trying to find an explanation and a
cure for this disastrous failure of machinery. Rumors which were
broadcast widely this morning concerning possible effects of the comet
have been thoroughly discredited by these scientists, who call them
superstitions belonging back in the Middle Ages.

"One final report has just come over the air by shortwave. In the
Atlantic Ocean the Italian steamer _White Bird_ has radioed frantically
that her engines are dead. Over eight hundred passengers and crew are
aboard.

"All ship sailings have been canceled since noon today. Vessels at sea
are returning to nearest port. There is no ship available which can take
off the stranded passengers and crew of the _White Bird_. She floats
helpless and alone tonight in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

"As a power-conservation measure, broadcasting on this network will
cease until midnight, eastern standard time. Turn your radios off. Keep
all unnecessary lights off. Avoid consumption of power in every possible
way. Be with us again at midnight for the latest news and information."

There was a restlessness in all of Mayfield. None of the townspeople
felt like sleeping that night. Ken's group watched the comet until it
disappeared below the horizon. Some of them observed it through the
telescope. On either side of the Maddoxes' yard the voices of neighbors
could be heard under the night sky, speaking in hushed tones of the
thing that had happened.

Maria and Mrs. Larsen arrived, and Maria joined Ken and his friends in
the backyard. He told her what they had heard on the radio.

"That ship ..." Maria said slowly. "The _White Bird_, out there alone in
the ocean--what will become of all those people?"

Ken shook his head slowly. "There's no way to get to them. There's not a
thing that can be done. Nothing at all."

They remained quiet for a long time, as if each were thinking his own
thoughts about the mystery and loneliness and death riding the forsaken
ship in the middle of the ocean, and how soon it might be that the same
dark shadow settled over the cities and towns.

Maria thought of her far-off homeland, and the people she knew, suddenly
frightened and helpless in their inability to get power and food.

Ken thought of the scenes that must be occurring in the big cities of
the United States. People everywhere would not be sleeping tonight. They
were