 What isn't likely to happen next?
Printed in U.S.A. THE CITY THAT RAN OFF THE MAP Radio messages stated simply that Superior had seceded from Earth. He backed up two hundred feet, set out flares, then sped off to a telephone. Communicating by radiophone across the vast pit, they confirmed that the town undoubtedly was missing. A pilot who flew over it reported that it looked as if a great ice-cream scoop had bitten into the Ohio countryside. The train's schedule called for it to pass through but not stop at Superior at 11:58. Someone pointed out that October 31 was Halloween and that midnight was the witching hour. A National Guard officer volunteered to take a jeep down into the pit, having found a spot that seemed navigable. The Pentagon and the Atomic Energy Commission denied that they had been conducting secret experiments. The object loomed out of a cloudbank at twelve thousand feet and Studley changed course to avoid it. He noted with only minimum satisfaction that his co-pilot also saw the thing and wondered why it wasn't moving at the terrific speed flying saucers were allegedly capable of. One other radio message came from Superior, now airborne, on that first day. If the girl had given Don Cort more than that one glance, or if it had been a trained, all-encompassing glance, she would have seen a man in his mid-twenties—about her age—lean, tall and straight-shouldered, with once-blond hair now verging on dark brown, a face neither handsome nor ugly, and a habit of drawing the inside of his left cheek between his teeth and nibbling at it thoughtfully. But it was likely that all she noticed then was the brief case he carried, attached by a chain to a handcuff on his left wrist. Some sort of barricade had been put up across the tracks and it was covered with every imaginable kind of warning device. True, everything seemed to stop, and they could see stars shining low on the horizon where stars could not properly be expected to be seen. Nevertheless, Don could see that it apparently was a neat, sharp edge, not one of your old ragged, random edges such as might have been caused by an explosion. He didn't have to stand on tiptoe any more than he had to sit on the edge of his seat during the exciting part of a movie, but the situation seemed to call for it. "Overnight," Geneva Jervis said. "If what Mr. Cort and the fireman say is true.
 Professor Garet will tell Don how to get down
 Professor Garet will tell Don how to get down  more people will find out about Superior seceding  Don will find a way off of Superior  Alis will find out what's in the briefcase