Herbie's broadcast generates a sensational global response, as his predictions are rebroadcast around the world and millions of viewers have become convinced that he can accurately read the future.
The boy and an unnamed narrator, pursued by ecstatic fans, are forced to take refuge in a skyscraper hotel located near the broadcasting studio.
With mounting dread, the narrator realizes that Herbie had, in fact, looked into the future of the coming days and seen something else, which he had not wanted to describe or share.
Herbie reports that he has seen a scene enacted in the near future which he could not understand until his childhood research in astronomy has explained it to him: he has learned about something called a nova.
It was picked up by Rod Serling's NBC anthology series, Night Gallery; a teleplay based on the story was broadcast on September 15, 1971, as part of the second season premiere.