The Undersea Tube

An undersea railway has made Atlantic travel routine, but one of its engineers believes a growing leak points to a much larger danger. Bob, a textile company employee preparing for a trip to France, learns of these fears over dinner with his old college roommate, Dutch Higgins. Their conversation turns the marvel of rapid travel into a problem of unstable ground and ignored warnings.

L. Taylor Hansen builds this science fiction short story around the workings of an imagined transport system. Air pumps, monorail guides and pressure calculations receive close attention, while discoveries made during construction suggest an older world beneath the ocean floor. Told as a survivor's account, the story connects technical explanation with the unease of traveling through a tunnel that may cross an active fault. Readers interested in speculative engineering can follow both the machinery and the doubts of a designer who understands its risks.