Go Ahead on Atlantic Tunnel (short story)
Go Ahead on Atlantic Tunnel was a Dateline 2066 short story printed in TV Century 21 that contained elements from the Doctor Who universe.
Notably, Unity City, a location introduced in The Daleks comic story Duel of the Daleks, reappeared here.
Summary
Amazement spreads across Unity City as its populace react to the Atlantic Tunnel plans released to the press. Clive Malaques, the Senator for Mexico who pushed the project through the World Senate, says in a statement that work was to commence almost immediately and would take almost five years to complete. In reference to the subsidiary tunnels to be created by the work which will be leased to private mining and commercial companies, Malaques also claims that the spur areas are rich in cahelium, uranium, mozatium, copper, natural gas and iron ore.
On Pluto, a stratocruiser tanker plane towing containers of red chemical crystals punctures over Cirox, the planet's largest city. The falling rain dissolves the split crystals causing an unusual weather phenomenon, turning the storm red.
On Neptune, explorers in the hills and mountains sixty miles from the capital discover signs of a hitherto unknown past civilisation. Archaeologists date the civilisation, which evidence suggests travelled to Neptune from another planet, at more than eight hundred years old.
Elsewhere, on the Moon, a ceremony is held during which a monument dedicated to the first men to land there is unveiled.
Characters
Worldbuilding
- The Atlantic Tunnel will be floated for two-thirds of its length barely a mile under the surface in order to combat the hazard of the mid-Atlantic ridge, a range of undersea mountains which produce many earthquakes, by achieving neutral buoyancy to be maintained by a system of tanks on the Tunnel's outer section.
- Mining rights for the Tunnel will help to recoup some of its planned cost of twenty-seven billion pounds.
- The Tunnel will connect Boston and Cherbourg via three lane highways in both the eastbound and westbound directions.
- The monument on the Moon is one hundred feet high, shaped like a rocket, and is the centre-piece of a special space park.
- The weather forecast for Great Britain indicates it will be sunny from 6am to 7pm but with rain for most areas in the evening. The arrangements for the next thirty days indicate a settled weather pattern predominantly consisting of sun.
Story notes
- This story foreshadowed the events of the Thunderbirds comic story Atlantic Tunnel, which began in TV Century 21 the following week. The references to the mining rights were especially pertinent as both Jeff Tracy and the Hood bought permits for this purpose.
Continuity
- Clive Malaques had previously expressed joy in relation to the Atlantic Tunnel project after the Ways and Transport Committee of the World Senate gave the go ahead for a survey. (PROSE: Beatty Trial Sensation)
