C.M.Kornbluth

Frederick Pohl

The drilling rig had reached miles below the Atlantic ocean, relentlessly grinding downward towards the largest proven oil reserves on the planet. Atlantic oil was determined to be the first to tap it and so drove with frenzied purpose 24 hours a day. Atlantic Oil had immense resources and used them all to beat out the competition. Unfortunately the engineer in overall charge of the operations had grown just a tiny bit complacent in later years, becoming more of a political engineer than a practical engineer. And so it was that the tiny leak that started in the armored casings was not seen as serious at all. It simply could not be serious, his career said it was impossible. But the leak had other ideas.