PAUL:	Down we go, into the belly of the BCN building to seek out 
	archival treasure.  And here he is keeper of the sacred acetate, Ish 
	Lundrigan.

ISH:	This week Paul a report on the  Conference on 
	Technologies of the Future, filed by Winston Knee back in 1963.

PAUL:	I remember it well,  I was 14 years old.  The Conference 
	held out the promise of space travel, a world free of disease and want, 
	and a the stimutron ,a machine that would provide endless sensory 
	stimulation to the user.

ISH:	And what 14 year old lad couldn’t make use of that?

PAUL:	What middle aged bachelor couldn’t?

ISH:	Here’s the first of several reports by Wince Knee.

SFX:	Tape starting up.

WINCE:	Here in the exhibit hall we can see some the wonders 
	created by a new generation of scientist.  The Plutato and 
	Tomatonium, giant vegetables grown in radiation rich soil.  But don’t 
	touch them they’re hot!  This form of self cooking produce may one 
	day feed the world.  

	The electric vibrating wand will work out the kinks.  Operated by 
	battery it provides the user with an easy means of eliminating modern 
	stress.

	BCN’s own Ari Uldmanis and Eldon Basha show preliminary drawings 
	for Cerebradio, a device that will someday allow listeners to receive 
	radio signals directly into their brains!  Imagine that!	
	
	Eagerly awaited is local inventor Otto Drodge’s visionary motor 
	vehicle which is said to run on nothing more than water and small 
	concentrations of fish offal.  Listen now as Mr. Drodge turns the key in 
	the ignition and ..

SFX:	Engine rumbles to a start.

	... he’s off.  Thus dawns a new age in automotive history.

PAUL:	Could you stop there for a moment.

SFX:	Tape stops.

PAUL:	Otto Drodge?  Anything to the Drodge Family Motors 
	people?

ISH:	Big Bill Drodge’s great uncle.  Took the prototype down to 
	Detroit and never heard from again.

PAUL:	Well it’s encouraging though that the family should keep 
	up the tradition of automobile manufacture here in Newfoundland.

ISH:	Great cars but a little out of my range, I’m afraid.	

SFX:	Tape starts up.	

WINCE:	Tomorrow dignitaries and invited guests travel by jet 
	powered aeroplane to Lance au Loup in Labrador where they will  
	greet passengers disembarking from the inaugural voyage of the 
	VolksUntergrundbahn or People’s Tube.  The Tube beneath the 
	Straight of Belle Isle connects Newfoundland to Labrador, making the 
	province whole, realizing finally the promise of Confederation.

SFX:	Tape stops.

I&P:	Sigh.

PAUL:	The old VolksUntergrundbahn.  Tragic.

ISH:	Horrifying.

PAUL:	Unimaginably so.

ISH:	The Technology had been developed in Germany by 
	Krupps-Funkensheit and the trials had been undertaken in much 
	shorter tubes.	

PAUL:	The cylinders carrying the passengers built up such speed 
	in the  15 mile tube that ... well ... is it on the tape?

ISH:	I’m one step ahead of you Paul.

SFX:	Tape starts.

WINCE:	What a sight, what a great day for Newfoundland, the 
	shining automated silver cylinder is sliding into it’s docking bay. 

SFX:	Hydraulic air release woosh.

WINCE:	... the doors are opening.  I don’t see anyone stepping out 
	yet.  The Minister of Industrial Development is looking inside.  Oh my 
	I fear something’s gone wrong.  I’m making my way through the crowd 
	and ... and ... if I could just see in ... God help us and save us, they’ve 
	been ... oh it’s too horrible. ...

SFX:	Tape stops.

ISH:	All liquefied.

PAUL:	Everyone aboard?

ISH:	Every living soul.  Forced by the thrust to back of the 
	cylinder where they were mushed up against the wall and rendered 
	into a foul human soup. They say no one suffered, but then again who 
	can really say.
	
PAUL:	An unprecedented assembly of Newfoundland Scientists 
	were in the tube.  Who can guess what they might have achieved.
	
ISH:	Set back Newfoundland industrial development decades, I 
	don’t think we’ve yet recovered.

PAUL:	A cautionary tale, Ish.

ISH:	How so Paul.

PAUL:	Whatever will be, will be.

ISH:	Huh?

PAUL:	The Future’s not ours to see.

Silence.

PAUL:	Come on, say it.

ISH:	Don’t be so foolish.  

PAUL:	I know you want to say it.  I know its eating you up.

ISH:	The tube was flooded and the project abandoned.  

PAUL:	Well Ish I guess every story can’t have a happy ending.  
	We’ll see you next month.

ISH:	In the Vault.