Inoperative fuel pump

I have a 1994 cutlass ciera with about 200k miles on it. The motor will crank but not start. The fuel pump is supposed to come on with the key. I had an assistant turn on the ignition while I placed my ear to the fuel tank to listen for the fuel pump to activate as was reccomended by my repair manual - nothing. Fuel pump operation can be inhibited by the ECM or a blown fuel pump fuse which I can't find. The repair manual says it's mounted on the firewall - not so. I noticed just prior to this failure that the fuel gauge would intermittantly peg at "full", returning to normal for brief periods. Since the fuel pump and the tank decender for the fuel guage are both mounted in the fuel tank I suspected a short that perhaps blew the fuel pump fuse but can't find a frayed wire along the harness leading to the tank or the fuse. Any advice?