Tevun-Krus #1 - First Contact

What Came First? - A Short Story by DavidGibbs6

What Came First?

By David Gibbs (DavidGibbs6)

A Forbidden Planet:

Tevun-Krus exclusive.

An unnatural breeze swept the room, causing the middle aged science officer to look up from his sandwich. The controlled mixture of nitrogen and oxygen, that the company called Air+, was being sucked out the side of the station through a hole smaller than a pencil. Benjamin crossed the spacious floor to a cabinet, removing a piece of clay from the shelf. Throughout his mandatory annual training, he had been drilled repeatedly on such a situation, although he had never thought one day he would need to use any of it. Calmly he followed the breeze to the wall looking closely trying to find the gap he knew was there. An alarm sounded in the background as the atmospheric pressure dropped a bar, if he didn't find the hole soon his lab would go into automatic lock-down sealing him inside. If that happened the situation would be much more serious, possibly even fatal for him. Walking back to his desk, he removed a sheet of paper from his draw. Moving quickly he returned to the wall holding it out flat, waving it across the wall until the rushing air caught it and pulled it in. The paper tore instantly, exposing the hole which was only a couple of millimetres wide, quickly he forced the tennis ball sized piece of clay over the hole as the doors behind him clicked, sealing him into the room. Sighing he turned knowing the red light would be on before he even laid eyes on it. To the left were two emergency suits prepped and ready for just an occasion, striding over he began suiting up. In fifteen years he had never had to use the hull breach training but it had been drummed into every employee so hard that it came almost naturally, his mind going through the motions, following each step through with precision.

A screen on the wall flicked into life, a serious looking face peered out and the intercom beeped twice before a voice spoke.

"Are you alright in there Jensen?"

Ignoring the man on the monitor, Ben continued to don his space suit and check the seals, when he was sure it was sealed, he pulled the cord which dangled above his head, causing the suit to inflate.

"I think so." He replied through the suits intercom to the man who was waiting patiently. "What happened?"

"We were hoping you could tell us, we have nothing on the radar and the early warning system showed zilch. All we know is the low pressure alarm for your lab was triggered."

"Yeah there was a hole in the wall. It was small and I've plugged it with the clay, I tell you though it was tiny, maybe only a couple of millimetres across."

"Do you know what caused it?" The man questioned.

"I was sitting at my desk when I noticed a draft, I didn't hear or see anything." Ben replied.

"Sit tight. We have engineering looking at it now. In the mean time you will have to stay isolated in the lab until we can work out exactly what happened. Try to stay calm and I would stay in the suit if I were you, at least until we fix the hole... Just to be safe." He added before the screen blinked back into darkness.

Ben looked around the room waiting for something to happen, when nothing did, he lent back against the wall. Now that the adrenaline was subsiding and being that he was immobilized, his mind started the search for the answers to his current situation. A hole did not appear out of nothing and being a lab scientist he did not believe it appeared without cause. Looking around the room, it seemed to be completely untouched, his eyes lingering on details as he scanned every item, tracing his memories of how it came to be there. Nothing seemed out of place. Leaning back, he did the only thing left he could do, which was to wait.