Changing of the Air

The clock in the corridor read 1155 hours as we all made our way to the engine room, where the four girls of the morning team were finishing up their blowing for the day. After giving one last heave to allow the ship to drift while they left and we settled in, they disconnected their respirators from the feed lines and removed them, heaving with exhaustion as the logger recorded the time they had finished. "I hope...you don't..have to go through...an asteroid field..." their captain wheezed as she departed.

"Me neither." Briya shuddered as she knelt down before the second feed line and connected her respirator to it.

"We are logged and ready.". Tamira reported as she knelt down and connected her respirator to the first feed line.

"Lustrium flow is nice and steady." I reported as I connected my respirator to the third feed line.

"Clear space ahead." Keili, our watcher, reported--the signal that there were no hazards or hostile species in sight.

Once Keili was connected, we all put in our respirators and started our blowing:

HWOE...

HWOE...

HWOE...

HWOE...

---------

The first fifteen minutes of our shift were uneventful, until warning sirens and Keili tapping on my respirator got my attention. She pointed out an approaching asteroid field from the window, I dutifully increased the Lustrium flow, and we all quickened our blowing to give the ship the speed and maneuverability to avoid the asteroids.  

HWOE-HWOE-HWOE-HWOE-HWOE-HWOE-HWOE-HWOE-HWOE-HWOE-HWOE-HWOE-HWOE...

It was still a bumpy ride even though we did our best to keep the ship moving, making sure to lean against it when it veered to make a sharp turn.

We powered through the asteroids, slowing down to our initial pace some moments later. Let that be the only asteroid field we encounter on our shift... I silently prayed as I readjusted the Lustrium flow to normal...