Explore "The Band Played On" by Lester Del Rey on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The big multi-tube affair into which the station had grown looked normal enough in the sunlight. But the men who came out in the little space ferry showed the hell of slow poisoning they'd been through, even over their jubilation at the sight of the filters. When they made seal-to-seal contact and he released the lock, the smell of their air was positively foul. They must have been reporting their plight as a lot better than it really was.
Commander Phillips came through first, almost crying as he grabbed Murdock's hand. He seemed at a complete loss for words.