"I made that Space Ghost too good!" whispered Peer. "I'm getting scared myself now."
"Aha!" said Channok. "See what behaving like that will get you?" He got Old Nameless VII into the viewer.
The communicator remained still. He looked over at it.
"Of course, there's really nothing to be scared of!" he added reassuringly.
"How do you know?" quavered Peer. "I'm all alone."
"Nonsense!" Channok said heartily. "I can see the Asteroid right over there on the screen! You can see me, can't you?"
"Sure," said Peer. "That's a long way off, though. You couldn't do anything!"
"It's not safe for two ships to travel much closer together," Channok reminded her. "We're only two hours from Old Nameless right now—I'm already focussed on it."
"I've been focussed on it for an hour," said Peer. "While you were snoring," she added. "Two hours is an awful long time!"
"Tell you what," suggested Channok. "I'll race you to it. The Ra-Twelve's a mighty fast boat—" He checked himself. He'd only dreamed that, after all.