Peer came over to watch him. He couldn't quite read her expression, but he had a notion she wanted to bawl.
"Let's take a quick look at the rest of it and get back to the Asteroid," he suggested, somewhat disturbed himself. "We ought to talk this over."
The one remaining cabin lay just beyond the point where the passage angled back into the ship. There was light in that one, too, and the door was half open. Channok got there first and pushed it open a little farther. Then he stood frozen in the door-frame for a moment.
"What's stopping you?" Peer inquired impatiently, poking his ribs from behind.
He stepped back into the passage, pulled the door shut all the way, scooped her up and heaved her to his shoulder. His space-boots felt like iron anchors as he clunk-clunked hastily back through the passages to the derelict's lock. There was nothing definite to run from any more; but he knew now what had happened on the Ra-Twelve, and he felt nightmare pacing after him all the way.
He crossed to the Asteroid's control room lock in a jump, without bothering with his jets.
"Close the outer lock!" he told Peer hoarsely, reaching up for the switch marked "Decontaminant" above him.
A fourfold spray of yellowish Killall was misting the trapped air in the lock about them an instant later.
"What was it?" Peer's voice came out of the fog.