Peer stopped short. "That was a dirty thing to say!" she said in a low, furious voice. "I'm not talking to you any more." She drew away till there was a space of about six feet between them and marched on briskly towards the _Asteroid_, looking straight ahead. Channok had to hurry to keep abreast of her. He watched her in the starlight for a few moments from the corners of his eyes. He probably shouldn't have used that term--the half-pint did look good and mad! "Tsk! Tsk!" he said, disturbed. Peer said nothing. She walked a bit faster. Channok lengthened his stride again. "Who's my nice little girl friend?" he inquired wheedlingly. "Shuddup!" growled Peer. She climbed into the _Asteroid_ ahead of him and disappeared while he sealed the locks. The control room was dark, but he felt she was around somewhere. He switched on the power and the instruments. Familiar dim pools of green and pink gleamings sprang up in quick sequence like witchfire quivering over the control desk. Perhaps it wasn't an exceptionally beautiful sight, but it looked home-like to Channok. Like fires lighting up on a hearth. "Well, let's see you handle this take-off!" he invited the shadows around him briskly. This time there weren't any mountains nearby to worry about. "You handle it," Peer said from behind his shoulder. "It's my turn to laugh." She did, too, a few minutes later--loud and long! After he'd got over the first shock of narrowly missing the Mound, Channok gave a convincing imitation of a chagrined pilot and indignantly blamed the _Asteroid_.... * * * * * He'd guided them halfway out of the Nameless System when she came behind the control chair in the dark, wrapped her arms in a stranglehold around his neck, and fondly bit his ear. "Cut it out," Channok choked. "Just the same," stated Peer, loosening her grip a trifle, "you're _not_ so smart, like Santis is!" "I'm not, eh?" "No," said Peer. "But Santis said you would be some time. 'That Channok's going to make a real spacer!' he said. 'Just give him a chance to catch on.'" "Well," Channok muttered, secretly flattered, "we'll hope he was right." "And, anyway," said Peer, "I _LOVE_ you just as much!" "Well, that's something, too!" Channok admitted. He was beginning to feel very much better. "And guess what I've got here," Peer said tenderly. "What?" "A nice, soapy cloth. For what you said when you saw the first ghoul. So just open that big trap right up now, Channy!" He couldn't tell in the dark; but it tasted like she'd taken the trouble to mix something extra foul into the soap lather, too. "And after you've stopped spitting bubbles," said crew-member Peer, who was switching on all lights to observe that part of the business, "I'll tell you what I saw on the Mound." Channok shuddered. "If you don't mind, Peer," he suggested soapily, "let's wait with that till we're a lightyear or two farther out!"