That was actually overtaking him, and fast. It was coming up like a cosmic police-ship, with a huge, hollow noise rushing before it. Channok listened apprehensively. Suddenly, there were words: "WHOO-WHOOO!" it howled. "_This is the Space Ghost!_" He shot up out of his chair like a jabbed cat, knocking it over, and glared around. The _Ra-Twelve's_ control room lay brightly lit and silent behind him. "Ha-ha!" Peer's chuckle came from the communicator. "That woke you up, I bet! Was that you that fell over?" "Aw-awk!" breathed Channok. Articulation came back to him. "All right, crew-member Peer! Just wait till we get to Old Nameless! I'll fix you good!" "Shall I tell you the story now about the Horror Ship from Mizar?" Peer inquired intrepidly. "Go right ahead," Channok challenged, righting his chair and settling back into it. "You can't scare me with that sort of stuff!" He began checking their position. He must have been asleep for quite a while! The Nameless System was less than two hours ahead now. He switched on the front screen; and the sun swam up like a big, glowing coal before him. He began checking for the seventh planet. "Well," he reminded the communicator grimly, "you were going to tell me a story." The communicator remained silent a moment. "I don't think I will, anyway," Peer said then, rather quietly. "Why not?" Channok inquired, getting his screen-viewer disentangled from a meteor-belt in the Nameless System. "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. "Let's go!" Peer said briefly. * * * * * He let Peer stay just ahead of him all the way in, though the stream-lined derelict probably could have flown rings around the _Asteroid_, at that. Just an hour later, they went around Old Nameless VII twice, braking down, and then coasted into its atmosphere on their secondary drives. "That's the place," Peer's voice said suddenly. "I can see the old Mound in the plain! In the evening strip, Channy--that straight-up cliff!"