[He's honestly about to turn to maybe walk back to his cabin to quickly grab the thing (he doesn't know how helpful she'll be), but the thing she says makes him freeze.]

[...Did she say what he thought she said?]

Does it say that? [He can't betray any emotion, anything that might suggest that there's anything strange about that. He gives her a casual shrug.] Eh, I dunno, I guess I see them as kind of underwhelming? I mean, they're just big rocks that fall onto the planet every once in a while.

[Ha ha ha, oh, he would laugh at his own joke if he could. "Just big rocks". Sure they are. Sure.]

I don't see what the big deal with them is. I'd take a comet over them any day.