Several years previously...

WARNING - hull stress at upper threshold and rising. Molecular cohesion failure detected in hull sections one, four, six, nine, fifteen...

"Sunrise, I am fully aware that this is not the ideal situation", muttered The Traveller, "but we are not giving up, not when we're this close...!"

"This close" was, The Traveller was compelled to admit to himself, too close. The interdimensional turbulence left in the wake of the collapsing fortress field was more intense than he had expected as the realities penetrated by the tunnel returned to their natural order, but as long as there was a life to save, The Traveller was not about to retreat. The life-sign he had detected was a powerful one, that truth shining through the chaos, but the energies of that individual were diminishing fast, and soon, what was left would be lost in the energy-storm.

I'm going to have just one chance at this, thought the adventurer. Space is almost boiling in there, and whoever's in there is caught up in some serious spatial convection currents - the next time they come near the barrier, that's my moment...

"Step up the energy converters", he ordered The Endless Sunrise. "Let's bleed off some of that friction, and cycle it through the secondary system to brace the outer hull, take off some of that stress!"

Absorption matrix now at maximum. WARNING - cohesion failure detected in hull sections three and twelve...

"Cancel all audible alerts", snapped the explorer. "If fact, shut down all non-essential systems, and redirect power to maximising hull cohesion. You can handle it - I know you can. You have to."

This was one of those times when The Traveller regretted being on his own - he could have done with another pair of hands, another set of eyes, but none were available, and he had to juggle the tasks of steering the vessel and keeping it in one piece all by himself. I've had centuries of practice, he told himself, and no-one knows, or could ever know, this ship as well as I do. I only have myself to blame if this doesn't work.

Several of the screens arranged around the inside of the Central Core started to flash red as the ship continued to silently report the increasing stresses to which The Traveller was subjecting his creation, but the adventurer kept his eyes fixed on the display panels showing him where the being trapped in the remains of the fortress fields was, every passing moment, and the precise locations of each and every weakness in the faltering barrier. All he needed was the course of the former to coincide with one of the latter...

Lifeform mass and volume decreasing, reported the ship's computer. Cause unknown.

The Lost God was feeding - that had to be the reason - and waiting for the right moment became a luxury neither victim nor would-be rescuer could afford any longer. Gritting his teeth, The Traveller picked out the nearest available "fault-line" to the trapped entity, and sent The Endless Sunrise diving straight into it.

The interdimensional stress levels rose sharply. The groans from the vessel's hulls became harsh scraping sounds, suggesting that bonded metal was coming apart, then grinding together again - the death-throes of a dream...

Silence.

The Traveller expected to feel the icy cold of open space as his vessel came apart, spilling its innards into the void where sound could not exist, but that was not the reason for the sudden lack of noise. Passing through the failing barrier, The Endless Sunrise had slipped out of the grasp of the dimensional maelstrom left behind by the collapsing fortress field, the ship finding a moment's respite within reach of one of the most terrible, impossible creatures the Multiverse, in a moment of sheer madness, could bring into being...

"Re-enable audio responses", whispered The Traveller. "Status..."

"Hull integrity at critical, and holding", the ship replied. "Energy banks at point four-one-five of optimum. Supplementary power available..."

"Redirect supplementary to restoring hull cohesion", the explorer interrupted. "Plot an intercept vector with the lifeform, and prepare to bring it aboard."

"WARNING - dimensional shear increasing in vicinity of lifeform. Class Eleven and rising. Closer proximity is not recommended."

The dimensional shear meant that the lifeform had most definitely attracted the attention of The Lost God, and the monster was unlikely to give up its prey without a fight - a fight The Endless Sunrise could not hope to win, even at full power. However, it had never been The Traveller's intention to fight; he hadn't had time to devise the perfect strategy, but his tendency to collect any and all resources he came across was about to pay off...

"Access storage bay seven", he instructed the ship. "Prepare to dump the contents on my order - including that thermionic reactor we salvaged, but not before its been set on a twenty-period overload cycle..."

"Unloading procedure not advised. Hull stress threshold curve will be compromised..."

"Trust me, damn it!", barked the explorer, exercising a knuckle-whitening grip on the edge of the control console. "Put us between the lifeform and the entity, then dump the hold. Direct all available power to energy-shields and hull integrity, then wait for the bang. We'll ride the shockwave back to the 'surface', and pick the lifeform up on the way!"

The Traveller didn't hear what the computer had to say about that. If it was capable of such a response, it would probably have told him he was insane, and he would, in all likelihood, have agreed with the diagnosis. Such concerns were entirely secondary, however, dismissed from his mind as he prepared for the most dangerous manoeuvre he had ever contemplated, moving the ship into place, redirecting power from non-essential and life-sustaining systems alike, bracing himself in readiness for a shock that could very possibly tear the ship apart, long before he could bring the mystery lifeform onboard.

If I can't find a way back to Dominion, I'm dead anyway, he told himself, shifting his hands from the steering controls and over to the matter-transport interface. He took one long deep breath of unrecycled air, then as he exhaled, his vocal chords shaped the air into two words. "Do it."

The Endless Sunrise shuddered as the external hatch for Storage Bay Seven was opened, its contents spilling into space, and again, there was that nerve-wrenching screeching of metal on metal as the vessel reacted to the sudden appearance of a hole, intentional or otherwise, in her hull. "Seal that hatch", snapped The Traveller, "Shields and bracing to maximum...!"

Several seconds later, a wave of unleashed energy swept around the vessel as the thermionic reactor overloaded, simultaneously providing propulsion and showering the area with energy sources as the other cargo that had been dumped ignited, giving The Lost God a multitude of targets to chase after - and for the moment, none of those prey items was The Endless Sunrise. All that was left for The Traveller to concern himself about was the rescue, and keeping the ship in one piece at the same time.

"Hull cohesion anomalies detected in all sections. Structural failure predicted in twelve... eleven...

One of the stained-glass hull panels buckled, its surface cracking and bulging inwards. The Traveller tried to ignore it as the ship approached the drifting lifeform; some kind of humanoid, radiating decreasing, yet still significant amounts of cosmic energy...

"...eight... seven..."

...at The Traveller's bidding, the ship's energy-wall stretched out to envelop the lifeform. Once the unfortunate being was completely shielded from the surrounding chaos, the rarely-used matter-transport beam flashed across the gap, plucking the shrinking being out of The Lost God's reach...

"...five... four..."

Out on the platform outside the Central Core, the air shone, and flickered for a moment. The Traveller glanced back, out through the arch, and saw a faintly glowing figure lying there. It's done... "All available power to propulsion", gasped the adventurer. "Get us out of here...!"

"...three... two - information: hull stablising. Molecular cohesion increasing. Redirecting power from structural enhancement to propulsion..."

Something was pulling the ship back together, and a peculiar feeling made The Traveller look back over his shoulder again, at the human-like shape sprawled on the platform. The glow surrounding that figure - a female, apparently - was all but gone, faint wisps of luminescence rising from her, then spiralling away into the walls. The woman seemed barely alive, but she was giving all she had to aid in their escape...

WARNING - spatial distortions detected. Collision imminent...

The Lost God had been denied its freedom to rampage through universe after universe, and it was clearly not going to give up on this last prize, reaching up from the depths with its "flesh", and whatever it had in the way of thoughts, substance and will manifested as a storm of primal energies rising, stretching up to engulf The Endless Sunrise...

Approaching fortress field perimeter, announced the vessel. Bracing for penetration...

"Prepare to purge the spatial buffers the moment we exit", ordered The Traveller, gripping the sides of the control panel. "Let's lock the door behind us...!"

The ship groaned and shuddered as she reached the boundary of the collapsing dimensional tunnel, then punched through it. With a distant, faint sound, almost a sigh, the vessel dumped into space the contents of energy "filters" that were part of her dimensional propulsion system, and that energy became part of the decaying fortress field as the rupture caused by the escape of The Endless Sunrise "healed", and the energy barrier set, crystallising like tree-sap fossilising into amber, trapping The Lost God, leaving it to rage and howl wordlessly, harmlessly, as it was dragged back into the realm that had spawned it.

The Traveller slid to the floor, panting for breath. "Navigation to automatic", he gasped. "Get us out of here - and re-engage the environmental systems...!"

The Endless Sunrise seemed to sing, joyously, as her dimension-drive carried the vessel away from the chaos, and out into the great, open expanses of the interdimensional, where one could travel for a day and never encounter a single atom or quantum of energy. The Traveller experienced a similar flush of joy as he took the first breath of purified air that he had had in too long, and he would have fallen asleep where he sat - not something he did often - had his eyes not wandered to the platform outside the Central Core, and caught sight of the slender figure lying there.

The adventurer reached behind one of the control consoles, and snatched an emergency medical pack from its hiding place. Stumbling, fighting the fatigue that had built up in his leg muscles, he scrambled out onto the platform, and dropped to the floor next to the being he had just rescued; a being who at first glance seemed to be just like himself, albeit shorter, perhaps standing as tall as his shoulder - a girl with long, brilliant red hair, her features delicate, like a finely-crafted doll. Hardly the kind of person to have that degree of control over that much cosmic energy, thought The Traveller as he carried out a life-scan with the Omnisensor, but The Lost God was clearly interested in her, and she managed to survive being in such close proximity. I'll wager she pretty much burnt herself out in the process, cannibalising her own internal energy, her physical mass, just to stay alive...

The Traveller's trusted information-gathering tool immediately picked up signs of life; a functioning heart, beating slowly; shallow breathing and diminished neural activity suggesting she was in a sleeping state. Apart from a few scrapes and bruises, visible between the scraps of shiny fabric wrapped around her, there seemed to be nothing wrong with her physically, but it was hardly practical for the girl to remain lying on the platform - if she woke up and wandered off, she could fall off the edge of the platform, or stumble into critical equipment...

This left The Traveller with something of a dilemma. For centuries, he had been alone, his vessel sufficient for his needs, and equipped to meet the requirements of only one, and he had to admit that he didn't really know what to do in a situation such as this. He had a personal chamber on the uppermost level, where he would relax when the vessel was in automatic cruise mode - she could stay there for the present, sleep as long as she liked. It wasn't as though he had ever needed to sleep. He had never really got into the habit...

Somewhat awkwardly, he tried to slide his hands under the girl's legs and shoulders, but the moment he touched her, she stirred, moaning softly, hands raised weakly to push him away. "It's all right", he murmured, backing away. "You... you can lie here, if you want. I can go get something better for you to lie on..."

Again, the girl let out a small, gentle sound, and The Traveller thought he saw her eyes open a fraction, for a moment. "It's all right", he repeated, edging forward again so that she could see him. "You're safe now. I'm not a Lost God. If anyone asks, I tell them I'm called The Traveller - do you have a name?"

The girl opened her mouth, and a single word spilled forth, in a whisper, before she slumped into unconsciousness...

"...Salya."

The present...

Without words or violence, the glass "creatures" had escorted The Traveller and his companions to a large open space, a great chamber with walls and ceiling studded with spheres of brightly glowing liquid rock, providing both light and a tolerable degree of heat, but otherwise, the cavern was featureless - with the exception of a throne of exquisitely shaped glass, standing in an alcove, on which sat a tall female figure, a giantess with limbs and body sheathed in skin-tight glossy purple, and the most vividly red hair Pratisha or Irinati had ever seen.

To The Traveller, however, nothing about the incredible woman was a surprise, as he revealed when he stepped forward, and spoke. "Hello, Salya."

"Few are those who utter that name without permission, and live", snarled a voice that seemed to come from everywhere except the voice of the seated figure. "Who dares...?"

A light brighter than the globes of lava sprang into being in the woman's eyes, but The Traveller advanced undaunted, remembering the first time he heard that voice - half-awake, frightened. "Oh please don't start that, Salya Bisaj Araphil", he called out, holding his arms out from his sides. "Surely you haven't forgotten."

The woman rose from her glass throne. She was maybe twice, or even three times The Traveller's height, the difference made all the greater by the high heels of the woman's almost crotch-length boots. She strode forward purposefully, as though she was readying herself to strike The Traveller down with all her might... but instead, when she reached him, she went down on one knee in front of him...

...and bending forward, she wrapped him in her gloved arms, and hugged him.

"I would say it has been a long time, Shen'at'whe", she murmured, "but both of us know better than that."

"Let's just say 'too long', instead", suggested The Traveller.

The giantess glanced over The Traveller's shoulder, regarding Pratisha and Irinati with eyes that no longer glowed with that ominous inner fire. "I see you have friends", she remarked. "That's Good. At least one lesson you learned, and remembered."

She released the adventurer, and shifted into a fully kneeling position, which still allowed her to look down upon him. "Keeping out of trouble?", she asked. "Or is that a stupid question?"

"The stupidest", The Traveller replied. "Not long after you left, I finally found my way back to Dominion..."

"...as I always knew you would", said Salya, with a smile.

"...and since then, I've been busier than ever", the explorer continued. "Trouble always seems to know where to find me."

The giantess's smile became a sly look, directed at The Traveller's two female companions. "Plainly", she murmured, clearly amused, then looked back to The Traveller, and said, more directly "I'm delighted to see you, but surely you didn't go to all the effort of tracking me down, and coming all this way through Radical Space, just to talk of past adventures. I'm sure your companions would be fascinated to hear of our exploits, but there's something you need from me - isn't there...?"

The Traveller nodded, regretfully. "I wouldn't have troubled you if there was anyone else", he admitted, meekly, "but... well, you know..."

"All too well", sighed the "Space Goddess", and she rose into the air, still in a kneeling position at first, only unfolding her legs when she could fully extend them to the ground. "But I am forgetting my manners - no surprise, I think, given that I never have guests here, nor expect them. Allow me to offer you the hospitality of my humble retreat - and when we are done, you can ask of me what you will..."

...to be continued...