"What—what is he? That green fire is alive. I could feel it. I knew its emotions."
"Aava is alive. He has been alive for eons piled upon eons. His beginning I know not. Whether he will have an end—I also know not."
Thor shuddered.
The Discoverer went on, "Destroy Aava, and destroy his universe, and you may return to your own. But how can you destroy Aava when even I, the Discoverer, must admit failure?"
Thor shook his head. Destroy that flame? It was impossible.
When he looked up, the Discoverer was oozing a path into the distance and Karola was hugging herself to him. Thor put an arm around her, smiling grimly into her frightened eyes.
"We're in it, baby. All the way. Lost in some mad corner of space that nobody can get in or out of. Trapped. And me with an education to catch up on. Although," he grinned, looking at her thick yellow hair and large red mouth, "I'm not feeling any too scholarly at the moment. Yeah, I guess it could be worse. I guess it could."
Slag came toward them with three rabbits dangling from his right hand. He knelt and began to make a fire. Thor and Karola watched him until the roasting flesh scents reached their nostrils.
Thor laughed, "Hell. I'm just hungry. After a good meal, I'll feel better about it all."
But that meal was never finished.