An ear-bleeding klaxon pierces the night, a girl shaken from her dream. Sand flies about the base's entire perimeter, the storm beating violently against every door and window. Subconsciously, the girl thinks to call for her mother, but remembers none of the Pioneer grown-ups are in the base right now, out on their exploration missions. A massive boom. The roof of the temporary living quarters is battered. Malevolent yellow monsters close in. The girl cannot run, only shrink back into the corner of her bed. From deep underground, up floats a silver light that lands upon her cheek, very much like her mother's hand would. The girl hugs her mother's storybook tight. She recalls her telling tale after tale. From those gentle passages, she strives to draw some courage. The storm curls through layer upon layer of sand. Brighter grows the silver light, which transforms into a gleaming ribbon and gently lifts the girl up. Into a silver dreamland she falls. In this cool yet warming reverie, she flies on moonlight, the storm and monsters never to catch up. '...how is she now?' 'Vital signs normal. She's been spooked a little, but she'll be awake real soon.' 'Do you think those waves of abnormal energy just now...' 'Earliest Pioneer records say this silver stuff's a special material that goes by the name of 'Transmitter,' developed by a scientist who joined a Pioneer Team voluntarily. Pioneers liked to call it 'Silver Slippers,' because it always helped anyone in trouble get home.' 'Wasn't that... back when this frontier first got broken in, all those years ago? I honestly thought it was just a legend.' 'Nope. It's real.' Atop the sickbed, the girl opens her eyes. 'Mom...' 'Mommy's right here.' 'Mom, where'd she go? The one who owned the 'Silver Slippers'...' Her mother is silent for a moment, before resolving to tell the girl the truth. 'If the records are true, then she did live here. But nobody knows where she went after that. Maybe she went missing on some deep delve, or maybe... she went of her own will, onto the next frontier, and the one after that, ever further out.' Through the girl's eyes flashes a brief sense of disappointment. But very shortly, she catches sight of the storybook by her bedside, and springs up, grabbing it and hugging it close to her chest. 'I get it, Mom. She's the same as the hero in the storybook you gave me, right?' 'The... the girl who's always journeying on?' 'Yeah, she's my favorite!' 'Apparently, its author was an early Pioneer too. Who was based on what, we can't be sure...' 'It's real.' The girl's eyes twinkle with light. 'She'll see her family again, and she can make dreams real, because I know it. She's just like me.'