Just before S. leaves, he sees that Pfeifer is leaning against a black painting of “dozens of bipedal wolf-people.” This could be a reference to hypertrichosis, sometimes called the wolf person’s disease, which causes excessive hair growth. 
Pfeifer, with little strength left, hopes to come across “a magical portal in the earth.”

Jen notes: “Straka: grandfather of fantasy/SciFi?”

“Actually, you wouldn’t be the first one to suggest it (think of spotted cat, night palisades, even Coriolis). And if you think summersby was vms, then there’s a pretty direct connection to the genres.

This introduces a new perspective, as Straka isn’t typically read as Science Fiction.