As she stood, every muscle screamed in pain. She gently touched her face. The swelling of her lip seemed less than yesterday. However, her half-closed eye still throbbed. She knew without looking in a mirror that her face was a mass of black and blue. The air was still and carried the warmth of summer as she moved silently out of the balloon’s basket and across the field toward the stream. She knew her directions well and within a few minutes was following the small, bubbly stream as her eyes searched the blackness for the old barn. Gradually her muscles loosened, and she moved swiftly through the darkness. In less than ten minutes Perry stumbled across an old trail that climbed upward toward the barn. With luck she’d be back at the balloon within the hour. She remembered Abram explaining that after breakfast it would take time to make the balloon ready to travel. He’d told her that they had only enough hydrogen to lift off one more time. The next time they set down, the balloon must be deflated and they would have to stay on the ground.
