Chapter 63

Lex saw Maya had reached the end of her endurance, but he, on the other hand, had hope for both of them. The balloon actually worked similarly to the ones he'd used before on a planet that used ballooning as their main source of transportation. He took over the burner, keeping the flame burning high and hot to compensate for the leaking of the hot gases through the tears. They left the sound and lights of the soldiers and festival behind, the shining light of the full moon their only beacon. The wind blew gently and, luckily, in the direction they needed to go.

Maya slipped her arms around him and pressed her face into his back. He wanted to tell her everything would be all right, but they hadn't quite made it out of danger yet, even if, according to his compass, they should be floating over the gypsum fields. A good thing, for the balloon was definitely losing altitude. Now, if only he could find his ship before the military for this planet did.