The Havoc Machine by Steven Harper Page A

to look at Nikolai who stared back at him. “Can he perform? We’re short, you know.”
    Sofiya coughed loudly. A gleam of metal caught Thad’s eye and he glanced up. A spider was perched on top of the Tilt, the main tent. Thad tensed. The memory of Blackie’s blood spread through his mind. Even as he watched, the spider moved unhurriedly around the curve of canvas and out of sight. The outrage returned and made Thad’s hands shake. A clockworker was forcing him to betray his friends.
    Just do it now,
he thought.
And plan for later.
    Thad cleared his own throat. “At any rate, Dodd, I did want to ask—”
    “We have an offer for you,” Sofiya interrupted.
    “I thought I was going to do this,” Thad protested.
    Sofiya ignored him. “Ringmaster Dodd, I work for a man who wishes for your circus to appear in Russia. Saint Petersburg.”
    “The capital,” Dodd said. “Why?”
    “Mr. Griffin,” Thad said, jumping in, “is a difficult traveler and needs a train to take him. He’s willing to pay quite a lot if we can get him there in the next few days.”
    Dodd shook his head. “Why doesn’t this Mr. Griffin take a passenger train?”
    “That would be unwise of him,” Sofiya said. “You have heard of the unrest, have you not? Bad economic times.” And she explained the uprisings that made train travel difficult.
    “Ah. And you think the peasants won’t bother a circus,” Dodd finished for her.
    Thad pursed his lips and glanced around for spiders. “You have it. And once we’re there, we could perform for the Russians. Perhaps even the tsar. It’s a wonderful opportunity.”
    “Is it?” A hard look crossed Dodd’s face. “I remember a wonderful opportunity that took us to Kiev.”
    Uh-oh. This wasn’t going well. “Everyone loves a circus,” Thad said, but it sounded lame in his ears. “No one will bother you. Us.”
    The spider on the Tilt was back. A second one came with it. They seemed to be following the conversation. Thad had to force himself to pay attention to Dodd.
    The ringmaster shook his head. “The last time we took on passengers, the Gonta-Zalizniaks nearly killed us all.”
    “Look, you said yourself that if we don’t get more people in to see us, the circus will be stranded here in Lithuania.” Thad worked to keep the desperation out of his voice. The worst part was that he agreed with Dodd, and was arguing on behalf of something he hated. He felt like he’d been rolling in pig manure. “Do you honestly think we’ll be getting more people in ever? Today’s Saturday, and the stands aren’t even half full.”
Come on, Dodd. This is quick money. An easy choice.
    “The tsar does enjoy a circus,” Sofiya said. She had seen the spiders, too.
    “We’re not much of a circus anymore.” Dodd drew his cane through his fingers. “The Gonta-Zalizniaks destroyed our mechanical elephant, and we lost all our other machines in the flood of Kiev. Even mine were wiped away. Half our performers scarpered during the attack, and we haven’t found them. Hell, Nathan’s the manager, but he’s had to go back to clowning to fill in the gaps.”
    He gestured at the ring, where a red-haired joey was scampering about the ring with a dripping white bucket.
    “We’re a shadow of what we were.” Dodd sighed. “Look, I wasn’t going to say anything until later, but Nathan and I have talked, and we’re thinking that we should cash the whole thing in. It’s time for the Kalakos to end.”
    Ice stabbed Thad’s chest. “Good Lord!” He touched the ringmaster’s striped shoulder despite himself. “I knew it was bad, but not that bad.”
    Dodd looked away. His expression drooped like a collapsing tent. “We’re not someone who can play for a tsar.There’s no point in going to Russia. Today’s our last performance.”
    “I like the clowns,” Nikolai piped up. “That one poured whitewash down his friend’s trousers.”
    “You can’t mean that!” Thad forgot about the spiders, forgot