The Havoc Machine by Steven Harper Page B

about Sofiya, forgot about Mr. Griffin. “The Kalakos is an institution. It dates back to the commedia dell’arte! This was the first circus to use automatons. Your clowns perfected the mirror gag. The Tortellis have flown here for generations. Every carny and circus runner in the world knows the name. You can’t close down!”
    “I’m sorry, Thad. Nathan felt the same way at first, but…” Dodd trailed off and Thad held his breath. The ringmaster stared at the ground for a long moment, not knowing he balanced on a knife blade. If Dodd refused, he and everyone in the circus would die today. If he accepted, they were probably only putting off their destruction until later.
    “You haven’t even heard the offer yet,” Thad said desperately.
    Dodd was still staring at the ground. “One man couldn’t possibly offer enough to—”
    Sofiya named a figure. Dodd’s head snapped back up.
    “That much?” he breathed.
    Sofiya flicked a glance at the watching spiders, then nodded.
    Dodd put a hand to his face. “Good Lord. I don’t know, Miss Ekk. That would keep us going even if we played to an empty Tilt for a month, but I’m not sure that it’s worth a trip through difficult territory. And winter’s coming. Saint Petersburg is difficult in winter.”
    Another spider had appeared, this time clinging ontothe side of a passing wagon. Thad swallowed hard. Black guilt crawled over him. He was bringing a monster into the fold—a whole swarm of them. He was a traitor of the worst sort, offering to save the circus with one hand and feeding it poison with the other. His skin crawled. The words didn’t want to come, but he forced them out.
    “A circus is its people,” he said. Half a dozen spiders were now lined up along the slope of the tilt, and their claws gleamed. One of them edged forward. “A circus is art and show and performance. Not machinery.”
Come on, Dodd. Swallow the poison.
    “Are all these people going to lose their lives?” Nikolai asked.
    “Jobs,” Thad said hurriedly. “They’ll lose their jobs. It’s up to Ringmaster Dodd, Nikolai. He can save the Kalakos Circus, if he wants to.”
    “Uh…” Dodd said.
    “Just take it,” Thad urged.
    “Please, mister?” Nikolai said. “We can’t let the circus die. All the elephants would be hungry.”
    There was a long pause. Sofiya started to speak, but Thad trod on her foot. At last Dodd said, “All right. Tell this Mr. Griffin it’s a deal. We’ll leave as soon as we pull down the Tilt and buy some coal.”
    “Hooray!” Nikolai clapped his hands. “I want to teach the elephants Russian.”
    Thad breathed out heavily and glanced at the Tilt. The spiders were gone.
    *   *   *
    Within the hour, two boxcars pulled by a team of oxen arrived at the circus grounds. Sofiya paid the drover and a roustabout supervised getting them hitched to the backof the circus train, all without opening either of them. Thad wondered what the hell was inside them. They were clearly locked against prying eyes, at any rate. Piotr Markovich, the strongman roustabout who was hitching the boxcars, appeared incurious, but Thad could see him examining them out of the corner of his eye. Rumors flew around the circus about the true nature of Mr. Griffin, and Thad had been avoiding people and their questions ever since Dodd had made the announcement. Sofiya, for her part, avoided Thad, for all that he tried to corner her for a talk, while Nikolai stuck close to Thad. It made for a strange dance.
    The boxcars, plain and brown, stood out among the brightly painted circus cars like a clump of poisoned leaves on a scarlet maple. Their arrival would have commanded rather more attention if everyone hadn’t been so busy. Already the Tilt was coming down, collapsing as gracefully as a duchess fainting in a hoopskirt, and animal cages and circus carts trundled into the train. A sprinkle of rain hurried everyone along. The horses, restless at knowing they would be confined,