Steven Harper - The Havoc Machine

Nikolai turned his head. He blinked twice, then saw Thad. He sat up and cocked his head. Thad couldn’t move. He didn’t dare.

“Nikolai?” he breathed.

Nikolai stared at him. The upper half of his face still looked so human above the mechanical lower half. Thad swallowed, remembering the little boy he had rescued from Havoc’s castle, the one who read books on the train, who drank whisky and ate bolts, who danced Irish jigs, who told him how to be a father, who had brought him into this strange and incredible new family. Was it still him?

“Papa!” Nikolai said, and held up his arms. “Ta da!”

Thad gave a shout of utter joy and swept Nikolai high into the air. Beside him, Sofiya was laughing and shouting along with them. The three of them came into a hard embrace that lasted years and years. Dante bobbed back and forth on Thad’s shoulder, squawking and screeching with a joy of his own until Thad put up a hand to calm him down.

“Sharp sharp sharp sharp sharp!” Dante nuzzled Thad’s ear, and then Nikolai’s. “Dammit!”

“Did I do it right, Papa?”

Thad set him down, wiping the tears from his face. “Do what right, Niko?”

“You said a circus act is all about doing the impossible or unexpected, and that you have to make what you’re doing look more dangerous than it is.” Nikolai’s face was serious. “And you said that you can’t stay safe. So I came back.”

Thad and Sofiya exchanged glances. “Are you saying,” Thad said, “that you came back as part of a…a circus act?”

“I remembered what you said,” Nikolai said, “and it helped me come back.”

“But how could you remember what I said if you hadn’t come back?” Thad asked.

“I remembered what you said,” Nikolai repeated, “and it helped me come back.”

Sofiya laid a hand on his arm. “I think this is a question for philosophers. For now, I would like something to eat, and to rest.”

“You have to take care of Mama,” Nikolai agreed. “Because-”

“-that’s what a papa does,” Thad finished with the widest grin of his life. “You’re completely right, my son.”

They emerged from the Black Tent into the light of the rising sun amid cheers and cries of gladness from the circus.

It didn’t quite end there. Later that same morning, Thad, Sofiya, and Nikolai found themselves back at the Winter Palace in the drawing room of the tsar. One of the windows looked out over the Neva. Smoke still hung over Vasilyevsky Island and what was left of the Peter and Paul Fortress. The audience was with the tsar alone. Not even a single servant was present.

“I could flood the island with troops,” the tsar said from his high-backed chair by the fireplace. “Destroy the automatons and melt them down.”

“I’m sure that’s what your military advisers have been saying, ser,” Thad replied. Even though no one else was present, he, Sofiya, and Nikolai were still required to stand. “But you’ll notice they didn’t attack your men. They attacked just the fortress, and that only to prevent you from striking them.”

This was stretching the truth, but Thad didn’t see any reason to tell the tsar who had actually fired on the fortress, and Nikolai had been instructed to remain silent.

“You yourself said none of your soldiers died,” Sofiya added. “I was there, and saw for myself.”

“What exactly are you saying?” Tsar Alexander said testily.

“Now that Mr. Griffin has been destroyed, the automatons on Vasilyevsky Island can truly think for themselves,” Thad said. “They have thoughts and wishes and desires, just as men do.”

“How do you know they think?” the tsar demanded.

This was the tricky part, and Thad was tired, so tired, but a lot was riding on this, and he wasn’t going to make a mistake now. “They were built with the same pattern as Nikolai, here. And I know that Nikolai thinks.”

The tsar raised an eyebrow. “Really? How?”

“The same way I know anyone outside my own head thinks. I see it in the way he acts and responds to the world around him. He makes choices and he accepts what happens afterward. Men do the same.” He shifted tack quickly. “You are a forward-thinking man who wants to bring Russia into the modern world, sire, and you were planning to emancipate the serfs. You could declare the automatons of Vasilevsky Island part of that emancipation and then accept them as citizens. They aren’t clockworkers. They won’t go mad. They have no desire to attack you. They would have done so by now if they did. Imagine what they could bring to Mother Russia-tireless workers who could rebuild the Peter and Paul Fortress! Wonders of technology for the benefit of the entire country! You could challenge England and China themselves and finally bring Russia into the Great Game.”

Alexander drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. “You have given me a great deal to think about, Mr. Lawrenovich. I will consider your advice carefully. I do see no reason to waste resources attacking them-unless they decide to cross the river.” He paused again, deep in thought, then said, “Until I decide exactly what to do, we will leave the automatons alone.”

Thad bowed. “Very wise, ser.”

“Mr. Lavrenovich, if I do open talks with the automatons, would you consider the position of envoy? You’re uniquely suited to the position. I would have to give you a title, which would upset some members of the court, but they would get over it.”

The offer caught Thad off guard, and he bowed again. For a moment, he thought of what it would be like. The position would bring influence and prestige and he would be a permanent member of the royal court.

It was the last part that decided it for him, and quickly.

“Thank you, ser,” Thad said. “This is an unprecedented offer to a person like myself, but I couldn’t accept it. I’m just a circus performer, and I’m at my best in the ring. With my family.”

Alexander’s face darkened, and Thad quavered. He had offended the man. But then the tsar waved a hand. “As you wish. We haven’t forgotten everything you’ve done here. And the court will always be happy to attend a performance of the Kalakos Circus.”

Back at the Field of Mars, Dodd was holding the circus train for them. They entered the passenger car to more applause from the rest of the performers. Thad ducked his head and dropped into their customary seats at the rear. Dante, proudly displaying his gleaming feathers, perched on the chair back, and Maddie crouched beside him. Sofiya touched Maddie’s legs and sat down with Nikolai beside her. He pulled his book out from under the seat and paged through it as the train started forward with a jerk. It was quiet and cozy. A moment later, Mama Berloni appeared with her basket of food.

“So much you’ve been through,” she said. “You eat now! For you, the sandwiches.” She handed several familiar packets wrapped in paper to Thad and Sofiya, then gave a bottle and a brown bag to Nikolai. “And for you the bolts and the vodka. You eat and grow strong for circus, no?” She bustled away.

“You are already growing,” Sofiya said to Nikolai in mock dismay. “I will have to let your trousers out, and I just bought them.”

“I like this,” Nikolai announced, crunching happily on a bolt from his bag. “This is our family.”

“Doom!” Dante agreed.

Thad had to laugh. “A human man, a clockworker woman, an automaton boy, a windup parrot, two brass horses, and a mechanical spider who all live in a circus. What kind of family is that?”