Steven Harper - The Impossible Cube

“All right,” Dodd said. “We have a deal.”

“So you’ll take us with you?” Gavin said. Alice made the elephant sit like an enormous dog. This was fun.

“Absolutely,” Dodd said. “We haven’t had anyone who can service the machines in a long time. That’s why we were heading to Kiev.”

“Kiev?” Feng got to his feet, concerned. “Is that wise? The Ukrainian Empire is the source of the clockwork plague.”

“Is it?” Alice straightened. “I’ve never heard that.”

“It’s never been proven,” Gavin said slowly, “and not something everyone discusses. Kiev does seem to have the earliest cases of plague on record.”

“Earliest cases?” Feng said. “That’s an understatement worthy of my father. According to the histories, in 1750 the Dnepro River boiled in the center of Kiev and the plague rose up like a dragon and devoured the city.”

“The river boiled?” Alice repeated. “What on earth does that mean?”

“No doubt some hyperbole found its way into the history,” Feng said.

“Which only goes to show that the stories are unreliable,” Dodd pointed out. “Boiling rivers indeed!”

“Then the plague rose up again ten years later,” Feng continued, undaunted, “and one more time twenty years after that. Kiev seems to attract the plague. No one has more cases of it, and no one has an earlier source of it.”

“Then why go there?” Gavin said.

“The plague is at an ebb right now,” Dodd told him. “Besides, we have Alice, and everyone in the circus is immune by now. The Ukrainians do have world-class automatons. They do have pots of money. And they love a good circus. If we keep our noses clean, we can sell out two shows a day for a month. We’ve played there a dozen times before with no trouble. It’s true they don’t like Jews or Catholics, but we have neither in the circus.”

“I was thinking we would go south, through Turkey,” Feng said, obviously ill at ease.

“That would be out of our way,” Gavin pointed out. “And the Ukrainians have paraffin oil, don’t they?”

“They practically invented the stuff,” Dodd said. “Russia pays them tribute in petroleum, and they’ve done some incredible things with it. I’ve already arranged to rent space and Linda says she saw us in Ukraine, so-”

“Linda?” Alice interrupted.

“She and her husband, Charlie, tell fortunes in the sideshow,” Dodd answered. “They’re very good, especially since Charlie’s accident.”

“You base this decision on a fortune-teller?” Feng said incredulously.

“And everything else I mentioned,” Dodd said. “Look, I’ve already decided that we’re going. If you want to come along, come. We can use Miss Michaels. The rest of you are dead weight, but-”

“Hey!” Gavin said. “I can play the fiddle!”

“And he sings,” Alice pointed out, feeling defensive.

“I could walk a tightrope, too,” Gavin muttered. “And learn the trapeze. Wouldn’t take more than ten minutes. Stupid clockwork plague gives me stupid extra reflexes. May as well make some extra money out of it before it kills me.”

“The Flying Tortellis would drop something on my head if I put you in the ring,” Dodd said with a grin. “Besides, you’re supposed to be hiding. I was joking about the dead weight. You really do have trouble with British humor, don’t you?”

“Now, look-”

“I’ve never visited the Ukrainian Empire,” Alice interrupted. “But if it’s the center of the plague, I should certainly go there with Gavin. Why are you so unhappy, Feng?”

“They are Cossack barbarians,” Feng spat. “They build and pollute and fight. They care nothing for balance or beauty.”

“ You worry about balance?” Alice asked archly.

“And the Chinese put them in power,” Gavin said.

“That doesn’t make them any less barbaric,” Feng shot back.

“In any case, I want to go there with Gavin,”Alice repeated. She stood the elephant back up and sent it to the side of the ring. “But please explain that remark about power.”

Feng crossed his arms. “England had an arrangement with China,” he said. “After the Napoleonic Wars ended, it became clear that parts of Europe-the west-and the Ottoman Empire-the east-could unite and become a threat to Britannia and China. Our governments didn’t want that to happen. So we came to an understanding. Britannia took the west and China the east.”

“I don’t need a history lesson,” Dodd complained. “Will the elephant work for anyone, Miss Michaels, or just you?”

Alice waved him away. “Anyone, Ringmaster. What do you mean by took , Feng?”

“Took charge.” Feng was pacing again. “Napoleon’s nephew was supposed to rule France after the old emperor was exiled, but the man died. With no strong ruler, France fell into civil war, and now it is four fragments. Why do you think that was? Prussia is ten tiny kingdoms who never agree. Why is that? Your Calvinists and Lutherans war with each other as well. Why does this happen?”

“You’re going to tell me the Third Ward keeps everyone off balance.”

“Indeed.”

“Up!” Dodd said, gesturing. “Up! Miss Michaels, he isn’t moving.”

“You have to use your left hand, Ringmaster,” Alice replied absently. “I assume China has a role as well?”

“China,” Gavin put in, “destabilized the east. Russia and Poland had split Ukraine in half and were draining it dry. The resources gave both countries enough power to make China-and Britain-nervous. Then the clockwork plague hit Ukraine again. For some reason, it created more clockworkers than normal in Kiev. A Cossack captain named Ivan Gonta ended up with a special talent for war machines, and his superior Maksym Zalizniak used Gonta’s inventions to start a revolution.”

The elephant got up and lumbered around the ring. It picked up speed, steam trailing from its tusks. Dodd waved frantically at it, but it didn’t slow down.

“Oh! I vaguely remember something about that from a history book, now that you mention specific names,” Alice said. “Gonta and the other clockworkers put together hundreds of war machines and slaughtered thousands of Russians and Poles until they abandoned Ukraine to the Cossacks.”

“Hello there!” Dodd shouted. “Runaway elephant!”

“Did you ever stop to wonder where Gonta and Zalizniak found the money and materials to build all those machines?” Feng asked.

Alice gestured sharply, and the elephant screeched to a halt. “I have the feeling it came from China.”

“Was that a malfunction?” Dodd asked. “Because I swear I did the exact same thing.”

Feng nodded. “The emperor chose wisely-the Cossacks are content to defend their borders without expanding them, and they make an excellent wedge between Russia and Poland.”

“I am your boss, Miss Michaels,” Dodd said.

“Of course you are,” Gavin murmured.

“At any rate,” Feng concluded, “the ruling Cassocks are actually crueler to their own people than the Poles or Russians ever were. It’s the nature of the warrior class.”

“And we’re walking right into them?”

“Steaming into them,” Dodd said. “We have a train. But I told you not to worry. They love us. Now, show me how to work this damned elephant.”

Alice gave him a wide smile. “What’s the magic word, Ringmaster? As a hint, I’ll tell you that it isn’t damned. ”

Gavin laughed, and Alice thought it was the most musical thing she had ever heard.

Later that afternoon, Alice opened the hatchway on the Lady of Liberty in her hiding place at the abandoned stable and climbed belowdecks. The familiar narrow corridor faced with doors greeted her. The creaking space felt eerie and claustrophobic without Gavin here. Alice went past her stateroom all the way down to the end and slid the last door open. Inside was the tiny laboratory Gavin had built into the airship. The entire place was set up for efficiency. Tools hung on the bulkheads, tabletops folded up, tiny drawers kept everything pigeonholed. It even had a tiny forge, which was currently glowing and made the room hot and stuffy. The place was also hung with half a dozen clocks. They ticked madly, their exposed gears whirling. Stuck everywhere were pieces of paper, large and small. Every one of them had the same drawing, one of a three-dimensional wire cube that twisted Alice’s eye. Part of the back passed over the front, or perhaps the front passed under the back. The drawings were done in pencil, charcoal, colored ink, and one medium that looked suspiciously like blood.