Ali nodded, then leaned on the table. "So, you're a circus fixer." The Patch nodded. "Well, fix this: how am I going to make it back to Earth without laughing in Arnheim's face every time I see him?"
The fixer rubbed his chin. "If it was me, I'd stay in my cabin." And he did.
II Follow the Red Wagons
EDITION 2143
NINE
Tyli Strang opened her eyes, then closed them against the day's endless run of uninspiring work. She turned her slight frame onto her left shoulder and pulled the thermo-sheets up to her ears. It was always the same: get dressed, hurry through the morning frost to the cow shed, monitor the milking and feeding banks, program the estate control for the day's operation, then back to the house for Aunt Diva's version of a wholesome breakfast. By the time she had choked down the last patty of soycake drenched in soy-syrup, Ennivaat, the planet Doldra's sun, would be peeking over the horizon.
Uncle Chaine would then make his appearance, a thin graying beard hiding an alcohol-reddened face, and the day's chores would begin in earnest. Repair the dungchuck, monitor the sludge pool, fodder out for the herd, don't forget to wrap the expeller pipes to keep the separated milk from freezing, wood for the house, shovel off the old compost, we're trying a new formula this year—and so on, and so on.
Tyli snuggled into the covers, cursing whatever it was that had awakened her. She tried to drive her mind blank, praying that sleep would return her to her dreams. A clank from outside of the window marked the end of her prayers. Throwing back the covers, she sat up and looked through the window to see Emile Schone's freckled face peering from beneath a cloth hood and muff. Tyli pushed open the window, bracing herself against the icy draft. "What do you think you're doing, Em? I don't have to get up for another hour."
Emile grinned, displaying gaps where his front teeth had departed in preparation for his second set. "The circus, Tyli. It's here."
"So what?" Tyli grimaced at her friend, then shrugged. The night's sleep was a lost cause. "Where are they?"
Emile turned and pointed away from the window. Tyli craned her neck to look in the direction indicated by her friend's ungloved finger. In the distance, across the fence marking the limit of Uncle Chaine's property, silhouetted against the dull orange of the morning sky, were the wagons. Drivers, their collars turned up against the cold, hunched their shoulders against the night. The massive Percherons pulling the wagons shot out clouds of steam, as their heavy hooves clopped against the frozen ground. The markings on the wagons were still invisible, but everyone on Doldra under the age of twenty knew what was painted there: "O'Hara's Greater Shows—The Great One."
"C'mon, Tyli. They'll be gone soon."
Tyli turned from the window, and felt in the dark for her leggings and underwear. She pulled them on, shot her arms into her lined shirt, then stuffed her feet into her boots and zipped them up. Stuffing in her shirt, she reached to the back of the door and removed her parka. As soon as the sun broke the horizon, it would be too warm for the coat, but until then, it was needed. She sealed the seam on the parka, stood on the bed and pushed open the window. Placing her hands on the sill, she vaulted over the sill, coming to a stop on the frozen soil. She reached up and pulled the window shut. "Let's go."
The two ran to the fence and stopped to look at the wagons. Close up, the markings could be read, as well as the paintings of tigers, lions, clowns, flyers, flags, elephants, snakes, horses and riders. Below the paintings revolved the painted sunburst wheels, their steel rims grinding against the gravel.
"Gosh, Tyli, but aren't they something?"
One of the wagons came abreast of the pair. The driver looked down and nodded. "You boys off to see the show? We'll be making our stand in Coppertown before noon."
Emile nodded. "Sure, mister. I wouldn't miss it for anything."
The driver waved a hand. "Come on up, then. We always need boys to help spread canvas."
Emile pulled at Tyli's sleeve. "C'mon, Tyli."
Tyli frowned. "I don't know, Emile. My aunt and uncle will be up soon. I've got my chores."
The driver pulled up his team of six horses, then smiled. "You boys help with the canvas, the Boss Canvasman will give you free passes to the show."
Emile stamped his foot. "C'mon Tyli!"
Tyli looked back at the house, the windows still dark. She turned to her friend. "Let's go!"
The pair climbed the fence, then up the wheel onto the driver's seat and squeezed in next to the black-hatted man holding the reins. He laughed, shook his head, then caused the horses to move forward with a clucking sound. "You boys gonna get whipped for this, aren't you?"
Emile gulped while Tyli raised an eyebrow at the driver. "Maybe." she answered. "And I'm not a boy."
The driver squinted at Tyli, then shrugged. "Don't tell Duckfoot you're a girl. He don't want nothin' but boys on the canvas."
"That's dumb."
The driver nodded. "We toured Stavak before we came here to Doldra." He laughed. "They don't have either boys or girls on Stavak!" The driver shook his head. "Duckfoot's all right, kid; he's still got a little Earth left in him, that's all."
Tyli looked back over her shoulder to see the seats of other wagons crammed with kids, while the overflow paraded behind. "What's that last wagon?"
"That's the horse piano. The boiler cracked on it night before last in the cold, so we can't use it. If it was playing, you'd see kids coming from all over." The driver looked behind, raised his eyebrows, then turned back to the front. "Looks like we're doing all right, even without the steam music." He turned toward Tyli. "You think it's worth it? Runnin' off like this and gettin' a whippin'?"
Tyli frowned, then shrugged. "Don't know. I never seen a circus."
The driver looked forward, over the backs of the six-horse team, then he nodded. "It's worth it."
The Boss Canvasman rubbed his chin and looked down at the girl. "As long as we got them, all we use is boys."
Tyli stuck out her lower lip. "How many of these boys do you want me to whip to prove I'm as good as they are?"
Duckfoot Tarzak lifted his head and roared out a laugh. He shook his head and looked back at the girl. "My, my, but aren't you a sweetie pie? How old're you, kid?"
"Thirteen. And I can do anything I've seen you apes doing around here."
Duckfoot raised his eyebrows, then raised his glance at the tractor that had broken down as they came on the lot. He pointed at it. "Can you drive a cat?"
Tyli looked at the HD-17—a smaller version of the machine she used almost every day at her uncle's farm. "Nothing to it."
The Boss Canvasman pointed at the tractor. "Well, Sweetie Pie, get that cat started up and bring it over here."
Tyli glowered at the name, then turned and stomped off toward the tractor, heedless of the great spool wagons being hauled into place by a tractor doing double duty. She climbed up into the seat, lifted the ignition lock, pushed the right pedal into neutral, then pressed the ignition. When nothing happened, she tried the button twice more, then nodded as she turned her head to glare at the Boss Canvasman. Duckfoot's back was toward her as he directed the placement of the spool wagons. Gangs of canvasmen and boys were attacking the wagons already in place, pulling from them the huge, rolled sections of the main top.
Tyli got down from the seat, stood on one of the treads, and pulled up the tractor's side access panel. Her eyes quickly checked out the ignition system wiring while her fingers tested for loose connections. She wiped a clot of mud from one of the wires, noticed the insulation under the mud was broken, then she tugged at it. The wire came apart. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a pocket knife, opened it, then stripped the ends of the wire. After she had spliced the wire and secured it to keep the untaped connection from grounding, she again mounted the seat, pushed the cat into neutral, and hit the ignition. The cat roared to life, and Tyli looked in the direction of the Boss Canvasman. Duckfoot's back was still toward her, and amid the roars and clatter of the lot, he hadn't noticed the cat start up.