Elephant Song

SEVEN

The gang working toward Tarzak had made it to the place where the Fake Foot River cascaded down a steep cliff; forty miles from Miira, the half-way point to Tarzak. As the gang moved farther south, the thinner became the trees; and logs and planks were needed to cross the streams. Pickle Nose Porse, Number Three's porter, had established a supply and timbering point midway between Number Three and the cliff.

The cliff extended right and left as far as could be seen. A harsh, steady wind blew from the plateau where Pony's gang stood, down the face of the cliff. The rock of the cliff wasn't the shale and crumbled ledge of the Snake Mountain Gap. The face of Blowdown Cliff was solid granite. After his bull, Bandit, had been killed in a fall down the cliff, bullhand Sergeant Spook Tieras established a tool sharpening and repair station at the drop in the river which became known as the Bandit Falls. The road down Blowdown Cliff would have to be chiseled.

In the Snake Mountain Gap, seven days work went sliding into The Push when a tremor near a fault in the gap's vicinity caused thousands of tons of rock and soil to loosen. No one was killed, but boss harnessman Waxy Adnelli's left arm was crushed. Waxy was carried back to the place that everyone now called Miira, where Mange Ranger managed to save the harnessman's life at the cost of his arm.

Several nights after Packy's crew had begun to repair the damage, canvasman Goofy Joe Napoli climbed the road into the camp near the peak of the Snake Mountains. There were greetings then everyone gathered around a fire to eat and hear the news that Goofy Joe brought. Since the only radios left working were in cars Ten and Four—both in Tarzak—the gang was eager to hear what Goofy had to say.

Packy nodded at the canvasman and asked the first question. "Goofy, have the radios in Tarzak picked up anything yet?"

Goofy Joe shook his head. "And they're not listening anymore, either. They want to save the juice they have left for when Number Ten takes off. They've got the remaining fuel from the other three cars loaded up in her. Leadfoot Sina's taking it up to try and find Number Two."

Dot the Pot leaned forward toward the fire. "When does it take off?"

"It should be gone by now. While they're looking for Number Two, Leadfoot's going to try a little mapping. There's a chance he can find a route to Number Seven. So far we have roads connecting all of the cars in Tarzak. We made the bridges out of the cars. No wood to speak of down there."

"What're you doing for houses?"

"Packy, we haven't had a drop of rain since we touched down. We're building houses out of sun-dried mud bricks. Roofs are the problem. We can thatch with the long grass we have down there, but we don't have any wood for roof poles."

Packy nodded. "Once we get the road through, we can get planks, logs, and poles to you." He pointed at Goofy Joe. "You tell Tarzak that in exchange for those planks and poles, we're going to need metal. Especially another set of those core blades. We grind with them, but both of ours from Number Three are about all wore out."

"When I was in Pony Red's camp, he said the same thing."

Little Will looked up at the canvasman. "Goofy, what's it like in Tarzak? How're they taking all this?"

Goofy looked around at the grim-faced circle of listeners. "It's about the same all over. We're in the cart and there's no question about it. It's like everybody needed to hit someone, but that someone isn't around."

Snaggletooth scratched his head, then held out his hands.

"What about Rat Man Jack, the route man? Won't he send out someone when we don't show up on time?"

Goofy shrugged. "Snaggletooth, do you know what a parsec is?"

"No."

"Leadfoot sort of explained it to me. It's one bullzonkus distance, I can tell you that. Take ten and multiply it by itself thirteen times, then multiply it some more. Got that?"

Snaggletooth shrugged.

"Never mind. It's a bunch. It's about fifty or so of those things between Ahngar and H'dgva in the Tenth Quadrant. That's in a straight line, which we didn't take. Now, we could've gone anywhere in between, see? And those searches have to be done at sublight speed to do any good. On top of that, we could have gone off course anywhere in between, which we did. Add to that the possiblity that we just might have blown up, and there's not going to be a lot of enthusiasm for spending the next several centuries searching for us."

The listeners sat quietly for awhile. Packy picked up a handful of pebbles and began flicking them one at a time into the fire. "Goofy, we're almost through the gap. Stretch Dirak's gang from the north is only a couple of miles away. Fisty Bill Ris's gang and Cross-eyed Mike Ikona have roads connecting all of the Emerald Valley cars. If Fatlip Louie will have the road cleared from Tarzak, then all we have left is Pony Red getting down that cliff."

Goofy nodded. "That sound's good to me."

Dot the Pot looked at Packy, then looked at Goofy Joe. "And then what, Goofy? What then? We'll have a road from Ikona to Tarzak, but we'll still be stuck on this damned little mudball."

"Don't really know." He held out his hands. "We'll have to get some kind of act together. There's still Number Seven to get to."

Dot snorted out a laugh. "Another damned road." She pushed herself to her feet and walked from the fire. One by one the others got up and went to put in some shut-eye before the next day's hard work.

Goofy Joe sat staring at the fire for a long time, then he stood and looked around at the night. Little Will was still at the fire. He looked down at her. "This is sure a happy bunch."

She smiled sympathetically. "Because of that fault, we lost a week's work. Where are you going now?"

"I thought I'd cross the mountain here and spread the gossip to the gangs up north."

"Goofy, it's dangerous—to travel that way even when you have the light with you. At night you could kill yourself."

The canvasman rubbed a finger beneath his nose and then snorted as he let his hands drop to side. "I just don't want to hang around this bunch of sad sacks. I'm too easy to depress."

Little Will thought for a moment, then looked up again at the canvasman. "Goofy Joe, how long have you been with O'Hara's?"

The canvasman rubbed his chin and looked up at the stars. "Let's see. That was some after the war... must be about twenty-five—twenty-six years."

"You were there when my mother and father got married?"

"There?" Goofy Joe resumed his seat by the fire. "The world was there, Little Will. Little Joe, the show's chaplin, did the honors in the center ring. The boss elephant man marrying the Lion Lady. Mr. John gave away the bride, and Waco Whacko was Bullhook's best man." Goofy frowned. "I wonder where Waco is now. Anyway, that was an occasion. You should've been there... well, you know what I mean."

"Goofy, what happened to them? Why did they split up?"

The canvasman settled back upon his elbows. "The show's hard on a lot of marriages, Little Will. And you got to understand this thing between cats and bulls. They're natural enemies. You know that when a bull died it was usually cut up and fed to the cats."

Little Will nodded.

"Five tons of meat isn't to be sneezed at, prices being what they are... were. Anyway, after your parents got married, things were just fine until that stand in..." Goofy rubbed his chin. "That was in Richmond, North American Union." He nodded. "Damn, but that was one helluva night."

He sat up. "I guess you were only one or two years old then." The canvasman shook his head. "See, the Lion Lady's father, Humpy Ireland, he was a camel hand. Never did like the cats, old Humpy. But Kris wanted a cat act, and you'd have to know Kris before Richmond to know why she got everything she ever wanted. I never met anybody who was harder to say no to.

"Well, Humpy gave up his camel and became part of the Lion Lady's cat act." Goofy shook his head. "God, but Humpy was scared of those cats." He looked up at the stars. "The cats got Humpy in Richmond. Chewed him up so that there wasn't enough left to call spit. Kris stepped in and tried to stop it, but the cats were crazy and cut her up real bad. Took off half of her face."

Little Will gasped.

Goofy Joe held out his hands. "They fixed her up in the hospital, though. Remolded her face and sealed up her cuts like nothing happened. Both of them left the show then. A year later the Lion Lady was back with her act. We didn't see anything of Bullhook Willy until right before the City of Baraboo took to the star road. They must've separated in Richmond."

"But why?"

Goofy Joe stretched out next to the fire. "The most reliable gossip I heard was that Bullhook went crazy and tried to kill the cats. Those cats were more important to the Lion Lady than even her own life. I bet that's what happened, and Kris put Bullhook's trunk out on the lot."

The canvasman yawned and cradled his head against his arm. "That's why Kris killed herself, Little Will. The air on the Baraboo was bad, and her cats were suffering. I think one or two had already died. What I heard was that she killed the rest of them, then killed herself."

He lifted himself upon one elbow. "Hey, I shouldn't be talking this stuff. I'm sorry."

"I wanted you to, Goofy. I wanted to know."

The canvasman snorted and put his head back down upon his arm. He snorted again and closed his eyes. "Guess I'm about as cheery as the rest of this flipping funeral."

Little Will pushed herself to her feet, walked until she found Packy in the shadows, and cuddled in next to the boss elephant man.

"Mumph."

"Goodnight Packy."

"Mmph."

Little Will closed her eyes until the light from the fire sparkled and filled her vision. Bullhook Willy and the Lion Lady had been apart, but there had been a time.

Her mind called out a name: "Pete. Are you awake?"

"I'm awake."

"Pete, Nhissia once taught me how to share a memory. Can you do that?"

"I suppose so. What do I do?"

"Just open your mind as far as you can; as though you were listening as hard as you could."

"Okay. I'm listening?"

Little Will closed her eyes and brought back the beautiful starship—deep inside.

Most of the show's three thousand troupers were gathered in the main practice arena of the City of Baraboo. Those who manned the ship's stations listened to the intercom. Little Will sat in the crowded seats between Kristina and Bullhook. Little Will watched as, in the center of the arena, John J. O'Hara took a microphone from a propman and lifted it to his lips.

"The last two seasons were rough. Karl Arnheim had as many as six shows dogging our tracks at one point." He lifted a fist. "By damn, we met opposition with opposition and each time walked away with victory!"

The troupers cheered.

O'Hara lowered his fist, then looked around the arena. "But we left friends behind. Joliet Jake Sobie and Siren Sally Fong died in the clem on Tuulurim. On the planet Morvah, Arnheim's sabotage made us leave nine of the Irish Brigade in hospitals and another four troupers in the ground. Blondie MacDeer, Pieface Jack Goolahan, Tooter Tamazan, and Peyote Pete Beartooth died there." The Governor rubbed his eyes, then lowered his hand. "At the last stand, on Dyvaul, eleven died... You all know who they were."

Again he looked around the arena. "We obtained victory... but the price. The price is too high." He held out his arms. "All of us—we are entertainers. We are show people. I am in the entertainment business. I am not going to spend any more lives on Karl Arnheim."

The stands around the arena buzzed with chatter. O'Hara waited for the troupers to quiet down. "Beginning next season, I'm taking the show out of the Ninth Quadrant. O'Hara's Greater Shows is going to open up the Tenth Quadrant to the star circus." The stands were silent. O'Hara looked around the arena, then continued. "We will be gone for a long time each stretch. Five, maybe six years at a time. Each one of you has to decide if you want to come along with the show, or leave it when we lay up on Ahngar." He held the microphone to his lips for a few moments longer, then lowered it. A propman took the microphone from O'Hara's hand and the show's owner walked slowly out of the arena.

As the troupers came down the stands in small groups, Kristina reached across Little Will and placed her hand on Bullhook's arm. "What about you, Willy? Are you staying with the show?"

He watched the troupers filing out of the practice arena, then shrugged. "What about you and Little Will?"

The Lion Lady smiled. "The cats stay with the show, and so do we."

"Then so do I."

Kristina looked down for a moment, then aimed her gaze at Willy. "I've been rough on you."

Bullhook nodded. "I don't blame you."

The Lion Lady glanced at Little Will, then back at Bullhook. "No. But I'm beginning to."

Little Will watched as the big man placed his hand on Kristina's hand. "Regal lady, can a humble bullhand interest you in a cup of coffee?"

Her mother laughed. "In sooth, Willy Kole, that's the best offer I've had all day."

Little Will smiled and looked around at the stands. "Hassih? Hassih? Where are you?"

"Little Will?" The Ssendissian's thought was weak. "I am in my quarters with one of your cursed human colds. Are you well?"

She looked at her parents holding hands, smiling at each other. "My mommy and daddy love each other. Isn't that wonderful?"

An almost audible telepathic sniff, then Hassih said: "Life with a circus is one long uninterrupted dee-light."

Little Will and Shiner Pete both laughed. She opened her eyes, stood, and walked around the sleeping bodies until she was next to the boss harnessman's son.

"Is it all right, Pete?"

"Sure."

She sat beside him and they held hands.

"Pete, what's going to happen to us? The show?"

The boy was silent for a moment. "I asked Waxy that just before Mange cut off my dad's arm. Waxy said you can kill troupers and you can kill animals, but you can't kill the show." Pete squeezed her hand. "You can't kill the show."

They watched the fire until they both drifted off to sleep.