The Circus Infinitus - Genesis Infinitus

by Ethan Somerville

  Icarus and his four zombie assistants worked at a feverish pace, removing strange pieces of equipment from the structure; work-benches, boxes of tools, a large collection of rings, some sort of engine comprised of numerous columns of interlocking cogs and even a giant iron tank that should have been far too heavy for the Dobbs brothers to budge, let alone lift and carry on their shoulders. Whenever the workers paused to gawp at this amazing collection of contraptions, Icarus barked at them to work faster. “There’s no time, there’s no time,” he kept shouting, more to himself than the labourers. Del tried to ask him what had happened, but he repeated the same thing to him, and darted off to attend to some other task. Del could only assume that the difference engine and the Omniportallis had worked, otherwise he wouldn’t have arrived so spectacularly.

  With Icarus and his assistants working as fast as they could, by the end of the day the entire contents of his basement had been transferred into the theatre; some upstairs into his office, and the rest down within the bowels of the unfinished structure. Although the outside of the building now appeared complete, a great deal of work still remained to be finished off inside; mainly indoor furnishings. Whenever Del tried to approach Icarus for an explanation, he was waved irritably away; Icarus flitted from one job to another without pausing, connecting cables, joining pipes, tightening screws and not caring whether he got in Gruff’s way.

  When the Welsh foreman opened his mouth to shout at him, Icarus silenced him with a mouthful of abuse so vitriolic Gruff was momentarily stunned. Then he stomped off to seek out Gordon.

  “The Professor’s at it again!” he told the Steamworks owner. “I don’t know how he managed to appear out of nowhere, and frankly I don’t care! Bu I want him out of my sight right now!”

  Nicholas sighed. “You’re better off seeing Mr. Delfay. Abbacus won’t listen to me.”

  Gruff stalked off to see Mr. Delfay, who was also waiting off to one side and looking rather left out of things. The foreman complained to him, and was met with the same resigned sigh.

  Mr. Delfay spread his hands. “Mr. Jones, I’ve been trying to speak to him myself all day, but he keeps saying ‘there’s no time, there’s no time.”

  Mr. Jones stomped off in a huff. Fortunately it was quitting time, and he blew his whistle to signal his workers. They laid down their tools, but Icarus and his zombies kept working, continuing despite the dark.

  Gordon called for Adam to accompany him back into town, but the young man elected to remain behind. “I must find out what happened,” he told him.

  Nicholas sighed. “Very well.” He returned to town alone.

  Sometime after midnight, while the zombies were laboring with only a couple of oil-lamps to see by, Del finally managed to corner Icarus alone in his upstairs laboratory, now cluttered with machinery and starting to resemble his basement. It was the first time since his return he had caught him alone. He assumed Icarus had snubbed him all day because there was always someone around, preventing him from revealing his true emotions. But Del couldn’t read anything from Icarus’ feelings at all. Why was he still blocking him? Del narrowed his gaze, seeing with his mind’s eye, and focused on Icarus’ shields.

  Because Icarus usually dropped his veil around him, Del hadn’t needed to examine it for a long while. He almost didn’t recognise it. Gone was the crude, crumbling shield he had encountered during their first meeting in Southwark, and in its place towered a smooth steel wall with almost no gaps. With his current powers he could have penetrated it … eventually. He hadn’t realised that Icarus had built up his strength to such a degree.

  “Icarus?” he queried in concern.

  “I’m sorry Del, but we have to leave,” Icarus whispered without looking up from the ocean of parts spread out on the desk in front of him. “We can’t stay here anymore. Someone is coming.”

  Del crossed over to him. The shield was still up. “Who?”

  “I don’t know anything about him. Or maybe it’s a her. I don’t know. I just experienced their power. Whoever they were, they managed to scry me out through the use of my necromancy, and then rip down all my wards. I only just managed to get the Omniportallis spun up in time!” Finally he looked up. Tears gleamed on his one human cheek. “I’d never felt anything like it! The strength of will required to counter and destroy my spells – truly the magician must be … close to my equal!”

  Del couldn’t help but smile at his vanity. Still, when he mentally translated the word “Magick” into “Psionic” he understood Icarus’ concern all too well. “I always thought your necromantic practices would get you into trouble!”

  “I didn’t even have anything active!” Icarus growled, irritated that Del didn’t seem to be taking him seriously. “He must have locked on to residual energies.” Then his human eye widened as something occurred to him. “Only a churchman could have done something like that!”

  “Surely not!”

  “The Stigmata has found me, and they’ll be coming here as soon as possible, I guarantee. Through those imps, they knew where I am.”

  “What holy man would deal with such creatures?” exclaimed Del.

  “I’m sure they would let the Devil himself sodomise them to achieve their ends.” Icarus returned to his task, joining components together to finish a control-board for the electric lights that would illuminate the place.

  He wanted Del to remain with him for the rest of the night. He wanted to lock the door to the office so they could be together. But there was so much to do! Before they could leave he had to make sure everything was connected, so nothing would remain behind when they departed. And he also had to decide on their next destination and calculate the coordinates – formidable tasks even for his enormous brain.

  Del placed a delicate had on Icarus’ shoulder – his human shoulder, so he would feel his touch. But Icarus shrugged himself free. “You must understand how important this is. That church-mage can’t find us again.”

  Del sighed. “Icarus, is it really that serious?”

  “I swore to protect Leonardo’s secrets,” Icarus growled. “I would be profaning his memory if I let them fall into the Stigmata’s hands. Who knows what they will do with them? Naturally they would not let me live, but after they had me executed, they would use all the devices for themselves.”

  “This Church you fear doesn’t seem so bad to me. From what I’ve seen, it promotes kindness and love.”

  “Yes, on the surface it does. But beneath it’s ruthless in its search for secrets and technology.” Icarus suddenly darted past Del and scuttled across his laboratory to check an impressive spaghetti-junction of cables. Then he crossed to some pipes, examining them to see if they had been sealed correctly. He started muttering as he worked, and Del realised that he wouldn’t be getting any more out of him.

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” Del asked, irritated that he had been dismissed so quickly. Truthfully he had missed Icarus during recent weeks. Nicholas’ age had finally started catching up with him. His flagging energies prevented him from making love with Del as often as he wanted. In turn Del had finally acclimatised to human food and grown stronger. Large meals of rich red meat actually satisfied him – for short periods. I do what I do to survive, Kamrys, he thought whenever his conscience pricked him.

  Unfortunately this had caused his sexual appetites to increase as well. The ailing Nicholas Gordon could no longer satisfy them. This would not have been so bad had he still been working the streets, and other lovers were available. But alone … he wanted more. His Eridon blood had finally started flowing.

  “If you can see anything that hasn’t been connected properly, join it up for me.”

  Del swept the room with his gaze. Truthfully, he had no idea how any of Icarus’ gadgets worked. Some of them shouldn’t have functioned at all – they seemed to defy all laws of physics. And now all sorts of new devices had been introduced and joined with the old ones – he could see impossible tangles of cables, pipes and hoses tha
t didn’t seem to go anywhere, but were obviously doing something, for they gurgled and hissed. “I wouldn’t know where to start.” He loosened his cravat and unbuttoned his shirt. Now Icarus had returned it was already becoming warmer in here – a heat he had also sorely missed. It seemed no matter how high the fires in Gordon’s house were stoked, the enormous, high-ceilinged rooms were always cold.

  Icarus continued to work silently for a few more minutes, then he started to experience feelings he had managed to quash during his six months down in London. Because he hadn’t wanted to be distracted by thoughts of Del, he had forced himself to lock all such memories away behind his recently restructured mind shields. But now they returned with a vengeance.

  “Do you have to do that?” he muttered at Del.

  “What?” Del asked innocently. “It’s hot in here.” He raked his fingers through his long hair, tossing it back over his shoulders.

  Icarus actually groaned. “Please don’t.”

  Del realised Icarus shields were shaking. He could see great cracks racing across the smooth steel surface. “Don’t what?” He crossed the floor towards Icarus, “This?” he shook his head, making his hair ripple as though it had a life of its own. “What, am I distracting you from the task at hand?” He pulled his shirt from his trousers and shrugged out of it.

  Icarus really had to struggle to turn away from that tall, smooth-skinned chest. He clenched both hands into fists, placing them on the work-bench in front of him. He had worked so hard on his shields to keep out intruders, but now he felt them come crashing down – and immediately Del’s projected feelings flooded into him. He tried to shore up his barriers, but the floodgates had been torn down. All they had shared together washed over him like a wave.

  “Stop it. I said I had work to do,” he snapped, one last token of resistance.

  Del smiled. He had won. “This won’t take long, Icarus. I’ve missed you.”

  Icarus turned and backed up against a bench, lifting his mechanical hand to hold Del at arm’s length. “You had Gordon – I had no one.”

  “Nicholas is starting to tire. He is quite old for a human.” He slipped one arm around Icarus’ narrow shoulders, drawing him close, and slid his other hand down his body, into the waistband of his trousers. There was a significant bulge beneath. That was enough for Icarus, who still couldn’t believe someone actually desired him. He couldn’t resist any more. Why was he fighting, anyway? Surely everything could wait for a few minutes. He gave a sigh and returned Del’s embrace. The fiery heat from his body immediately flowed into Del, heightening his excitement even more.

  “So where is it?” Del whispered into Icarus’ one ear.

  “In the inside pocket of my coat, of course! I never remove it.”

  Del reached in and pulled it out. “More improvements!” he marveled. “Truly this is becoming a work of art!”

  Icarus took it off him and attached it, where it whirred into life. “How many works of art can do this?”

  Del giggled. “And are used for this purpose?”

  The next few days passed in a blur of activity for both Gordon’s workers and Icarus’ team. Icarus wanted Gruff and his men to finish as quickly as possible so he tried his best to keep out of their way. But it took all his strength of will to resist chastising them at every turn. He had to keep telling himself that they were only human and not perfect. Instead he came down hard on his zombies, forcing them to pick up the slack.

  “Lucky we’re already dead, or you’d be workin’ us to death!” growled Tim Dobbs.

  “You really will be dead if the Stigmata get hold of us!” retorted Icarus. “It’ll all be over soon – one way or another!”

  He figured the mysterious mage was making his way north the old fashioned way – otherwise he would have been here already. It would take him a couple of days’ ride. On the afternoon of the third day since Icarus’ return, just after Gruff and his men left for the day, he ordered his zombies to grab all the leftover steel, wood and bricks, and bring them into the main building.

  “What are they doing that for?” Gordon asked.

  Del fancied he had an idea, but simply shrugged. Then Icarus beckoned him over. When Gordon made to follow, Icarus lifted a hand to stop him, then pulled Del into a gap between some girders.

  “We’re leaving tonight, as soon as the last of the supplies are inside,” Icarus whispered.

  Del nodded, then glanced over his shoulder at Gordon. “I’d better spend the last night with him.”

  Icarus patted his shoulder. “You do that, but come back as soon as you can.”

  “So where are we going?”

  “There’s a city in northern Germany I visited a few hundred years ago. It has large, flat fields all around, perfect for us to land on. My Prussian’s a little rusty, but with your mind-reading we should get by.” He made a shooing motion. “Go with Gordon, give him a night to remember, because you probably won’t see him again.”

  Del felt a lump rise in his throat. The old man honestly thought Del was going to stay with him forever. Had the circumstances been otherwise Del would have – he sensed by the increasing frailty in Gordon that he didn’t have much longer to live.

  Del accompanied Nicholas Gordon back to his townhouse, where they ate a huge meal together, then retired to enjoy each other’s company. “Adam, you have made me the happiest man alive,” he told him. “I don’t care who knows it any more. I want to shout it out from the rooftops.”

  You won’t have to, Del thought miserably as he wrapped his arms around Nicholas’ shoulders. I’m so sorry. He kissed him, and wished he still had the telepathic power to make him forget. All could do was after they had finished lovemaking, was soothe Nicholas into a deep sleep, so he wouldn’t notice the Eridon slipping out of bed, dressing, and creeping from the room some time after midnight.

  By the time he reached the theatre all of the rubble had been cleared away. Even the mess left behind by Icarus on his arrival had been removed. The striped carnival tents now stood on wooden bases, connected to the main structure by long cables. “You certainly took your time. How many sessions was that?”

  “Just one. Like I said, he’s wearing out. What by Eridos do we need all those leftover supplies for?”

  “Repairs, new structures – if this is to be a travelling show, we’ll need stalls, games – new rides. All of which we’ll have to make on the run. At the next place we land we’ll have to really start recruiting. We need more acts, acrobats, clowns, animals – freaks. Now come on!” He spun in a whirl of tattered leather coat and raced across the floor to the alcove where the Omniportallis and its difference engine were set up. The Dobbs brothers, Ethel and Willkie followed. Willkie, who had actually experienced the transference already, explained the process to the others.

  “Let me put it this way – you’ll be glad you’re dead and can no longer throw up!”

  Icarus punched some buttons on a large metal pad, then pulled a card from one pocket.

  “What’s that?” Tim asked.”

  “A set of coordinates I managed to work out from the latitude and longitude of Hannover,” Icarus and pushed the card into a slot in the side of the difference engine. He turned a brass handle and the cogs began to turn, ratchets slotting into the card’s holes and locking them into the required sequence. “But the possibilities are infinite. We can go anywhere on Earth. I just need to do the numbers and translate them into a punch-card.”

  “Infinite possibilities,” whispered Del.

  “So our name could be the Infinite Circus!” exclaimed Tim.

  “Yes, an excellent name,” Icarus agreed. “But let’s Latin it up a bit to make it more mysterious. The Circus Infinitus. How does that sound?” Before anyone could answer, he reached over to a large two-pronged lever and pulled it down. A deep hum started, and the outer ring of the Omniportallis started to glow. One by one the seven rings inside began to spun, slowly at first then faster and faster, cutting a hole through reality.
/>   The Circus Infinitus winked out of existence, heading off on its first adventure.

  Nicholas Gordon was the first to arrive at the building-site. He had risen early to find that Adam had already departed, and assumed he had gone to work. But when he stepped down from his carriage he wondered if his driver had made a mistake – they had stopped in front of an empty field. Something had been here – there was a large, flat sunken area of dirt in the middle where a large building had stood, surrounded by the smaller dead patches caused by the carnival tents.

  Nicholas recognised a map of the Da Vinci Company Theatre. But where the Hell was the actual structure? How could it be … gone? And Adam with it?! Suddenly, his old heart lurched painfully, and he clapped his hands to his chest. He felt like the organ was trying to smash its way out through his ribs, like a furious bird in a case. He collapsed to his knees, his blood roaring in his ears.

  “Mr. Gordon!” exclaimed his driver, rushing to his side.

  “Get – help!” Gordon gritted, and keeled over into the grass.

  The driver leapt into his carriage and rattled off back into town.

  Gruff Jones and his workmen arrived a few minutes later to find the Steamworks owner sprawled on the grass beside the worksite – or at least where the worksite used to be. Gruff, who’d had some medical training, tried to revive the old man, but it was too late. His heart had finally given out on him – broken by shock and the disappearance of his one true love.

  Not long after Mr. Gordon’s body had been collected and taken back to his house, another carriage arrived at the empty side. Gruff and his workers were still standing around, scratching their heads and facing an uncertain future. Not only had their current source of employment just disappeared off the face of the earth, but their boss had also passed away, leaving the Steamworks factory in the hands of his former business partner James Henry and Nicholas’s only son Edward – an arrogant, pleasure-seeking gambler who would probably fritter the family fortune away. Naturally they thought this new arrival one of Gordon’s lawyers, coming in to size up the situation. Motioning the workers to keep back, Gruff strode forward.