The circus tent's high structure was dark. A single light shined on a lone magician, dressed as a butterfly. Her long auburn hair was twisted into thousands of tiny ringlets that were pulled up only to fall in a tiny water fall to the small of her back. The shiny, stretchy material clung to her breasts and shoulders, outlined perfect hips until it flowed out around her in a shimmering aura. Silk wings fluttered with her movements, the fabric stretched taunt over delicate wire, the ends trailing in the wake of the gown. The music was slow, steady. She bent herself back, the line of her body making a graceful curve, her fingers slowly stretching toward the floor, the wings coming dangerously close to ground as well. Her hands met the ground and she thrust her legs up and turned her body making the dress spin wildly against her long legs. The wings danced wildly and as she brought herself up, giving her the brief appearance of flight.
This cued faster music. This cued the tigers. Majestically rising from the floor they stalked toward the butterfly, stopping just inches from the twirling skirts of the magician. Round and round the three courted. Suddenly, the woman jumped over a tiger, flipping through the air; taunting the predator. The tiger reared and spun to face the playful butterfly as she continued to spin and its mate circled closer. They grew bolder, drew closer. Slowly, the woman began to pull forth black cloth, as if from thin air. It grew larger and larger as she spun pulling the two edges closer, like a cape.
As she twirled, the cloth shielded both the tigers and the woman at alternating times. The music got louder, faster, she sped to keep up. She began to rise slowly as if truly in flight, and the great black swath of fabric rose with her to cover her. She hung in mid air completely wrapped in a black cocoon. The music continued for a minute more then became very soft, soothing and surreal. Lights began to flash, hold for a few minutes, then go out, showing the crowd no obvious means to hold the woman aloft. The tigers still circled below, taking "playful" swipes at their target.
Finally the music came to a grinding halt and the tigers, with a loud roar, both leapt at their prey at the same time. It burst, sending out material, both white and black, gossamer silk mixed with coarse cotton. It whirled in the air, as if caught by some colossal tornado, obstructing everything in the center ring. But in the blink of an eye, it all disappeared, revealing a pair of teen aged boys wearing all black in the ring with four panthers.
The crowd went wild with cheers and the young men grinned with pride for their fellow performer and began their act. In the crowd, four young men, three young women, and a younger girl applauded. One, a boy with lightly tanned skin, vibrant green eyes and brown hair that fell over one eye leaned over to one of his companions and commented, "That was well done. They distract the watcher without being too obvious. Not too flashy or tacky."
His friend, sitting to his left, was a young woman with brown hair several shades lighter than his own and eyes somewhere between green and grey, skin the same delicate shade of tan. She nodded, not taking her eyes off the spectacular circus performers moving with the panthers. "Look at the felines. The coats are shiny, and they aren't using whips or other such tools. I can see why the colony officials allowed them to keep the creatures. Nobody wants a mad animal running through the streets because it was mistreated by its trainers."
Another, slightly older woman frowned briefly at the two. Her light brown hair, bordering on blonde, was not in its usual buns, but in a high ponytail at the top of her head, as the child beside her had insisted was more appropriate for the occasion; her glasses hooked on the inside of her purse. "Enjoy the show, that's what you are here to do, not analyze it, jeez. Circus folk," she muttered.
Just then the crowd let out a collective sound of appreciation as the panthers leapt through two great circles of fire and the two boys followed and tumbled to a halt in front of the crowd, bowing and winking at any young ladies in the front row. In a poof of smoke they were gone. In there place stood a woman of about medium height, pleasantly curved and about what appeared to be in her early to mid forties, judging by the white that laced through her black hair. She smiled at the crowd, mischief written into every line of her face.
Taking a deep breath, she called, "Who feels like the twelve credits they spent to get in was well worth it?" This was her stalling for time antic. Back stage, two of the parade horses had been spooked when one of the tigers had come too close. The parade horses Model and Recluse were white and black to compliment and off set each other. Model, the white, was the one that had spooked and thrown her rider, who was currently with the medical technician that was always behind the scenes in case of emergency. Diolyn was now getting into the girls costume in the middle of a crowded back stage.
The crowd roared their approval and she didn't try to stop them. When Diolyn was done, they'd move on. Until then, she'd let the crowd distract itself. A few minutes later, the okay signal came up and she silenced the crowd merely by raising her hand. "I heartily agree," she said slyly, causing a small wave of laughter within the stands. "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a good old fashioned parade!"
Carousel began to play and four large Clydesdale horses came out pulling a cage of monkeys. They jumped around from the branches within the cage and a young man, woman, and two children mimicked them, going among the audience, pretending to pick bugs out of peoples hair and eating them, jumping around and tumbling, generally acting silly. Connected to the monkey's came the seals. They bounced balls on there noses, passing them to each other and accepting treats from the trainer in the car with them. Four girls, again dressed to match their respective animals, bounced a ball between each other using only their heads, feet and knees.
Other animals went by with their humans dressed to match, until the acrobats had their turn. They jumped through hoops, made moving pyramids of people, walked on their hands, rolled on huge round balls and juggled fire, daggers, plates, and bowling pins independently and in small groups of threes or fives.
Then out came the clowns. Comically dressed with expressions ranging from happy to grim, some dressed like hobos and others dressed like wealthy earth people from the 16th century. A few tiny cars came into sight, legs and arms protruding out at odd angles from the windows, one foot sticking out of a roof, as if too many people had forced it through the metal. Huge red shoes, round noses and a number of humorous skits, including a mime getting stuck in cement had the whole tent rolling in laughter.
Last, the trick riders came out, some standing on the saddle, others were jumping between galloping horses. They wheeled in tight circles, did small sketches of sword play, leaned in the saddle to pick up objects scattered on the floor or on other people.
For the finale the pure black horse and a pure white horse pranced into the ring, which was quickly becoming empty of the other actors. On the white horse was Diolyn, black leotards showcasing long legs, a tight vest hugging a "pirates" shirt with full sleeves pulled closed at the wrist. The girl on the black horse was wearing the same out fit, but in white. They started astride, then as one, stood, and bent putting their hands on the saddle. Again, together, they pushed themselves up until they were standing on their hands. The horses continued with their steady canter, following the letters on the inside of the ring as trained. The girls flung one hand out, balancing on their remaining limb, bending their bodies back and vying their legs to keep balance. They turned until they were facing backwards and did numerous other tricks.
Diolyn, riding the white animal, watched for the red letter "g" that would signal the time she was to stand. When she saw it, she placed her feet back on the saddle, pulled herself up onto the waiting bar and started the complicated series of flips that would end with fireworks and both herself and Angela disappearing. The final flip, the fireworks, and Diolyn allowed her self to drop onto the waiting net through the open trap door cleverly hidden on the floor of the arena.