Clarence (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4 (Voices)

Gordon walked into the repairs trailer and looked at the long line of clowns that flanked one side of the workshop. They all looked different. Some had white faces, some had black faces, some had blue faces. Some had green hair or red hair or yellow hair. Some had big noses and some no nose at all. But one thing was the same amongst them all - the smile. The smile was the same on each of the clowns.

Gordon ran his hand through his thinning blonde hair and then zipped up the front of his brown overalls. He walked up to the nearest clown - a white-faced, red-haired one and opened it’s green and black stripy waistcoat. Underneath was a metal panel. Gordon took a screwdriver out of his breast pocket and unscrewed the panel. Inside was a mesh of wires and circuits and Gordon began prodding his screwdriver inside.

“What are you doing?” came a jovial voice.

Gordon jumped and turned around. Standing there was a tall, thin clown with a bald, domed head and wearing a black and white zig-zigged suit.

“Henry,” said Gordon, “you made me jump, mate.” Gordon frowned. “I didn’t even realise you were missing.”

“I was helping Uncle Joe coordinate the search grid for Clarence,” said the clown in the happiest voice you could imagine.

“Any luck yet?” said Gordon.

“Unfortunately not,” said Henry as he walked into the trailer. He walked right up to Gordon and Gordon looked back at his glassy, dark eyes. “But we will find our brother eventually and put a stop to his dangerous games.”

“They’re hardly games,” said Gordon as he put the panel back onto the clowns chest.

“No they most certainly are not,” said Henry.

Gordon fastened up the clowns waistcoat and then put the screwdriver into his pocket.

“Do you know there are visitors to the circus?” said Henry, standing next to the clown and getting in line.

“Couple of girls,” said Gordon, picking up a toolbox.

“They are off-worlders,” said Henry.

“So are we,” said Gordon.

“They are here to investigate us,” said Henry.

“Oh, I’m sure they’re just-”

“They are here to close us down,” said Henry. “Uncle Joe is not happy.”

Gordon didn’t reply, he just looked at the clown. Although Henry sounded jovial, he also seemed terrifying at the same time.

“What is Uncle Joe going to do?” asked Gordon, a trace of worry in his voice.

“He hasn’t decided yet,” said Henry, “but when he does make his decision I hope you will all cooperate.”

“Oh, of course,” said Gordon quickly.

“Good,” said Henry, dragging out the word as if he was telling a dog that he had been a good boy.

Gordon smiled nervously and then stepped backwards and out of the trailer, shutting the door behind him.

He glanced across at Carlotta’s caravan. He could hear the woman talking to the two strangers.

They hadn’t had a show for a while now. They wouldn’t have another show until they travelled to the next planet, but they couldn’t do that without Clarence. They needed to find him before he ruined everything.

But secretly Gordon hoped that he did ruin everything.




Owen was momentarily blinded as the lights flickered on. When his eyes adjusted he realised they were standing in an octagonal control room. A seat was stationed in the centre with other seats situated at each side of the octagon. Each edge had a computer console and the room was covered in a thick layer of dust.

The Doctor ran over to the central seat and blew as hard as he could. The dust billowed up and he coughed, wafting it away with his hand. “Centuries of dead skin,” said the Doctor. “Lovely.”

“This is the command deck?” said Owen, his eyes wide.

“Indeed it is,” said the Doctor, sitting down in the chair and looking around him. “Built to be functional, but with a hint of comfort.” He span the chair around and looked at each console. “The captain would have sat in this chair and his officers at each bank. Each one with their own duty.”

“It sounds like you’re quite an expert on colony ships,” said Owen, blowing dust off from one of the consoles.

“There have been many designs,” said the Doctor, spinning faster and faster on the chair.

“You’ll make yourself sick,” said Owen.

The Doctor stopped the chair with his feet, made a groaning sound, and said, “Oh, I feel a bit giddy.”

“So what are we looking for?” said Owen, gazing up at the domed ceiling.

“We need to get the computers running. I need to use them to do a bit of research.”

“Into the circus?”

“Into the circus,” said the Doctor, getting up off the chair and making an unsteady, wobbling walk to a console. He crouched down, whipped out his screwdriver and undid a panel at the base of the console. He then partially crawled inside and began examining the wiring.

Owen sat down on the floor next to him, his legs crossed. “Do you think we’ll get to the bottom of this?” said Owen.

“Of course we will,” said the Doctor. He peered out from under the console. “You know, I don’t like to give false hope, but there’s every chance that your son is still alive.”

“I doubt it, Doctor,” said Owen. Owen lowered his head. “I just feel so…empty.”

The Doctor got up from under the console and sat opposite Owen. He took his hands and Owen looked up at him. “I know what you’re going through.”

“You lost someone close to you?”

“I’m always losing people close to me,” said the Doctor, “but, yes, just recently I lost someone close to me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It was an accident. A silly, silly accident, but he died as a result. He’s gone forever, but we don’t have any evidence to suggest that your son is gone forever,” said the Doctor, squeezing Owens’s hands tightly. “So hold on to that hope.”

Owen nodded and mouthed, “Thank you,” to the Doctor.

“Now,” said the Doctor, slipping back under the console, activating the sonic screwdriver and then sliding back out from under it as the panel above flickered into life.

The Doctor leapt to his feat and started punching in some of the keys on the panel. A screen just above the panel switched on and showed green text on a black background.

“What was the name of the circus again?” asked the Doctor.

“Uncle Joe’s Circus,” said Owen, joining the Doctor at his side.

“Let’s see what we can see.”

In the shadows in the corridor beyond, dark, glassy eyes watched on with interest. He wondered if he should let them continue to dig for the truth. He wondered if he should let them carry on. He had to make a decision and make it soon.




“So,” said Holly, “you travel from place to place, put on a show, and then leave again.”

“That’s correct,” said Ringo.

“But one of the clowns, Clarence, malfunctioned, yeah?”

“He went crazy,” said Carlotta. “He’s a lost cause.”

“But what caused him to go crazy and start killing people? What broke his programming?” said Lilly. “Something doesn’t quite add up here.”

“That is none of your business,” said Ringo curtly.

“Alright, pal,” said Lilly. “We’re just trying to help some poor family come to terms with losing their son.”

Carlotta closed her eyes and then looked at Ringo. “We have to tell them, Ringo.”

“Absolutely not,” said Ringo.

“Tell us what?” said Lilly.

“Yeah,” added Holly. “Come on. Time to ‘fess up.”

“Not everything about this circus is normal,” said Carlotta, lowering her voice.

“CARLOTTA!” boomed a voice from somewhere outside.

“What the bloody hell was that?” said Lilly as her and Holly leapt up and crossed to the window to look outside.

“I told you,” said Ringo.

“We can’t keep living like this,” hissed Carlotta.

“Living like what?” said Holly.

Carlotta opened her mouth to speak.

“CARLOTTA!!” came the voice again.

“It came from the tent,” said Lilly, looking towards the red and white main circus tent.

“You better leave now,” said Ringo, crossing to the door and opening it.

“No,” said Lilly. “Not until we know the truth.”

“CARLOTTA YOU WILL NOT TELL!” came the booming voice. “YOU WILL OBEY.”

Carlotta looked terrified as she stared ahead of her.

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”

“I…understand,” said Carlotta.

“RINGMASTER, REMOVE THEM.”

“I obey,” said Ringo. He crossed to the girls and grabbed both by their arms.

“Leave off,” said Lilly, trying to wriggle free.

“You will leave now,” said Ringo, dragging them towards the door.

“But what about Carlotta,” said Holly, looking back at the frozen form of Carlotta.

“She will be fine. You will leave and not return,” said Ringo. “Leave the hunting of Clarence to us. You need not concern yourself with what is going on here.”

“Get off me!” said Lilly again, trying to break free.

Ringo threw them out of the door and Gordon was stood there, flanked by Henry and six other clowns.

“YOU WILL LEAVE NOW!” said the booming voice again. “IF YOU TRY TO RETURN YOU WILL BE DESTROYED!”

Holly turned to Lilly and grabbed her hand. “Come on, Lils, we need to get out of here.”

“But-”

“We’ll find another way,” said Holly. “We’ll speak to the Doctor. We’ll find a way.”

“DO NOT RETURN!” boomed the voice as Holly and Lilly made for the pathway out of the valley.




“Fascinating,” said the Doctor, looking at the information that had scrolled up onto the screen. “It seems Uncle Joe’s used to travel with the Psychic Circus, but they went their separate ways a long, long time ago.”

The Doctor waited for Owens reply, but it didn’t come.

He turned around and standing there near the door to the corridor was Owen, a white hand clasped around his neck and a strange, cylindrical device pointed at his temple. A flood of colours stepped out of the darkness, and smiled at the Doctor.

“The killer, I presume?”

To be continued...