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Dark Carnival

Seventh Recap

Characters

At the carnival

Regulars
Non-regulars
The Tod Brothers
Varvara
Delilah Tod
Zack
alternate Magnus
the bodysnatcher
Pirouette
the black jelly baby
carny folk
Doctor Mekt
  • performs "Terrifying Chronal Explorations" for the punters
  • gaunt
  • robed
  • carries "a metal staff covered with a complicated array of circuitry and wiring", with which he can manipulate chronal threads (creating time loops, altering events in the recent (and possibly the less recent) past, etc.)
  • the Doctors think they remember having known someone called Mekt, but disagree about who he was
  • currently (c.2.50pm) a burned and tattered wreck - but feeling much better than he used to
Simple Simon
  • "a baggy-pantsed clown ... done up as a hobo in patchwork, with a ragged old sack thrown over one shoulder. Tufts of patchy orange hair thrust out under his hat, while his face was painted corpse-white with a huge crimson smile that looked more like a scream or a slit throat. He laughed again, a mad, hackle-raising sound of pure bestial lunacy." Wears white gloves.
  • the big red nose isn't makeup, it's his real nose
  • says "Simon says..." a lot
  • can disappear from one place and reappear in another
  • has incredible reflexes and amazing strength
  • Number One drives a steel tiger fang through his hand at 11.55am. On his next appearance, at 1.41pm, he wears "a big, cartoonish-looking cast"; at 3.00pm his hand is merely bandaged (but still painful).
  • Magnus breaks his arm at 3.25pm.
The Amazing Doctor Enigmo, Fortune-Telling Phrenologist
  • "a slim, goateed man with a monocle" and "a high, vaguely Austrian-sounding voice"
  • reads your future in the bumps on your head - after first making the bumps with "a huge steel hammer, square-headed and spiked, the whole thing clotted with dried blood"
  • deceased as of 9.42am
Fetch
  • a hunchbacked midget in a black cape and burglar's mask
  • deceased as of 11.19am
Tex
  • a stunted, long-armed man in a cowboy hat
  • deceased as of 11.19am
Cisco
  • dressed in a serape
  • one of the helpers in Ezra's shooting act
Rufe
  • one of the helpers in Ezra's shooting act
Bart
  • a peg-legged old codger
  • one of the helpers in Ezra's shooting act
  • deceased as of 3.02pm
Blind Eli
  • runs a sweet stall selling dangerous sweets that include newt's-balls, honeyed nightshade, greenstick rock, and glaucous allsorts
  • one of the slack-jawed, blank-faced ones
a small figure wearing jester's motley
  • "It seemed to be a small boy with features obscured behind a mocking mask."
  • has a squeaky voice
  • when we see it, is working for Ezekiel
Bent Jimmy
  • "the carnival's disgusting albino contortionist"
  • has a grating voice (and a lower-class mode of speech)
  • enjoys taunting Lineus (but does that count as a distingushing feature?)
the sketch artist
  • a "scrawny figure ... , yellow eyes a-glimmer and a tattered sketchpad in its hands"
  • "long, soft hands"
  • The man let out a soft, phlegmy chuckle as he compared his drawing to its subject, flecks of spittle dappling the bottom of the paper."
  • "His lips parted in a gummy smile"
  • Draws twisted caricatures of people that come to life, leap off the page, and attack people. A caricature-creature can heal in moments from any injury inflicted on it; it is, however, vulnerable to any damage inflicted on the piece of paper it was drawn on.
Wally
  • a hunchback
  • has tusks (and, consequently, a lisp)
  • "bulgy, assymetrical features"
Bob the Carpenter
  • a carpenter
  • "mostly normal-looking, if rather heavily scarred. And if one could overlook the largish number of nails that secured his head to his neck."
  • speaks in a whisper
Grandmother Nox
  • "Far from the unfolding scene, Grandmother Nox sits in her tent, ensconced amidst incense fumes and gaudy debris, staring into a smudged crystal orb that remains stubbornly remains empty even as fleeting visions play across her mind's eye."
The Matron
  • "She lacked but little being as wide as she was tall, and nearly as thick through the middle. Her face was pinched and warty, but with eyes like twin scalpels behind her tiny wire-rimmed glasses. A vast pile of white hair was pinned up in a bun larger than her head, adding nearly a foot to her otherwise stunted height. She wore an apron over an old battered housedress, its pockets brimming with the things she found most needful: threads and needles; bottles and jars that swirled with murky and off-colored liquids;" - including a thick grayish salve that draws lead out of wounds, and a "bone-glue" for quickly mending breaks - "a dough roller studded with nails; a box of leeches" and a clasp knife. Also carries "a heavy wooden toolbox". Doesn't habitually carry splints, but has them in stock.
  • claims she can "fix anybody" - but if Gideon wants stumps and scars, she'll deliver
  • the oldest surviving member of the carnival aside from the Tod brothers; is feared and respected by the other carny folk
  • "It was said that she was the oldest of the Tods' followers, that she had been there when Gideon first took charge, that she had pulled the squalling, clawing infant Ezra from his mother's dead womb, that she was as old as the Carnival itself. Which, if any, of these tales were true was a matter between Gideon Tod and the Matron herself, for neither spoke to others of her past. All the carnies and freaks and others knew for certain was that there had always been a Matron and that she was not to be crossed or disrespected, on pain of much worse things than mere death."
  • Is on casual terms with Gideon, addressing him by first name and essaying bantering comments (but knows when not to push it).
  • Tells Gideon that she suspected, from the moment she first saw him, that Ezra would come to a bad end. [But doesn't say when that was.]
Punch
  • apparently deceased as of 3.50pm
  • "a wooden figure, glistening in bright paint and varnish", brandishing a club. Has blue eyes.
  • It is not clear whether Punch is an independent entity or just a puppet. No puppeteer is seen, and Gideon speaks to (and of) Punch as if he's an independent entity.
  • Likewise the other characters in the show (although they don't appear to be as self-aware as Punch, apart from the two that are caricatures of real people, which seem more alive than the rest).
  • Inhabits a red-and-white striped Punch-and-Judy booth of traditional design - although the opening at the front is a mysterious void, no mere opening into the booth's interior. Punch (or his operator) can twist space and time in the immediate vicinity, allowing Punch to loom menacingly over the audience and preventing them from leaving.
  • Is capable of withstanding and dodging the blasts from Magnus's disruptor.
  • The sequence of the performance has Punch meeting Judy, killing the baby, beating Judy, a blind beggar, a wrathful neighbour, a caricatured negro servant, a clown, ... the crocodile, the policeman, Jack Ketch, and the undertaker. There's also a doctor in there somewhere, and Scaramouch, unless that's the name of one of the other puppets. [In the example linked below, Mr Scaramouch is the neighbour.]
  • The Judy puppet in the performance Magnus sees is made to resemble Ember Ashe. When Punch is unrepentant about the death of the baby, she attacks him with a cudgel of her own ("gleaming with a cold metallic lustre"), but is quickly disarmed and beaten into submission.
  • When Punch attacks Judy, there are realistic noises and blood-stains, and Judy appears to be in pain. (When Judy attacks Punch, he appears to feel pain, but he takes no damage.)
  • The clown resembles Simple Simon. The undertaker (the final character, in the place traditionally taken by the Devil) resembles Gideon Tod.
  • Background note: A Punch and Judy show from 1827 (NB: PDF) featuring the neighbour (Mr Scaramouch), the blind beggar, Pretty Polly, the doctor, etc.
freaks
Kumba, Lord of the Freaks
  • "billed on stage as their leader, and generally acknowledged as such by virtue of being the only one to boast not only a real living-van (albeit heavily-barred and padlocked at nights), but also three years' school-learning, and ten toes to count on"
  • stupid, but strong-willed
  • his chest has a horny carapace
  • Fitz's reaction to an item of clothing on the line attached to Kumba's caravan (which might not be Kumba's clothing, of course): "He really wasn't sure he wanted to meet the owner of the spiked and padlocked dogskin long-johns - particularly as the spikes were on the inside and the lock was on the outside... and there was an attachment either for a third leg, or for a tail..."
  • the bodysnatcher, playing on Kumba's weak point: "When they parade you round in that ring, chains dangling - can't you see they're laughing at you in your pasteboard crown and your stinking coat? You really think any of that pathetic collection of deformities and monsters love you - respect you? Remember how the boys mocked at you in school? Remember how you tried to pass as a man; remember how the Tod brothers bought you? Even the freaks would tear you apart if they saw you without your trappings, saw you for what you really are..."
  • does an act with Delilah, in which he does humiliating things under her hypnotic control
Igenlode the Human Snail
  • the most recent addition to the carnival freaks
  • has the end cage
  • capable of leaving its shell, hermit-crab-like, and seeking a new one (the Tods don't know this)
  • the body within the shell is soft, pallid, bloodless, capable of squeezing through small gaps, human-like ("if anything human ever owned such a tentacled, questing face, or such a pointed little jaw as that which rasped now steadily against the bars")
  • can extrude eyes on stalks
Shanta, the Living Ghoul
  • "a doglike face, skeletal body, skin hanging over its frame, sharp teeth, wicked claws"
  • has a thing for hot blood
  • has a wagon between the Human Snail and the Frog-Boy, with a pile of cracked bones in the corner
  • deceased as of 10.35am
The Amazing Genuine Frog-Boy of Auvergne
  • part boy, part frog, and so far apparently harmless
Smeff, Lord of Lightning
  • Fitz "didn't know what Smeff, Lord of Lightning, ate, and didn't think he wanted to know, but judging by all the (copious) evidence, the chap had a *very* odd digestion... He hadn't seen this Smeff, but he'd heard him - or it - moving about. From the spidery patter of feet, it hadn't *sounded* human."
  • Should never be let out of his cage.
  • Makes "an apoplectic hissing sound" when disturbed.
  • Lineus says: "He isn't going to bite you... at least, not the kind of bite that takes teeth..."
Fritz, the Fire-Eating Moron
  • a "muscular, triple-breasted creature of highly indeterminate sex"
  • Lineus' little friend? [Yes, I know what the story said - but my brain's resolutely refusing to make the connection without explicit confirmation...]
Lineus' little friend
  • has at least one mottled, muscular leg
  • wears (when wearing anything) a top hat, scarlet waistcoat, and brightly checkered trousers
  • has a guttural voice (or is that just sleepiness?)
  • all other details not yet specified

in the Dust

At Irem
Old Vernon
  • a "bent old figure" with "a trailing white beard, clotted with dust; wide blocky shoulders, hunched forward and sagging in on themselves under a torn rag of a mantle; a hook nose, kinked leftwards from some long-ago breaking; sunken, deep-set eyes that stared unblinking into the eddying dust."
  • seated cross-legged by the entrance to Irem
  • "hunched and motionless", eyes "fixed glassily on the hazy tracklessness before him", "only the intermittent rise and fall of his breaths under his dusty rags giving any indication that he was even alive"; does not react to external stimuli
  • "Old Vernon's pretty far gone now. He'll be out running with the Hounds soon enough."
Robert Ridgefield
  • "a man not too many years older than himself [Adric], a fair-haired, faintly supercilious type clad in a worn old summer-weight suit that had once been of some cheerful bluish shade but was fast approaching the same gray featurelessness as everything else in this place"
  • there is an "odd, tiny hesitation" before he gives his name
  • seems to remember things more than Janie, or at least hides it better
  • wears "a dusty loafer" on one foot (and since the contrary is not stated, presumably a matching loafer on the other foot)
  • considers his fellow Irem-dwellers "a pack of worthless bastards", with some justification, "but perhaps that's just because I'm one myself."
  • has a theory that Irem is the final resting place of those who nobody gives a damn about
Janie Alvorado
  • "a smallish woman with the look of a frightened mouse about her. Her skirt and blouse had faded to the same gray non-color as everything else in this place and dust streaked her long, tangled hair."
  • can't remember her surname without prompting, but recognises it when she hears it
  • can't remember the word "yellow", but recognises it when she hears it
  • from Chicago
  • was nondescript even in life, resorting to a life of drugs and sex to gain any kind of human interaction; had four abortions before eventually dying of a drug overdose
  • believes that she can recognise the voices of her four children-that-never-were in the calling of the Hounds; and that the Hounds are the souls of those who never got their shot at life, who hate everyone who did get to live
Fat Johnny
  • "in some vague area of middle-age, a balding, bespectacled man of considerable girth"
  • "Hair, skin, and pants had all gone mostly dust-gray, but his tautly-stretched orange t-shirt still had enough color to make it draw the eye."
  • When he shakes hands with Adric, his hand "nearly engulfed Adric's own, but the man's grip was almost girlishly light."
  • Passing time by playing chess (with bits of rubble, for bits of rubble) against the Captain. The player who loses all his bits of rubble to the other will go to the Drop and jump in.
  • "The Captain and I have been hear longer than most and we still have the facilities we arrived with." Suggests that this is because of all the chess games.
the Captain
  • "about the same apparent age as the fat man, but thin and not so balding, with a pencil-mark of a mustache on his lip. His clothes had faded so badly as to seem hardly even gray, but there was a martial regularity to their cut that seemed to indicate a uniform, though of what nation or branch it was impossible to say."
  • Passing time by playing chess (with bits of rubble, for bits of rubble) against Fat Johnny. The player who loses all his bits of rubble to the other will go to the Drop and jump in.
  • Doesn't say much. Almost totally focussed on the chess game.
  • Johnny says: "Captain who and of what army, no one knows, not even him anymore." This isn't because of Irem-related memory fading: he already didn't know when he arrived. Johnny again: "when he first arrived he was bit more talkative. He came through Yondo."
Lucius
  • an old man, wearing tattered overalls
  • a miser; fiercely protects his hoarde of worthless rubble
  • has a stout stone cudgel, which he's not actually strong enough to wield effectively
The Professor
  • "spent his time digging through the dust inside the ruined buildings, looking, he said, for artifacts left by the builders, though he had yet to find any."
Monk
  • short for "Monkey"
  • "a wild-looking boy who climbed and capered in the tops of the ruins and hurled curses and broken stones at them until they left what Ridgefield sardonically called 'his hunting grounds'."
Olga
  • a plump middle-aged lady
  • sings old love songs (badly) "and had begged Adric on her knees to teach her even one new one"
Nguyen Dam
  • Vietnamese
  • occupied in making weapons out of bits of rock, with the intention of "equipping a force of the dwellers to 'mount an offensive against the Hounds in their own territory'"
  • deceased
Shawne
  • "a jumpy-looking black boy of fifteen or so"
  • "spent his time dodging back and forth in a shattered courtyard, tossing stones through a vacant second-story window, occasionally yelling encouragement along the lines of 'He shoots, he scores!' to himself."
the Witch
  • "an old woman who'd long since forgotten her true name"
  • "spoke what she claimed were words of protection in hoarse Spanish and Latin over Adric and Robert and drew complex circles of warding in the dust 'to keep out the ghosts that run with the Hounds'."
Blind Ed
  • an old man with "sightless, milk-white eyes"
  • sits on the city wall listening to the baying of the Hounds - "like sweet music, if you really sat and listened"
Slick
  • "a big, moon-faced lad with a plowboy's build and a look of perpetual hunted guilt in his eyes"
  • "He'd seemed fairly normal [...] until he started asking Adric in low whispers about whether he'd ever been 'sure a girl meant "yes" even though she said "no", and maybe cried a little and stuff afterwards'."
beyond Irem
the hounds
  • "Big, rangy beasts they were, some nearly four feet tall at the shoulder, with short, stiff-looking brindle coats. Their broad-muzzled heads swung lazily back and forth in metronomic time with their strides. There was something singularly awful about their faces [...] the un-canine size and shape of their foreheads, a domed shaping far too human-like for a true animal, yet profoundly unsettling in conjunction with their pendulous mottled ears and those drooping jowls that would occasionally peel back to reveal flashes of long, dead-white teeth. They stared straight ahead as they came on, deep-set eyes ablaze with an intensity that no beast of the fields should have."
a skeletal figure
  • "A death's head grin stretched the parchment yellow skin over bony cheeks. A light of devilish amusement kindled in the dark eye sockets. The pile of bones, draped in a loose tatter of colourless rags, raised an arm to point a finger at the gaggle of Doctors. The clawed nail began to glow with a putrid blue radiance."
  • May be connected to the near-skeletal arm that takes the Doctors' stasis bubble from Ezekiel

elsewhere

in Mr G's shop
at This Time Round
(yesterday, 4pm onward)
  • Francois, with Mr Moggie
  • Chris Cwej
  • Tegan
  • a fellow dressed in a period World War I flying ace uniform
  • unspecified additional patrons
(today, 3pm)
  • Harry Sullivan
  • a stranger who was driving past (apparently an actual stranger who doesn't know who the Doctor is)
  • unspecified additional patrons
in the Mortality Deferment Office
at ?Yondo

Last seen

Mr G
in his shop, yesterday, c.4.00pm
Francois (with Mr Moggie)
leaving This Time Round for an appointment with his pedicurist, yesterday, c.4.05pm
Chris Cwej
This Time Round, yesterday, c.4.05pm
Tegan
This Time Round, yesterday, c.4.21pm
a fellow dressed in a period World War I flying ace uniform
This Time Round, yesterday, c.4.21pm
the Frog-Boy
cowering in his cage, c.10.25am
Nyssa
captured by Ezekiel Tod, c.10.30am
Igenlode the Human Snail
clinging to the underside of Smeff's cage, gnawing at an axle, c.11.55am
Delilah Tod
giving up on Lineus, c.12.01pm
Smeff
being taken to Gideon, c.12.02pm
alternate Magnus
transported back in time, 12.03pm - for subsequent whereabouts see under "the bodysnatcher"
the boy in motley
reporting to Ezekiel, c.12.13pm
Blind Eli
selling stuff to Gilbert M, c.12.35am
Gilbert M
running away from the black jelly baby, c.12.35pm
the bodysnatcher
possessing a carnival hand, c.12.42pm
the black jelly baby
locked in a cage, c.12.48pm
Monk
lurking in his patch of Irem
Shawne
somewhere in Irem
the Witch
somewhere in Irem
Lucius
somewhere in Irem
The Professor
exploring the ruins of Irem
Blind Ed
sitting on the wall of Irem
Slick
somewhere in Irem
Fat Johnny
playing chess with the Captain, in the central square of Irem
the Captain
playing chess with Fat Johnny, in the central square of Irem
Robert Ridgefield
in the central square of Irem
Olga
in the central square of Irem
Janie Alvorado
in the central square of Irem
Old Vernon
by the gates of Irem
the sketch artist
unconscious, c.1.00pm
Fitz
meeting Kumba, c.2.05pm
Anji
meeting Kumba, c.2.05pm
Kumba
meeting Fitz, c.2.05pm
Sandra
arguing with Number One's plan, c.2.30pm
Doctor Mekt
exiting Gideon's tent, c.2.50pm
Lineus Tod
returning to his caravan, c.2.59pm
Lineus' little friend
greeting Lineus, c.2.59pm
Ezekiel Tod
standing outside the Akhnaten Brothers' crypt, c.2.59pm
Grandmother Nox
clairvoyantly watching the carnival, c.2.59pm
Adric
at the Big Stage, watching Number One facing Ezra, c.3.02pm
car-driving stranger
talking to Magnus, This Time Round, c.3.06pm
Zack
fleeing down the Midway with Ayna, c.3.12pm
Ayna
fleeing down the Midway with Zack, c.3.12pm
Cisco
taking Number One to Gideon's caravan, c.3.13pm
Rufe
taking Number One to Gideon's caravan, c.3.13pm
Bent Jimmy
hollering for Wally and Bob, c.3.24pm
Wally
going to see what Bent Jimmy's hollering about, c.3.24pm
Bob the Carpenter
going to see what Bent Jimmy's hollering about, c.3.24pm
Simple Simon
pursued by 'pigeons from hell', c.3.25pm
the Matron
treating Number One in Gideon's caravan, c.3.27pm
Number One
being treated by the Matron, c.3.27pm
Varne
choosing a form, c.3.30pm
Harry
This Time Round, c.3.30pm
Pirouette
in her own little world, c.3.35pm
Tremas
in Pirouette's little world, c.3.35pm
Phaidor
at the Mortality Deferment Office, c.3.35pm
Allie
talking to Dominic, c.3.35pm
Dominic
talking to Kari, c.3.35pm
Kari
talking to Dominic, c.3.35pm
Gideon Tod
leaving Magnus to Punch, c.3.47pm
Magnus
escaping from the Punch and Judy show, c.3.50pm
the Doctors
Yondo(?), somewhen after 12.13pm. Evil: 2, 3, 8. Non-evil: 1, 5, 6, 4, 7.
deceased
Doctor Enigmo
killed by Number One with his own hammer, c.9.42am
Shanta, the Living Ghoul
killed by Delilah, c.10.35am
Tex
killed by Number One, c.11.16am
Fetch
killed by Number One, c.11.16am
Harold V's brother
killed by the bodysnatcher/jellybaby, c.12.35pm
Harold V
killed by the bodysnatcher/jellybaby, c.12.35pm
Bart
killed by Simple Simon on Gideon's instructions, c.3.02pm
Punch
killed by Braunos, one of Magnus's monsters, c.3.50pm
mentioned, but not yet seen

The carnival

Gideon says that "my brothers and I do the best we can to provide that which you seek. That which everyone who comes to us seeks ... Such crude methods, to provide others with the promise of what they seek. No. My brothers and I have chosen to give our guests what even they do not expect." (In an apparently more frank mood, he tells Number One "Piece by piece, we break your mind and your will, destroying your reality a little bit at a time. In the end, what is left of you will be put to good use in the sideshow..." Whether this applies to the carnival's victims generally, and whether it's the limit of what the carnival is up to, is not yet resolved. And, of course, it could be an outright lie.)

"What else could have brought you here, if not the desire to experience that _special_ awe and _special_ fear that only we can provide?"

 

The flier says: "The Internationally Famous Tod Brothers Carnival. Thrills! Chills! Scantily Clad Women! Manly Men! Kumba, Lord of the Freaks! The Death-Defying Ahkanten Brothers! Fritz, The Fire-Eating Moron! Smeff, Lord of Lightning! The Terrifying Chronal Explorations of Doctor Mekt! Come One, Come All! Engaged For This Month Only!"

The carnival is set up in the dark woods outside This Time Round, in a clearing (which, being fictive, is as large as it needs to be). The clearing is dominated by a massive oak tree at the eastern end.

The cages and living vans are marshalled in a ring around the massive oak. Igenlode the Human Snail has the end cage; Shanta, the Living Ghoul, has the next cage, then the Frog-Boy.

The clearing is fenced off; the main entrance to the carnival is marked by a sign saying "THE INTERNATIONALLY FAMOUS TOD BROTHERS CARNIVAL!!", and opens at 9.30am.

The carnival is dominated by a Big Top ("the carnival's heart... or perhaps, more properly, its belly"), battered but brightly coloured, surrounded by smaller tents, carnival booths, and refreshment stands. Silent clowns stalk furtively through the sawdust. Vacant-eyed, slack-jawed barkers man the booths and refreshment stands. There's a calliope, shrouded in steam, that plays loud, cheerful, and nerve-wracking off-key music. There's a carousel, garishly painted in bright yellows, reds, and blues, with flashing lights, that plays a jaunty little tune (sometimes 'The Ride of the Valkyrie'); strange things happen to those who ride it. There's a Hall of Mirrors, where every mirror works a different spell. There's a Ghost Train, near the Hall of Mirrors. There's a Ferris wheel ("that creaked and groaned through its endless turns, dry bearings squalling an almost human cry of pain" "like damned souls on Hell's own griddle"). There's a hoop-la stall. There's a ring-toss stall (and the slack-jawed barker that runs it can do dangerous things with his rings). There's a pitching stall, where one can win prizes by knocking down piles of milk bottles with a baseball; prizes include a stuffed tentacle monster (that oozes a bit when squeezed), a doll-sized iron maiden, and a box of Crunchy Frogs. There's a Tunnel of Love. There's an Action-Packed Wild West Shooting Gallery, where punters can shoot at wooden targets (and, perhaps, the occasional non-wooden target) to the sound of a piano playing an off-time version of 'Buffalo Gals'. There's a Big Stage, surrounded by bleachers. The rides are rickety. There are milling elephants.

The air carries drifting sugar-scents of cheap candy that tickle the nose with sickly sweetness. Food available at the refreshment stalls includes toffee apples, popcorn, and corn dogs. There is a Hot Dog stall, "illustrated with a crudely-painted black dog against a background of hellish flames".

The characters currently being followed by the story aren't the only ones at the carnival; there is "a sparse crowd".

There is a smallish tent of washed-out blue canvas, where Number One first meets Zack. Gideon says that "within in this tent lies only truth" - though he could be lying. (Either way, it's worth noting what Gideon doesn't say while he's within the confines of the tent - he never actually says "Zack is your son" or anything along those lines; he just presents the kid and lets Number One draw the inference.)

The tent belonging to the Akhnaten Brothers is painted in cheap and gaudy imitation of the splendours of ancient Egypt; outside it is a sign with a decorative border of hieroglyphs inviting passers-by to "See the Death-Defying Akhnaten Brothers". The hieroglyphs spell out an ancient Egyptian proverb that might be roughly translated "There's one born every minute." Within the tent, a flight of steps leads down into a crypt with a dusty stone roof, in which is a low stone table surrounded by the accoutrements of an Egyptian embalmer.

There's a manager's tent (or caravan), in which Gideon has a high-backed, well-upholstered chair. (It appears that there is both a tent and a caravan, and they both have chairs.) The caravan is near the Big Top; it is large and has a crooked stove-pipe (implying a stove?) and has a shrunken head from the Amazon over the door. In addition to the chair, the caravan contains a rug (which is possibly shoenivorous), a desk, and a big grandfather clock, with a face numbered up to thirteen o'clock and a "curiously tooth-marked pendulum"; the clock's "monotonous tock-tock-tocking always reminded Lineus of the beating of a diseased heart". There is also a bedroom in the caravan, containing a huge bed and a stool (among, one presumes, other things). In addition to the overstuffed chair, the tent contains Gideon's desk, which has a gleaming mahogany desktop and drawers through which one may rummage (if one dares).

There's a commissary. Gideon has to stoop to fit through the door.

The exact locations of things move around from time to time, particularly when someone is trying to find the exit.

Death doesn't seem to work the same way at the carnival as it does elsewhere. No grinning skeletal figure shows up to usher one into the next world. After Adric's demise attracts the attention of the Mortality Deferment Office, some kind of safety net has been put in place to catch deceased patrons, but they may be stuck there until the situation is resolved. What happens to the souls of the carny folk (if they had souls) has not been described. In related news, people in the carnival grounds cannot communicate psychically with people outside the carnival grounds; and the carnival and its owners are immune from psychic attacks.

the Carnival creature

The Dust

It exists on the edge of Oblivion, a mist-shrouded plain of ashy grey dust. Great Hounds roam the plain, the souls of "those who were meant to live, but did not, who died of mortal will before ever they saw light or breathed the air of the world."

Occasionally others find their way to the Dust, those who left no mark on the world as they passed through and so have no anchor or guide in the afterlife. "They lived in such a way that, when they perished, there was not enough of their Self left in the world, or in the minds of the living, to keep them tied to Reality. So they drift, without direction or purpose. And eventually, they reach the Dust. And there they remain, among the dust and the ruins and the Hounds, until they meet True Destruction, either by their own hand, or the Hounds take them in their wrath."

The Hounds do not like the others who come. More than just a dislike of trespassers on their domain, they rage against those who had the life they were denied. (Although not explicitly stated, it seems likely they're particularly against those who did nothing with the life they had, which is the category the latter-day Irem-dwellers fall into.)

Also in the Dust is the ruined city of Irem: "It is spoken by some that Irem had merited a bitter punishment for the transgressions of its people, transgressions the Allfather could not forgive. And in his wrath, he took the city in its pride and cast it into the Dust, where it would be removed from the sight of gods and men, yet still stand as testament to the Allfather's justice. Its people were not destroyed, but left to the desolation, to make what they would of their creation there."

The Hounds avoid the ruins of Irem, so one may gain increased longevity by sheltering there. For what that's worth. There is nothing whatsoever to do at Irem, except sit around growing dusty and bored, until the burden of existence becomes too much, and one goes to face the Hounds or the Drop. ...it would appear that, by the time of Adric's visit, none of the original people of Irem are still there.

The Drop is the border, a precipice beyond which lies... nothing. Complete oblivion. Over uncountable ages, a path has been made between Irem and the Drop, lined with rubble from Irem to keep the Hounds away.

Other bits of rubble have been used to make signposts pointing the way to Irem for the benefit of newcomers.

Somewhere in the mist, there is also a small, flat-topped hill, at the summit of which is a simple arch made of crumbly, time-worn black stone, ten feet high, which may lead out of the Dust. Probably, however, it only leads anywhere by specific prior arrangement - and in any case, the place is impossible to find in the mists, and is far from the sanctuary at Irem, so nobody could get there without being intercepted by the Hounds. Besides, nobody knows it's there except the Hounds, and they aren't telling anybody about it.

Events

a long, long time ago in a galaxy far away

8.43pm:
The bodysnatcher, on a small planet in Galaxy RE 1489, sets out on the long journey to Earth and Magnus.

Yesterday

3.??pm:
Adric meets Mr G, who gives him a flier for the carnival. The clock in Mr G's shop strikes 4pm, and Adric rushes off to start his shift at TTR, for which he is late.
4.05pm:
Francois and Mr Moggie explain the merits of punctuality to Adric, and Adric begins his shift. His first customer is a figure who, apart from being heavily burnt, suspiciously resembles Dr Mekt; the figure buys an Adric's Demise and a Trakenite Slammer, and pays Adric an odd-looking coin "for your time".
?.???m:
At some point in his shift, Adric sticks the carnival flier up on the TTR bulletin board.
4.05pm:
Adric's shift ends.
4.06pm:
Adric eats explosive death.
4.21pm:
Tegan is in TTR, chatting up a fellow dressed in a period World War I flying ace uniform. Nyssa arrives, kills Adric fifteen minutes ago with a tachyon weapon, and sees the carnival flier on her way out.

Today

?.??am:
Around breakfast time, Dominic notices a dimensional disturbance in the vicinity of This Time Round, which continues to be present throughout the day.
8.00am:
Fitz and Anji notice the flier, and decide to attend the carnival on the assumption that the Doctor will be going and all hell will break loose.
8.30am:
Ayna and Sandra notice the flier, and decide to attend the carnival (without telling anyone where they're going, in case they're told not to).
8.45am:
The Doctors notice the flier, especially the bit about 'The Terrifying Chronal Explorations of Doctor Mekt', and decide to attend the carnival.
8.??am:
Magnus notices the flyer and decides to attend the carnival with Varne, because he has unfinished business with the Tod Brothers.
8.50am:
Igenlode the Human Snail is roused by the dawn light, moves its shell out of the sun, and returns to quiescence.
?.??am:
Number One (f) notices the flyer and, despite being immediately suspicious, feels obliged to attend the carnival. ("From the moment she'd first set eyes on the advertising poster, a sense of inevitability had settled on her like clinging fog.")
9.06am:
Number One (f) arrives at the carnival, early and by a back trail, and is not surprised to find someone (Gideon Tod, in fact) waiting for her. Gideon introduces her to Zack, a young boy who recognises her as his Mommy.
9.12am:
Number One recovers from the shock, and immediately assumes trickery. Gideon denies this, and leaves them to get acquainted. Number One tries to leave the tent, but can't. Number One turns herself male to prove to Zack that she's not his Mommy.
9.20am:
The following people make their way through the woods to the carnival:
9.22am:
Gideon sends Delilah to give Number One and Zack breakfast.
9.25am:
Ayna and Sandra arrive at the carnival.
9.27am:
Number One (m) gets Zack to tell him about himself. [In how much detail? We only catch the last of it.]
9.30am:
The carnival opens for the day.
9.31am:
Number One faces down Delilah with a bit of help from Zack, and they escape the tent, leaving Delilah unconscious.
9.35am:
Magnus and Varne enter the carnival and accost Lineus Tod, who leads them into a Klein bottle trap. Magnus bets Varne he can get them out within forty minutes. Gideon, when Lineus informs him, predicts that Magnus will escape easily, and sends Lineus to fetch Dr Mekt.
9.37am:
Number One is attacked by Simple Simon, and Zack is abducted by Fetch and Tex. Number One is turned back into a woman during the fight. In the course of the fight, Number One fires three rounds from her pistol.
9.42am:
Number One (f) defeats Dr Enigmo. Simon defeats Number One, and on instructions he's received from Ezra takes her to the Action-Packed Wild West Shooting Gallery.
9.50am:
Adric, lurking in the safety of the woods, is drawn into the carnival. He meets Ezekiel Tod, who claims to know "what you really want", and furthermore that this is not (as generally assumed) domestic bliss with Nyssa, nor indeed domestic bliss with his Number One female fan, but a True and Final Death. He then cuts Adric's throat.
9.5?am:
Sandra, being a phantasm, detects the nearby death (or near-death), and is also able to tell that it has not been accompanied by a visitation from Death. She also discovers that her usual avenue of psychic communication with Allie has been blocked off. Sandra and Ayna are accosted by Gideon Tod, who takes them into the Hall of Mirrors; there, he destroys Ayna personal chamaeleon circuit, then uses the magic of one of the mirrors to transform her into the normal girl that the circuit made her appear to be. (Incidentally robbing her of her siren powers.) He also traps Sandra in a mirror.
??.??am:
The second, third, fourth, sixth, seventh, and eighth Doctors have a ride on the carousel, while the first and fifth look on. When something odd starts happening, the two onlooking Doctors move to stop it, but the first is attacked by the ride operator, and the fifth is bitten by the off lever (which turns into a venomous snake when he tries to move it). The ride comes to a halt by itself, and the six Doctors who were on it have become evil versions of themselves. They announce that, with all their combined experience with evil, they're going to be the worst villains in the universe (and are certainly not going to go along with any plan the Tods might have for them). They kill the ride operator, and decide to take the two un-evil Doctors with them for reasons of self-preservation, but to keep a close eye on them. Their clothes start reshaping themselves to match the new evil personalities; the sixth Doctor's new outfit resembles the Valeyard's. The seventh Doctor renders the first Doctor unconscious so that he won't be a nuisance (the fifth is already unconscious from the snake bite).
??.??am:
The Doctors wander around the carnival being randomly evil just for the novelty.
10.00am:
Lineus Tod is late feeding and mucking out the freaks, because of Magnus and Varne and the consequent set of distractions; the freaks become restless. Igenlode slips into Shanta's cage and weakens the bars, allowing Shanta to escape (the culmination of many earlier bar-weakening visits).
10.00am:
(or thereabouts) Delilah regains consciousness, and sets about repairing the damage to her complexion.
10.06am:
Magnus and Varne escape from the Klein bottle, 31 minutes after their imprisonment. (Magnus, however, accepts Varne's claim that it's been 41 minutes, so either time's different inside the Klein bottle, Magnus doesn't mind losing this bet, or the author stuffed up. Evidence exists to support all three options.) They hear screams on the far side of the clearing. [something to do with the evil Doctors?] They are immediately imprisoned in a time loop by Doctor Mekt.
10.08am:
The evil Doctors encounter Doctor Mekt, on his way back to report to Gideon. Mekt outmaneuvers them by sending a warning to himself in the past, and traps them in a bubble of temporal stasis. He shrinks the bubble to a manageable size and puts it in a pocket, intending to find out who the Doctors are when he has a spare moment.
10.10am:
Shanta stalks and attacks Fitz and Anji. Fitz and Anji run away, and shake her temporarily by crawling dangerously under the carousel.
10.15am:
Delilah heads after Number One and Zack, but finds that Simple Simon has already dealt with them. Simon shows her Number One's pistol, with an empty magazine. Simon gives her a message from Gideon, telling her that she has to go and do Lineus' chores with the freaks because Lineus is busy.
10.??am:
Fitz sees Delilah walk past, and decides to follow her. Anji follows Fitz.
10.25am:
Delilah goes into Kumba's caravan with a great big whip. Fitz 'rescues' Igenlode from the Frog-Boy (in actuality, probably rescuing the Frog-Boy from Igenlode), and Igenlode latches on to him instead. Shanta catches up with them, and starts feeding on Anji.
10.??am:
Nyssa buys cotton candy from Ezekiel, then is lured by a phantom Adric to the Tunnel of Love. There she finds Adric's Badge of Mathematical Excellence, its edges stained a rusty brown, wrapped in a package with her name on and left on the seat of one of the boats (by Ezekiel?) and then is attacked by hoardes of monstrosities (starting with doll-like walking corpses in tattered blue and yellow uniforms, and working up to leering clown-things, bat-things, etc.) and forced to retreat into the Tunnel.
10.30am:
Nyssa, grievously injured (including a stomach wound from being stabbed by a leering clown-thing), encounters Ezra Tod, who throws her against a wall and shoots her in the right shoulder when she tries to attack him. Near death, she is retrieved by Ezekiel Tod, who tells Ezra he was "a trifle too enthusiastic", but notes: "Our little poppet may yet serve our purposes."
10.30am:
Ayna and Sandra escape from the tent where they've been imprisoned since Ayna's transformation.
10.30am:
Magnus and Varne escape from the time loop, and find themselves next to the tent in which Adric met his apparent end.
10.30am:
A burst of chronal feedback explodes from Doctor Mekt's staff, setting him on fire. This is witnessed by Gideon and Lineus; Lineus puts the fire out and helps Doctor Mekt back to his tent, after which Gideon sends him to fetch Ezra.
10.32am:
Magnus and Varne discover that Adric is only mostly dead, and speculate that the Tods have some reason for wanting Adric in an almost-dead state. To annoy the Tods, therefore, Magnus heals Adric. Adric's essence, however, stays in whatever dark place it has been sent to, and his newly-healed body is taken over by the bodysnatcher.
10.35am:
Delilah, hearing the sounds of Fitz and Anji being attacked, leaves the restrained Kumba and goes to see what the commotion is. She kills Shanta (incidentally frightening off Igenlode), heals Anji's wound, and invites Fitz and Anji (well, Fitz carrying the still-unconscious Anji) to follow her into Kumba's caravan.
10.40am:
The bodysnatcher attacks Magnus, depriving him of a kidney - and more importantly ruining a pretty good suit of armour - and prompting him to decide that rendering Adric completely dead would probably annoy the Tods just as much as healing him. Furthermore, he decides to write off the debt that prompted their visit to the carnival, and informs Varne that all the carnival staff, including the Tods, are now fair game. The bodysnatcher, deprived of the use of Adric's body, goes in search of "a suitable body, something with limited intelligence and great physical strength", and settles on Kumba.
10.40am:
Gideon demonstrates to Ezra his newest performer, Pirouette. Ezra compliments him on "Excellent work as always".
10.45am:
Magnus and Varne investigate the Hall of Mirrors. They find Ayna and Sandra's trail, and start following it.
10.45am:
Delilah shows Fitz and Anji into a spare room in Kumba's caravan, and after an ambiguous event that might have been an attempted seduction or something else entirely, but which Fitz in any case instinctively backs away from, she seems to lose interest in him. She feeds the still-unconscious Anji a mysterious liquid ("This is how we heal the freaks, Fitz. After each... performance."), and, telling Fitz that Anji just needs some rest, she gives him a bucket and shovel and sends him to muck out the freaks while he's waiting.
11.00am:
Having sent Fitz off, Delilah returns to Kumba. Kumba, in the meantime, has come to a compromise with the bodysnatcher: they have managed to free Kumba from his restraints, and attack Delilah as she enters Kumba's room.
11.05am:
The bodysnatcher breaks off the attack on recognising Delilah, giving her an opening to gain control of Kumba's body with pre-set hypnotic trigger. The bodysnatcher abandons Kumbah and creates a spectral body; Delilah recognises him as Magnus. It is quickly established that this Magnus is more than a match for Delilah.
11.16am:
Number One regains consciousness to find himself (male again, and dressed in a cowboy outfit) a target in the Wild West shooting gallery. Gideon taunts him about Adric and Nyssa's fates (apparently unaware of what Magnus has done to Adric - or perhaps Magnus hasn't actually made any difference...), and then heads off to put the refining touches on Pirouette. Ezra shoots Number One in the trigger finger, then leaves him to the gun-toting punters.
11.??am:
Zack helps Number One break out. Ayna shows up rescues Zack from Fetch. Number One and Zack and Ayna and Sandra join forces.
11.20am:
Magnus and Varne show up, and reveal that Ayna's transformation is only an illusion, which Magnus breaks. Number One and Zack and Ayna and Sandra and Magnus and Varne join forces, at least for the time being.
11.20am:
The bodysnatcher/alternate Magnus tells Delilah about the trouble Gideon, Ezekiel, and Lineus went to to arrange for his presence (which included procuring Adric as a host body); suggests that Lineus may one day prove to have been underestimated; and drops knowing hints about Delilah's past. He offers Delilah, in return for help tracking down Magnus, information about Gideon's "dynastic schemes" that he says he got from Mekt; but withdraws the offer when he detects a summoning (actually himself being originally summoned) and realises that the time is not yet right for him to act. He disappears, and Delilah storms out.
11.22am:
Magnus studies the magic that has Sandra trapped in the mirror, and admits that he doesn't know enough about that magic to break it; although he has the relevant information in his pack, he never bothered to index his library, so it will take time to find, time they may not have. On the other hand, he knows where all the weapons in his pack are, and he gives some to Number One.
11.??am:
Sandra breaks free of the mirror by herself; it is theorised that the spell binding her was linked to the spell on Ayna.
11.30am:
Lineus reports to Gideon (who is watching Pirouette dance) that Number One and Zack have escaped and hooked up with Ayna and Sandra (Gideon is pleased - things are running to plan) and Magnus and Varne (Gideon is not so pleased, and sends Lineus to tell Doctor Mekt to deal with Magnus and Varne in a manner which Gideon and Mekt have previously discussed). Lineus asks why Gideon is so interested in Number One, and Gideon tells him that he has chosen Number One (f) to be the mother of his heir - "once I have her properly broken".
11.34am:
Number One and Zack and Magnus and Varne and Ayna and Sandra (now free of the mirror) stop to rest in an empty drink stall. Ayna asks Magnus to heal Number One, and Magnus explains why he can't. Number One takes his shirt off to make bandages for his worst injuries, and Zack notices he doesn't have a shiny red stone like Zack's Mommy does. Zack tells Number One about the shiny red stone.
c.11.35am:
Fitz sees Delilah stalk out of her [Kumba's?] caravan and head off somewhere. (NB: "about twenty minutes earlier" c.11.55am)
11.40am:
Ezra Tod practices for his trick shooting act.
11.41am:
Magnus is abducted by another version of himself, summoned by Doctor Mekt from an alternate timeline where Magnus kept all his amazing wossnames instead of packing it in to become more-or-less human. He is quickly defeated and left, silenced and almost completely paralysed by magic he is no longer able to defeat, in the space between one moment and the next, while the alternate Magnus takes his place in the timestream.
11.42am:
The alternate Magnus suggests that they split up, he and Varne going one way and the others going another, convincing the others that he and Varne will be able to operate more effectively without having to worry about friends getting caught in the crossfire.
??.???m:
Magnus recalls a summoning that he can still perform while silenced and almost completely paralysed, which he is able to use to free himself. He then calls on a being called Barouch, which he instructs to bring Doctor Mekt to him.
11.46am:
Lineus reports to Gideon that Doctor Mekt's tent has just disappeared, with Mekt inside. Gideon sends him to fetch Smeff.
??.???m:
Magnus questions Doctor Mekt about the alternate Magnus, then hands him over to Barouch. ("Barouch will not kill you, though I think you may be sorry about that.")
11.47am:
Once they're a safe distance from the others, Varne confronts the alternate Magnus, telling him that she can tell he's an imposter from his energy signature. She gets the drop on him, and zaps him with a weapon developed by one of Magnus' enemies specifically to kill Magnus despite all his defences (which Magnus, of course, stole before it could be used). Then she helps Magnus back into the timestream. Magnus agrees with alternate Magnus' assessment that they will be more effective without the others, so they continue on their way.
11.49am:
On his way to fetch Smeff, Lineus passes the discarded remains of Mekt's tent. In the ruins is the stasis bubble with the Doctors inside. The motley boy sees this and retrieves the stasis bubble to give to Ezekiel.
11.49am:
Ayna finds water and attempts to clean Number One's wounds; the water turns Number One female again. Sandra recognises her as Adric's girlfriend Ember.
11.51am:
Magnus and Varne meet the motley boy, bearing a flag of truce and a message from Ezekiel. The message - "The Evening Gate is closed to you" - renders Magnus and Varne unconscious.
11.53am:
Delilah goes to Mekt's tent to follow up on the alternate Magnus's hints. Finding the tent in ruins and Mekt gone, she turns her attention to Lineus.
11.55am:
Simple Simon finds Number One, Zack, Ayna and Sandra. He sets onto them a variety of life-size killer clockwork animals. Working together, they defeat this menace, and leave the now-unconscious Simon underneath a heavy bale (with one hand pinned to the ground with a clockwork tiger fang for good measure - Number One's idea).
11.55am:
Fitz, having dealt with all the freaks except Smeff, is mistaken for a carnival hand by Lineus, who instructs him to take Smeff to Gideon. Lineus asks Fitz if he has a key to the Fire-Eating Moron's cage; Fitz, suspecting Lineus' intentions, lies and says that Delilah has all the keys, adds something tactless, then moves hurriedly off with Smeff's cage. Clinging to the underside of Smeff's cage, Igenlode knaws at an axle.
12.00pm:
As the stuff Delilah gave her takes effect, Anji undergoes a gradual transformation into something covered in brown fuzz, with long ears and a talon-tipped paw.
12.01pm:
Delilah catches up with Lineus, but concludes that he knows nothing useful. (He does, in fact, but is more afraid of Gideon than he is of her.) She gives him the keys to the freak cages and stalks off.
12.02pm:
Fitz encounters a bag of evil jelly babies dropped by one of the evil Doctors. After encountering a black jelly baby that sticks painfully to his fingers, he drops it and resumes pushing Smeff's cage.
12.02pm:
The alternate Magnus is in a bad way, but not out of the picture yet. Reduced to a few functional cells, and trapped where those cells lie, he must wait for a source of fresh cellular material to wander into range. Noticing Mekt's body where Barouch left it, he attempts to use it as the required source. Mekt, still barely alive, casts a spell. Mekt is torn apart; alternate Magnus survives more-or-less intact, but is transported to a distant planet millions of years ago.
12.04pm:
Free from the problems of living in his own past, the bodysnatcher/alternate Magnus sets out to find Magnus and Varne - who have disappeared...
12.08pm:
The abandoned black jelly baby [grows into? summons?] a human-sized black jelly baby creature that, in default of specific instructions, sets out to devour and destroy. For the moment, it is content to absorb the substance of various corpses left in the vicinity by the evil Doctors.
12.??pm:
[unwritten scene] Fitz meets Gideon. After an uncomfortable conversation, Gideon insists on returning with him to see how Anji is doing.
12.13pm:
The motley boy reports to Ezekiel that Magnus and Varne have been dealt with and left in the crypt, and gives him the stasis bubble. Ezekiel dismisses the boy, ordering him to "speak to no-one of this." Ezekiel determines what would happen if the evil Doctors got loose, and gives the stasis bubble to the Carnival to dispose of "before it hatches" - cautioning it that it would do better to stick with the Tods than to try its luck with the evil Doctors.
12.21pm:
Number One and co. are being stalked by clowns, who don't seem to be doing anything except watch them and perform hateful mimes. Number One finds the traces of Magnus' fight with the possessed Adric. She tells the others that she's found a scrap from Adric's clothing, but carefully doesn't mention the bloodstains. Zack sends up a prayer for his Daddy's safety.
??.???m:
After an indefinite moment of Nothingness, Adric finds himself standing on a flat expanse of gray dust surrounded by impenetrable grayish mist. [The time may or may not be anything like 12.21pm.] Somewhere off in the distance comes the baying of terrible hounds. He runs away from the sounds, and eventually comes to a makeshift sign (letters and arrows crudely scratched into a broken lump of stone) pointing to "IrEM" and "THE DroP" and bearing the message "BEwArE THE HouNDs!". He heads in the direction of "IrEM".
12.23pm:
Fitz and Gideon are on their way to see Anji. Gideon refuses to be deterred. Fitz worries.
12.??pm:
[unwritten scene] Ezekiel has the still-unconscious Varne transferred into a prison designed to be shapeshifter-proof.
12.25pm:
Magnus regains consciousness lying on a stone table in the crypt under the Akhnaten Brothers' tent, tightly bound in dirty linen strips and with his vocal cords and spine severed by Ezekiel. Ezekiel explains about the false memories and the implanted failsafe (and that he is using the latter behind Gideon's back - Gideon would have waited until the last possible moment to use it), then tortures Magnus a bit. The alternate Magnus locates Magnus as soon as he regains consciousness, and steps in, teleporting Magnus to a safer place. ("Nobody gets to kill Magnus but me!") Ezekiel, assuming that Magnus has escaped under his own power - all according to plan - leaves to talk to Varne. The alternate Magnus, drained (and unable to remember exactly where it teleported Magnus to), possesses the nearest suitable body, which happens to be the black jelly baby.
12.30pm:
Varne is revived by Ezekiel, and finds herself imprisoned in a synthetic glass cylinder. Ezekiel tells her that Magnus got away, and that he's hoping Magnus will kill Gideon and Ezra for him. He explains about the emotion feeder. After he leaves, Varne estimates that it will take her two or three hours to break out of her prison; to pass the time, she starts running mental exercises to check for false memories and any other surprises left by Gideon.
??:???m:
As Adric progresses, the ground becomes firmer; there are occasional small lumps of stone in amid the dust, and then actual patches of dark slate. [The time may or may not be anything like 12.32pm.]
12.32pm:
Number One and co. continue on, still being trailed by the miming clowns. The effects of fatigue start catching up with Number One.
12.35pm:
The alternate Magnus/jelly baby reaches an inhabited part of the carnival and starts attacking people. One of the dead (and, we presume, each of the others) finds himself in a kind of metaphysical waiting room with a recorded message explaining that death is on the blink.
??:???m:
[The time may or may not be anything like 12.36pm.] The hounds still pursue, gaining; Adric can occasionally glimpse them through the mist. He runs into a tall wall of solid gray stone; the mist seems a bit thinner near the wall, and the hounds keep their distance - although he can hear them keeping pace as he follows the wall looking for an opening.
12.36pm:
Number One and co. come across the pitching stall, where Number One spots her clothes and other stuff (which she lost when she was added to the Shooting Gallery) among the prizes. When it becomes clear that the barker won't just hand the stuff over, Ayna sets out to win it, with the help of Sandra's telekinesis.
??.???m:
Adric finds another makeshift sign, pointing to the "cITy GATE" and confirming that "THE HouNDs wILL NoT coME NIGH THE wALL" - but bearing, on the reverse side, the desperate inscription "NO LIFE! NO ENd! CaNT GET OUT! ThE hOUNdS OR ThE dROp!". Adric, not seeing any real alternative, nevertheless heads for the city gate. [The time may or may not be anything like 12.36pm.]
12.40pm:
In the course of checking her memories, Varne encounters an old memory of Magnus teaching her about magic. She begins the necessary mental preparations for summoning a lightning bolt, against the possibility that she might need one later.
12.42pm:
Gideon, having been summoned to deal with the alternate Magnus/jelly baby, surrounds it with shotgun-toting carnies and threatens to blow it to bits if it doesn't behave. He sends Fitz on alone (Fitz is only too glad to oblige) while he sees to the jelly baby's accommodation. The alternate Magnus abandons the jelly baby in favour of one of the carnies, but does nothing to advertise this migration.
??.??pm:
Gideon and Ezekiel exchange small talk in the carnival commissary. Ezekiel neglects to mention anything about Magnus and Varne.
12.44pm:
Ayna and Sandra finish winning Number One's stuff back. (Number One checks her pistol, and finds that it has eight rounds left.) The gang set off again, not noticing that they are being followed by the sketch artist.
??.???m:
Adric reaches the entrance to Irem, where he encounters Old Vernon, Robert Ridgefield, and Janie Alvorado. Robert invites him into the city to meet "the rest of the Lost Souls ... the Captain and Fat Johnny and all the rest"; Janie tells Adric confidentially that she knows a secret about the Hounds.
12.46pm:
Sandra is deep in thought, trying to work out what the Tods' plans are and how they can be stopped. She considers it a bad sign that they're being allowed to wander freely.
12.48pm:
The jelly baby, now mindless once more, has been bunged into a cage while Gideon and Ezekiel consider ways of turning it into an attraction.
12.4?pm:
A tall figure appears in the doorway of the room in which Anji lies in unquiet and hirsute slumber.
12.50pm:
Fitz arrives back at the caravan, only to find it locked up. Inside, something growls.
12.50pm:
The figure with the sketchpad is still just trailing Ayna, Sandra, Zack, and Number One.
??.???m:
Robert introduces Adric to Fat Johnny and the Captain, who are playing a series of chess games (with bits of rubble, for bits of rubble). The Captain wins the current game. Fat Johnny explains the purpose of the games. [The time may or may not be anything like 12.50pm.]
??.???m:
Fat Johnny elaborates on the Captain's history.
??.???m:
Robert introduces Adric to the rest of the Irem-dwellers, mentions his theory about why they're all there, and takes Adric to see the Drop. [The time may or may not be anything like 12.53pm.]
12.53pm:
Having had her first cigarette in hours, Number One is feeling marginally less grumpy. The figure with the sketch pad launches his attack. Sandra holds it off telekinetically.
??.???m:
Robert leads Adric up the path to the Drop. [The time may or may not be anything like 12.53pm.]
12.55pm:
Sandra stops blocking, to allow the attack to materialise properly so it can be dealt with. The sketch artist's caricatures spring to life: Sandra engages in psychic battle with a specter; Ayna is attacked by a harpy; and Number One is challenged by an oversexed cowgirl with a big whip.
??.???m:
Robert shows Adric the Drop. [The time may or may not be anything like 12.55pm.]
12.58pm:
Ayna attempts to gain an advantage over the harpy. The scuffle distracts Sandra momentarily, allowing the specter to gain the upper hand. Number One, slowed down by her existing injuries, gets beaten up some more by the cowgirl, but gets in some good shots of her own. In the course of the fight, Number One fires three more rounds from her pistol. The cowgirl, taunting, tells Number One what Gideon wants her for.
??.???m:
Janie tells Adric what she knows about the Hounds. [The time may or may not be anything like 12.58pm.]
??.???m:
The Professor tells Adric the story of Irem.
12.59pm:
Zack, after considering how he can be helpful, goes after the pieces of paper the caricature-creatures came from. As he goes, he hopes he'll get another chance to tell his Daddy, Mommy, and Auntie how much he loves them.
??.???m:
Adric starts getting a nagging feeling as if someone is calling his name. Beyond Irem, the Hounds begin to stir. [The time may or may not be anything like 12.59pm.]
??.???m:
The Hounds enter Irem. [The time may or may not be anything like 1.00pm.]
1.00pm:
Zack reaches the drawing of the specter and tears it in half.
??.???m:
The Hounds cut Adric out of the herd and depart, pretty much ignoring the others (apart from Nguyen Dam, who attacks the Hounds, and gets devoured(?)).
1.00pm:
Zack reaches the drawing of the specter and tears it in half. Sandra finishes the specter off. Zack tears the drawing of the harpy in half. Ayna finishes the harpy off. Zack tears the drawing the cowgirl up. The cowgirl shoots Ayna before giving up the ghost. While Sandra is checking to see if Ayna and Number One are all right, the enraged sketch artist personally attacks Zack, armed with a wickedly-sharp pencil.
?.???m:
The Hounds speed toward their destination. When Adric is unable to move fast enough, one picks him up and carries him.
1.??pm:
Sandra knocks out the sketch artist with the hilt of Number One's knife. She attempts to help the gravely-injured Number One with a psychic booster shot, but her control is off due to her own weariness and injuries, and she and Number One get a glimpse into one another's minds.
1.??pm:
(unwritten scene) Fitz returns to Gideon and asks his help to get into the locked caravan.
1.??pm:
Physically and emotionally wasted, Number One and the gang stop and rest for a while.
1.32pm:
Gideon sends Bent Jimmy to fetch Lineus, and Ezra on another errand.
?.???m:
The Hounds leave Adric at a mysterious archway. Adric passes through, and finds himself in the regions of the Mortality Deferment Office. Field Supervisor Phaidor explains what's been happening, and sends him back to the carnival, telling him: "fight hard, for the greatest of all treasures of the living world - love - is at stake."
1.40pm:
Lineus is called away from a dalliance by the message from Gideon. He leaves the one with whom he is dallying asleep in his bed.
1.41pm:
Ezra shows up and tells Number One and co. about his trick-shooting act, scheduled at 3.00pm, suggesting that while he is concentrating on the act one of them might be able to take him out. While he is thus distracting them, Simple Simon abducts Zack; Ezra tells them Zack will also be part of the trick-shooting act, for one performance only... As he leaves, Number One collapses into tears. Moments later, Adric appears. He comforts Number One (his girlfriend Ember, as he knows her). Number One and Sandra fill him in on what's been happening at the carnival; he fills them in on what he's been up to. Sandra speculates about what the Tods might have in mind for her and Ayna.
1.50pm:
Lineus is dressed down by Gideon for neglecting his duties, letting Shanta get free, etc. He attempts to shift blame onto Fitz, who he still thinks is a carnival hand; Gideon allows him to dig himself a bit deeper before explaining his mistake. Gideon sends Lineus to let Fitz into the caravan where he last saw Anji, and thence to see if any of the other freaks have got loose.
2.00pm:
Varne finishes breaking out of the cylinder in which she was imprisoned, but discovers that the tent in which the cylinder is contained "did not exist. Or at least did not exist in the same reality as the rest of the Carnival, getting out might be harder than she had thought."
2.05pm:
Fitz and Lineus return to the caravan. Leaving Lineus to deal with Shanta's body, Fitz goes inside and encounters the transformed Anji, whom he does not immediately recognise, and the now-awake Kumba.
2.17pm:
Number One and co. break into an unattended concession stand to get something to drink and somewhere hidden to rest. Number One shows the lingering influence of the mindtouch with Sandra by breaking into a stream-of-consciousness soliloquy just like the ones Sandra's author so often writes, in the course of which she comes up with the beginnings of a plan.
2.20pm:
Varne comes up with a spell that she can do with the materials at hand that will get her out of the tent without attracting the attention of the carnival creature, and begins to cast it.
2.30pm:
Number One explains her plan to the others. They object, but can't think of anything better.
2.35pm:
Varne breaks free of the tent, but is knocked unconscious by the shockwave when the tent re-connects with the rest of the carnival.
2.??pm:
Ezekiel locates the unconscious Varne. Not having another restraint cylinder, he has her restrained and sets a roustabout to guard her with a neural disruptor.
2.49pm:
Ezekiel sets up for his trick-shooting act. Zack admits that he's afraid, but not as afraid as he thinks the Tods should be.
2.50pm:
Varne regains consciousness. Ezekiel explains the situation, then departs to watch the matinee performance. Magnus materialises for a moment, then disappears again when the Carnival creature intervenes (see 3.20pm).
2.50pm:
Lineus, in response to Gideon's instructions, arrives at Gideon's tent. The tent is empty, and Lineus takes the opportunity to search Gideon's desk and steal a large key. A parcel appears on the desk, with instructions from Gideon. Lineus follows the instructions and Dr Mekt is restored, in a burst of something nasty that reduces the desk to fragments - and similarly affects Lineus' right hand, which he'd used to open the parcel. Dr Mekt exits the tent, leaving Lineus sobbing on the floor.
2.55pm:
Varne fries her guard with the lightning bolt she prepared earlier. She pauses to sabotage the neural disruptor before leaving.
2.56pm:
Drum rolls begin, and barker starts announcing the trick-shooting act. Ayna and Number One arrive and insist on talking to Ezra. Adric is hiding behind the ticket booth - Number One wants to keep the element of surprise assuming that the Tods still believe Adric dead. Sandra is nowhere to be seen.
2.58pm:
Ayna and Number One tell Ezra they want an exchange of hostages - if he doesn't hand over Zack, Number One will shoot herself dead.
2.59pm:
Lineus returns to his caravan. "Strong arms gather him in."
2.59pm:
"In a darkened tent, Pirouette slumps like an abandoned toy discarded in a corner. Her harlequin's rags are tacky with blood."
2.59pm:
Ezekiel stands outside the Akhnaten Brothers' crypt, lost in thought; flipping Adric's badge into the air and catching it over and over.
2.59pm:
"A starving cat gnaws and worries at the arm of a crumpled figure clad in yellow, lying forgotten in the dust outside of a tent. Tendrils of smoke begin curling from a pocket."
2.59pm:
The clairvoyant Grandmother Nox watches the Carnival.
3.00pm:
Magnus stumbles onto the road near This Time Round, and is hit by a car (but not seriously injured). He insists on being taken to This Time Round to find the Doctor. Harry Sullivan (who initially doesn't recognise him because of his condition and because he's wearing rags instead of his usual outfit) gives him a once over, and finds that he's not seriously injured, but is malnourished and has apparently been chained up for quite a while somewhere that doesn't have a barber (but no spinal damage, vocal cord damage, or signs of torture - hmm). Magnus regains consciousness, and says "The carnival has Varne." and "I'll kill them all. By all the Gods, I'll kill them all."
3.00pm:
Ezra and Number One are at an impasse. Simple Simon tries to distract Number One by teleporting about, but is warned off. Adric, watching from hiding, notices a pattern in Simple Simon's movements.
3.02pm:
Ezra declares himself prepared to keep the standoff going until Number One collapses. Ayna, following whispered instructions from Number One, tells Ezra that if he doesn't give up on a count of ten, Number One will shoot him and then herself. Ezra doesn't believe it, but Gideon, who knows better, makes his presence known and takes over negotiations.
3.05pm:
After recovering with the aid of a convenient potion, Magnus asks the motorist where he hit him.
3.05pm:
Gideon lets Ayna leave with Zack, promising not to send anyone after them as long as Number One continues to hold herself hostage. After they leave, Gideon taunts Number One a bit. Number One collapses, apparently worn out. Gideon tells Ezra to take her to his caravan.
3.06pm:
Having recovered and gathered together the best equipment he can find out of the stuff he didn't take to the carnival in the first place, Magnus has the motorist take him back to where he was hit by the car.
3.12pm:
Ezra isn't quite cautious enough, and Number One gets the drop on him, emptying the rest of her clip (five bullets) into him before collapsing again, for real this time. Gideon, though having expected this, makes no move to intervene.
3.12pm:
Ayna and Zack, on their way to a rendezvous with Sandra and Adric, hear the sound of the shots, and correctly infer what has occurred. Ayna is horrified; Zack proud.
3.13pm:
Gideon has the now-unconscious Number One carried to his caravan, and sends a runner to summon the Matron to tend to her. He sends Simple Simon after Ayna, Sandra, and Zack. He does nothing about the mortal remains of his brother.
3.20pm:
Magnus returns to the carnival, and decides to re-enter it half an hour in the past. His transport spell is intercepted by the Carnival, and he has to settle for re-entering in the present. Seeing a poster for the Zack-enriched trick-shooting act, Magnus speculates that it was the trick-shooting act that the Carnival didn't want him interfering with.
3.2?pm:
Magnus, in order to give Gideon "pause for thought", creates a circle of dead grass that doubles in diameter every minute (using a weapon called an "eater") at or near the centre of the carnival. Then he sets out to track down Varne.
3.24pm:
Bob the Carpenter and Wally move the completed Pirouette, seated on a mahogany chair, into a wagon. Wally finds her creepy, even more so when Bob sets her dancing just to provoke him. (Bob has seen her dance already.) The two hear Bent Jimmy hollering for them, and leave.
?.???m:
In her head, Pirouette is dancing in a garden...
00.00:
Phaidor deals with an objection to the steps she has been taking to help Adric, the latest of which is ordering "temporary releases" for two individuals without going through channels. That done, she phones Death's message service. (The time may or may not be anything like 3.24pm)
3.25pm:
Magnus is attacked by Simple Simon and two roustabouts. Magnus kills the roustabouts, but he and Simon - both having teleporting powers - reach a stand-off (although Magnus manages to break Simon's arm). Magnus breaks the deadlock by summoning 'pigeons from Hell' and setting them on Simon. Simon exits, pursued by 'pigeons', and Magnus resumes his search.
00.00:
Phaidor concludes a telephone call with Death, arranging a dinner date at 8.00pm. The Department of Destinies and the Post-Mortem Residency Bureau send queries regarding her recent actions, which she instructs her staff to stall as long as possible. (The time may or may not be anything like 3.27pm)
3.27pm:
The Matron attends Gideon in his caravan, and he gives her his instructions regarding the care of Number One. While the Matron is out fetching additional supplies, Gideon tells the unconscious Number One what he wants her to do for him.
3.30pm:
Having finished sorting out her memories and disarming the remaining mental traps (and having detected Magnus's return), Varne decides to get back into action. She decides to adopt the form of a cold drake after determining that fire doesn't affect the wall of the tent [see unanswered questions] but freezing cold does.
3.30pm:
Harry, worried by how the carnival chewed up and spat out Magnus (and by the thought that, on past form, it's probably doing the same to the Doctors) starts making plans for the end of his shift. Dominic calls to ask if Harry knows where Sandra and Ayna are, and Harry shares his fears. Dominic and Harry agree to go and check out the carnival together.
3.31pm:
A cloud forms over the centre of the carnival, and a bolt of lightning from it strikes the eater. The eater stops growing.
3.32pm:
Magnus is lured by a false signal into one of the tents, where - prevented from leaving by a space-time twist - he is compelled to sit and watch a Punch and Judy Show in which the Judy is made to resemble Ember Ashe.
3.33pm:
Magnus concludes that escaping the space-time twist would leave him unable to deal with the Carnival's other menaces, and decides that his best bet is to stay put and hope he gets a chance to escape if he survives to the end of the performance.
3.34pm:
The eater starts growing again, and is hit by a second bolt of lightning. A third bolt splashes, setting fire to a nearby tent.
3.35pm:
Dominic makes arrangements with Allie. Imran, Allie, and Xeffy are to stay behind: Dominic makes Allie promise to keep Xeffy out of danger and to get the heck out of Dodge if she hasn't heard from him by midnight. Kari insists on coming to the carnival with Dominic.
?.???m:
Pirouette is visited by an apparition: a tall man with gray-streaked hair, whom she doesn't recognise, but who addresses her as "my daughter" and appears horrified by her situation.
00.00:
Phaidor prepares for her dinner date. Phaidor's secretary reports that the first of the temporary-release transferees has arrived at the specified destination, and that the supervisor of the Post-Mortem Residency Bureau has threatened to bring the matter to the attention of the Director of Afterlife Affairs.
3.39pm:
The Punch and Judy show continues. After Punch kills the baby, Ember/Judy unexpectedly attacks him with a cudgel, but he fights back and beats her to death.
3.40pm:
The eater resumes its expansion at a reduced rate of around one millimetre of diameter per minute. More lightning strikes occur, with no further effect on the eater.
3.47pm:
After beating several more puppets to death, Punch starts making out with a Pretty Polly puppet made in the likeness of Nyssa. They are interrupted by the arrival of Gideon, who offers Magnus a chance to join the carnival on relatively good terms. (He tells Magnus that "There are at least four people around here will not be satisfied until you are dead".) Magnus refuses, and Gideon inserts him into the Punch and Judy show as the policeman.
3.49pm:
Magnus evades Punch long enough to summon another of his monsters and set it on Punch. Punch and the monster disappear into the booth;
3.50pm:
shortly thereafter the space-time twist untwists and Magnus finds himself outside the tent. He sets out to find Varne. (By this stage, his own mental survey has uncovered and disabled six more mental triggers, and he has recovered some true memories of his earlier encounter with the Tod Brothers.)
??.???m:
The Doctors find themselves somewhere else, with chill air and blanketing grey mist. In the distance, coming closer, they hear the sound of savagely excited hounds. Standing before them is a skeletal figure that takes a lethal word of power cast by the sixth Doctor (intended for Mekt) without any apparent effect. "The pile of bones, draped in a loose tatter of colourless rags, raised an arm to point a finger at the gaggle of Doctors. The clawed nail began to glow with a putrid blue radiance." The fifth Doctor, and then the sixth, begin to show signs of imminent regeneration. No such occurs, but the fifth Doctor apparently recovers (at least enough to sit up and look around) from the snakebite, and the sixth Doctor reverts to his normal non-evil self. The second, third, and fourth Doctors respond to this turn of events by loosing a cast of devastating energy at the sixth;
??.???m:
this is intercepted by a protection cast by the self-preservation-minded seventh and eighth Doctors. While they are thus distracted, the skeletal figure disappears.
??.???m:
The Hounds approach. While the evil Doctors argue about the best way to handle the situation, the fifth and sixth Doctors leg it with the still-unconscious first. The evil Doctors soon follow, their attacks having had no noticeable effect.
??.???m:
The evil Eighth Doctor realises who the Hounds are, and trades on his reputation (from a Big Finish audio I haven't heard yet) to get the Hounds to give them safe passage out of the Dust.
??.???m:
During their journey, the not-regeneration strikes again, and the fourth and seventh Doctors return to normal.
??.???m:
The Doctors emerge in a wasteland the seventh Doctor identify as Yondo. A hooded figure approaches.
??.???m:
The hooded figure, which proves immune to the evil Doctors' magics, offers them a guide back to the carnival - for a price, which it refuses to specify in advance. The Doctors feel they have no choice but to agree; the figure vanishes, leaving a hovering ball which leads them away.
??.???m:
The Doctors are led by a long and winding journey - during which they speculate about what the price will be, whether any of their companions are in danger back at the carnival, the role of the skeletal figure, and other such cheerful topics - through a vast and apparently uninhabited wilderness. As night falls, and just after the Doctors have spotted their first plant, the evil Third Doctor is engulfed by strange glowing things and disappears. He reappears a few minutes later, but in the confusion, their guide disappears as well, and does not return. Up on a nearby cliff-top, unfamiliar silhouettes approach.
8.00pm
Scheduled dinner date between Phaidor and Death.
12.00am
The Doctor's guess at the time things will come to a head.

Unanswered questions

Paul Andinach, et al.

resources

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Site last updated 26 May, 2010.