The Circus Infinitus Stories Volume 1

by Ethan Somerville

  Bart poised to grab the hat and run. Then the woman swept around, and with one bony bare foot kicked the hat out of his reach. It landed next to Reggie, who stoically resisted the temptation to put it on. He didn’t want to turn back into that big-mouthed jester. “None of that,” the woman snapped. “You two will stay here until the Professor comes back and answer to him.

  Bart just glared at her – he could handle any professor - but Reggie had no wish to face Abbacus’ wrath again. “Please – now I know what the artefacts do, I can resist them. I want no more to do with them. Just let me leave and I’ll go quietly.”

  The woman glared at Reggie. “No, you’ll stay right here! I can wait all night if I have to.”

  While her attention was on Reggie, Bart scrambled for the exit. She spun around, but he was already out the door. Like Reggie the day before, Bart slid down the banister and onto the Circus floor. But this time no cloaked Ringmaster stepped from the shadows to stop him. Bart was able to run from the Big Top. He thought about fleeing in one of the many secret haunts he knew around the city until Bishop Victoris forgot about him, but as soon as that intention crossed his mind, he experienced a crippling pain in his chest, and the uncontrollable urge to do as ordered.

  Even though he’d failed, the geas the priest had placed over him compelled him to return and explain himself. He had only the object that had fallen from the hat to show for his efforts. As he stumbled from the grounds, unable to disobey the prayer, he pulled the thing from his pocket.

  It was a rolled up pair of red socks.

  As soon as Bishop Victoris’ prayer flared into power, ordering Bart to obey, the Ringmaster woke with a start and leapt out of bed before he was fully awake. He didn’t know exactly what had woken him, only that he felt a powerful sensation of foreboding. He couldn’t actually predict the future, but he knew a warning when he felt one. As he dressed in record time, he sent a telepathic message to everyone in the Circus.

  Time’s up, everyone! We must leave right now! Everyone make the necessary preparations.

  His order elicited groans throughout the Circus as people woke and stirred. His current bed-companion yawned sleepily and pushed the covers back Those Circus folk who didn’t sleep were already heading for the Big Top, where the Ringmaster preferred everyone to be during transferences. After the Circus lost an attached out-building during a shift in the early days, the Ringmaster was doubly careful about keeping everyone together.

  Outside he startled Professor Abbacus, who’d cooled down and was struggling one-handed to shove his emergency piece of coal into his furnace. “Here, let me help you, Icarus! By Eridos, have you been out here all night?”

  As Icarus’ internal workings heated up, he was able to move and speak again. “Yes, dammit! The night turned out a little chillier than I expected, and I froze. Well, I’d better get the Omniportallis up and running.” He turned and rushed off, embarrassed about being caught by one of his great weaknesses, the cold.

  The Ringmaster was in too much of a hurry to laugh at Icarus’ predicament. He roused people from tents, sending them on their way to the Big Top. In the distance he heard the great engines start up as Icarus prepared the Omniportallis. When the Ringmaster was satisfied no one remained outside the Big Top, he hurried inside too, then sealed the great metal doors behind him. Concerned Circus folk had gathered in front of the big ring, where Icarus was grumbling and punching numbers into a big control board attached to the difference engine. “It won’t be a big jump,” he shouted without looking up from the keys. “I haven’t the time to work out the calculations for a long trip.” The outermost ring started to hum and then glow softly.

  Everyone watched and waited. The newcomers, who’d never experienced the Circus Infinitus move before, felt a rising mixture of anticipation and dread. Hairs stood up on the arms of those who had hair, and everyone felt static electricity crackle through the air as the Circus began to disconnect from reality. Then the first of the inner mobile rings started to spin, quickly followed by the others, one at a time. As each one started, the Circus shifted more and more.

  “What’s going on?” called a deep, commanding voice. “Are we on the move?”

  Icarus paused in front of the great two-pronged switch that controlled the actual transference. “No, I just thought I’d take the Circus for a little late night drive.”

  The Ringmaster gazed up at Lady Frankenstein, leaning over the balcony high above. In that particular form, her intelligence rendered her immune to his telepathy. “There is trouble coming. I thought it best we leave now.”

  “And avoid the Christmas rush, and all the money we would have made!” growled Icarus as he waited for the last ring to start spinning. By now the Circus’ great engines were screaming. The overhead lights started to flicker. Steam began to hiss from gaps in the forest of pipes against the back wall. Had anyone been left outside to see, they would have noticed smoke pouring from the chimneys, and been deafened by the screech of machines.

  “But we can’t! We have a prisoner!” Lady Frankenstein gasped.

  The last ring started to move. Icarus slammed the lever down. The Circus shifted. Everyone felt the lurch deep in their stomachs … or whatever equivalent they had. “What?” he shouted over the din.

  Lady Frankenstein cupped her hands around her mouth. “We have a prisoner! He’s in your laboratory!”

  Reggie darted out to see what all the racket was about. He gaped at the spinning rings, and all the characters arrayed below. But the rings were already slowing. The shift was finished. The Professor noticed him. “What the Hell are you doing back here? I thought you ran like a dog with its tail between its legs!”

  “I had to come back!” Reggie hurried down the stairs. “The hat and the staff would not let me go!”

  Icarus planted his hands on his hips. “Well, it’s far too late to take you home. We’ve shifted. We’re in the Yorkshire downs somewhere. You’re stuck here with us unless you want to walk back.”

  Reggie stared in horror. “No,” he gasped. “No! You can’t do this to me! I have a wife and a daughter…!” He collapsed to his knees, and the Ringmaster walked over to him.

  “I’m so sorry,” he whispered as he placed a comforting hand on Reggie’s shoulder. “I will take you back. But I fear if we return to London now, we will surely be attacked.”

  Early the next morning, before the fog lifted, a large party gathered in Hyde Park. It was led by Bishop Victoris, in full ceremonial regalia complete with jewel-encrusted cross, seated astride an enormous white charger. He was accompanied by ten of his enormous eunuchs, decked out in blessed armour and carrying swords and guns. They were far too big for horses and walked alongside the bishop. Behind came regular mounted troops, also ready for battle, and the Monocle somewhere in the middle, quite concerned for his personal well being. He had not anticipated being caught up in a battle so soon. With him was Bart Sabbath, eyes downcast, suitably chastised for his failure. But he took a small comfort in the warm red socks on his feet. As soon as Victoris released him, he would run. And the socks would give him the speed and agility to vanish into London’s seedy streets, never to be ensnared by the likes of that bishop again!

  Bleary-eyed policemen had also been recruited, with most of them wondering what on Earth was going on.

  But when the group reached where the Circus Infinitus had been parked for the last six weeks, they found only flat, dead grass and some abandoned rubbish. Somehow the entire outfit had vanished during the night without a trace. There weren’t even any tracks leading away, which confounded the policemen no end.

  But Bishop Victoris knew that dark, eldritch forces had forewarned the Circus folk of their arrival, and spirited them away in the dead of night. “We will find that accursed place and make its demons pay!” he thundered. “They will not escape the power of God forever!”

  A Week in the Life of Violet

  It was sometime after three in the morning when Professor Abbacus finally stompe
d into the Omniportallis Chamber. The Vampiress, who had been waiting since midnight, glided silently out of the shadows to greet him.

  “Professor?”

  He turned around with a look of long suffering. “What the Hell d’you want, Vampiress?”

  “I must speak with you – it’s very important.”

  He rolled his one human eye at her in exasperation. “What now? Can’t find anyone to bite in this provincial backwater?”

  “No – there are plenty of victims here.” She paused, as though to take a breath. “I have come to a decision.” She touched the ancient necklace around her slender white throat. “I want to use the Immortality Machine.”

  Icarus narrowed his human eye suspiciously. “Why? Is it because you cannot transfer your vampiric power through a bite, and would like some poor human lover to live forever as your pet zombie?” He snickered.

  She glared at him. “No! I want to use the machine on myself.”

  Icarus stared. “But there’s no point. You are already immortal.”

  “Technically I’m not. In this form I do not age, but as Victoria I will only live seven hundred years. My mother died aged 694. There will come a time when I will die. I don’t want that to happen. I want to live forever – as the Vampiress!” She finished with a hiss, bearing her sharp canines. “I believe, if I use the machine, I can stay in this form permanently.”

  Icarus rubbed his metal chin. He needed very little reason to power up the Immortality Machine. But in this form Victoria was at her most powerful, and even the Ringmaster had trouble controlling her. “You are a dangerous creature as the Vampiress, Victoria,” Icarus growled. “What will stop you from trying to take control of everything here?”

  “I have no need to control this tawdry establishment, Icarus. You need not fear me. I will stay only for as long as it suits me.”

  “Your necklace could interfere with my machine. I still do not know the full extent of its powers.”

  The Vampiress stepped up to Icarus, sliding her long fingers with their blood-red nails around his shoulders. “You will be fully compensated should anything happen to your precious machine.”

  “It took me years to build, and I have only just managed to repair the damage caused by your pet gorilla!” He shook her hands off. “Save your vampiric wiles for someone on whom they will actually work!”

  She stepped back, irritated that her beguiling powers never seemed to affect him. “Well, I do have a substantial sum to offer.”

  “It had better be very substantial. Very well – my curiosity has been piqued. I will use the machine on you. Give me a few minutes to power it up.” He stomped off across the room, his tattered leather coat flapping behind him. The Vampiress followed silently with a smile on her dark lips. Oh, to remain in this wondrous form permanently! To be able to enjoy each and every night without fearing a return to some lesser body! She might actually be able to leave this travelling sideshow and strike out on her own. She yearned to seek out others like her. She knew other vampires existed, but they kept themselves secret – too secret for her to seek them only one night out of seven.

  She watched as the Professor rolled out the coffin-like Immortality Machine on its tracks and connected up its cables. She didn’t want to think about other alternatives. Why shouldn’t it work? she asked herself. It transformed the living into zombies, and she was already dead! Surely it would seal her in this form forever?

  Icarus muttered as he worked, pulling down levers and powering up the device. The great engines began to rumble. No doubt the other folk were wondering what he was up to this time of night. The Circus was parked on a quiet, windswept hilltop equidistant from several villages. Numerous people showed up every day, but they were poor folk and paid in coal, bags of grain and farm animals. Not that Icarus minded the coal, but he preferred cold, hard cash above all else. The Circus Infinitus required a lot of money to function at peak efficiency, and he hated resorting to the Ringmaster’s underhanded methods of acquiring funds. He might have lost count of all the people he had ordered the clowns to dispose of, but when it came to money his honesty was almost quirky.

  When the engines were screaming at full strength, the capacitors whining with stored power, and the overhead lights flickering intermittently, the Professor swung around. “It’s ready, Vampiress. Get undressed and get yourself up there now!” He pointed at the metal grille suspended above the tank. “I will shackle you in.”

  The Vampiress shed her red gown with a single flourish. She wore nothing beneath and strode naked up to the machine, six feet of smooth, white flesh. Not one single blemish marked her perfect form. She was lean and wiry, exuding power and grace. Yet the Professor simply glared at her, showing no sign he was moved. “Hurry up, I can’t hold it at this level forever!”

  “It’s at full power?” she asked as she stretched herself out on the platform.

  “For an unknown transformation such as this, I can’t take any chances.” He shoved her limbs into the heavy metal manacles and locked them in.

  “Surely you are enjoying yourself now, chaining me in, putting me at your mercy?” she purred with as much seduction as she could muster.

  “Don’t waste your so-called breath,” he growled and lurched away. “You could escape simply by turning yourself into mist.”

  The Vampiress sighed. Clearly there was no moving the man. Why didn’t her powers work on him? They worked on pretty much everyone else, male or female, alive or dead! Was it because of his great age? Then he yanked down a lever and dropped the platform into the tank without warning, plunging her beneath the icy salt water. Luckily I don’t need to breathe, she thought. Then the lid was slammed down on top, sealing her in the semi-darkness. She had no idea what Abbacus was up to until the water around her burst into light. Electrical discharges sizzled into the chains biding her, burning into her body. She opened her mouth to scream, and boiling water churned into her lungs.

  Everything went black for an instant – or an hour – she couldn’t tell. But the next thing she knew, she was struggling to breathe. How could this be? She was the Vampiress! She didn’t need air! But her lungs were bursting! Then the lid lifted, and the platform lifted. Victoria jerked against her bonds, struggling to break them, but they seemed impossibly strong. Salty water burst from her lips as she began coughing and spluttering. Somehow she managed to get her breath back. “What … what is going on here?” she croaked weakly. She tried to see what was going on, but her eyes were stinging, blurred with salt water. Why did she feel so weak? Why did she feel so … alive?

  The metal bands around her wrists and ankles were loosened, and she curled up, rubbing her eyes. She could hear the unpleasant rasping sound of the Professor laughing at something.

  She managed to clear her eyes enough to see. Abbacus was indeed laughing, pointing and laughing at her. Great clouds of smoke puffed from his chimney. “What are you doing?” she shouted, infuriated.

  “You’re alive, Victoria. My machine has reversed the process!”

  She looked down at her hands, expecting to see nothing. But a strange pair of hands extended before her, still glistening with drops of salt water. She couldn’t believe her eyes. She had not seen her living flesh for over a hundred years! She had forgotten what it looked like. Was her skin really that soft pink colour? Did she really have those freckles? “I … I’m not invisible!” she gasped.

  “I can see that,” Abbacus declared, then snorted with more laughter. “You’d better get yourself dried up before you catch your death!” He cracked up again.

  “I’m glad you find this so amusing!” Victoria climbed off the platform and stood shivering on the hard metal floor. “I was beginning to think you had no sense of humour at all!” The necklace around her throat felt uncomfortably warm against her skin, but the rest of her was covered with goosebumps. “I don’t suppose you have a blanket or something?”

  In her human form, Victoria usually went back to sleep after her midnight transformati
on. But tonight she was too excited to sleep. And besides, by the time she reached her own private room, it was already four o’clock in the morning. Victoria quickly peeled off the Professor’s oil-soaked old coat, and then took a hot bath to clean and warm herself. She put on a dressing gown and sat down in front of her mirror, where she normally tried to make herself visible beneath lots of makeup. But now a new face stared uncertainly back at her, a face she hadn’t seen since she was sixteen.

  It was her own human face, almost forgotten. She could see elements of her 6 other visible forms in its shape, but the eyes were a soft doe-brown instead of red or black, her hair fine and curly instead of thick and luxurious, light brown instead of black. She brushed her fingertips across warm, pale skin. Soft, living skin, not cold, hard porcelain, fur, or desiccated flesh. “I am finally myself,” she whispered. “I am … Violet.” It seemed the Vampiress’ quest had resulted in her own quest finally being fulfilled. But was it permanent? She stroked the amulet around her throat. It was still uncomfortably warm to the touch. She had to talk to someone, but whom? She doubted the Professor wanted to communicate with her again so soon.

  Was the Ringmaster awake yet? He didn’t sleep as long as some of the Circus’ living occupants, but he couldn’t stay awake all night like the undead, either. Violet rummaged through her wardrobe for something to wear, scorning the usual shapeless, concealing gowns she wore when she was the Invisible woman. Instead she grabbed one of the Vampiress’ more modest velvet dresses. It was still very revealing and dragged on the ground, but at least it didn’t make her look like a schoolmarm. Covering her shoulders with a cloak, she ventured from her room and into the main body of the Big Top.

  A few carnies were already preparing for the morning show, due to start at eleven. Violet spotted Ralph and hurried over to him. He spun around on hearing her approach. “Who are you?” he snapped, obviously hung over from a big night. “You’re not supposed to be in here!”