Doctor Who_ Camera Obscura - Lloyd Rose [44]
‘What’s all this, then?’ said the apparition. Fitz put him at at least seven feet.
‘N-nothing,’ whimpered Scale.
‘Looks like something.’
‘Really,’ said the Doctor, ‘it’s all right.’ His voice sounded wheezy. Fitz looked at him and saw with alarm that he was ashy-white. The giant narrowed his eyes at the Doctor, then spoke over his head to Scale.
‘The thing about you, Micah, see, you haven’t got a showman’s personality. I always say, what’s the sense of going into this sort of business if you haven’t a showman’s personality?’
Without another word, Scale faded back into his octagonal room and shut the door.
‘That’s all,’ said the giant to the curious crowd. ‘All over now. But I recommend to you an exhibition of the wonders of nature, of which I am a foremost example.’ He pointed to the gaudy neighbouring showfront. ‘Temporarily on our teabreak, but bound to please and amaze when we return in just half an hour just half an hour, ladies and gentlemen, for the thrill of a lifetime. I personally have been known to lift a full-grown bull. Will I do it again this afternoon? Come and see.’
Fitz and Anji had leaned the Doctor against the wall of the Black Chamber. ‘I’m all right,’ he kept muttering irritably though he didn’t straighten up. Anji noticed he held his coat closed. But when the giant turned towards them again, he stepped forward and offered a hand. ‘Thank you.’
‘My pleasure, sir,’ said the man, enfolding the Doctor’s hand in one with fingers like sausages. His face changed, and he peered at the Doctor curiously.
‘The pleasure is all ours,’ said the Doctor. ‘I think introductions are in order. I’m the Doctor and these are my friends Anji Kapoor and Fitz Kreiner. And you are...?’
The man pointed proudly to a boldly lettered sign on the neighbouring showfront: SEE HUGO THE HUGE – THE HUMAN JUGGERNAUT. ‘That’s me. Forgive me, sir,’ he looked closely at the Doctor again, ‘but are you all right?’
‘Fine,’ said the Doctor pleasantly, and fell over.
Anji thought she wasn’t going to be able to bear it if the Doctor kept fainting like this. Was there any way of locking him in the TARDIS? she wondered frantically, as the Human Juggernaut caught the Doctor mid-fall and lifted him in his arms as easily as if he were carrying a child. Fitz began to assure concerned passers-by that it was all right, their friend had these spells. She followed the giant up the steps to the rococo entrance to the freaks’ hall.
After the ornate showfront and doorway, the inside was surprisingly plain: passages defined by dark blue curtains, interrupted periodically by cubicles containing small raised platforms. These were empty except for one in which a clean-cut, dark-haired man whose body stopped around his fourth ribs was balanced serenely on a wooden chair, arms folded, napping.
‘That’s Johnny Bind, the Human Torso,’ said the Juggernaut conversationally. ‘He’s a twin – half a twin, he’d say – and they had a great act together. His brother was regular size, you see. So he’d get into a casket, assistant would fake sawing the casket in half, Johnny’d jump out and scamper around on his hands. Didn’t half fit people. Grown men would faint,’ he finished proudly.
‘I’m sure,’ Anji murmured.
‘Then his brother got married and left the business. A shame, really, but, of course, not everyone’s cut out for it.’
‘Like Mr Scale.’
‘He’s bitter, is Scale. Used to have a gorgeous hall of mirrors. Someone pinched it.’
‘Yes, he said. What was so special about it?’
‘Well, it was peculiar, to be sure. Strange. You never knew what you’d see in those mirrors. I only went through it once myself. That was enough.’
Anji was about to ask for details, but they had come into a long room that ran across the back of the building. This was crammed with trunks, boxes, props, tins