Written by Peter J Hammond
Produced by Richard Stokes
Directed by Jonathan Fox Bassett
In the dead
of night, in the early ‘20s and lit up like a Christmas tree, The Joshua Joy
Travelling circus offers a ‘once in a lifetime show’ for all who enter. The
show master entices all in with a special ticket, while performers show off
their talents inside the circus, from jugglers, strongmen and all manner of
other circus entertainment. Through the
trees the crowd follow the bright lights, including a young woman with her young
child.
“Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, have
we got a show for you tonight! A once in a lifetime show. Amaze your ears,
astonish your eyes, then run along home and tell your friends and neighbours. A
once in a lifetime show, never to be forgotten for the rest of your lives. So,
why not step inside?”
The Ghostmaker offers a ticket down to the
young blonde haired child, tantalising her with what wonders she’ll find
inside.
“We're waiting for you.” He says.
As the girl
takes the ticket, a fox cries out in the night distracting the young
woman. She takes her eyes off her
daughter for mere seconds. The bright
lights of the circus vanish, and she finds herself alone in the field as a
light mist rolls in. Her daughter and
the circus have gone!
In a dusty room,
old reels of film lie on metal shelving; Jonathan is entertained by old home
movies on a Steenbeck machine. They
depict the life of a bygone era, in Cardiff
In an
underground base in Cardiff
As the film
reel continues to play, Jonathan is mesmerised at the quality of the old
film.
“Great!”
Suddenly
the picture changes from happy military men to a sinister man in a top hat
beckoning towards the camera.
“What is that?”
Jack is
distracted by the sound of circus music and looks up from his workstation. It’s gone as soon as he hears it.
Back on the
screen the Ghostmaker continues to beckon at the camera. Jonathan is having none of it.
“I don't know where you came from, mate, but
I know where you're going.”
He stops
the film, and is about to edit it when the windows blow open startling
him. He quickly leaps to his feet
knocking the editing equipment onto the ground.
As he closes the windows, the film whirrs quickly, yet all the while, as
the images of 20th century life continue on in the background, the Ghostmaker
continues to beckon towards the camera in a slow but ghostly fashion as the
film reaches its natural end. Jonathan
is spooked.
Toshiko
descends the steps in the Hub armed with a folder and sets it down on her work
station. Jack calls to her across the
quiet Hub, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.
“Tosh?”
“Hmm?”
“I
heard this sound an old sound, like a pipe organ.” He tells her, walking over,
his hands in his trouser pockets, blue shirt sleeves rolled up.
“A
what?”
“Did
you hear anything?”
“No.”
“Is
there a circus in town, or a travelling fair, something like that?”
“On a
night like this? They'd be wasting their time.” Toshiko replies carefully
working on an electronic piece of equipment with tweezers.
“Where's
Ianto? He would know.”
“He's
gone to the cinema with Gwen and Owen. Some kind of opening night he wanted to
check out. The building's got a record of Rift activity but it's been quiet for
years so…” Toshiko looks up from her work, but Jack has already gone.
It’s
lashing it down with rain as three sopping wet people walk quickly along Hope Street
“A nice trip to the cinema, you said.” Owen calls to Ianto.
“Yeah,
that's right.”
“Ianto,
there's nothing down here, mate.”
“Oh,
come on, Owen.”
“It's
more than just a cinema. It's the Electro.” Ianto tells them, as they reach the
building.
“Oh,
wow!” Gwen exclaims.
They cross
the road and head into the building.
Dressed very
dapper in a dinner jacket, his wife in the ticket booth in her ‘very much of
the era red uniform and pillbox hat’, Dave, the owner is less than pleased that
his son is nowhere in the building.
“Where's that stupid bloody son of ours?”
Jonathan is
running late. He slams the warehouse
door shut and legs it across the empty warehouse where lightning strikes
through the dirty windows. He’s
clutching a reel of film.
“He said he’d be here on time.” Faith assures him.
“He’d better be he’s got the film.” Dave smiles as a customer acknowledges
him. He turns back to his wife. “And what good is a cinema without a film?”
The door
closes behind three very wet cinema goers.
Dave resumes his pleasantries and welcomes them.
“Good evening, gentlemen, evening, madam.
Welcome to the Electro.”
Dave shakes
hands with Ianto. Gwen smiles over.
Jonathan
runs quickly down the steps as the rain continues to lash heavily. He pulls on his coat hood and leaps down the
last remaining steps before haring up the road.
The tyres
screech as Jack takes the corner sharply.
Headlights on full. He hammers
the vehicle along the quiet dark streets.
Inside the
cinema
“I love this place. I used to come here with
my dad. They'd show kids' films on Saturday morning.” Ianto tells them,
admiring the old film pieces.
“So,
where's the popcorn and the ice cream?” Gwen asks looking around her.
“I
think you've missed out. It's educational.” Owen replies patting her arm.
“Ok.
Come on.”
All three
make their way into the auditorium.
Jonathan arrives sopping wet and out of breath. His Dad is pleased to see him!
“What sort of time do you call this?”
“Sorry,
Dad.”
“People
are waiting.”
“You
won't believe this, right. When I was splicing the film…”
“Look,
just get up to that projection room, will you? Now!”
Jonathan
pulls off his wet coat after reaching the projection room and opens the film
tin. The sound of circus fairground
music can be heard faintly. Jonathan
still spooked from earlier shakes his head.
It’s just his imagination. He
prepares the film reel for the audience.
In the
Auditorium his mum and dad Dave and Faith are centre stage, Bernard the pianist
waits patiently for the film to start.
Dave addresses the audience.
“As proud owners of the Electro Museum Hope Street
Bernard
belts out a hearty tune befitting the era as the curtains open. Jonathan starts
the film. The trip down memory lane is
disrupted by the fairground circus folk showing off their skills.
“Do you recognise any of your long lost
relatives, Gwen?” Owen asks. Gwen grins. A female hula hoop artist comes
into shot. “There’s Aunty Peggy. She’s been on the gin again.”
Gwen erupts
into fits of giggles.
“Can you be quiet?” Ianto asks transfixed on the screen.
Dave is
less than impressed. “He’s showing the
wrong bloody film!” Dave heads to the
projector room.
“Where’s Hope Street
Upstairs in
the Projector Room, Jonathan sees the Ghostmaker beckoning towards the camera
again. He hadn’t removed it.
“Oh shit!”
He attempts
to switch off the projector but he can’t.
Owen and Ianto are transfixed by the characters on the screen.
“Where the hell did that film come from?”
“I’ve no idea. I swear I didn’t edit those clips.”
“Don’t be stupid.”
“It’s true.”
Jonathan replies.
“Well, just bloody well change it, will you?”
“I
can't. The machine won't switch off.”
“Oh,
get out of the way.”
“This
is crazy.”
Down in the
Auditorium, Owen and Gwen are bored.
“It's the same pictures over and over again.”
Gwen states watching the same juggler and clown for the umpteenth time.
“Yeah.
Right, come on, let's go.”
As the clip
continues to show different performers, Ianto spots a man holding a gun to his
head and pretending to fire it, then a gun under his chin to an audience of
onlookers.
“Wait! I just saw Jack.” Ianto replies
startled.
“Where?” Gwen asks.
“In
the film.”
“What
are you talking about?” Owen asks.
“What?”
“I
swear I saw him.” Ianto replies.
“Ianto”
“Wait just wait.”
But Jack’s
moment to surprise his other team members doesn’t come round again. Only the Ghostmaker beckoning all to enter as
the film dies and the auditorium is thrown into darkness once more. The pianist stops playing.
“Come on.”
“Let's
go.”
“Yes,
come on. Are you coming?” Gwen asks finally glad to leave.
The
audience begin to filter out. Ianto
gathers up his wet coat and gets to his feet, he’s startled by two shadowy figures seen exiting the auditorium ahead of him.
At the Hub,
Toshiko’s computer behaves out of character.
Her work is replaced by a series of letters cascading down the screen
like a waterfall then freezing before resuming their original course.
As people
exit the Electro, Jack pulls up in the SUV, and enters the building. The rain hasn’t relented at all.
Ianto still
stares at the stage as he relates the information to Jack, in the quiet
auditorium.
“When the film stopped, these shadows went
past me.” He tells him.
“What kind of shadows?”
“I
don't know. It wasn't clear. There was something else. You were up there on the
screen. Large as life.”
“What was I doing?”
“You
were on some sort of stage, outside a big tent. You seemed to be part of a
travelling show.”
“I heard it. Heard its music. Just a snatch
of it.”
“That film was beautiful. All those acts
performing for us. Part of history, trapped on film forever.”
“Their days were numbered. Cinema may have
saved their images, but it finished off the travelling shows. Killed them.”
At a bus
stop, Nettie, a young adult, waits for a bus ride home, while across the road,
two strange figures – the Ghostmaker and his female companion, a young girl
with a woolly hat, wearing a swimming costume and tights, watch her.
“I’m at the bus stop, Mum, by Hope Street
“Would you like a ticket for the travelling
show, my dear?” The Ghostmaker asks
holding out a pink ticket out to the girl.
“No, thanks.”
“Every young person's dream.”
“Perhaps she'd like to join the show
instead.” Pearl
“Why not? You could travel with us. Forever.”
“Look, just go away, will you? Did you hear
what I said?”
As the
Ghostmaker/Ghostmaker touches Nettie’s mouth the girl gasps for breath, as if
suffocating. He lifts out a silver flask
with a shell symbol on the front and guides Nettie’s last breath into it before
replacing the stopper. Pearl
Jack leant
against the two projectors at the Electro.
“So you say the projector went haywire?”
“Yeah,” replies Jonathan. “Even with the mains switched off it still
kept running. Playing those film
clips. It’s like it had a mind of its
own.”
Ianto
flicked on the machine.
“Working now.” Ianto replies after running the machines a
good few seconds before switching them off again.
“I
know.” Jonathan replies.
“So where’d you get these?” Jack asks kicking the reel tins below the
projector.
“In the basement here. There were stacks of cans. See, I’ve been compiling old footage of Hope Street
“The film that was shown wasn't meant to be
here?”
“No.
And that's what's so scary. I mean, it kind of played itself. It's like it
wanted to be seen.”
“Like
something tried to get through?”
“Yeah. And there was a sound, like old
fashioned music. Played on an organ or something.” Jack cast a glance at
Ianto. “And there was a face looking out
at me. And there was a smell, like, like bromine or iodine.” Jonathan explains.
“Like
the film itself.” Ianto replies.
“That's
right.”
“And
this is the film?” Jack asks placing his left hand on the projector box.
“Yeah.”
Ianto opens
the box and lifts out the film reel.
Toshiko comms him from the Hub.
“Jack,
the systems here are behaving very oddly. And I heard the sound you mentioned.
That fairground sound.”
“Can you trace the source?”
“No. But there was a peak in Rift activity at
the Electro, then nothing. Plus I'm recording unusual Rift traces nearby.”
“Where?”
“Chain
Lane Hope Street
“Tosh, we're on our way. Tell the police we're
dealing with it.”
Seated in
the bus shelter Nettie stares out as if she’s a wax figure. No expression, no batting of eyelids. The SUV
pulls up nearby and all four dash over to the poor girl.
“Epileptic, maybe, could be wearing a
tag?” Jack asks as Owen checks Nettie’s
pulse.
“She isn't.” Owen confirms.
“She got ID?” Ianto asks.
“I'll check.” Gwen checks.
“What's wrong?” Jack asks as Owen looks
confused.
“She's got a heartbeat but she isn't
breathing. Shouldn't really be alive. And look at her mouth. She's got no
saliva. Look, her lips are cracked. Dry as a bone. We need to get her to
hospital.”
At the
Windsor Café the owner is finishing up for the evening. The Ghostmaker and his accomplice watch her
for a while. Pearl stares at her through
the window, the Ghostmaker rattles the door handle. The unsuspecting owner opens it.
“Sorry, we're closed. Do you hear me? We're
closed.”
“Make
her cry.” Pearl
“You
what?”
“I
want to drink her tears.”
The Ghostmaker
touches the woman’s mouth with his fingers and takes her breath away.
In the
hospital, Owen relays the details of the young girl to Jack.
“Her name's Nettie Williams. Her parents are
outside. Apparently she was visiting a friend.”
“Have
any witnesses come forward?”
“No.”
“Has
anyone been able to communicate with her?”
“No.
No change in her condition.”
“Motor response?”
“Non-existent,
and they're treating it as a coma.”
“And
they're wrong?”
“Totally.
There's no signs of cerebral dysfunctions, no symptoms of hypoxia, and her
body's dehydrated. You know when a spider sucks the liquid out of its victims?
Well, this is a bit like that, except they've left her partly alive. She
couldn't cry about it even if she wanted to, the poor kid. She's got no tears.”
“There's
been another one.” Ianto enters ahead of the hospital gurney bringing in the
café owner. Owen helps to pull her in.
“Who's
she?”
“We
don't know. The paramedics found her. It freaked them. She was lying in an open
doorway looking like this.” The nurse explains to Jack. Owen checks her status.
“Where
was this?” He asks.
“The
corner of Hope Street
“The
same. Heartbeat but no breath.” Jack comes over and checks for heartbeat and
breath.
“Her
mouth's been drained of moisture.”
Along the
hospital corridor Owen, with Jack, Gwen and Ianto are at a loss as to who would
operate in this manner.
“This makes no sense, they're almost
dehydrated and possibly brain dead yet somehow they're still with us.” Owen
says.
“Some
part of them has been taken elsewhere?”
“Oh,
that's impossible.”
“For
the body to be alive there must be a life force somewhere. Yet they've
separated it, stolen it.”
“Who
has the power to do that?” Ianto asks as the team reach the exit to the
hospital.
“I
don't know, but we need to find out fast. Two people chosen at random. Who's
next?”
“Whatever's
doing it has the whole city to choose from.”
“Or
the world.”
Sitting in
front of Jack’s office desk the team watch the film reel, of the circus folk
performing.
“I knew those two. They argued day and
night.” Jack reminisces of the two clowns fooling around. A tightrope walker
appears then a quick shot of Jack dressed in hunting gear with a hunting hat,
gun pointing at his head. Owen is shocked.
“That
is you.” Toshiko rewinds the film and
plays it back again. “Alright, now I've
seen everything.”
“I told you so.” Ianto replies.
“You
did stand-up.” Gwen says.
“I
never did stand-up.”
“Okay,
then. A song and dance.”
“I was
sensational.”
“I
don't believe this, Jack. What were you doing there?”
“He
was part of this freak show.”
“Yeah,
some things never change.”
“Are
you being rude about me? Look at the state of them.”
The
strongman appears.
“But I do love his leotard.” Gwen
replies. Owen laughs.
It’s the
end of the show and the troupe wave goodbye to the camera.
“The
Night Travellers.”
“The
what?”
“Tosh,
play that back. So, they did exist.”
“Did
you work with these people?”
“I
didn't work with them. I never knew anyone who did. They only performed in the
dead of night. Anyway, it was just a tale that was around at that time. A ghost
story. They came from out of the rain. That's how people described them.” Jack says leaving his office. Gwen and Owen follow, leaving Toshiko and Ianto
in the office.
In the main
hub Owen was curious about the travelling circus.
“Jack, what did these Night Travellers do?”
“Left
a trail of damage and sorrow wherever they performed.”
Standing
beside Toshiko behind the desk, Ianto, with his arms folded, was certain
something was wrong with the film.
“Tosh, can you run this frame by frame?”
“Er,
sure. What are you looking for?”
“I'm
not sure. Something's wrong. Something's missing.”
In the Hub…
“This must be years back now, yeah?” Gwen
asks as she and Owen flick through physical files.
“Eighty
odd years. Then the travelling shows faded away. No one came to watch them and
without an audience they died out. Forgotten. Until all we have to remember
them by were these film clips.”
“Jack!” Ianto shouts from the office.
“This
film, it's not the same one we saw at the cinema.” Ianto tells him, pointing
towards the projector.
“Of
course it's the same one.” Gwen replies.
“No,
things are different. Tosh?”
She runs the
film again.
“Easy
to miss at first, but after watching it a few times I realised. Just there.
There was a woman in front of that water tank.” Ianto points to the screen.
“Yeah,
there was, Ianto, you're right.” Gwen says.
Owen studies the film with fresh eyes.
“That's
right, I remember her. Wearing almost nothing.”
“And
there was a man in like a top hat, a sort of MC.” Gwen remembers as she stares
at the blank space left by the Ghostmaker.
“Yeah.”
“That's
right. He was reaching down to the audience.”
“Are
you sure we've brought the right can of film back?”
“Positive.”
“So
what are we saying? That two people from a piece of film have decided to go
AWOL?” Toshiko asks incredulously.
“Yeah.
Like you said, trapped in film forever. When they opened the cinema, it gave
them a chance. When that kid ran the film, he let them loose.”
“So,
so they've become physical. They've escaped the film?” Ianto finds it a little
hard to believe.
“We
need to find out more about the havoc they've caused in the past. We need
evidence. Possible witnesses.”
“After
all that time it'll be tricky. What, town and parish records?“
“Sure, we can do that. How far back do you
want us to go?"
“As
far as you can. We don't sleep till we find them. Toshiko, keep checking for
sightings. There's got to be some way of tracing them. Ianto, with me, I need
your local knowledge.”
“Oh,
is that what you're calling it these days?”
Jack sits
alone in the Conference room searching old records as Ianto enters and draws up
a seat beside him.
“So, two people who should have been dead
for years. What kind of creatures are they?”
“No
one ever knew the Night Travellers were coming. They'd just appear from
nowhere. Not like the team I was with. We'd send out flyers, bang drums, blow
whistles.” Jack laughs as he tells Ianto
a little about his past. “Ours was a
small company. Working the UK
“By
who?”
“Long
story. So I joined a travelling show. I was billed as the man who couldn't die.
The Night Travellers always found an audience. They knew where to look.”
Flashback
of ‘The Joshua Joy Travelling Show’
“Step along now, ladies and gentlemen, come
and see the show of a lifetime! Fill your eyes with the spectacle of the
tattooed man. Witness for yourself the superhuman strength of the Mighty
Stromboli. He can take on Samson, Goliath and Hercules with one arm tied behind
his back, and still have strength to dig their graves. Come along now, ladies
and gentlemen, the night won't wait forever. Come and see the amazing Pearl
In the
Conference room…
“How many other old cinemas are there in Cardiff
“Most
of them have been pulled down.” Ianto
brings up the location of the Plaza Picture House on the wall mounted monitor,
honing in on the map.
“And the ones that are left?”
“Converted.
This one is a pub.”
“Four pint jugs for a fiver and girls in
free before eleven.”
At her work
station, Toshiko is picking up a strange signal.
“I'm registering the sea.” She hones in,
tapping a few more keys.
“The sea?”
Gwen asks intrigued. She comes
over to view the monitor with Owen.
“Inland.
Running through the centre of town.”
Toshiko
glances back towards Owen and Gwen. It
really doesn’t make any sense.
The family
of four travel in their car along the quiet, dark and damp road, it’s
late. He suddenly brakes as he spots two
people in the road, the ghostmaker and a young woman. His wife wakes up startled.
“What is it?”
“I
thought, I thought I saw something.”
“Saw
what?”
“Ghosts.”
“Don't be stupid.” She replies. Suddenly without warning, the ghostmaker and
the young woman Pearl
Back in the
Conference room…
“So the Electro is the only one left.”
“Could
the Night Travellers have performed there?”
“Possibly.”
“If cinema killed the travelling show, maybe
this is their way of fighting back. Their only chance to escape before every
old movie theatre and piece of film has gone. What better way to get revenge?”
“They
were left forgotten, on pieces of film.”
“And
now they're looking for a new audience.”
Jack and
Ianto enter the Hub and see Owen and Gwen watching Toshiko at the
computer.
“What is it, Tosh?” Jack asks.
“She
was picking up the sea.” Gwen replies pointing at the screen.
“In
the middle of town.”
“It's gone now. I was getting the sound of
waves, seagulls. I could almost smell the ozone.”
“No other sightings?”
“No.”
“What the hell are they up to?”
“I like the lights. They make the rain glisten.
And they're part of us.” Pearl
He hears
their sighs from the silver flask and lifts it out from the inside of his coat
and holds it up to his ear. He chuckles
darkly.
“Smell the water. Taste it.” She urges him
as he inhales her scent and licks her hand.
She reaches for the flask in his right hand.
“Careful.”
“How
many now?”
“Six.”
“I
wish I could see the air they once breathed.”
“You
know you can never see it. We could never see it.”
“We
have their ghosts here. I can see them whenever I want. Our audience. They'll
never leave us.”
“You
can't see, but we can hear. Listen.”
“I
can! I can hear them. Little last breaths, still sighing their sighs. Can we
bring the others? Make ghosts forever? The others shouldn't be in some old dark
cupboard. They should be here with us. And I want to travel again. Perform.”
“All
right. But first we need the rest of that film.”
Jack, Ianto
follow the nurse into the Emergency room at the hospital.
“Found in a car with their parents, near Hope Street
“Oh,
no.” Ianto stared at the children, lying in the beds, eyes wide open, no
response, just the monitor gently bleeping a heartbeat rhythm.
“What happened to the parents?”
“They're
in the same cataleptic state.”
“They
came from out of the rain.”
“What
did you say?” The nurse asks, looking back to Jack.
“Nothing.” Jack laughs.
“Why?”
“Those
words, from out of the rain. I'm sure I've heard them before. Oh, I remember,
it was Christina, she was a patient.”
“Here?”
“No,
at Providence Park
“I
know it.”
“I
used to work there. She was a full time patient, been there since she was a
child. She was a strange one. Whenever anything, any kind of entertainment show
was laid on, she became scared. She'd run away and hide.”
“Did
she say why?”
“Yes.
She said they were coming to steal her last breath. Poor love.”
Jack smiles
as the nurse leaves the room. He turns
to Ianto.
“I
think we've just found ourselves our first witness.”
At Providence Park
“They came from out of the rain. At night.
Came to the village.”
“How
old were you at the time?”
“Oh,
just a child. Five, I think, or six. Are you visiting someone?”
Jack
laughs. “Christina, we've come to see
you.” He says, taking her hand as Ianto pushes the wheelchair up the step to
the battered wooden pavilion to talk.
“No
one comes to see me.”
Jack
laughs, placing a hand on hers. She
frowns at Jack.
“Your eyes are older than your face.”
Jack
glances at Ianto for a second.
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Yes.
It means you don't belong. It means you're from nowhere.”
“Christina,
tell us about them. The people who came out of the rain.”
“There
was music. Hurdy gurdy music. And acrobats, and a man with fire in his hands.”
“Who
else was there?”
“A man
in dark clothes, and a woman. A beautiful young woman in a silvery costume. She
seemed to glisten.”
Cupping her
hands, Pearl
Walking over to the store room door, in need of a lick of paint, she
opens it, and peers in at the catatonic ghosts facing forwards, like an
audience!!!
“They
touched you, I can sense it. They touched you as they passed you by.”
“Tell
us about the man, Christina.”
“Oh.
Oh, he spoke to me. He asked if I would like to join the travelling show. He
took a kind of flask out of his pocket. It was polished like silver. I asked
him his name. Oh, I shall never forget it. I never shall. He said he was the
Ghostmaker. He wanted to take my breath and put it in his flask. He said I
could travel with his circus. I would be in his audience forever. I turned and
ran away as fast as I could. People went missing from the village that night.
My mother, my father.”
Ianto
places a sympathetic hand upon her knee.
Jack
glimpses at his pocket watch as Gwen locates details of the travelling show
while they all gather in the Conference room back at base.
“Here we go. Church Stretton, 1901. People
went missing when a travelling show visited the town. And there was one earlier
on, 1898. A small village called Wellsfield.”
Jack hands out the details of Wellsfield. “These disappearances, there's a lot of old
wives' tales attached to them through the years. People still alive but been
deprived of breath. Children being told to hold their breath while the travelling
show passes by.”
“Yeah, this local paper, didn't take it
seriously. Er, Hunstanton Chronicle, March 1911. Police and doctors were left
amused and baffled when Mister Alfred Mace insisted that his dead wife could be
brought back to life providing a certain flask could be found. He reckoned that
his wife's last breath had been put in a flask.”
“A silver flask.”
“And the last breath of each victim.”
“So
that's how he makes his ghosts.”
“So if
we find the flask…”
“We
can save them.”
Jonathan
returns to his flat to discover the corrugated door is open and the place has
been ransacked. Reels of film lie
unwound on the floor. He walks carefully
towards the bathroom as he hears the sound of running water and is startled to
see water spilling from the old free standing bathtub. As he nears it, Pearl
“Now we have the film. Time to bring the
others.” The Ghostmaker announces as he
holds up the film reel, as Pearl
Having put
enough distance between him and the flat, Jonathan makes an urgent phone
call.
“Jack, this is Jonathan. They're here,
they're at my flat. You've got to get over here now!”
The SUV
skids to a halt outside the flat. Jack and Ianto exit quickly and weapons drawn
enter the warehouse leading to the flat.
Jonathan is with them.
“Who’s in there?”
“A woman, lying under water, I thought she’d
drowned.”
“Anyone else?” Ianto asks.
“No.”
Jack enters
the flat, nodding to Ianto that it’s safe to enter. Weapon raised he proceeds into the room. With a glance towards Jonathan, he makes his
way towards the bathroom, the door now closed.
“Be careful.” Jonathan says, watching him go.
Jack kicks
open the door but there is no sign of the mermaid, only the full bath which is
steadily dripping over the edge. Jack
lowers his gun.
By the time
they enter the flat, the Ghostmaker and Pearl
Dave and
Faith enter the Electro foyer and hear the sound of piano music coming from the
auditorium.
“Did Bernard say he was coming here
today?” He asks his wife.
“No.”
She replies.
In the
auditorium, the piano plays without a pianist.
“David.”
Faith clutches her husband’s arm.
“This way please.”
Back at the
flat…
“So they haven't left the area.”
“They
probably can't. Probably need to be near the Electro.” Jack says, holstering
his revolver.
“All
my old film cans have been opened.”
“What
was on them?”
“Clips
from circus sideshows.”
“They're
bringing more through.”
“Then
we need to stop them. Gwen, Owen. Meet us at the Electro.”
“Look,
what's going on? I've got to find my Mum and Dad. If anything's happened to
them. Hey, there's that smell again. Like chemicals.”
“Yeah,
I can smell it. Like when you develop a film.”
“That
woman, she grabbed me. But her hand, it was different. It wasn't like a hand.
It wasn't like flesh. It was like touching a piece of plastic, a piece of
celluloid.”
“They
were on this film for eighty years. Became part of it. What if we filmed them?”
“A
film of a film?”
“Yeah.
Then they'd be trapped.” Jack says holding up an old cine camera.
“Is
this thing loaded?”
Leaving the
flat…
“If they were trapped on film before…” Jack
muses.
“They
can be got rid of in the same way.” Ianto adds.
“Okay,
let's suppose they're made of camphor and nitrate, made of shadows, made of
light, just enough light.”
“We
film them. Capture them in that…”
“Then
expose the film to as much light as possible.”
“Of
course. We'd blank them out. We'd lose them.”
“Let's
hope so.”
“Jack?” Gwen comms.
“Yeah?”
“We're
at the Electro. Something's happening inside.”
“Let's
go.”
Gwen
hammers on the doors of the Electro as Ianto and Jack with Jonathan
arrive.
“Come on.” Gwen hears the sound of a piano
playing. “Do you hear that?”
“Maybe
it's my mam and dad.”
“Would
they lock themselves in?”
“No.” He
fumbles for a set of keys, Jack unlocks the doors.
“Please let them be ok, please.”
Jack
forcibly pushes open double doors and the second set of doors as he quickly
strides through the foyer followed by Gwen, Owen, Jonathan and Ianto.
“Mam? Dad?”
Jonathan shouts.
“Take it easy.” Owen calms.
The team
head upstairs to the auditorium where they find Dave and Faith sitting staring
at the screen, their last breath taken.
“What's going on? Mum?”
“No,
Jonathan.”
“Mam!
Dad! What's happened? Please. Don't die, please. Speak to me.” Gwen reaches a hand down to him. “No, leave
me alone.” He snarls.
“They've
been frozen in place. A circus needs an audience.” Ianto says.
Suddenly
circus music begins to play and the curtains open.
“Get
him out of here.” Jack instructs.
“Jonathan,
come on.”
“Leave
me alone.”
“Jonathan.”
He’s
dragged out by Gwen and Owen.
“Owen,
find out who's upstairs.” Jack calls as they leave.
The lights
flicker on, the screen lights up, the circus folk are performing onscreen.
“The
same pictures as before.”
Owen heads
upstairs to the Projector room, gun drawn. He tries each door along the
way. Downstairs, The Great Stromboli
lays down his weights as Jack starts filming and steps out of the screen, going
from black and white film, to present day colour.
“Jack.”
“They're
coming through.”
The fire
jugglers are next, followed by the clowns and the Tattooed Man.
Outside the
locked Projector room door…
“Open up!”
In the
auditorium…
“We've done it. We're together again. This
place is ours. It belongs to us. This whole city belongs to us!” Pearl
Owen pounds
his gun against the Projector room door.
The Ghostmaker unlocks the door and steps out, and presses his hand
against Owen’s face. Owen’s mouth is
forced open.
“What are you? There's not a breath in your
poor, sad body. You're no use to me.”
With the
silver flask gripped tightly in his hand, the ghostmaker heads for the exit.
Ianto and Gwen are close on his heels.
“The
flask, he's got it!” Ianto shouts. Gwen
runs at the Ghostmaker. He makes a grab
at her, to take her last breath, keeping the silver flask out of her
grasp. Ianto snatches it from his hand
and heads out of the door.
“I've got it!”
“Gwen, are you all right?” Jack asks.
“Oh!
Yeah.”
“Are
you ok?”
“Yes.”
“Owen,
look after the family.”
Inside the
auditorium, the circus folk start walking up the centre aisle towards their two
members of the audience.
Ianto tears
across the street towards the warehouse flat, he glances around but sees
nobody. As he places one foot on the
steps, a deathly hand grips his shoulder.
He yells out losing his grip on the flask. The Ghostmaker, triumphant in
his quarry, carries the flask up the steps of the warehouse. Jack is still filming him as he reaches the
top.
Defiantly,
the Ghostmaker uncorks the flask.
“NO, PLEASE!” Ianto begs.
The
Ghostmaker throws the flask. Jack opens
the back of the camera.
The flask
empties out the last breaths of its victims.
“If their breaths escape the flask, all the
victims will die.” Ianto exclaims.
and pulls out the reel of film.
Jack exposes the film to sunlight and the
Ghostmaker vanishes, followed by the recent arrivals in the auditorium and
finally Pearl
“Quick, we could lose them forever.” Jack says.
Ianto
catches the flask, placing his hand immediately over the top. The ‘ghosts’ at the open air pool disappear.
In the
Emergency room at the hospital…
The two
catatonic women sit up and gasp, before falling back onto the beds.
“They're flat lining. Call the crash team.”
Outside the
warehouse, Ianto holds the flask to his ear.
“One. I think we saved just one. I hear it,
Jack. I heard it. Something inside calling out to me.”
Gwen finds
and places the stopper back onto the bottle.
“Ok. So we've managed to save one, but
which one?”
In the
hospital corridor…
“There was nothing we could do. They all
died so suddenly. Except this poor little soul.” The nurse tells Jack and Ianto as she pushes
the door open to the Emergency room. It’s the young boy from the car.
“I suppose he'll be next to go.”
Jack
strides over to the bed to search for a pulse on the boy.
“What are you doing?”
“I
need your help.” He tells the nurse.
“What
is that thing?”
“Please.
Just trust me. Give me a hand.”
Jack picks
up the young boy.
“Careful.”
“Hold
his head.”
Jack pops
the cork on the flask and holds it near the boy’s mouth.
“What's
in there?”
“Something
that belongs to him. His last breath. His life.”
His last
breath leaves the flask and enters his body.
The boy begins to gasp and cough.
“What
have you done to him?” “
“It worked.”
“Welcome
back.” Jack smiles.
Ianto
sniffs, close to tears.
In Jack’s
office the day after…
“Those reels of film in Jonathan's workroom.”
“I
took them out, destroyed them. Let's hope that's an end to it.”
“What
worries me are all those long lost pieces of film tucked away in dusty cellars,
hidden in lofts. The Night Travellers could still be there somewhere, just
waiting.”
Ianto hands
Jack the flask before leaving the room.
At a local
car boot sale, a man picks up a can of film with the same pattern on the tin as
on the flask.
“How much is this?”
Jack puts
the flask in his safe.
The son of
the man drops the can of film and some of the frames are visible.
Jack
briefly hears the sound of circus music.
Next
month….
Adrift
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