"Let us in," the woman with the gun demanded of the two men guarding a double door entryway. The walls around them were no longer brightly colored and happy, but were mere cement. The doors were made of metal and the temperature in this area of the building was noticeably cooler.
"We can't let you in Meg, you've got them behind you. You could be one of 'em," the gentler looking of the two men answered. Both of the men were also holding guns.
"Doctor, why've they all got guns? What kinda circus has so many guns lying about?" Donna whispered.
"Unfortunately, Donna, humans and guns tend to go hand in hand. They probably have hundreds of guns from the security department and even their own collections they brought with them," the Doctor whispered back and then more loudly said, "We aren't those creatures if that's what you're wondering. I'm not sure what those are yet, but I hope to find out. In the mean time, I'd really like to find out what you are all doing here." The Doctor smiled at the people, but the two men still seemed suspicious.
"They really aren't. They were running from one of the things when I shot it down. I'm not sure who these people are, but they certainly aren't any of those freaks," Meg said to the guards.
"Yeah, well, we still don't know who you are. Why are you here is the question I think we should be asking. Not why are we here. We know why we are here. You're from the Ringling Bros. ain't ya? Come back finally to see if you left anything valuable behind? I tell you what! You sure did! I'd say people are pretty valuable! I was only 13 when you lot abandoned us! Both my parents got ate by them monsters! Well guess what? Now we're in charge!" the gruffer security guard yelled, then put the barrel of his gun up to the Doctor's throat and spat at his feet. The entire time the Doctor remained calm. He very slowly reached for his pocket to show he meant no harm and pulled out his psychic paper and flashed it to them.
"We're not from the Ringling Bros. We're from the United Planets and we're here to investigate what happened. We finally got the permission and the funds to come. You know bureaucracies. We came to search for any survivor colonies, and it looks like we found one," the Doctor covered.
The gruff man still looked suspicious but he removed the aim of his gun from any vital organs.
"Alright, you can let 'em in Meg, but don't let 'em near our boy!" he agreed.
"Thank you," the woman, who was apparently named Meg, answered and put her hand on his arm, which he glared at. She quickly withdrew it with a look of sorrow that made Donna feel bad for her, and then motioned for Donna and the Doctor to follow her through the doors.
On the other side of the doors, they discovered a gigantic cement room. To their left, there was some sort of cafeteria arrangement. In the back of the room were 15 or so performer's trailers, and to their right was a random assortment of chairs and couches all clustered together and filled with about 20 people. Donna was shocked by how many people had actually been abandoned by the circus.
"Probably all pronounced dead, yet here they are, alive and alone, with no one to care enough to rescue them," the Doctor muttered with disgust. Donna merely nodded.
Meg interrupted their hushed conversation.
"I'm sorry about Schoenberg, he's not exactly happy about the life he's been forced to lead," Meg said apologetically.
"His name is Schoenberg?" Donna asked.
"Yeah, Arnold Schoenberg Mason the third. I'd don't know why he goes by his middle name, he's never told me," Meg replied.
"Really? Arnold Schoenberg! Fascinating!" the Doctor said, suddenly keenly interested, "I never really cared for his work."
"What? Never cared for the carnival worker's work? What, come here as a child and he gave you some bad cotton candy once? Got it wet and you lost the fun of dissolving it yourself?" Donna said, poking fun at the Doctor.
"No, never met that man before and I haven't been a child for quite some time, honestly Donna," the Doctor answered rolling his eyes, "I'm talking about the German Expressionist Arnold Schoenberg."
"Yeah, whose he?" she asked.
"Just some Dead Composer," the Doctor answered while they followed Meg, who was ignoring their conversation, over to the group of people gathered at the couches. Donna noticed she'd yet to see the woman smile and though she seemed to be only in her mid to late thirties, she looked much older. Her skin was tight on her face, she had bags under her eyes, her hair looked unhealthy, and she was wearing plain, functional clothing, some of which appeared to be designed for men. She sat down wearily on a couch and said, "Well, Joey. You were right. There were people out there. They aren't the creatures, and they aren't from Ringling Bros. so there's no point in harassing the poor folks. Seems they've been sent to have a nice look-see," Meg then directed her attention away from whoever it was she'd been talking to and turned back to the Doctor and Donna, "Well, Look. See?" she said motioning towards the group of people surrounding them. For the first time Donna really did look at the people and she saw that they were all staring at them in wide eyed shock. They were like deer in a headlight.
"Hello," the Doctor greeted them cheerily, "I'm the Doctor. This is Donna. So who wants to tell me what happened?"
Donna looked to Meg expecting her to be the first to speak, but she found that Meg was bent over, with her elbows on her knees and her hands covering her face. Donna assumed she'd be of no further help, and her heart went out to this woman who appeared so full of sorrow. The woman's persona quickly changed, however, when a small boy, about five or six, with curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes came rushing from the back of the cavernous room yelling "Mama!" and hopped into Meg's lap. Meg was suddenly all smiles and kisses and Donna immediately missed her own two children who never were.
"It's ok, Donna. Your time will come, and I'm sure you'll be a beautiful mother," the Doctor whispered into her ear and squeezed her hand. Donna sniffled a bit and replied,
"Yeah."
Meg noticed that Donna was upset and asked her what was wrong.
"I lost a child once," Donna answered while smiling sadly at the boy in Meg's lap. She didn't want to explain anymore and Meg could tell so she replied that she was sorry and then returned all of her attention back to the little boy she was holding.
Donna looked at the Doctor then and noticed that he too was smiling sadly at the boy in Meg's lap. Donna realized that boy had the same coloring as Jenny.
"You alright?" She questioned him.
"Yeah, I'm always alright," he answered, smiling at Donna.
"I know," Donna half smiled at the Doctor and then returned the comforting squeeze he had given her hand.
"So, whose gonna speak first? I know you're all positively brimming with anticipation," the Doctor once again asked the crowd around him.
"I will," said a man Donna hadn't noticed before. She wondered when he'd come in. He was tall and broad and seemed to be in charge. He was wiping grease off his hands with an old rag as he spoke.
"My name's, Don," he said reaching out to shake their hands, "And these folks here are the other survivors that Ringling Bros. abandoned. Of course some of them came along later," he said, motioning to the boy in Meg's lap and several other children of varying ages scattered in the crowd.
"Thirty years ago, Ringling Bros. up and left. At first, there was a real rush of folks after them things started popping up out of the mud. People thought their loved ones were coming back. After they started to realize they was just the dead bodies of their loved ones, they stopped coming. Circus started losing business. Zombies ain't exactly what people come to see for their viewing pleasure. Then, when the bodies started snatching people and shoving them down into the mud, there was an investigation. They thought it had something to do with the Circus—the people who owned it were pretty shady at the time—and so the Circus was outlawed. They evacuated the planet and said anybody who didn't make it to the ship on time got left behind."
"And you didn't make it on time?" Donna questioned.
"Oh no, we made it in plenty of time. Just our ship was attacked by the zombie creatures and there was damage done that I been trying to fix for thirty years now. Just I ain't got the know-how," Don admitted.
"Well, I'm sure I can fix your ship for you, but first, I want to find out why the Myuck is kidnapping human bodies and then setting them free…in a sense. The boy who was chasing us spoke, so I know they have some sort of intelligence. Where do they hide? Can someone take me there so I can talk to them?" the Doctor questioned the crowd. Suddenly everyone tensed and looked at them like they were crazy.
"We ain't gonna go near those things!" said a small, nervous man in the back.
"Ah, hush up, Joey. I'll take them," said Schoenberg from behind them. He had at some point left his station as a guard to listen in on the excitement, "I'm just itchin' for a reason to shoot one of 'em—maybe more than one."
The Doctor shot a disapproving glance at Schoenberg and then nodded his head in agreement.
"Alright, lead the way," he said.
As they were following Schoenberg out the door, Donna heard Meg pitifully shout from behind them to be careful.