Fred whips around in a circle but can’t see who spoke to him. “Oh, no! I’m hearing things!” he exclaims. “But, if I’m not hearing things, then someone is actually talking to me. The only conclusion is that they’re invisible! This is great!”
Just then a man steps out of the shadows.
“Oh, hi, Uncle Eddie!” Fred greets him enthusiastically. “I think there’s an invisible man hiding out in this circus! That would be a great story for your newspaper.”
“There’s a story here, but it’s not about an invisible man,” Eddie replies.
“But, who — or what — was talking to me?” Fred wonders.
“Oh, that was me. Sorry to be so mysterious,” Eddie says.
Fred shrugs. “So what’s the story?”
“The story is about those robot clowns!” Eddie exclaims. “Who built them? Why?”
“You’re forgetting one more important question,” Fred observes. “Where did they go?”
“Let’s start looking,” Eddie suggests. “A good reporter will find a lead and follow it.”
“That works for a mystery solver too,” Fred replies.
The pair searches the area around the big top for a sign of the mechanical clowns.
“The ground is so trampled that I can’t see if the robots left any footprints,” Fred says, sighing.
“There might not be any footprints, but the robots did leave a trail,” Eddie says. He points to a ribbon of dark liquid on the ground. “That’s oil. One of them has a leak.”
Fred and Eddie follow the trail to a large shed. When they open the door, Fred is amazed at what’s inside.
“Whoa! This is incredible! Look at all this high-tech equipment,” he says.
“This isn’t normal for a circus,” Eddie observes.
“Look! There’s one of the robots!” Fred says. He points at a clown standing still in a corner.
Fred walks closer. “I think it’s deactivated,” he says. He taps his knuckle on the robot clown’s painted face. The clown’s eyes snap open and glow an angry red.
“Or not!” Eddie yells.
Mechanical arms reach out to grab Fred. He jumps backward and slams into Eddie. They both fall down and watch helplessly as the robot steps toward them. CREEEEAK! CREEEAK! The metal legs can barely move.
“It sounds like this guy needs some oil. It must be the one that was leaking,” Fred realizes.
“That’s making it slow. This is our chance to get out of here!” Eddie says.
Fred and Eddie jump to their feet and flee from the shuffling robot. But they don’t get far before their escape is blocked by another robot.
“Uh-oh,” Fred gulps.
“We’re doomed!” Eddie says.