Raymond's had a rough couple of days. Snatched from his allotment by a flying starfish from Uranus and sold as a delicacy in a Venusian food market, it seems like his luck has changed when he is rescued by the travelling circus.

But then this isn't an ordinary circus; this is the circus of Professor Merlin, which drifts between the planets in a Victorian steamship, a circus whose artistes perform the feats that simply can't be done. And the professor has a little job for Raymond. Release the two hundred people held captive on Saturn and save Planet Earth from extinction by Friday.

Raymond's best friend Simon has been having a rough time too. Hunted by the men in grey, Simon is falsely accused of being a serial killer and is thrown into the clutches of the sinister B.E.A.S.T. (an End Times cult that worships the demonic half-man half-chicken, Sate-Hen).

Even with the book from the future and those villagers with the flaming torches to help them out, getting things sorted by Friday could be cutting it fine...