3 – ANKH MORPORK

Donna Noble stepped out of Mrs Cosmopilite's front door and quietly closed it behind her. Captain Carrot was waiting for her, and they walked together towards Watch Headquarters. Whenever she went outside there was someone to act as her bodyguard. They told her it was just to see that she didn't lose her way, but she wasn't stupid: it was to make sure she didn't loose her life; Ankh Morpork was a dangerous place for a lone stranger.

"We had a brief visit from your friend Doctor last night, Miss. He says there are Weeping Angels in the Municipal Cemetery. He said he's going away to find a way of dealing with them, and that we are to carry on searching in case they are elsewhere in the city."

Donna sighed. "It's The Doctor. People call him 'The Doctor'."

"Yes Miss. … Anything wrong, Miss? Your accommodation not satisfactory? They say Mrs Cosmopilite can be rather short with her paying guests."

"Call me Donna, please Captain. No, I rather like the old girl, though I have slept in comfier beds … and worse, come to think of it. And the place is pretty clean, considering."

"Just 'Carrot' is fine, Miss Donna."

The Doctor's idea had been to 'embed' Donna in the Watch and get them to look for Angels. A quick flash of Psychic Paper got Commander Vimes to allow Donna free access. Vimes assigned Captain Carrot to help her 'and keep her out of trouble', and Carrot took his duties seriously. Unlike the Commander, who was openly sceptical, he accepted that Weeping Angels did exist and were a new danger in the city. He had begun inspecting the city's many small graveyards and burial grounds, usually taking Sergeant Angua with him.

"Carrot, how is the search going? Have you found anything?"

The Captain looked glum. "We haven't seen any statues at all, well, only ugly wooden things. But Angua thinks that we've missed the obvious: she reckons that the Angels could be anywhere in the city. High up on roofs, in cellars, dark corners, even out on the street; nobody seeing one would give it a second thought. Not in Ankh Morpork."

Donna looked around her. "She's right! We have been slow. Is she on duty, we need to rethink things?"

"Ah?" The captain looked flustered. "No, Miss, not today. It's … it's that time of the month. … The full moon, you know."

"That's a new word for it. It must hit her unusually hard."

"Well, she does say that she feels like ripping people's throats out."

Donna felt that way sometimes; this was becoming way too personal. She asked, "What can we do about finding Weeping Angels?"

"All patrolmen are on the lookout now, and I will be asking our agents to look out for them too: mostly gargoyles and gnomes.

"Gargoyles?"

"Oh yes. They don't move around much, but they have good vantage points and see a lot. The only problem is getting up onto the roofs to question them."

"Did the Doctor say when he'll be back? We need to talk."

Meanwhile the Doctor and the Sweeper were hard at work connecting the TARDIS to the one Procrastinator in the temple.

"Doctor, if you could slice time we could get this done very quickly."

"No we could not: this is a delicate, precision job. It needs care and attention to detail, not haste." The Doctor was getting nowhere with time slicing, but was not going to admit it. "Where is the monk in charge of this temple?"

"They say he has gone to get his hair done."

"I wonder what that really means. … OK, give the Procrastinator a spin."

Lu-Tze obliged; the thick cable between the Procrastinator and the TARDIS twitched, wriggled, and then briefly writhed before there was a short flash of green light from within the TARDIS, and all went quiet and still. "Whoops," muttered the Doctor, trying not to look alarmed. "I think," he said finally, "that we need a re-think: this is not going to plan."

It had been the Doctor's suggestion that Donna could look through the Watch records to find evidence of Weeping Angels: citizens going missing in suspicious circumstances; lunatics claiming to be from the future; that sort of thing. Though she had never temped in a police station, Donna had had some idea of what to expect. What she had found at Watch Headquarters was nothing like that idea. She knew not to expect computers, but these people had no typewriters and no concept of a proper filing system. There were chests stuffed with documents all hand-written with a quill pen; it was Harry Potter without the owls.

Finding old reports of disoriented madmen (or madwomen) claiming to be from the future and matching these to people who had recently disappeared unexpectedly would require either a superb cross-indexed filing system, or weeks of tedium. Donna was in the strange and exciting city of Ankh Morpork, possibly the strangest place that the Doctor had ever taken her to, and she was faced with boring office work!

Fortunately for Donna, a new development came to her rescue. When they arrived at the Watch House everyone was talking about the secret visit Commander Vimes had had from the Master of the Guild of Assassins, Lord Downey. It seems that three skilled assassins had recently gone missing while on assignments in the City. It was a cause of much amusement to the Watch that members of the Guild were themselves being killed or abducted.

Lord Downey maintained that there must be a 'non-human killer active in the City' and that it was 'the Watch's duty to apprehend him, her or it.' This was enough for Vimes to accept that there just might be something in the Weeping Angels story, and Donna and Carrot were called in for a meeting. "Your friend Doctor says that he has found these Angels in the Municipal Cemetery."

"The Doctor," muttered Donna under her breath.

"Did you say something Miss?"

"Sorry, Commander, carry … err … nothing," Donna stalled under the Commander's gaze.

"A creature that can take out a trained assassin is a real danger to Watchmen and ordinary citizens. If it is your Angels, I'm puzzled that we haven't lost any patrol officers, and no citizens have been reported missing lately. Well?"

Carrot cleared his throat. "It's the way that assassins operate, Commander, that makes them vulnerable. They lurk in the dark, alone. Our patrolmen at least carry a lantern and go around in pairs at night. But we have been lucky, so far."

"That makes sense, but I need better evidence before I go to the Patrician. Carrot, you will take two – no, make that three – constables with you to have a look around the Cemetery. You know what you are looking for.

"Miss Donna, you will please brief everyone on these Weeping Angels: how to identify them, their strengths and weaknesses. And where is Doctor, he claims to be the expert?"

"It's The Doctor."

The Doctor paced up and down, talking to himself. Occasionally he threw out a question to the Sweeper: "Is this the only Procrastinator in the City? Are you sure?" … "You weren't time-slicing were you?" … "The Unseen University! Could those wizards be playing with time travel?" … "Something is affecting theTime Vortex, any ideas?"

Lu-Tze considered this. "Something nearby is affecting time?"

"That's what it looks like."

"Weeping Angels?"

"No: there would have to be scores of them all round the temple." A terrible realisation hit them both: they were surrounded, alone and vulnerable. "Quick, disable the Procrastinator and into the TARDIS, it's the only safe place."

They were in the TARDIS and the door slammed shut even as the first Angel burst into room. Very soon, four and then eight Angels stood close around the TARDIS and others, eyes hidden in their hands, stood around the edges of the great room. Still more were beginning to close in on the Procrastinator.

"Doctor, more are coming in, dozens of them. Are they attracted by your TARDIS?"

"Yes, and your Procrastinator. The two together must be irresistible to them. I had no idea that there were so many in the city. See how they work together: crowding in, but avoiding deadlock."

"Explain please: what is 'deadlock'?"

"It's their one weakness. They can't move if they are being observed, so if a pair of Angels look at each other then neither can move again. OK? But watch them on the monitor: if a pair becomes deadlocked then a third moves between them and breaks the deadlock. Very clever."

"It is like a dance. But which one is the dancing master?"

"Good question. We know so little about them. But we must not waste this opportunity: if we can get enough people here quickly we've got them pinned down." The Doctor reached into an inside pocket, and produced something small and black which he held against the side of his head. "Donna," he called.

The Sweeper had taken the TARDIS for granted; had observed the congregating Angels on its monitor screen without blinking; but was startled and baffled when the little object the Doctor was holding squawked back at him: 'DOCTAR?'. Was there some creature trapped inside it?

Donna had to ask the Doctor to repeat himself twice before she understood what he wanted her to do. She took a deep breath, drew herself up to her full height, put on her best 'I mean business' expression, knocked once on the Commander's door and entered without waiting. "You'll get your proof now, Commander. The Doctor is in the Temple of the History Monks here in the city. He says it has been invaded by Weeping Angels and you are to come quick with everyone you can muster."

"I must, must I, Miss Noble?" Commander Vimes paused and studied her closely. She endured his stare; it was a crucial moment. He had had his doubts about her and the Doctor from the start: there was something not quite right with the note of authority from the Patrician which the Doctor had flashed in front of him. And while Carrot thought Noble to be sincere, Carrot could be naïve. On the other hand, there was Lord Downey's news, and Lord Downey is not to be ignored. Vimes was not one to do nothing when in doubt, his decision was made: "I will call out the Watch and we shall see what we shall see."

When Watchmen of every size and species emerged from their Watch Houses and converged in double-quick time on a small, inconspicuous building in a cul-de-sac off a minor side street, it was obvious to the citizenry that something memorably entertaining and not to be missed was underway. Crowds followed them.

Half an hour later, Donna had shown Commander Vimes how he could use her mobile 'phone to talk with the Doctor. "Doctor, tell me if I've got this right: you are in your blue box, inside the temple and closely surrounded by these Weeping Angels. Right. Outside the temple there are more Angels, we can see them and they are not moving. Almost the entire Watch is surrounding the building and there are large crowds here too, watching us. … Now, what do we do?"

"I have a plan."