Story notes for "Pseudopolis" by Resonant
Posted February 1, 2010
This is slash on Terry Pratchett's Night Watch. If you haven't read the book recently, here's what you need to know:
Pursuing a serial killer, Sam Vimes (Commander of the Watch) is thrown backwards through time by about thirty years. He finds himself in the Ankh-Morpork of his youth, ruled by the paranoid Patrician Lord Winder and his private police force, the Unmentionables. And a rebellion, which Sam knows killed a lot of his fellow coppers, is getting ready to start.
Sam's younger self has just started his job as a copper. In Sam's original timeline, Sergeant John Keel, late of the Pseudopolis police force, was his mentor. But in this timeline, Old Sam's arrival indirectly results in Keel's death. So Old Sam sees nothing better to do than to impersonate Keel, take his place on the Night Watch, and see if he can catch the killer and minimize the damage caused by the rebellion.
Vetinari, the future Patrician, is a student at the Assassins Guild. He observes the actions of "John Keel" with great interest, refuses to accept several contracts to assassinate him, and saves his life at least once, but canonically, in that timeline, they never meet.
After you've read "Pseudopolis," you might want to read the final scene in Night Watch, where Vimes and Vetinari meet in the graveyard.
Many thanks to Giglet for beta.