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The TARDIS halted to a stop and Hart almost fell over.
Huh, that's odd. Hart thought.
The TARDIS lights blinked indicating a distress call.
“Right now?” He said to the ship, “We just got back from one.”
The ship hummed at him, as if to say this one was important. Hart huffed and grabbed his jacket and answered it.
“Hello? Is there anyone there? Something is very wrong. The-” The audio distorted, cutting off what they were about to say. Hart was able to catch a few words, but none of importance. He needed to get to the bottom of this. So, clicking a few buttons and putting in the coordinates of where the call came from, the TARDIS took off for Earth.
-★-
Hosuh unloaded the box of books, ready to restock the shelf. He recently put most books on sale, so more people would want to shop in his store.
“Where do you keep the fantasy books again?” Stephen pokes his head around one of the bookshelves. “I swear, this place is a maze.”
Hosuh points to the opposite side of the small room. Stephen then dramatically hauls his box of books across the room.
“It's not that heavy.” Hosuh snickers.
“HEY! It's not my fault you're stronger than me!”
The room quiets again until they hear a faint mechanical sound. Hosuh looks out the window in time to see a small phonebox appear.
“Huh.” He mumbles.
“What was that?” Stephen walks over to the window.
“I think that phonebox just… appeared.” Hosuh points.
As if on cue, someone walks out, taking in his surroundings. Stephen and Hosuh look at each other and immediately go to greet the stranger.
“Uh, hello?” Hosuh waves.
“Why did that phonebox just appear?” Stephen bluntly says.
The stranger blinks at them and is quiet for a moment. “So… you saw my TARDIS?”
“Your what?” Stephen steps closer.
“My TARDIS. It's a ship. Anyway, do you two know why I received a distress call from these coordinates?”
Now it was Stephen and Hosuh’s turn to be quiet.
“You received a distress call?” Hosuh asks. “About what?”
Stephen butts in, “Are we going to gloss over the fact that we just watched a phonebox materialize?"
“It's normal, all TARDISes do that.” The stranger dismisses.
“We don't even know who you are!”
“I’m Hart, I'm a timelord, and you are?”
“I’m Hosuh, and that's Stephen. Now, about that distress call?” Hosuh tries to get the conversation back on track.
“Oh, yes. I received a distress call from this area.”
“Why, what happened?”
“No clue, I couldn't hear much over the static. I don't even really know where it came from.”
Hosuh and Stephen looked at each other, thinking about where a distress call might have been able to come from.
Finally, Stephen spoke up. “Theres a sketchy radio station a few blocks down. Maybe someone there sent it?”
Hart smirks at them. “Thanks for that. I better go then.” he goes to turn around when Hosuh stops him.
“You don't even know your way around town. Me and Stephen will take you there.”
“Uh, no. I'm not dragging civilians into this. We don't even know what's there.” Hart protests.
“Yeah but you're not going to be able to help anyone if you can't find your way there.” Stephen adds.
Hart looks between the two of them before sighing. “Fine, as long as you stay back.”
-★-
When they make it to the radio station Hart goes in first.
“Wait outside,” Hart looks back. “I don't know what we’re dealing with.” When he steps inside the smell of rotting immediately hits him. Gagging, Hart continues forward. Each room he looks in is empty, until he gets to the recording area. Opening the door, the smell is even worse and Hart pulls his jacket up to try to stop the smell. 2 people lay near the microphones. Their faces are greenish and discoloured, and dried blood pools around their necks. The sight makes Hart queasy. These people have been dead for at least a week. He feels a pang of guilt. He should have gotten here sooner.
Hart quickly leaves and shuts the door, grateful that the others hadn't followed him. As he walked back outside, he can't get that image out of his mind. Hart had seen dead bodies before, most with much more gruesome injuries, but this one stuck out to him. Hart wishes he could figure out why.
“You guys do not want to see what was in there.” Hart says, making a gagging gesture.
“Why, what was it?” Stephen asks.
“Corpses. They looked like they'd been there for a while.”
Hosuh gasps, and Stephen looks away.
“We need to find out what happened.” Hosuh says, and Stephen nods along.
Hart is surprised by this, he really didn't think that they would care that much about what happened.
“We’ll figure out.” Hart reassures. “Now, let's go to my TARDIS.” He pulls out his sonic and walks to his ship.
-★-
Stephen watches as Hart fumbles with his sonic screwdriver. “Are you sure that's going to fit all three of us?”
Hart grins, pushing the door open. “Why don't you see for yourself?”
Hosuh walks in first, and immediately gasps in surprise. “Stephen, come in here!”
He rolls his eyes and steps into the phonebox. “Holy crap.” He looks around the large interior. Stephen goes back outside, seeing just a small, cramped phonebox. But when he steps inside… “It's bigger on the inside.”
Hart snickers, stepping in alongside him. “I get that a lot.”