The planet Psamathe was a desert planet inhabited by colonists from Earth. Inside a small cabin on that planet, Bob Hull sat on his sofa, next to his wife. His two children, John and Edward sat on the floor. The television in front of them showed an exciting new drama. He couldn't pay any attention to any of it. He was thinking too much about their friends over in the other city. They hadn't heard anything from them in days. He was very worried. He looked over at Summer, his wife, and could see that she was terribly worried too. He reached over to hold her tightly and could feel tears coming from her face.
"Don't worry about it," John spoke up. Everything is going to be fine."
"You're right, John," Bob replied, although he knew it wouldn't be. He decided to let his children hold onto their optimism. But he was too mature for optimism. He knew that bad things happened without reason and there was most likely no hope.
Suddenly he heard some sort of metallic thrumming sound which almost gave him a heart attack. A blue box slowly appeared in the room. Bob realised he must be dreaming and decided to wake up, but he couldn't. The blue box looked oddly familiar and had the words "POLICE BOX" written at the top. Perhaps the stress had caused him to go insane, he looked over to Summer and she was just as perplexed as he was. He wasn't the only person that could see it.
The door opened and four people stepped out. An elderly man, possibly in his late fifties; a younger, good-looking man; a young woman who was also good-looking; and a teenage girl, no more than fifteen years old. They were all wearing clothing from the 20th century, although these must be replications as their condition was very good for something hundreds of years old.
The young man opened his mouth, "Hello, we mean you no harm."
"Yes, we only came here by accident," added the woman sincerely.
"Look, grandfather! They have a television!" said the girl and smiled as she sat down to watch the drama.
"Goodness gracious, Susan!" the old man scolded, "Where are your manners!? You can't just sit down and watch someone else's television!"
Bob opened his mouth to speak but found that the words wouldn't come out. "I told you everything would be alright, Daddy!" John called cheerfully, "The police are here to help."
Bob had no idea what to say to that. He had no idea what to say to any of this.
"That's right," said the young man, "We're with the police. Maybe you can explain the problem to us."
Bob knew exactly what to say now, "If you're here to help us, why did your friend just say that you only came here by accident? What sort of jokers are you people and how did you get that box in here?"
"Well, it's rather difficult to explain," said the woman, "but we do mean what we say about not meaning you any harm and if something's wrong we would be more than happy to help."
Bob wasn't sure what to believe. This was the most unusual experience he had ever had in his life. All he knew for sure was that these four people had somehow managed to transmat themselves and this box into his house, the old man had called the girl Susan and she addressed him as her grandfather.
"People in the other town haven't been replying to our messages," Summer explained to the strangers, "We've been wondering what's happened to them."
"Presumably their communications have gone down," replied Susan's grandfather, without any hint of care on his face, "Nothing for us to get ourselves involved in. We'll be on our way now."
"Oh, grandfather, we have to help them! We have to!" Susan begged.
"Sometimes I begin to think young Chesterton and Miss Wright have been a bad influence on you, Susan. Very well, we'll help."
Susan's grandfather turned to Bob and Summer, "In which direction is this other town?"
