An insistent beeping from the console interrupted the Doctor from his speech. After Charley had injured her foot in a previous adventure, the Doctor decided to take things easy for a while. First he had taken her to a beach, but after a day of relaxing in the warm sun, they had both gotten bored. So they next went to a mountain retreat. It had been lovely and peaceful, and they had enjoyed skipping rocks on the lake, but it seemed Charley grew tired of non-adventures almost as quickly as he did.
She insisted her foot was better, but the Doctor had wanted to be sure, so countless non-hours had been spent in the TARDIS as it travelled along in the vortex, going nowhere in particular. They had taken to reading favorite passages from favorite novels out loud to each other. Charley was impressed by the Doctor's theatrical skills, but hardly surprised. He was good at everything he did. The Doctor was equally impressed by Charley. She really got into the stories, giving different characters different voices. They had read dramas, adventures, romances, and poetry out loud to each other.
At this moment, the Doctor was reading a Vostian poetry book. The Vostians were known throughout the universe for their excellent poetry. One poem he had read to her, he had done with such feeling and the topic of the poem so tragic, it had made Charley tear up. This poem, however, was a sonnet to a Vostian fish called the Silver Pyramid. He was only half way through the sonnet when the beeping console interrupted him. He pulled a huge purple feather from one of his bigger-on-the-inside pockets and stuck it into the poetry book for a bookmark.
He went to the console and read the data streaming across the monitor. Sometimes the TARDIS displayed information in English, for Charley's sake, but more often than not, the monitor showed its data in the circular Gallifreyan script. It was always slightly frustrating to Charley that she couldn't read what the Doctor read, but she loved looking at the beautiful script all the same. Charley had once ventured to ask the Doctor about his home world's written language. He had explained that Time Lords needed many words to describe time and all things temporal and such words did not exist in any language except Gallifreyan. It was a difficult language to learn, even for Time Lords, but once learned, it was quick to read and extremely detailed in its descriptions of temporal matters.
The Doctor was quiet for several moments as he read the display. "Hmmm," he muttered.
"What is it Doctor?" Charley asked.
"It's a distress call, Charley," he turned to her. "A rather odd one, too."
"Odd? In what way?"
"Smoke puffs."
Charley couldn't believe what she had just heard, "What?"
"Smoke puffs, Charley. The distress call is coming in smoke puffs." The Doctor ran a hand through his curly hair and scratched the back of his head.
"Can the TARDIS pick up on a smoke puff distress message while in the Vortex?" Charley asked. It seemed so unlikely.
The Doctor looked slightly offended. "Of course she can." He started to walk around the console, flipping this switch and turning that knob. Charley loved to watch the Doctor as he worked the various controls of the hexagonal console. To her, it was like watching the Doctor waltz with the TARDIS. She giggled a little at the thought.
"We are off to the sub planet Reat," the Doctor said, not looking away from his work and oblivious to Charley's amused grin. "It's a small world populated with humanoids."
"Have you been there before?" Charley asked.
"No, I don't think so." He continued his waltz around the time rotor until it came to a halt and the engines became silent. The Doctor looked at the monitor again. "Nice planet, breathable air, cold. Looks like it might be winter time and we've landed in a forest." He gave Charley a moment to run to the wardrobe for a coat. When she had returned to him, properly bundled in winter clothes, the Doctor threw the lever to open the TARDIS doors.