Tires squealed. Brakes screeched. The vehicle fishtailed as its driver frantically spun the wheel, trying his best to avoid a collision with the unexpected obstacle in his path. He couldn't get out of the way, but luckily the car ground to a halt just short of the very inconveniently placed object. Adrenaline still rushing, the driver sat frozen in place, clutching the steering wheel in a death grip and trying to calm down. After a moment he sighed and pushed the door open.

Marty McFly stepped out of the Delorean with a puzzled expression, wondering how in the world a big blue box had ended up in the middle of a field. He approached the thing—a police box, according to the sign on top—and ran a curious hand along the side. The wooden surface seemed battered, the paint chipped, dirt and dust and mud covering the bottom and splattered on the sides. He walked around to the front of it and reached for the handle to pull open the door, but it suddenly swung in the opposite direction and a man poked his head out.

"Whoa!" Marty jumped back in surprise.

"Oh, hello! Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you. I was just, ah… Well, that's not important." The man looked over and caught sight of the car that had nearly barreled into his box. "Wow! Look at that, that was a close one! Did you not see me? People generally notice this—," he tapped on the doorway, "—but I guess if you were distracted…"

"Yeah, sorry, it kind of… came out of nowhere. What are doing out here in that thing, anyway?" Marty asked, attempting to peer past the man and see what was inside.

"I could ask you the same question." The stranger gestured towards the Delorean with his head.

"I, uh… I was…" Marty tried to think of a story but ended up just shrugging. "I got lost."

"Well then, we're in the same boat! I'm the Doctor," the man said, stepping from the box and holding out his hand. He was dressed in dress slacks and a white button up shirt, along with suspenders and a bow tie.

"Marty," Marty replied. The two shook hands and the Doctor gazed in the direction Marty had come from.

"Your tire tracks start in the middle of the field," he observed. "And they're on fire!" To Marty's surprise, the fact resulted in a laugh rather than a bout of stupefied questions. Then again, the guy had been sitting in a box in a field, so maybe his reaction shouldn't have been surprising.

"Well," Marty started, but the Doctor ran over to the Delorean with an excited grin on his face before any explanation could be given.

"Ahaha! This is great!" the Doctor cried happily. He hopped right into the driver's seat and his fingers fluttered over all the buttons and switches like he wanted to touch all of them but didn't know where to start.

Marty hurried over to stop him, pretty sure the man was crazy. "Hey, don't mess with that!"

The Doctor ignored him. "It's a time machine, isn't it? It is! Oh, look at this, wow!" He babbled on while Marty stood there, dumbfounded.

"How did you know it's a time machine?"

"Well it's pretty obvious: there's this here, with all the dates, for one. Past, present, future, right? Where you were, where you are, where you're going? And then this flashy thing in the back! 'Flux Capacitor,' that just screams timey-wimey stuff! Plus, it's a Delorean. Come on, what car would make a better time machine?" The Doctor smiled up at Marty. "Do you want to see something?"

"Do I… what!? Listen, I don't—,"

"Come here!" The Doctor jumped out of the car, took hold of Marty's arm, and pulled him back to the blue box. "Guess what? This is a time machine, too!" He pushed the door, which was still slightly ajar, all the way open. Marty stared open-mouthed at the interior of what he had thought was a tiny wooden box.

"It's bigger on the inside," he murmured, leaning in to get a better look.

"I know!" The Doctor ushered him inside. "This is the TARDIS—Time And Relative Dimensions In Space!" He bounded up to the center of the room, a glass-floored platform with a panel of assorted controls surrounding a tall glass cylinder.

"Oh man… the Doc would freak out if saw this," Marty said.

"The Doc?" the Doctor repeated from the other side of the central console. "Doc as in Doctor?"

"Yeah. He's the one who made the Delorean into a time machine."

"Ha! That's fantastic! When are you from? What's the present day for you?"

"Nineteen eighty five."

"Well, I suppose you don't have a camera in your pocket, then." The Doctor disappeared behind the console again, and then reappeared and ran up to Marty. "Here!"

"This is a camera?"

The Doctor nodded. "Take pictures of the TARDIS, you can show them to your Doctor! Then you can just keep the camera, destroy it, do whatever you want. I'm sure you've dealt with having things in the wrong time period before."

Marty laughed once, perfectly familiar with the concept. The Doctor gave him a brief explanation of how to use the device and let him wander the TARDIS, snapping pictures of anything and everything. Eventually he turned the camera off and walked to the console. "This was awesome, Doc," he said. "I think I'm gonna go back now."

"Really?" The Doctor stopped fiddling with the control panels. "Okay, then." He clapped Marty on the back and grinned. "When people want to go back in time, I usually have to take them myself! This is exciting!"

The two men exited the TARDIS, Marty going around and getting back into the Delorean, the Doctor watching him from the doorway. "Maybe we'll run into each other again," Marty called from inside the car.

The Doctor eyed the few inches of space separating the vehicle from the TARDIS. "Let's try not to cut it so close next time, though."

Marty pulled down the door and turned the key. He flipped the switches to turn the time circuits on and get the Flux Capacitor… fluxing, and then set the date and time to almost the exact moment he had left. Once the Delorean was backed a safe distance away from the TARDIS, he revved the engine once and shot off through the field.

The Doctor stood long enough to see the time machine vanish in a blast of neon light, then turned and headed back into his own ship. He made his way up to the console and played idly with the controls, waiting for something he knew was coming. Sure enough, no more than five minutes passed before the phone rang.

He plucked it up with a grin. "Hello?"

"YOU LET MARTY INSIDE!? I've been asking you for YEARS, and you just INVITE HIM IN!? And what's this thing you gave him, a camera!? Why would you let him take this back!? I mean the pictures are incredible, but why did you—,"

The Doctor chuckled and dropped the phone back in the cradle.