Point Place, Wisconsin- May, 1972

The TARDIS finished materializing and its door swung open, revealing a tall thin man in a blue pinstripe suit and trainers. His brown eyes quickly surveyed the area he had landed in before settling on three young boys, perhaps twelve years of age, staring at him with their mouths agape.

"This isn't Cherry Gamma Apple Seven is it?" The Doctor asked the three boys, who continued to stare at him like unusually dumb livestock. "You don't appear to be Cherry Gamma Apple Seven…ers." He paused for a moment looking thoughtful. "Is that what they're called?" he asked the boys. "No, I guess you wouldn't know would you." As the boys continued to stare at him with awed expressions, the Doctor nervously ran his hand through his messy brown hair. He didn't feel comfortable under such intense scrutiny.

"Yes, well," he began trying to sound cheerful, but failing under the disturbing gaze of the three boys. "If this isn't Cherry Gamma Apple Seven, then do you know where I am?"

This last question finally seemed to snap the boys out of their trance.

"You're in Point Place, Wisconsin," the one with the curly hair said.

"You're in my driveway," the thin gangly one said.

"You're on our ball!" the pretty looking one whined.

"What?" the Doctor frowned at this last statement as he looked to where the boy was pointing. Sure enough, there was what appeared to be half of a deflated basketball sticking out from under the edge of the TARDIS. As if not believing what he was seeing, the Doctor hunched down to get a better look.

"Huh," he exclaimed. "I'm terribly sorry about that." Suddenly his face brightened. "Wait right here," he said to the three boys. "I think I have another basketball in here somewhere."

He suddenly disappeared back into the TARDIS, leaving the three still somewhat shell-shocked boys standing alone in the driveway.

"Whoa!" Kelso gasped. "You think he's an alien or something?"

"He looks human to me," Eric replied.

"Then how do you explain that box or ship or whatever it is just materializing out of nowhere?" Kelso retorted.

"Duh!" Hyde said. "He's from the government man. This has got to be that cloaking technology I was reading about recently. That way the government can set up invisible booths like this one and spy on Americans."

"That's stupid Hyde," Eric said. "Why would the government want to spy on its own citizens?"

Hyde's eyes widened at this. "Haven't you ever read 1984?" He asked incredulously.

"What does the future have to do with it?" Kelso asked somewhat cluelessly.

Hyde whacked him in the back of the head. "Ow!" Kelso screamed. "What was that for?"

"Well if he's really from the government," Eric began, "then what is he doing in Point Place?"

Hyde seemed genuinely puzzled by this. "I don't know. Let's ask him when he gets back."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the TARDIS door reopened to show the Doctor standing there with a basketball in his hand. "Sorry that took so long," he apologized. "The ball was flat when I found it, so I had to go find a pump. All I could find was an old bike pump that didn't fit so well and I had to-" he trailed off when he saw the intense stares the three boys were now giving him. "What?" he asked somewhat cautiously.

"Who are you?" the curly haired one asked.

A brilliant smiled formed on the Doctor's face. "I didn't introduce myself did I? I'm the Doctor. And you are?"

When the Curly haired boy just continued to stare without talking, the pretty one spoke up for him. "He's Steven Hyde, I'm Michael Kelso and that's Eric Forman."

"Shut up man!" Hyde said as he smacked Kelso again.

"Ow!" Kelso screamed again. "What'd I do?"

"Why'd you give him our names!" Hyde whispered angrily.

"What's the problem?" Kelso whispered back. "He asked for them."

"Yeah and he's obviously from the government. 'The Doctor' is obviously his secret spy name like 007 or something," Hyde continued whispering.

"Uh, guys," Eric piped up. "He can hear everything that you're saying."

Hyde and Kelso looked at the Doctor, who had obviously been following everything they had been saying with a large grin on his face. Kelso smiled sheepishly, and Hyde actually blushed a little.

"Don't worry," the Doctor said grinning. "I'm not a secret spy from your government out to get you."

Realization suddenly dawned on Hyde and he snapped his fingers. "A-ha!" he exclaimed. "That accent; you're from the British government."

"I don't work for any government," the Doctor said. A thoughtful look came into his eyes. "Well not currently." He paused for a moment. "Well maybe a little freelance work from time to time. Well, perhaps somewhat more frequently than from time to time, although that is a pretty imprecise unit of measurement so I suppose from a subjective point of view…" He trailed off as he realized he was losing his audience. "I'm just a traveler," he concluded.

"Well what are you doing here?" Hyde asked suspiciously.

"I told you that I was looking for Cherry Gamma Apple Seven. I must have made a wrong turn somewhere."

"Where on Earth is that?" Eric asked.

"What, Somewhere?" the Doctor asked looking rather confused. "Oh, you mean Cherry Gamma Apple Seven. No it's not on Earth. In fact quite a ways from it. About 12,000 light years in, ohh, that direction," he said, pointing to someplace off in the sky behind them.

All three boys turned to look at where he was pointing. Almost immediately though, Hyde spun back, expecting some sort of trick or trap would be sprung while their backs were turned. The Doctor was just standing there however, looking as if he was already thinking about something else.

"Wait," Eric said incredulously. "Are you telling me that that… thing," he said indicating the TARDIS "can travel in space?"

The Doctor grinned. "It's brilliant isn't it? And not just space. Time as well."

"It's a time machine too?" Kelso shouted excitedly.

"That's a rather crude term," the Doctor said frowning as he absently stroked the doorframe of his beloved ship. "It's a TARDIS."

Before anyone had a chance to ask what a TARDIS was, the Doctor tossed the basketball to Eric. "Well," he said. "It was nice to meet you all, but now I really must be going." Then he gave a quick wave, and the door closed behind him.

A moment later, the TARDIS dematerialized before their eyes.

Suddenly Kelso spoke up excitedly. "See, I told you he was an alien," he said as he punched Hyde in the shoulder.

For once, Hyde didn't punch Kelso back. He just stood there nodding his head in agreement. "Maybe you're right man."

"I am?" Kelso asked, completely taken aback at Hyde agreeing with him.

"Hey guys," Eric called to the two of them. "Have either of you ever heard of this guy?" He showed them the basketball the Doctor had just given him. Someone had scrawled their name across the ball in big, bold lettering.

Hyde looked more closely at the ball his friend was holding. "Who the hell is Michael Jordan?"