Chapter 2: Prepping the Future

Well, before that Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella are off to go shoot humanity to the stars, they've gotta gather all their support…which comes from their families, of course, but they'll need a heck of a lot more than that. They need human assets, so off to go recruit!

The first task of Phineas and Ferb was to gather together all of their old friends that had been to the stars aboard the USS Phineas, which had remained safely concealed in a place known as "The Vault" among them and their friends. Phineas had already formulated a list of what an ideal bridge crew complement would be for another ship-to-be:

Captain (obviously)

First Officer (preferably Science Officer or Helmsman)

Science Console

Helm

Secondary Science/Operations Console

Engineering Console

Communications Console

Medical (possibly to include a Counselor)

Security Chief

Phineas knew who had filled which places prior, but also made sure to include more positions so as not to overwhelm any one bridge officer. Phineas already knew he, a founder and father figure, was to be a Captain and that his brother was to be his First Officer like last time. However, he felt that Ferb would better-suited to Science Officer than Helmsman as a second duty, and that it didn't require the expertise of a higher-ranked officer. Ferb had just recently begun dating Vanessa, who had been heartbroken repetitively by her numerous past attempts with punk rock boys who all turned out to be total jerks somehow or other; Phineas figured he could offer her a hand at the helm and a brighter future. Of course, her being behind meant that she would have to attend the Flynn-Fletcher Academy… "WAIT!" thought Phineas as he slammed on his mental brakes. He would need to first solve the problem proposed earlier that morning – the Flynn-Fletcher Academy would have to have its curriculum modified to prepare thousands of future applicants for duty in a semi-military exploration and peace-keeping organization.

"Ferb, I think I know what we're gonna do today!" said Phineas as he feverishly went through his notes and plans for the future. "We've gotta go and give the Flynn-Fletcher Academy a huge overhaul! You know who to call!" Ferb was on it, and a dozen or so phone calls later, material suppliers had brought in everything needed to mass produce books and other resources for teaching others what NASA and Virgin Galactic could not. After all, Phineas, Ferb, and their friends had a lot to teach the world on interstellar travel. As the last man with contracts gave them what they needed to sign, he began to ask the classic "hey, aren't you two…" before being interrupted with "…young to be overhauling a whole organization in one day? Yes. Yes, we are." "Well, just don't blow us off the face of the earth and we should all be fine." "Well…that's kind of our plan…metaphorically speaking." "Well, yeah…you get what I mean. Anyways, keep on changing the existence of humanity, then…I guess. Good luck." The trucks drove away from the one-year-old institution and left Phineas and Ferb to begin their work – whether it be corrections or introductions to new facts. Fortunately, classes would not resume until that fall, like any college-like education facility.

After a whole day's work, all outdated materials were recycled or sold off. Phineas and Ferb already had control over the institution, so that part of it was out of the way and undisputed. Now he needed more qualified people to help teach there. The next day was dedicated to calling up all their old friends to see who would be interested in teaching at one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the nation (soon to be the world). Their responses were something of the follows:

"You know I'm in, Phinny" (Isabella)

A silent nod and a thumbs-up (Ferb)

"You've got it, chief!" (Baljeet)

"Mmm…eh…maybe later sometime" (Buford)

"I think I need more, uh, training in your guys' awesomeness" (Irving)

After the last response, Phineas realized that most of his comrades would need some catching-up to do before they could be qualified to instruct, themselves. "Well, Ferb, I guess not all of them are quite ready for something this monumental. How about that prototype information-to-brain diffuser we invented? I know knowledge can't make up for experience, but it'd help to at least give these guys a good foundation in the intellectual sense. We may be fast, but it's gonna take the world a lot longer than we ourselves could take alone to jump into that ocean of stars prepared…" Ferb silently agreed with a head nod. Phineas had been spacing out, a tear coming to his eye in his pondering state. He shook himself out of it and said "anyway, I think at least you, Isabella, Baljeet, and I should be the first to teach others, and the others will attend class like all other students from around the world that come. It's gonna be a long road, Ferb…but I intend to make sure it gets travelled!"

By the time that instruction and curriculum was put out to pasture in the first year of classes on all things relating to space travel and exploration via starship, Buford was taking a short class on being a Security Chief (along with his new girlfriend Adyson), Irving on starship operations, and the former Fireside Girls on tactical, engineering, operations, or medical matters. Phineas was teaching the tactical side of things, Ferb the sciences and medical, Baljeet the engineering and operations, and Isabella the linguistics. Granted, there were many who came to the academy for a high-quality higher education, but there was a bigger picture than just space exploration that was being improved one step at a time – this was the start of a refinement of the world, both intellectually and morally. Phineas and Ferb had already secretly dispatched secret robotic forces with authorization from the government to aid countries' citizens who were under persecution by terrorist organizations or brutal dictators. Within a year, a handful of dictators were finding their people unable to be controlled any longer by a mere show of force. Terrorist organizations were internally and externally decaying from sting operations and opposition from the people they persecuted. Truly, Phineas and Ferb were working wonders in the world, like they had been for over a decade. And as of now, starships were under construction and being readied for the glorious future-to-come. Truly, the world was at last as a whole moving away from its savagery and towards understanding…

Yes, this future sounds too perfect…and that's because it is. So was Gene Roddenberry's idea for the Star Trek chains of events. Anyone who knows their Biblical chronology of future events knows that it ain't gonna be pretty at all. However, when telling stories, it's fun and heart-lifting to tell stories about how humanity moves beyond its primitive and child-like savagery and bigotry – towards a common future of self-betterment. Ad astra per aspera! ("To the stars, despite adversity" in Latin) Read on, then!