"Mom, Mom! Look! Look at what Phineas and Ferb built!" Candace shouted, running to the backyard and pointing wildly.

"I don't believe it!" Linda exclaimed, holding her hand to her face in astonishment.

"You see it?"

"It's an empty backyard," Linda said, "Hi boys."

"Hi Mom!" Phineas waved.

Linda turned and walked back inside.

"But but but but . . ." Candace stammered, staring at the yard. She growled as she stalked back inside.

"Oh, there you are, Perry," Phineas said as the platypus approached. Phineas leaned against the tree next to Ferb. "You know, Ferb, we always have so much fun building things, but I love relaxing at the end of the day."

Ferb didn't seem to be listening. He wasn't reading his book either. He was squinting into the sky. Phineas followed his gaze and saw something hurtling through the air, falling closer and closer. It looked like a blue box, spinning out of control. It was headed for their backyard. Ferb grabbed Perry and the step-brothers ran. The ground shook and the boys fell to the ground as the box crashed. They looked up at the object in wonder. It was a British police box, straight out of the 1960's.

The door opened and a man with messy hair, sideburns, and a coat that draped to his ankles stumbled out, coughing, as smoke poured out behind him. Phineas and Ferb ran to help him.

"Hey, mister, are you all right?" Phineas asked.

"You kids, just go inside your house," he said with a British accent, looking sadly at the box, "I'm fine, it'll be fine. Just, go inside and pay no attention to me." He took a deep breath and ran back inside his blue box.

Phineas and Ferb couldn't see anything through the black smoke pouring out. Phineas wondered what could possibly be inside a police box that could make so much smoke. After a moment the man stumbled out again, gasping for breath.

"Sir, we can help you fix your box," Phineas offered, curious to see what was inside.

"No, it's fine. You just . . . scurry off," he said, shooing them away.

Phineas and Ferb walked a short distance away and watched him run back inside the box.

Phineas stared at it. "Ferb, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" He looked at Ferb who was also staring at the box. "That's no ordinary police box. We have to convince him to let us help."

The boys set to work building a simple device that would impress the stranger. After a few minutes, they approached him.

He looked down at them with a smile. "Huh," he said with amusement, "Love your persistence. But it's all fine. Bye!" He waved cheerily and turned back to the box.

Phineas and Ferb quickly held up two black discs, finally getting his attention.

"We built these teleportation devices," Phineas began.

The man turned back to face them, interested.

"They are very simple, so they can only teleport short distances," Phineas explained.

The man put on a pair of thick-rimmed, rectangular glasses and kneeled in front of them. Phineas handed him the teleportation device and he studied it, one of his eyebrows rising in interest.

"You built this?" he asked.

"Yeah, just now."

"Just now?! How long did it take?" he asked, his other eyebrow rising.

Phineas shrugged. "I dunno, five, ten minutes."

The man looked between the boys and the disks in shock, but his eyebrows were raised with amazement and respect.

"Let me show you how it works," Phineas said, "This-."

The stranger bit his lip as he twisted the dial and vanished.

"No! He doesn't know how it works!" Phineas panicked.

The man appeared again after a moment, staring at it with his mouth open.

Phineas looked up at him in wonder. "You already know how it works."

"Nice. Simple but effective. Very handy. Good if you need a quick escape." The man took off his glasses and tossed the device back to Phineas with a smile. "Brilliant."

"Thank you, sir," Phineas said.

"What're your names?" the man asked.

"I'm Phineas and this is my step-brother, Ferb."

"I'm the Doctor. Nice to meet you." He shook their hands. "I've got the vents clearing out the smoke in there, so as soon as it's clear we can go in and fix her up."

Phineas looked at him in surprise. "You mean we can help you?"

"Sure!"

Perry caught the Doctor's eye.

He studied Perry for a moment. "A platypus. Brilliant animal. Is he your pet?"

"Yep. This is Perry. He's the best platypus in the world."

The Doctor stared at Perry intently.

"Is everything all right?" Phineas asked.

"Oh, yeah, it's fine. I was just . . . ." the Doctor trailed off, "Does he ever do anything, like, I dunno . . . disappear mysteriously?"

Phineas looked at Ferb, surprised. "He- he's just a platypus. They don't do much," Phineas said, squinting suspiciously at the Doctor, "But how did you know he disappears every day?"

"I didn't. But now I do!" the Doctor grinned at Perry. He turned away and looked at his police box. "Right, well, looks like the smoke has thinned out. How 'bout we go in and see what it looks like?" he said, sounding strangely excited, "You boys are brilliant. You've seen a lot. I can tell it takes something big to blow your minds. So prepare to have your minds blown." He gestured an explosion and strode into the box, grinning.

The boys followed him. Phineas, Ferb, and Perry stepped inside and gaped in awe.

They had stepped through the small, wooden doors into a huge, round, metal room supported by curving coral pillars. Small, hexagonal lights covered the walls. A short ramp led up to a mesh platform with a round console in the middle, divided into six sides, each side covered with colorful buttons, levers, wires, and flashing lights. A wide tube filled with smaller tubes sprouted from the middle of the console, rising into the high ceiling. The Doctor leaned against the console with a smile. Phineas and Ferb ran outside and walked around the police box. Ferb pulled out a tape measure and Phineas helped him measure it. It was big enough for two adults at most. They ran back inside and Ferb raised the tape measure. He stopped and the extended tape measure bent and hit the floor as he stared at the giant room again, realizing it was pointless.

"This- this is incredible!" Phineas exclaimed, "Ferb is pretty good at British sci-fi technology like this, but I've never seen it on such a scale! It's awesome! What is it?"

"It's not just a box that's bigger on the inside," the Doctor began, "It's a spaceship. It's called the TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimension In Space."

Phineas studied the console and all the incredible technology. "Where did you get this? Did you build it?" Phineas asked.

"Nah, I just . . . sort of . . . found it." He smiled, staring into the distance as if he was remembering how he had 'found it'.

"I can figure what a lot of this stuff does, but all of it is so advanced, I don't know how much we'll be able to help. It'll be an honor to work on it, though," Phineas said.

"Here." The Doctor tossed a small tool to Phineas. "I'll work on the more complicated stuff, you can work with this. I think you'll like it a lot."

Phineas examined the tool. It looked like a big laser pointer. He pressed a button on the black tip and the blue light on the other end lit up, making a wiry buzzing sound. Phineas stared at it in amazement. "It's- it's a sonic . . . uhh . . . a sonic . . . probe!" he exclaimed.

The Doctor nodded, looking highly impressed. "Sonic screwdriver, yeah."

"Where did you get something like this?" Phineas asked, showing it to Ferb.

"There's plenty of 'em if you know where to look," the Doctor said, "Unfortunately Earth isn't one of those places. Now, come on. The TARDIS isn't going to fix itself."

Phineas looked at Ferb with a huge smile. Ferb looked back with a tiny one, which was huge for him.

They set to work. The Doctor fiddled with wires and complicated things Phineas and Ferb couldn't understand very well. Phineas and Ferb fixed things with the sonic screwdriver. Phineas made exclamations of awe with everything he did. The TARDIS was the most amazing piece of technology he'd ever seen.

Ferb was working beside the Doctor.

"So, Ferb, you don't talk much," the Doctor said.

Ferb opened his mouth but the Doctor kept talking.

"I love to talk. Talking is fun. You can transfer ideas and thoughts from one mind to another, isn't that brilliant? Isn't it amazing how everyone speaks a different language, but you can learn multiple ones? And yet no one ever memorizes a dictionary. Words have so much power. You can tell lies and hurt people, or you can help them and even heal them. You can make up words too. Did you know I once ended someone's career with only six words? I also speak every language in the universe." The Doctor kept talking and Ferb never said anything.

"This ship is amazing," Phineas said, "How did it break?"

The Doctor sauntered over. "Oh, she's just an old girl. She was nearly out of date when I found her. She's been travelling the universe for centuries since then. You can't blame her if she breaks down every once in a while." The Doctor patted the console and strode away.

Phineas continued working and found something interesting. "Hey, Doctor," he called, "The TARDIS is supposed to change itself to blend in with its surroundings. The chameleon circuit is broken. I'll fix it for you."

The Doctor ran over frantically. "No! Don't! Don't touch it!"

Phineas looked up at him, alarmed. "Why not?"

The Doctor relaxed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I- I like it. I like the old police box. Don't you?"

Phineas looked at the broken circuit, confused. He had an irresistible urge to fix it.

"It just . . . it just fits her," the Doctor said affectionately, "I think . . . I think she chose to get stuck as a police box."

Phineas looked up with a confused expression at Ferb, who looked back with a similar expression. Phineas looked back at the Doctor. "I love machines just as much as you, but . . . they don't have feelings," he said softly.

The Doctor gave him a quick glare and caressed the console. "Don't listen to him," he said sweetly, "You can forgive him right? He's a nice boy, he just needs to get to know you." He flipped down the panel, covering the chameleon circuit, as he walked away.

Phineas watched him, then turned back to the TARDIS. He hesitantly reached out and patted it apologetically. As soon as he touched it with an open mind, he knew there was something different about it. It wasn't just a spaceship. It wasn't just a machine. It was somehow alive. It was a living being. A living machine.

He leaned toward it, almost in shock. "Hey, I'm sorry," he whispered.

The TARDIS made a faint whirring sound, as if it had heard and understood. He noticed the Doctor smiling at him, pretending he wasn't watching.

When they finished, the Doctor proudly surveyed their work.

All the strange things that had happened whirled through Phineas's mind. A spaceship made of incredible advanced technology that fell from the sky with a strange man inside who talked about Earth and centuries and universes.

Phineas looked up at the Doctor. His eyes widened with realization and his face broke into a grin. "Are you an alien?"

The Doctor seemed surprised. "Yes," he answered cautiously.

"You said you found the TARDIS and then traveled the universe for centuries. Are you really that old?"

"I'm nine-hundred-and-three."

"Wow!"

"You don't seem surprised . . . or scared. Have you seen aliens before?"

"Yeah! We own a milkshake bar on an asteroid!"

The Doctor thought for a moment with his finger on his chin. "It doesn't happen to be the one with a sign so bright it looks like a star through Earth's telescopes, does it?"

"You know about it?"

"Oh, yeah! I've been there before. Did you know it's in the top ten space bars in the galaxy?"

"Wow! We also have an alien friend named Meap." Phineas showed the Doctor a picture of Meap. "We saved his planet once!"

The Doctor leaned closer to the picture. "Ah! The planet Kyootipai! I've never been there before, I should really visit sometime."

"Why don't we go right now?" Phineas suggested.

The Doctor grinned.

Sorry for the long introduction. The action starts next chapter.