The TARDIS seemed to shudder, and then finally went dead, the lights dimming to a ghostly glow. "The TARDIS," Two said in hushed, panicked tones. "It's dead!"
"Nah, she's not," Ten said. "She's still in there. Now that the time vortex is collapsing, she's bound to get a bit weaker. Not giving up yet, though, are you?" He smiled up at the time rotor fondly.
The TARDIS hummed weakly and Ten grinned, "That's my girl. Now, where were we?"
"Finding a way out of this," Twelve said. "I have no interest in staying here while the universe dies, listening to my other selves jabber away, comparing notes on how great they think they are."
"Aren't you just a little interested in why we're here?" Five asked. "After all, we may not be able to find our way out without knowing why we're in it in the first place."
"The vegetable gardener is right," Three said. "Believe me, I don't want to be trapped here any more than you do, but we'll never work out how to get out without understanding what brought us here."
"I….brought...you….here," a rasping, wheezy voice boomed suddenly throughout the room. The all looked around in alarm.
"What was that?" One asked.
"I don't know," Two answered, a shrewd expression entering his eyes. "But I have a very good idea it has something to do with what we're doing here."
"Why does it sound all...coughy?" Eleven asked.
"'Coughy'?" Six repeated in disdain.
"It's using the TARDIS engines to speak," the War Doctor said slowly. "Don't you see, that's why it sounds like that! It's turning the grinding noise into words. Remarkable!"
"But what is it?" Eight asked, his gaze intent. "I mean, it fits with what Twelve said, that something's using the TARDIS to keep us here. It's only natural something that powerful, without any other technology present, would use the TARDIS to communicate with us. It's rather impressive; there aren't very many things powerful enough to do that."
The effort to speak seemed to be difficult, because the entity had stopped after that first sentence. The Doctors looked surreptitiously at each other. "Should we try to communicate with it?" Two asked.
"Well, what else are we going to do with it?" Four asked, raising his voice. "Hello! We were just wondering what you were doing with our TARDIS!"
"Your...TARDIS...is...of...me," the groaning voice said.
"What are you talking about?" Seven asked impatiently.
"It….is….me...as….you...are...of...me," the voice continued.
Ten's eyebrows went up, "Well, unless we someday evolve past the need for corporeal bodies, I'm guessing that's not one of us."
"We might," Six said half-heartedly.
"Oh, I hope not," Eleven said. "I'd miss needing a TARDIS. Not to mention, wearing clothes."
"Excuse me, do you mind not being rude to the entity talking to us through the TARDIS?" Nine asked, turning around. Eleven fell silent, although he did an exaggerated imitation of Nine's schoolmaster expression behind his earlier self's back. One saw and started to giggle behind his hand.
"Now, when you say the TARDIS is of you, and so am I, what do you mean?" Four called up to the ceiling.
"Everything….is...me. I….am….everything that has lived and died," the voice said, its pace quickening as it became more comfortable using the TARDIS engines to speak. "It all existed in me!"
"A Guardian, perhaps?" Eight asked, but Seven shook his head.
"I don't think so. Taking credit for everything in the entire universe is pompous even for them."
"Excuse me," One said. "If everything exists in you, does that make you...some type of god?"
"Oh, come on, you must know there's no such thing!" Twelve protested.
"Shhh," Two said quickly.
"Don't 'shhh' me!"
"I am not a creator," the voice said. "I….am creation."
Three knitted his brows together. "It is creation? Whatever does that mean?"
" 'I am creation'?" Ten repeated in confusion. Then he slapped a hand to his forehead. "Oh! Don't you see! It's everything, all at once! It literally is all of creation! Oh, that is brilliant!"
"Calm down, young man. Now, whatever are you talking about?" One asked impatiently.
"I think I see," Two said slowly. When the others all stared at him, he went on. "Well, don't you see? We were brought here, and kept here, by something more powerful than anything any of us has ever seen before. Except there's nothing here except for us and what remains of the universe. Since we didn't bring ourselves here, and the only other thing here…"
Eleven's eyes widened, "...is the universe itself."
"Exactly," Two said.
Silence fell in the TARDIS. "A sentient universe," Three breathed. "I never would have thought it."
"Who would have?" Nine said. "All these centuries of life and no evidence to suggest the universe was anything other than a giant blob holding all the planets and comets and stuff inside."
"For eons I was content to watch and learn," the voice said, becoming quicker as it became accustomed to using the engines to speak. "To ride the waves of what was created of me."
"But now?" the War Doctor prompted.
"Now all that once existed in me is gone," It answered. "I am small….and weak. I am dying, Doctor."
"Yes," Nine said. "It's time. Expansion, contraction, birth, death. It's the way of the universe, if you don't mind the expression."
"I learned much from the planets and people who lived their lives within me," the universe went on. "I lived it all. War, love, joy. I do not wish it to end."
"And you think we can help?" Six asked.
"Of all the beings who lived within my boundaries," it said. "You, Doctor, are the one who has lived the most out of anyone within my boundaries. You have seen and done more than any other life-form. If anyone can help me, it is you."
"And why would I interfere with the natural order of things?" One asked imperiously. "The contraction of the universe causes the creation and expansion of the next. It's unstoppable."
"Yeah, some things even I can't change," Nine said bitterly.
"So you will not help?" The universe asked, and even through the grinding of the engines, they could hear the desperation in its tone.
Seven sighed, "We can't. There's simply nothing we can do about it."
There was a pause, in which the finality of the decision weighed down upon them, and then Twelve looked up. "Why can't we?"
They all stared at him, and he went on, "It's not like we've never done the impossible before. Honestly, I think we see it as a challenge. Escaping from Gallifrey? Impossible. Except it wasn't really that difficult, was it?"
"Well, it wasn't easy by any means, but-" One said, but Twelve cut him off.
"Meeting your other selves and living through it. Impossible, right? Oh, except it wasn't!"
Three conceded the point, "True enough. Look at us now."
"The Last Great Time War, impossible to live through. Except we not only lived through it, we ended it!"
"You don't need to sound so proud of it," Nine muttered.
"Surviving past thirteen regenerations," Twelve continued, ignoring him. "I wouldn't even exist if any of us had ever accepted 'impossible' as an answer."
"Hang on, I thought you were the last one," Five said. Eleven waved a hand carelessly.
"It got a bit timey-wimey by the end. Nothing to worry about, like he said, it's all sorted now."
"So, come on, what are we waiting for?" Twelve said, his ever-present glare finally disappearing and a gleam of excitement taking its place.