The Doctor ran around the console, frantically pressing buttons, turning wheels and pulling levers, with his hands, his feet, and his teeth.
"So what can we do?" asked Martha, not entirely sure what was going on.
"No idea", replied the Doctor, which was a rare response from him. "I think I know where and when to go though."
"Where are we going then?" queried Martha, gearing herself up for somewhere unpleasant.
"The Beginning. The End", said the Doctor. "The place whose destruction led to the creation of life in countless universes."
"Where?" Martha asked, confused by all the Doctor's lyricism.
"The first ever universe," the Doctor informed her. "Further back in time then I or anyone else has gone. Ever."
"Why do we need to go there?" Martha asked, slightly dazzled by his description.
"Simple", said the Doctor. "The first universe's destruction was caused, so the story goes, by the Null Time Rifts. So we go back there, to see why the Rifts are attacking OUR universe."
"So we can stop them!" finished Martha, getting the gist of what he was saying.
"Exactly!" confirmed the Doctor. "Ooh, you're getting the hang of this, Martha!"
She smiled.
The Doctor ran around the console. He pressed buttons, turned wheels and pulled levers, desperately steering them towards their – as yet unknown to Sophie – destination.
"So what can we do?" asked Sophie, scared by the thought of everything she knew ceasing to exist.
"I don't know", said the Doctor, which scared Sphie even more – rare was the time when this Doctor didn't know something. "I really, really, don't know. But we can do something when we get there."
"Where is 'there'?" asked Sophie, confused.
"The Beginning. The End", said the Doctor. "The place whose destruction led to the creation of life in countless universes."
"Eh? Where would that be?" asked Sophie, not understanding what the hell he was babbling about.
"The first ever universe," he clarified. "Further back in time then I or anyone else has gone."
"Why do we need to go there?" she asked.
"The first universe's destruction was caused, so the story goes, by the Null Time Rifts", said the Doctor. "So we go back there, to see why the Rifts are attacking OUR universe."
"And then we stop them?" asked Sophie.
"Yes", confirmed the Doctor, "once I've figured that bit out…"
The Doctor ran around the console. He pressed buttons, flicked switches and pulled levers.
"So what can we do?" asked Harkness, while staring around the very… surprising interior of the Doctor's ship.
"I haven't got a definite plan, but I should have one by the time we get there", replied the Doctor.
"And where would that be?" Harkness queried. "I can't help you if I don't have the intel."
"The Beginning. The End", said the Doctor. "The place whose destruction led to the creation of life in countless universes. The first ever universe. Further back in time then I or anyone else has gone."
"Sounds interesting", said Harkness dryly.
"I wouldn't know", said the Doctor. "I never paid too much attention to the stories."
"But what exactly are the Null Time Rifts?" Martha wondered.
"Massive gaps in reality, like I said," replied the Doctor, pressing another button while the ship juddered around. "The Rifts are nothing. Literally nothing. Eventually, in the First universe, the Rifts led to the creation of the void, as well as the billions of parallel universes."
"CAN we stop them?" Martha asked. "I mean, if they're as powerful as you say…"
"The Null Time rifts only ever affected the First universe, and no others after", said the Doctor. "The end of our universe is caused by entropy, not these… things. That means that it's not a natural process, and THAT means we can stop it."
"But what exactly are the Null Time Rifts?" asked Sophie.
"Massive gaps in reality, like I said," replied the Doctor, to her questions. "The Rifts are… nothing. Literally nothing. Eventually, in the First universe, the Rifts led to the creation of the void, as well as the billions of parallel universes."
"Can we stop them?" she whispered, suddenly realising the ramifications of not doing so. "I mean, if we don't..."
"Then reality goes bye-bye. But don't worry. The Null Time rifts only ever affected the First universe, and no others after", said the Doctor. "It isn't a natural process, so it CAN be stopped."
"But what exactly are the Null Time Rifts?" asked Harkness.
"Massive gaps in the fabric of reality," replied the Doctor. "The Rifts are nothing. Literally nothing. Eventually, in the First universe, the Rifts led to the creation of the void, as well as the billions of parallel universes."
"Can we stop them?" he asked. "I mean, if we can't, then the universe..."
"Will be utterly destroyed. But I wouldn't worry. The Null Time rifts only ever affected the First universe, and no others after", said the Doctor. "It isn't a natural process, so it CAN be stopped."
"You talk like you do this for a living", said Harkness.
"I do", replied the Doctor, with a grim smile.
The Doctor stood in his console room.
He was a different Doctor to any of the others, and at this point in his life, he was travelling alone, quite happily. He wore green corduroy trousers, a green polo shirt, and a green jacket, set off by white loafers.
He pressed another button, and whistled to himself. Life was extraordinarily good to him. He decided to go to Earth. Pop in to see the Brigadier, halt an alien invasion or two...
And that's when the alarms went off. The console started sparking, the walls began imploding inwards… the Doctor ran around his console, trying to get the scanner to work.
"Come on… I need to see what's out there!" he yelled to his dying ship. Then the TARDIS showed him.
Null Time Rifts, hundreds of them, surrounded him in the vortex. And if the vortex was infected, then the rest of the universe was already dying. The Brigadier, Rose, Sarah…
The Doctor knew he was doomed, but he wasn't going to die without a reason. He closed his eyes – he could already feel himself ceasing to be as the niothingness took him – but it wouldn't claim him yet. He made his move.
"We're getting as message…" said the Doctor.
"What kind of message?" asked Martha, concerned that this was going to be another problem.
"A TARDIS message", said the Doctor, his face showing all the disbelief he felt.
He pressed a button on the console, and a face came up on the scanner screen.
The Doctors face.
"Oh my God", said Martha in shock. "That's you!"
"Quiet Martha," he hissed, "this must be important. He's sending this through every TARDIS on the same wavelength as his own, that must be every Doctor in every universe…"
"Ahem. Hi", said the Doctor on screen. "By the time you're receiving this message, I'm probably dead. I'm transmitting this message on all frequencies, to every universe."
"I hope my death will not be in vain, and to insure that, I have gathered as much information as I can on the Null Time Rifts, using every scanning device I have, and have figured out their origin. And who's causing them."
The Doctor on screen sighed, and shook his head sadly. Sophie opened her mouth to ask a question, but the Doctor shushed her.
"No point talking, it's a recording," he said sadly. "He's already gone." Sophie considered telling him that she wanted to ask her own Doctor a question, not the guy on telly, but decided against it.
"As far as I can tell, it's not just my universe that has been affected, it's every universe. All time, all space."
The Doctor on screen took a breath.
"Hard as it may be to believe what I am about to say, you must. The Rifts originate from the first universe."
Sophie's Doctor sighed and put his head in his hands.
"There by the grace of Rassilon go I", he muttered.
"Therefore, you must understand that the person who's causing these Rifts…"
"…must be a foe of unimaginable intellect and power."
The Doctor nodded at this. Harkness wasn't getting any of this at all.
"It only makes sense I suppose. But WHO…"
"I have a theory," the screen Doctor continued, "but this theory means that to STOP him, we must sacrifice al our qualms, all our dignity. This will be the greatest test of us all."
"I don't care the cost, just TELL ME who's responsible for this", said the Doctor standing next to Harkness.
"I believe our foe to be..." a sigh, and then "the first universes Doctor."
The Doctor stepped back from the screen.
"What?" the Doctor said, ignoring Martha's shocked stare. "How can it be…"
"Think about it, Doctors", said the Doctor on screen. "If our universe was dying, wouldn't we do everything in our power to save it, even at the cost of every other universe?"
The Doctor on screen smiled grimly.
"I know I would", he said. "So, we must effectively defeat ourselves here."
Martha turned to the Doctor.
"How can YOU be the cause of this?" she asked, appalled. "You wouldn't…"
"I… I don't know…" he replied. Obviously, it shocked him as much as anyone else.
"I know it's hard to believe, but we must pull ourselves together here lads."
Sophie's Doctor stood calmly, absorbing the idea that it was HIM – or at least, a version of him - that was the cause of the destruction.
"And we must all remember, it isn't US that's causing the destruction here, it's him."
The Doctor nodded his head once, grimly.
"Not me, him," he murmured.
The Doctor on screen smiled grimly.
"Stopping him won't be easy. He's got all our determination, all our guile, and he's got the same motivation as us, but understand this. Together we can beat him. It's been a pleasure, gentlemen."
The screen faded to black. The Doctor took a breath.
"Well Harkness, this will be difficult," he said simply.
"Jack", said Harkness. "My name is Jack."
"Pardon?" asked the Doctor. "What does that matter?"
"If we're going to save the universe together," the Major General said, "I'd prefer you called me Jack."
The Doctor smiled, at the mans' touching display of friendship – despite the fact that it was partially his fault that Rose was gone.
"Alright Jack", he said. "I'm afraid we're not going to be saving the universe together though…"
The Doctor pinched Jacks neck before he could respond, and he collapsed in a heap.
"I'm not losing anyone else today", said the Doctor quietly. He considered the man a friend too, though he didn't know why. Probably a destiny thing.
The time rotor slowed, indicating that the TARDIS had arrived at it's destination.
"Ah", said the Doctor. "We've arrived."
He picked a hat off the hat stand in the corner next to the door, and walked out to face the darkness.
The door closed behind him, slowly.