The platform lifting the Ninth and Twelfth Doctors slowed as it made its way up through a shaft that was a bit confined and nowhere NEAR as spacious as the big and wide reactor shaft the two Doctors had come from. Then it arrived in a slightly more confined half-circle space on the edge of a control centre from a ship. That is it looked like it would be from and part of a ship. Sitting with the back of his seat to the window that looked out into space and facing them was the Hooded Man 'you're surprisingly early Doctor, where are your other selves? Still down below I take it' he said to them from across the expansive room.
Twelve soniced the control panel beside the alcove where he and Nine had arrived on the platform which then descended back down the shaft to the lower level where Ten and Eleven were still before both he and Nine stepped towards him 'I'm handing things down below against your army of small robots' Twelve replied 'in the meantime it's about time we had a talk' Nine said firmly 'WHO are you and why exactly have you brought us here to…whatever and wherever this vessel is?' Twelve questioned as he gestured all around the place 'you seem to know a great deal about me and what I've done'.
The Hooded Man was silent for a few seconds as he seemed to look at Twelve evaluatingly 'I've told you once Doctor, I've told you twice but I'll tell you one last time…who I am is NOT important, what's important is why you ar- ' the Hooded Man responded before both Doctors cut him off 'yes we heard you the first time' they both said simultaneously 'but why the secrecy? So you brought me, myself and I here for a reason, that I can understand, but are you someone from my past, or future?' Twelve asked. 'How is it that you know so much about me and my life?' Nine asked, chipping in 'but more importantly what EXACTLY am I being tried for and WHY? If that is actually what's going on here' Twelve questioned, posing the last question in a "double-checking" tone.
Again, the Hooded Man, though his face was hidden and overshadowed, looked at the two Doctors for a moment before responding 'at last you ask the true and proper question, it's about time Doctor I've been waiting for that question for quite some time, I must say you're a bit slow on it' he said. 'Yeah, well- ' Nine began 'you can't blame me for keeping things interesting before the big climactic truth' Twelve continued 'so, you're answer to my question?' Nine concluded…
Concurrently…
More than several minutes had passed since Nine and Twelve had ascended up to the domed ceiling of the shaft to reach the upper level where the mysterious Hooded Man had seemingly gone to, leaving Ten and Eleven to handle, deal with and hold back the horde of small robots that were relentlessly assaulting them. There seemed to be no end to them. 'We can't keep this up forever we have to stop them somehow!' Eleven said out loud at the top of his voice over the commotion of the small robots trying to overwhelm them 'I know!' said Ten who then looked back when he heard a hollow humming and saw the platform that Nine and Twelve had taken up to the upper level descend and arrive at the end of the half-bridge. Turning back to the force of robots still coming at them both then looking at his older self, Ten said to him 'our ride's here' which made Eleven look back and when he too saw the platform responded 'come on then let's go!' and both he and Ten began to step back towards the platform while still sonicing forwards, backwards and to each side. When they both got near the platform they took their time, but not too much time, stepping onto the platform as they divided their attention and concentration between holding off the waves of robots coming at them and stepping onto the platform. Ten was just about to put his other foot on the platform after Eleven had just stepped onto it until a robot came out of nowhere and took him by surprise, leaping onto him and causing him to stagger. Then, for some reason the platform began to lift off the floor of the half-bridge and ascend with Ten not quite able to regain himself enough to get onto the platform.
However, he did manage to grab hold of the side of the platform to which he then held onto for dear life as it made its way up toward the domed ceiling of the shaft. As Ten hung from the side of the platform with Eleven down on the ground to grab a hold of him the robot that leapt onto Ten was still hanging on by the tail of his overcoat on which it was beginning to make it's up way up to him while grappling with the wind whizzing past it 'hold on!' Eleven said still at the top of his voice 'I am! Pull me up!' Ten said back to him. Eleven looked past him at the robot making its gradual way up Ten's overcoat 'just a second!' Eleven said as he began to shift his grip and position to keep hold of Ten while painstakingly put his hand into his tweed jacket to get his sonic screwdriver having put it away before when the platform had begun to ascend. 'What are you doing?' Ten asked as Eleven slowly but gradually managed to bring out his sonic screwdriver 'getting rid of the robot, it'll make pulling you up easier otherwise we'll have to contend with it' Eleven replied before his sonic screwdriver bleeped away.
The small robot began to slow in its movements to get up Ten's overcoat before moving around Ten so that it was now just below his waist 'where do you think you're going' Eleven said as moved to point his sonic screwdriver down Ten's front. However, as if it had developed an intelligence in the last few minutes it shifted again so that it was back on the overcoat. In that second an idea sprang to Eleven's mind and he looked his younger self in the eye 'alright I'm going to try something, just hold on and I'll pull you up' said Eleven 'wha- ?' Ten began to ask, but before he could say anything more Eleven reached over him again with his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the robot again which, again, shifted to below Ten's waist 'what are you doing?!' Ten questioned 'just trust me' Eleven said before immediately hauling Ten up onto the platform as the robot settled into position on Ten's upper legs.
This time it didn't anticipate being hauled up so fast that it hit the underside of the platform, not having enough time to move to save itself and was knocked off Ten before it fell back down through the air and plummeted down into the shaft. Both Doctors lay on the floor of the platform as they recovered and caught their breath, Ten exhaling before he said 'that was a tense and close one' Eleven wasn't yet able to respond as he was still panting and catching his breath, but managed to smile and raise a thumbs-up.
When their platform disappeared up through the ceiling of the shaft the silence within the massive void of the space that was the huge spacious shaft, save for the howling wind that whizzed through and around the place, settled back. Though this was interrupted and broken by multiple echoing and stuttered sounds of the engines of the TARDIS…multiple TARDIS's as four of them, one after the other, briefly materialised in the air around the half-bridge. Their fruitless attempts to fully materialise and land evident by their troubled and stuttered engine sounds before they disappeared again…