The Doctor returned to the main control room with quick steps, his long coat swaying behind him. The TARDIS greeted him with that deep, familiar hum, like a heartbeat pulsing to the rhythm of another universe.
"Well… let's see what on Earth—or off Earth—is going on," he muttered, running his fingers across the console, pressing buttons, pulling levers like a virtuoso playing an instrument only he could understand. "Show me something, old girl!"
The central screen flickered to life, revealing a map of the space-time continuum… only it wasn't normal. The timelines looked… twisted. As if someone had crushed a cosmic spiderweb in their hand, forcing the strands to intersect where they never should.
"That's not good. No, that's very not good." His voice grew heavier. "This isn't natural… someone or something did this."
The readings showed a growing anomaly. Not just a fracture—it was a convergence. A space between realities where worlds were beginning to touch. The Doctor felt a shiver crawl up his spine.
"Oh no… no, no, no. This is bad. Very bad. And I have an infinite list of bad things to compare it to." He ran a hand through his white hair, spinning on his heels as if movement helped him think. "Rule number one: when worlds start bleeding together… someone allowed it. Rule number two: stop it before everything blows up!"
He caressed the console softly.
"Ready, old girl? Let's go for a spin."
He yanked the main lever. Instantly, the TARDIS roared like a beast awakening. The central column pumped up and down in chaotic elegance, alive with energy. The sound—the eternal VWORP, VWORP—echoed through the room as the ship trembled and then vanished into the void.
The journey was a storm of lights and shadows. The walls hummed, the floor shook beneath his boots, and for a moment, everything spun in impossible directions. Then, suddenly… silence.
The Doctor opened the doors and stepped into the unknown. And what he found left him speechless.
An endless white expanse. No horizon, no ground, no sky. A void without gravity, filled with particles of light floating like dust. Nothing like the darkness he'd seen before—this felt… new.
"Oh… wow. This is… I don't even have a decent word for this."
Then, the silence broke. Crack. A thin, glowing line appeared in the void, like a fracture in an invisible mirror. Then another. And another. Soon, the whole expanse was littered with cracks, opening slowly to reveal glimpses of other worlds behind them.
Objects began to fall from those fissures. At first, small things: a shoe, a piece of wood, a cup. Ordinary things. Nothing fantastic. But they kept coming. Boxes, furniture, tools…
The Doctor frowned.
"This isn't a fracture. This is a hemorrhage."
He turned toward the TARDIS.
"Get me closer—fast! Before…"
He didn't finish the sentence. Because then, not just objects fell through. Something else slipped in. Bodies. People. Human silhouettes drifting through the void, some unconscious, others wide-eyed with confusion.
The Doctor's hearts skipped a beat as he recognized some of the faces. No. No, no, no. They couldn't be here. They shouldn't be here.
He ran his fingers through his hair again, eyes locked on the chaos unfolding around him. Each crack grew wider, more figures appeared, and this was no mere anomaly. This was the beginning of something catastrophic.
The Doctor drew a deep breath and spoke, his voice low, like a solemn oath:
"This… is going to get messy."