Ship (Set Piece)

Ship was a sentient spacecraft.

In the far future, an Earth colony on the edge of the galaxy faced destruction. The colonists made an organic computer to store their minds, since their bodies were dying, but some colonists refused to undergo the process. However, the computer decided that all the colonists must be saved, so it sent the Ants to gather the recalcitrant and add their minds to the gestalt.

After escaping the colony, Ship fell through one of the space-time rifts created by Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart's primitive time machine. It was damaged, causing it to equate any sentient being with the original colonists and send the Ants to gather and assimilate any beings they encountered. Ship later began learning how to stabilise the rifts, so that it could make more rifts in an attempt to reach and assimilate more beings throughout space and time.

Since the creation of so many rifts would have cause irreparable damage to much of the universe, Kadiatu tried to destroy Ship by giving it a computer virus, but Ship was able to counteract this attack. The Seventh Doctor then rigged Kadiatu's time vessel to implode when it was moved, hoping the Ants would take it back to Ship. Unfortunately, Monsieur Thierry moved it first and he was killed by the implosion. Ship then captured the Doctor and "installed" him so it could access his mind directly and time travel as it wished. However, this was part of the Doctor's plan to trick Ship into giving him direct access to its nervous system. Once connected, he turned off the computer, killing it. (PROSE: Set Piece)