Metaphysical engine
A metaphysical engine was a device that allowed travel into physical representations of places that were manifested by beliefs or imaginings from the minds of individuals or groups of people.
According to the First Doctor, the TARDIS was a metaphysical engine. As it could travel through all dimensions related to space and time, it was also capable of entering into a person's mind, their imagination. (PROSE: Every Day [+]Loading...["Every Day (short story)"]) The Seventh Doctor's and Ace's consciousnesses were sent into the Doctor's mindscape by the Timewyrm, which contained ejected parts of the TARDIS which it had most likely used to inject itself and others into the doctor's mindscape. The older Doctor's consciousnesses each had their own area where they were able to control and shape them meaning that the consciousness of every previous incarnation of the doctor is stored within his mind. The Doctor later escaped, but he returned by piloting the physical TARDIS into his own mind to save Ace's consciousness. Ace's consciousness was able to enter the TARDIS and was automatically sent back to her body. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation [+]Loading...["Timewyrm: Revelation (novel)"]) Once, the TARDIS entered the mind of George Smythe, who was trapped in a time loop. (PROSE: Every Day [+]Loading...["Every Day (short story)"])
The Governors had one such metaphysical engine, also called a reliquary. The device they acquired was very old technology, and quite unstable. It could only travel into places believed in by large enough groups of people, such as their afterlife myths. (TV: The Metaphysical Engine, or What Quill Did [+]Loading...["The Metaphysical Engine, or What Quill Did (TV story)"])
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
