A History of the Universe (short story)

 was a piece of fiction which formed the base text of A History of the Universe, laying a possible in-universe history of the Doctor Who universe which had copious non-fiction annotations explaining its reasoning. These two layers of the text were firmly separated, with the fictional component being an intentionally limited view of Doctor Who history based on what an in-universe historian would know. This mixture of fiction and non-fiction was inspired by prior reference works such as Doctor Who: Cybermen and various Doctor Who Magazine articles. Featuring a fictional version of the author recording various perspectives on history, the text notably featured cameos from various recognizable fictional voices, including Bernice Summerfield, Cybermen, and Henry Gordon Jago.

Summary
Writing from the perspective of 20th century Earth as well as at a point in Gallifrey's history shortly after Romana II joined the High Council, a human author writes a history book of his universe using a variety of sources from throughout time. These sources have been vetted by Time Lord authorities to censor information related to secrets of Gallifreyan history.

The author begins his history with the Big Bang, going on to explain how Voldek's Theory explains the proliferation of lifeforms throughout the universe. As Earth forms and human history begins, numerous perspectives tell of exciting events, although these perspectives are limited and sometimes hint at but don't explain a mysterious figure sometimes called a "healer" or "doctor" who appears with a "blue box". Later, nearing the end of the 20th century, the author compares multiple sources concerning the Vorellan invasion of Earth and finds that both don't tell the whole story. Further forwards in history, the author criticises Bernice Summerfield's history of the Ice Warrior invasion involving T-Mat, saying that it clearly ignores an important figure: the Doctor.

As history progresses from here, the climate instability of the 21st century leading to a period of space colonisation leading to the Earth Empire leading to further power structures of the third millennium and beyond, sources gradually become sparser. Around the year 2000000, Woris Bossard writes Extinct Civilisations and R K Cossin writes Nasty Great Rotters of the Galaxy; past this point, only the TARDIS information system is left to comment on universal history. Billions of years after even the People of the Worldsphere, the universe ends in the Big Crunch.

The author then briefly outlines Gallifreyan history up to recent events involving the Fifth Doctor and Ruath.

Characters

 * Author
 * Oolon Colluphid
 * Worris Bossard
 * Voldek
 * Gustous R Thripsted
 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Brotherhood of Logicians
 * Redvers Fenn-Cooper
 * Howard Foster
 * Thals
 * Njeri Ngugi
 * Celestial Intervention Agency
 * Plato
 * Barbara Wright
 * Leonardo da Vinci
 * Anne Daly
 * Henry Gordon Jago
 * Rutans
 * George Reed
 * Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart
 * History computer
 * Professor Chtaabus
 * Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
 * Charles Bryce
 * Anne Travers
 * Percy Wolnough
 * Ruby Duvall
 * M Ashe
 * Ramon Salamander
 * Travellers
 * Ven Kalik
 * Stein
 * Dymond
 * R K Cossin
 * Sonia Bannen
 * David Campbell
 * Karne
 * Edward Nisbett
 * Gustaf Urnst
 * John Williams
 * Scott
 * Marine Space Corps
 * Fran Kausama
 * Grith Robtts
 * Space Security Service
 * Metebelis III colonist
 * Sontaran Grand Strategic Council
 * The Doctor
 * Engin

Continuity

 * Howard Foster (TV: Planet of Fire) discusses the cave art of Za. (TV: An Unearthly Child)
 * A lost tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh describes Ishtar and Utnapishtim as aliens. (PROSE:  Genesys)
 * A lost fragment of Plato's Critias describes the Crystal of Kronos. (TV: The Time Monster)
 * In his memoir, George Reed recalls hearing about Judson's ULTIMA. (TV: The Curse of Fenric)
 * Charles Bryce discusses Margaret the Yeti. (PROSE: Downtime)
 * Ven Kalik was a Federation Archivist. (PROSE: Deceit)
 * The Voxnic Book of All-Time Television Classics (PROSE: The Twin Dilemma) has a retrospective on the Meson Broadcasting System. (PROSE: Time of Your Life)
 * Grith Robtts writes Federation History. (PROSE: Legacy)
 * Channel 403 (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan) reports on Nostalgia Tours. (TV: Delta and the Bannermen)