Void Ship The Void Ship , also known by its not - so - technical term , the sphere , was an extremely advanced spacecraft designed to traverse the Void , which was the emptiness that existed " between " all parallel universe s and all different dimensions . Void ships were considered by the Time Lord s , including the Tenth Doctor , to be impossible to build and strictly theoretical . However , one was created by the four elite Dalek s known as the Cult of Skaro during the Last Great Time War . Their featureless metallic spheroid was the only known example in history of such a vessel . ( TV : " Doomsday " ) When travelling through the Void , the ship was separate from time and space , which may explain why , until activated , it defied all forms of analysis , meaning it had no detectable mass , heat , quantifiable age or radiation , though it could be visible at the specific location where it was chosen to eventually emerge . Due to these properties , people who looked upon it found it deeply unsettling ; foreboding . An invisible barrier prevented anything from having physical contact with the ship , at least while it wasn ' t active . ( TV : " Army of Ghosts " ) History . During the Time War , four elite Daleks were created ( or selected ) in secret by the Dalek Empire to constitute a group known as the Cult of Skaro . The Cult was " above and beyond the Emperor himself " and considered merely a legend by the Time Lords . They correctly predicted that the Time War would result in complete disaster for the Empire , and created the Void Ship to avoid the impending destruction , where they waited in the Void for the War to conclude . These four Daleks also stole a Time Lord prison ship containing millions of Dalek prisoners ( designated the Genesis Ark ) . ( TV : " Doomsday " ) Inside the Void Ship , the four Daleks worked to open the Genesis Ark and free their imprisoned comrades . As they came closer to their goal , the Void Ship began to create spatial disturbances at a location above the ground in Canary Wharf , London , sometime prior to 2005 ( AUDIO : " One Rule " ) . Perplexed scientists ( led by lab doctor Rajesh Singh ) and officials ( led by Yvonne Hartman ) working for the Torchwood Institute built a skyscraper , Torchwood Tower , to secretly study the disturbance . Eventually the Void Ship became visible , but untouchable . It created an atmosphere of foreboding around it . The Void Ship created a " wake " which connected the universe to an adjacent parallel universe that Tenth Doctor would label " Pete ' s World " . Unknown to the Daleks , their Void Ship ' s wake created an entry point for an army of Cybermen native to Pete ' s World . The staff of Torchwood 1 ignored the Doctor ' s warnings , and unintentionally paved the road for the Cybermen to invade . The Cyber - Leader increased the Ghost Shift to 100 % . The same day , the Void Ship opened , and the Cult emerged with the Genesis Ark . They were prepared to destroy the Sun to force open the Ark . Before they could do so , Mickey Smith accidentally transferred his artron energy to the Ark when , as a reflex , he put out his hand for balance when a Cyberman shoved him against it , allowing it to open as the Time Lords ' intended . During the subsequent Battle of Canary Wharf , as the freed Daleks began to exterminate the Cybermen , the Doctor and Rose Tyler reversed the rift . The Cybermen , virtually all the Daleks , and presumably the Void Ship itself , were forced back into the Void . ( TV : " Doomsday " )