Autek was a leader of an Ice Warrior band who had allied itself with the renegade Time Lord known as the Monk. Through the Monk's Gallifreyan technology, they were able to project a time shield that became the source of parallel realities. The purpose of this shield which was located in the Artic on Earth was to protect the Ice Warriors operations in 1963. Using their mothership which had established a base in the region, they created a shaft down to the planet's core where they began dropping super heated silica which was to cool the Earth's molten centre. The aim was the creation of huge crystals that were to be used as weapon components for the Ice Warriors in order to create sonic cannons capable of erasing whole continents.