"Dalek Empire Chapter 4: Project Infinity" Published in CT Number 292

And so here it is the final instalment in the epic Dalek Empire series. Now we shall discover what the Dalek Emperor has been planning, we learn how Kalendorf and Alby cope with Suz’s death. And we also witness the Daleks’ triumph over the entire Galaxy (oh wait, that last one was just wishful thinking … or was it?) Of course it is never the end, Dalek Empire 2 will go to show this, but who will be the victors at the end of this “book”? Thus dear reader, I will endeavour to review this story and tell you what happens. So read on McDuff!

Chapter 3 saw the rebellion against the Daleks begin following Susan Mendes’s immortal words: “Death to the Daleks!” Those were to be her last words, this chapter does not have her surviving in some miraculous way, and I am thankful for that. I hate stories where the main characters don’t die or sustain injuries. By killing-off Suz we get a much more believable story. There is a plot twist here, but I am not going to divulge it- you’ll just have to listen to the story to find that one out!

Sadly the heights of the end of Chapter 3 are lost here, but that is inevitable really. You can’t sustain a story that way, by having Alby brood over Suz’s death you feel a sense of his lost. It makes him a real person, not just a wooden Han Solo. The early part of this story then recaps on the rest of the book using the narrator, a Seer of Yaldos. The Seer is not Suz (but she sounds like her), however, Suz is the Seer. It seems that Suz guessed she would die, and she made arrangements with the Seer to inform Alby and co about where the Emperor was going. This section does drag on a bit, but at least it clears up a lot of loose ends.

On the plus side is the sheer deviousness of the Daleks. The entire invasion was nothing but a diversion. The rebellion, the conquest of Earth, the defeats, nothing but an elaborate plot to hide the real objective: Lopra Minor. This is so like the Daleks, as is the fact Miranda is a Dalek agent! Well, she is rather more than that as her mind and the Dalek Emperor’s mind are linked. So then, off to Lopra Minor (and here time speeds up again). Tannley arrives on Lopra Minor to oversee the final stages of Project Infinity; well he’s got to command the rebellion from somewhere right? Wrong- Tannley is a Dalek agent too! Sheer deviousness, brilliantly done and well, frankly worrying. I know many of you will remember the Cold War and the fear of spies, but I don’t and this enhances this effect even more- to think, anyone could be a Dalek agent! Be it Miranda, Tannley, Pellan or anyone, it certainly keeps the story alive and makes repeated hearings of the entire saga more interesting too.

Miranda has survived her ordeal as a Dalek agent and can now listen-in on Dalek orders, significantly helping Kalendorf’s attack on Lopra Minor by pinpointing Dalek positions and weak-spots. This seems like a bit of a cop-out to me, but at least the battle is good.

And we finally learn what Project Infinity is: not a weapon, but a trans-dimensional scanner through quantum galaxies. Well, that explains that then. The humans want to use it to find a Universe where they have won and learn from those humans how to defeat the Daleks, and vice-versa for the Daleks.

So who wins in the end?

Why the Daleks of course. But probably not in the way you are expecting. Oh no, the Daleks that do win are Karcherrat-style Daleks (buy The Genocide Machine for an explanation). These Daleks go to war with the Dalek Emperor, and the story ends in a blaze of extermination and neutralisation. I didn’t find it very satisfying at first and my first reactions was: “Is that it then?” However, having thought more about it you realise how clever it is. These humans could never defeat the Daleks, so bring in some other Daleks instead! It may be taking elements from the fantastic Remembrance of the Daleks, but it is done in an original way.

So that’s it, the Daleks have won, but not won. I guess Dalek Empire 2 (or maybe Time and the Daleks) will tell us. I rate this Chapter at 90%, a good score and would have done better but for the drawn-out first section. Overall though, the Dalek Empire series (from The Genocide Machine through to Project Infinity) at a staggering 95%. And who says the Daleks are dead?

By Peter Witney