Plague of Death (comic story)

Summary
An accident on Skaro during Dalatomic beam missile tests results in a cloud of radioactive rust that eats into Dalek casings.

Plot
While the Emperor leads the Dalek Fleet on a mission to conquer other planets, the Black Dalek is left in charge of Skaro. During the testing of the Daleks' Dalatomic beam missile machine, something goes wrong, creating a radioactive cloud of rust that could spell disaster for the Daleks. Tests reveal that it could rust through even their metalert casing. The Daleks begin to panic but the Black Dalek calls for order. Meanwhile Desert Station GX.YUV is hit by the cloud and collapses. In response to the incident, the Black Dalek instructs Dalek patrols on hoverbouts to destroy the remains of the station but the cloud climbs up the patrols' rays of fire and they suffer some casualties.

The Black Dalek consults the Brain Machine and it advises them to stop the rust cloud with magnets. While this is happening, a gale sends the cloud towards the City. The Daleks trap the cloud just in time and Daleks on hoverbouts separate the rust particles with oil. But as the Black Dalek leaves to begin repairs, another Daleks rusts away in front of it. The cloud has become a plague! Daleks begin killing other Daleks out of fear of catching the disease, while the Black Dalek notes that it seems strangely immune. The Emperor and the saucers return to help put an end to the crisis and an experiment reveals that the plague is not spread through contact with other victims - rather by one particular Dalek who contacts all the other Daleks. The Black Dalek!

The Black Dalek is chased away by the Emperor's Guards to get it away from the City while the Emperor consults the Brain Machine. The Emperor finds the Brain Machine already active and it confirms the Black Dalek is indeed the germ carrier. The Black Dalek reappears after deliberately infecting itself with the plague, its casing crumbling away. It intends to kill itself as it killed the other Dalek plague victims. The Emperor states that the Black Dalek is too valuable to the Dalek cause and takes it to the recasting furnace where its casing is to be repaired. As the process takes place, the Daleks begin to administer the cure and prepare to fix the damages. In all the confusion, a mysterious spacecraft lands on Skaro's surface undetected by the Daleks.

Characters

 * Black Dalek
 * Dalek Emperor

Diseases and illnesses

 * Rust plague

Locations

 * The Black Dalek is taken to the recasting furnace.

Objects

 * The Emperor and the Black Dalek both consult the Brain Machine.

Metals

 * The rust plague eats through metalert.

Weapons

 * The Daleks are working on a Dalatomic Beam Missile machine.
 * It has as part of its construction a radioactive tube.

Reprints

 * Doctor Who Weekly 39-40 in black and white
 * Doctor Who Classic Comics 3-4 in colour
 * DWMS The Dalek Chronicles in colour

Continuity

 * The notion of Black Daleks being too valuable to lose is also part of PROSE: The Mutation of Time, Volume 2 of John Peel's novelisation of The Daleks' Master Plan. The destruction of the Black Dalek on Kembel is considered to be an irreparable loss by the Dalek Prime.