The Log of the "Gypsy Joe" (short story)

 was a short story original to The Dalek World, a Dalek annual of the 1960s. It explained how Captain Rod Marlow obtained an Orbitus for his son, Roger.

The next story in the annual, The Orbitus, follows on immediately from the events of .

Summary
Captain Rod Marlow is ordered to investigate Dalek activity on the planet Esmera, as it is believed that they are constructing Interferer Beams to block Earth's radio signals. He finds six incomplete interferer machines at an abandoned construction site, then leaves for another sweep of the planet. However, upon returning to the site, he finds the machines fully completed. Confused, he attempts to leave in his ship, but gets into difficulty and is forced to evacuate.

Upon returning to the site, Marlow finds an Orbitus robot, and deduces what happened: the Daleks had begun construction on the Interferer Beams, but were forced to abandon Esmera after the humans discovered them, leaving the Orbitus behind and programming it to complete the machines. He re-programs the Orbitus to destroy the Interferer Beams, then departs with it.

Characters

 * Captain Rod Marlow
 * Daleks

Worldbuilding

 * Rod Marlow mentions that Meric Scrivener is his superior.

Continuity

 * This story leads directly into COMIC: The Orbitus.