The Great Mercury Plot (short story)

The Great Mercury Plot was the final prose story original to The Dalek Outer Space Book, a Dalek annual of the 1960s.

Summary
Long after a mysterious flash is observed on the surface of Mercury by astronomers, Space H.Q. finally release the true story: that of Commander "Z". A heroic pilot, "Z" flew closer to Mercury than usually advised and discovered a base of Daleks who were assembling a gigantic proton-beam projector capable of wiping out Earth and Venus. In an act of heroic self-sacrifice, "Z" opened all his ship's solar enegy ports, which, so close to the sun, overloaded them and caused his ship to explode, also destroying the Daleks' doomsday device.

Characters

 * Commander "Z"
 * Daleks

Worldbuilding

 * Mercury is very close to the sun, making its surface searing hot.

Continuity
to be added