Dalek factor


 * For the novella by Simon Clark, see The Dalek Factor

The Dalek Factor was the distillation of the essence of what distinguished Daleks from other species (primarily Humans).

Development
The Daleks recruited the Doctor, against his will, to isolate and identify the Human Factor, using Jamie McCrimmon as a test subject. The Daleks claimed that they wished to distill the most important qualities from the Factor and use it to make themselves more deadly. The Daleks, in fact, planned all along to use the Doctor's work to identify the Dalek Factor. (DW: The Evil of the Daleks)


 * ''The Daleks apparently operated on the principle that the two Factors were exact opposites of each other).

The Dalek plan
The Factor took the form of the "virtues" of total, instinctive obedience and rabid xenophobia. Meanwhile, the Daleks had managed to experimentally transfer the Human Factor to test Daleks, creating three Humanised Daleks.

The Daleks planned first to use the Doctor's TARDIS as a means to spread the Dalek Factor throughout history and then refined this to spreading the Factor, in the form of vapour, throughout Earth's atmosphere.. . They used a metal archway-shaped machine as a means of instilling the Factor. Anyone who passed through the archway would acquire the Dalek Factor. The Daleks suceeded in instilling the Factor into Theodore Maxtible. When the Doctor passed through the archway, however, he was immune and had sabotaged the machine so that it would convert any Dalek who passed through it into a Humanised Dalek. A civil war then broke out between the Humanised and other Daleks. (DW: The Evil of the Daleks)

Toward the end of the Last Great Time War the Daleks sent a time capsule to 70 AD Earth in order to spread the Dalek Factor amongst the Humans. In this instance the Factor took the form of a distinctive set of genetic changes. The capsule's engine exploded, and the Dalek was killed soon after impact. It was only able to release a small amount of the Dalek Factor, leading to only 1 in 500,000,000 Humans having it. The only known carrier of the Dalek Factor was Kate Yates.

The Dalek Factor is generally hidden amongst the genes. When the casing of the Dalek was rediscovered and activated in 2007, the Dalek Factor in Kate was reactivated. When Kate Yates was hit by a car, she was able to survive and regenerated the damage away. Her hair turned blond and she gained immense intelligence and increased strength. She also started to develop a Dalek mindset, hating all other Humans and trying to help the Daleks. When she touched the casing of the Dalek, Kate was also able to reactivate it and cause a new Dalek to be grown from raw materials in the case. Eventually, she was able to overcome her Dalek instincts and was able to help the Doctor and Rose kill the Dalek, causing her Dalek Factor to deactivate. (TDA: I Am a Dalek)