The Dalek Project ( comic story ) The Dalek Project was BBC Books ' second original graphic novel . Originally scheduled for publication in the autumn of 2009 , it originally featured the then - current Tenth Doctor . Due to some narrative similarities to the then - in - production " Victory of the Daleks " , however , its publication was delayed until September 2012 — by which time it had to be reworked so as to accommodate the Eleventh Doctor . Publishers summary . A stunning new graphic novel , featuring the Doctor as played by Matt Smith . It ' s the height of the Great War and Hellcombe Hall is a house full of mystery : locked doors , forbidden rooms , dustsheets covering guilty secrets , and ghostly noises frightening the servants . Most mysterious of all , the drawing - room seems to open directly onto a muddy , corpse - filled trench on the Western Front . . . Arriving at this stately home , the Doctor meets Lord Hellcombe , an armaments manufacturer who has a new secret weapon he believes will win the war : he calls it " the Dalek " . Soon , the Doctor and his new friends are in a race against time to prevent the entire Western Front from becoming part of the Dalek Project ! Plot . 2017 - North Eastern France a century after the Great War . Two archaeologists , Jules and Guillaume , uncover a Dalek saucer buried in the ground . They attach a power cable to it to get past the door . However , one of the Dalek s inside is revived and attacks the two archaeologists with its manipulator arm . Guillaume is killed , and Jules manages to escape but is put in shock . Some time later , the Doctor arrives at the dig , claiming to the lead archaeologist , Angela Todd , that it is a " " surprise " surprise inspection " . He learns that the archaeologists are supposedly excavating a Bronze Age burial chamber . Much to his surprise , when he enters one of the tents , he finds that all of the " artefacts " they have uncovered are the rusted components of Dalek casings . After demanding to see the chamber , the Doctor unlocks the supposed tomb and the archaeologists are shocked to find the room within brimming with extremely advanced technology . Upon a nearby table lies a seemingly - unconscious man , which quickly activates and attacks the group , revealing itself to be merely a robotic Dalek duplicate of an unfortunate captive whose skeletal remains lie beside it . Shortly after escaping , the group stumbles upon a corridor filled with rusted , damaged Daleks — the Doctor explains that the mutants within the shells are merely dormant , conserving energy until they can find a new power source to power their casings . No sooner does he say this than the Daleks begin to slowly awaken , and try to destroy the group . The Doctor himself is struck by one of the guns , but survives due to the fact that the barely - active Daleks had yet to amass enough energy for a killing blast . The group manages to escape the Daleks ' survival chamber , but much to the Doctor ' s horror he discovers that one of the archaeologists , Pierre , had been working on a " reconstruction project " using the pieces they had excavated . Entering Pierre ' s tent , he finds the man dead , and his semi - accurate reconstruction project on the loose . The Quasimodo Dalek is able to restore power to the Dalek ship from power cables , as reawakened Daleks start attacking the archaeologists . However , the Doctor uses a cable from the TARDIS to overload the Dalek ship . As Professor Todd asks the Doctor how aliens came to be buried in WWI - era trenches , the Doctor realises that he is late for tea , and takes Angela with him in the TARDIS , recounting on the way the events that led to the Dalek ship ' s presence . Back in France , 1917 , the Doctor happened upon Hellcombe Hall , the residence of Lord and Lady Hellcombe . There , he encountered a lone servant , Mary Carter , and — unusually enough — a British soldier , Ted Anderson , who just a few moments before had been fighting in the trenches in North - Eastern France . The Doctor learns from Mary that there have been strange goings - on in Hellcombe Hall of late : Many of the locked rooms have had unusual noises coming from behind their doors : Gunfire , screaming , machinery , and even what sounds like a giant heartbeat . Investigating further , the Doctor finds several things : A room full of gigantic crates , and a nervous , balding man behind a desk who tells him to " tell them the funding ' s in hand " for " the project " . He further tells the Doctor that he is grateful that they sent a human this time rather than " one of those things " . Thoroughly mystified , the Doctor is about to ask the man to clarify , but is cut off by a gunshot from a nearby room . Rushing in , he discovers that Corporal Anderson had found and shot a rat . The Doctor , however , discovers that the rat is more than it seems : Its eyes are outfitted with high - tech cameras . Opening one final door , the Doctor and Ted are shocked to find themselves in Lord Hellcombe ' s weapons factory . Inside the factory , the two discover a gathering of British military leaders , as well as Lord Hellcombe himself and his son , Ralph . Lord Hellcombe announces to his guests that he is about to reveal a machine that will bring an end to the endless bloodshed the Great War has wrought , and — much to the Doctor ' s surprise — unveils what appears to be a Dalek made with turn - of - the - century technology . The Proto - Dalek notices and identifies the Doctor , and attempts to gun him down with its machine gun . The Doctor and Ted barely escape , only to discover that the gigantic crates the Doctor had found earlier contained several real Daleks . Ted is paralysed and captured by one of the Daleks . Meanwhile , Lord Hellcombe , who up till this point had been told that the one Dalek he had worked with was the last of its race , is angered to find that it had lied to him . The Daleks capture him as well . When the Doctor finally finds Ted and Hellcombe held captive in the Dalek ship , he learns the reason why Lord Hellcombe had collaborated with the Daleks : The Dalek he believed to be the last of its race had recovered Hellcombe ' s son , Ralph , after he was shot down , and used the last of its failing technology to save him . The Doctor , however , realises the truth : The Daleks shot Ralph down , and had reconstructed him in a robotic body to manipulate Hellcombe . The four finds a way out of the Saucer and swims to the surface as a Dalek pursuit squad follow them and burns the forest . the Doctor and his companions sees a boy named Joe who was orphaned when the Daleks killed his father and the other gardeners . Lord Hellcombe sees the body of his wife and feels sorry for what he has done . The Doctor , Ted and Hellcombe arrives on a German factory where it ' s industrialist Erik Graul constructed his own Proto - Daleks . The trio comes to his office and tries to convince him to stop the Dalek Project . Herr Graul refuses and the Doctor discovers a Dalek doing the same thing to Graul whose son was killed in Russia , so he wants revenge . the three runs to a submarine to escape from the factory as well as eluding three German Proto - Daleks . Ted fires a torpedo to hit the ship . The Daleks sent Aqua - Dalek s to attack the submarine . The trio survives and goes back to Hellcombe Hall to go to Hellcombe Factory , leaving Joe and Mary watching the Dalek ship . The portal brings them to the trench and a Dalek follows them but the Doctor deactivates the transmat portal , destroying the Dalek . A modified rat notices them running . The Black Dalek orders to begin the final stage of the Dalek Project . The Doctor , Lord Hellcombe and Ted find the factory empty and it ' s all run static electricity . The factory comes alive and manufacturing Proto - Dalek s . Hellcombe will find someone to shut the factory down . Ted goes to alert the British troops . The Doctor is about to sabotage the generators that send power to the Dalek ship , but two Daleks stops him and reveal the Project has been running for centuries . The Doctor thinks the Daleks crashed in a time - storm , but the Daleks reveal they have been travelling through history to gain knowledge of human strategy . They landed in 1908 and planned to finally see how humans will react toward certain death . The British Daleks and German Daleks are sent toward each other but turn on the humans . The Daleks are ordered to exterminate all the soldiers to eradicate all evidence of Dalek activity . Joe and Mary jump at a home of the Dalek ship as it hovers and is going to France . Ralph holds Hellcombe hostage . He yells at a Dalek for taking everything he had . Ralph is ordered to kill his father but the bullet missed him and the Doctor escapes . The soldiers order a shell bombardment . The Doctor changes the robot Daleks so they recognise Daleks as enemies . Lord Hellcombe dies when his plane crashes into the German factory , destroying it . Ralph crashes a plane into the Dalek saucer , bringing it down . The bombardment destroys the Daleks but the Doctor and Anderson escape through one of the Dalek portals , closing it before the Daleks pursuing them can get through . The Doctor took Angela to 1917 to drink tea with Ted and Mary . However a surviving modified rat sees them . In 2017 , a rat crawls on a damaged Dalek , its eye glowing , indicating it is still alive .