Nightmare ( short story ) Nightmare was the fourth story in the 1976 " Terry Nation ' s Dalek Annual " . It was significantly different in tone to the other stories in the volume . It was the only one that ends on a true cliffhanger and the only one that ended in a clear defeat for human ity . It was also the only story that didn ' t involve Mark Seven or Reb Shavron . It was the first story , in fact , to name other ADF agents besides the three leaders . Summary . Space Major Joel Shaw is puzzled by one of his men . ADF agent Gil Tranter has just returned from a deep space reconnaissance mission to the planet Zebus in a confused state of mind . He ' s muttering about the Daleks , but the Space Major can ' t make sense of it . Clearly , Tranter is in possession of vital intelligence , but in his state , he just can ' t express it . Shaw orders the doctor on duty to administer psycroton , a hypnotic drug that will make Tranter relive whatever has affected his mind . Within seconds , Tranter is back in the meteorite storm that crippled his ship . He ' s explaining how his ship was crippled by the storm , how it left the craft powerless in space . All the crew were killed , he says , save Tranter and Tarrant . Their communications equipment was wrecked , leaving them unable to radio for help . After four days of aimless drifting , they were caught in a planet ' s gravity well . Fortunately , the crippled craft ' s landing systems were fully operational , and Tranter was able to make a controlled landing on a world he could not identify . It seemed to have high concentrations of sulphur , though , judging by the fact that they landed near an area of sulphuric pools . He left the ADF vessel , desperate to find help for the ailing Tarrant . He noticed , though that he seemed to be followed by flying creatures . Eventually , he came to a forbidding structure , a building so spooky that it transmitted the very essence of evil to his soul . In his mind , he named the " temple of Death " . His efforts to bring his mind back to rational facts failed — although he was able to will himself to enter the terrible building . Tranter continues his tale for Shaw and the doctor . He says that deep inside structure was a man on a table , a man he recognised . He was looking into the face of Crawford , the dead navigation officer from his ship . It wasn ' t just his navigation officer in the " temple of Death " — it was every single one of his fallen colleagues . As he tried to make sense of what was going on , two Dalek s appeared in the room , flanked by four hooded humanoid s . He hid in the shadows , trying to figure out what the Daleks were doing . He noticed that the humanoids were now performing some kind of surgery on the bodies of his colleagues . Remarkably , Crawford soon sat up , somehow reanimated from death . At that moment , Tranter says , he went unconscious . When he woke up , he was a prisoner of the Daleks . They interrogated him , but Tranter clearly had some questions of his own . The Daleks were forthcoming , even boastful , about their plans . They were part of what they called their " reclamation unit " . They found dead human s and brought them back to life . Sensing the import of what the Dalek was telling him , Tranter got up and ran faster than he ever had in his life . The idea of helping Tarrant had to be abandoned ; all that mattered was getting this information back to Earth . Somehow , he evaded the few Daleks on the planet and made it back to his ship . He started the launch sequence and sped back into space . He blacked out due to the intense gravitational forces as he escaped the planet — and he stayed that way until he was picked up by an ADF - friendly ship . Shaw considers the story and presses Tranter with the obvious question : did Tranter find out why the Daleks were reanimating humans ? The beleaguered ADF agent answers in the affirmative . " They implant human bodies with the brain of a Dalek , " he says . The full implications of Tranter ' s words dawn on the ADF leader . Shaw rushes to communicate Tranter ' s findings to headquarters , but Tranter stops his boss . He advises Shaw that it ' s too late to do anything about it now . The Dalek reclamation unit has been active for a decade already . The human - Daleks have already infiltrated humanity , and even now are awaiting their orders to attack and destroy . . . References . " to be added " Notes . " to be added " Continuity . " to be added "