The Message of Mystery (comic story)

The Message of Mystery
Main character(s):	Susan Foreman
Featuring:	Daleks
Main setting:	Skaro
Release details
Printed in:	The Dalek Book
Release date:	30 June 1964
Dalek annual - The Dalek Book
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Next →	The Secret of the Mountain

The Message of Mystery was a fumetti comic strip in The Dalek Book. Using photographs taken from The Daleks, it told a brand new story with Susan Foreman as the main character.

The story also had a puzzle element to it. The story tells the tale of how Susan helped the Daleks decode a message, but it ends with her not having actually revealed that message to her captors. The reader is then given the tools Susan is purported to have used — the so-called "Dalekode" — to untangle the mystery themselves. Despite the reader interaction, the answer is certainly a part of the story and the correct answer to the puzzle is an integral part of the narrative.

Summary

Centuries before they embarked on universal conquest, the Daleks on Skaro receive a message they cannot decode. Nervous, they begin preparing for war footing immediately. Meanwhile, Susan Foreman borrows her grandfather's TARDIS for a short trip to Venus. Instead, she lands in Skaro's petrified jungle. She is quickly captured by the Daleks, who believe she might be responsible for the mysterious message, and taken to the Dalek City. She tries to escape, but they soon overwhelm her again. They force her to try to decode the message by threatening not to feed her unless she helps.

Susan stands up for herself and gets the Daleks to back down a bit. They will feed her first, then she will decode the message. They concede the point, and their admiration grows for the young girl. As she talks to them some more, one Dalek in particular grows fond of the young space-time traveller. He doesn't want her to decode the message, because that will mean she has to leave Skaro.

Susan takes a look at the message and uses what she calls "Dalekode" to solve the puzzle. She begins to laugh in delight. The Daleks respond fearfully to the sound, which they've never heard before. Some of them are so afraid that they topple over. Susan doesn't understand what's going on, and runs off to the TARDIS.

Just as she nears her grandfather's borrowed ship, she finds one Dalek waiting for her - the one who'd grown so fond of her. It begs her not to go, but she leaves anyway. In the aftermath of her departure, the Daleks keep watching for enemies until one Dalek uses the notes Susan had left behind to decode the message, which says: "Peace and good will to all".

Characters

• Susan Foreman
• Daleks

References

to be added

Notes

• This is the only story in all Dalek annuals to make a positive reference to the Doctor and the Doctor's TARDIS.
• This story contradicts the televised series in a number of ways:
  • There is no precedent either for Susan flying the TARDIS solo or the Doctor allowing anyone to "borrow" his TARDIS, though his wife River Song would later be shown to frequently do so without his knowledge. (TV: The Husbands of River Song)
  • Neither Ian nor Barbara are mentioned in this story, making it is unclear if it takes place before or during the time they were travelling with the Doctor and Susan. Thus, either this story or The Daleks would be her second encounter with the Daleks, but in neither one does she seem to recognise them, and they don't recognise her in the latter.
  • The Daleks' characterisation is very different from most other stories: they are fascinated with Susan, admiring her courage, and one Dalek even wants her to stay with them (in contradiction with Daleks' usual deep-rooted disdain for all non-Dalek lifeforms). Laughter is also shown to frighten the Daleks to the point that they literally topple over in fear; this has never had this effect on Daleks in any other story (though in fairness, few have depicted people laughing in the face of Daleks).
  • The Daleks are able to leave their city, which they couldn't do in The Daleks due to being powered by static electricity; this later became the norm, from The Dalek Invasion of Earth onwards.

Continuity

• Susan was also present for her grandfather's first encounter with the Daleks. (TV: The Daleks)
• The Daleks of this period are far less warlike and hostile to non-Dalek life. When the Fourth Doctor was sent on a mission to Skaro towards the end of the Thousand Year War by the Time Lords, one of his objectives was given as being to "affect their genetic development so that they evolve into less aggressive creatures". (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
• Later in her life, Susan would again take the Doctor's TARDIS for a solo adventure where she encountered the Daleks. (TV: Susan and the Daleks)