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The Small Defender was an illustrated short story in The Dalek Book, a Dalek annual of the 1960s. It remains a highly unusual piece of fiction within the Doctor Who universe because its main protagonist is an ordinary Earth animal.
Summary
An advance invasion party of Daleks lands in Kent. Their arrival is noticed by a young mole, who's just popped out of his hole for a look around. The Daleks, unaware of the presence of the mole, discuss their strategy. They need to quickly assemble a metal landing pad, so the rest of their party have a place to land. The Dalek Leader plans to put down quick-setting liquid metal.
As the Daleks begin to dump the liquid metal onto their landing site, the mole becomes intrigued by the new material. He soon learns that it will stick to him, so he pops away from it and back into the ground. He creates a number of burrow holes underneath the newly-lain liquid metal. This makes the surface unstable, which tilts the liquid metal sprayer out of alignment. Within seconds, all but two of the Daleks have been frozen in place by the off-kilter sprayer.
The nearby humans are able to contain the other Daleks with relative ease, thwarting the Daleks' plan of conquest.
Jeff Stone soon arrives on scene to survey the damage. He notices immediately that a mole must have caused the underlying structural damage. "If I could find the mole who did this", he says, "I'd make him the most popular animal in history."
Characters
- A mole
- Dalek Leader
- Daleks
- Jeff Stone (cameo)
Worldbuilding
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Notes
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Continuity
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