Master Room
The Master Room or Master Control Room was the figurative heart of the Dalek City on Skaro. (COMIC: City of the Daleks [+]Loading...["City of the Daleks (comic story)"], PROSE: Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks)
It was the nerve centre of the Dalek Empire, situated in the central section of the city along with the Supreme Council Chamber. In the Master Room the city's vital systems were checked and rechecked, and the position and movement of every Dalek was noted and transmitted to the Dalek Emperor. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide) Despite being the main operational hub of the city, the Dalek Supreme did not operate from it, residing four levels below in the city's incubation level. (AUDIO: Return to Skaro)
It was located on Level 10 of the city. (TV: The Daleks [+]Loading...["The Daleks (TV story)"]) It was in the Central Building. (PROSE: Facts About Dalek City [+]Loading...["Facts About Dalek City (feature)"])
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
It was the site of the final moments of the Thal-Dalek battle where battle damage disabled the Daleks' power distribution system, disabling them all and aborting their plan to flood more radiation into Skaro's atmosphere. (TV: The Daleks) When the Master Room was deactivated, emergency autonomic systems placed the Dalek Supreme in a state of suspended animation. (AUDIO: Return to Skaro)
When Ace incorrectly used an omega device in her attempt to time lock Skaro, she wound up fracturing the planet's timeline, trapping a handful of travellers in the Dalek City shortly after the Thal-Dalek battle. When Bernice Summerfield passed through the Master Room, a Dalek briefly reactivated and told her of the Daleks' history following the Thousand Year War. When she returned to the Room, she found that Varna and Vince Foster had reactivated the Dalek which promptly exterminated them, sending Bernice running. When the Seventh Doctor managed to breach the lock and land on Skaro, he and Bernice returned to the Master Room to discover that the Dalek had taken Ace prisoner and was continuing the plan to flood the atmosphere with radiation. Using the omega device, the Doctor summoned the Dalek's future self with whom it quickly came to blows with. The resulting paradox was enough to break the time lock with the Master Room returning to its inactive state. (AUDIO: The Lights of Skaro)
Some decades afterwards, the Thal scientist Tryana discovered the Supreme who duped her into believing that it desired peace, having her repair the Master Room. When the First Doctor and his companions returned to the Dalek City, both he and Susan Foreman commented on the Room's now pristine state before both used its instruments to deduce the existence of the incubation level.
After the Supreme had abandoned the ruse and led its revived army on a foiled attack on the Thal City, the Daleks retreated back to their city. From the Master Room, the Supreme addressed the troops before the Thals overloaded the pilfered electricity, destroying the city. (AUDIO: Return to Skaro)
