Moment Six
The Doctor knew from his previous encounters with the Daleks how ruthless they could be; they would stop at nothing to conquer, subjugate and ultimately exterminate all other life-forms. They had an almost fanatical belief that anything that wasn't a Dalek had to be destroyed, "a dislike for the unlike" as Ian had once put it. They could be devious too, but the Dalek Lesterson had revived showed a new level of deviousness; it was actually pretending it wanted to help the Vulcan colony.
"I am your ser-vant," it had kept repeating, almost like a mantra. And Lesterson was gullible enough to believe it. He had no idea how dangerous the Daleks were, no idea that they were a race which killed without mercy. They might let you live as long as you were of use to them, but as soon as your usefulness ended . . .
The Doctor had tried in vain to convince Lesterson that he was making a big mistake, but Lesterson could only see the benefits in employing the Daleks. Why, the Doctor wondered with a degree of frustration, wouldn't he listen? Why was he so willing to take what the Dalek said at face value? He actually seemed to believe the Daleks (a space capsule containing three of them had been found in the swamp) could be an asset to the colony, whereas the Doctor knew they would prove to be anything but. Unless something was done, even this one Dalek was capable of wiping out the entire colony.
Daleks, always Daleks - the Doctor had only been in this new body for a few hours and he was already faced with the most evil race in the Universe, a race totally devoid of pity. A race whose sole purpose was to wipe out all other forms of life . . .
Lesterson's Dalek might have had its gun removed, but the Doctor wasn't fooled into thinking it was harmless, not for one moment. No matter how much it kept up its "servant of humanity" act, there was no getting away from the fact that it was merely stalling for time, waiting perhaps until the time was right for it to put its plans into action. And, when that happened, the whole colony would be in danger.
The Doctor recalled what he had said when he was trying to warn Lesterson of the danger the Dalek posed. "It will end the colony's problems, because it will end the colony!" Not that it had done much good; Lesterson was blinded by his own success, unwilling to hear anything said against the Dalek.
Indeed, the Doctor doubted his previous incarnation (who would have said the same words with much more authority) would have done any better. If there was one thing he had learned on his travels, it was that some people wouldn't listen to reason - and it looked as though Lesterson was one of them.
And then there was the question of where these Daleks had come from, not to mention when. Since none of the colonists knew what the Daleks were, this must be some time before the Daleks invaded Earth in the middle of the 22nd Century, though the Doctor did not know the precise year.
What he did know, however, was that Lesterson's Dalek had recognised him, even though he had regenerated just before he, Ben and Polly landed on Vulcan. That could only mean one thing; the capsule must have been one of the Daleks' time machines. These three Daleks must be from the future, or at least from a later point in the Doctor's time stream.
Whatever their origins, one thing seemed certain; it was only a question of time before these supposedly servile Daleks showed their true colours. And, to further complicate matters, rebellion was brewing in the colony and there was every possibility that the rebels might re-arm the Daleks in order to use them against the colony's leaders. In which case . . . Well, the Doctor knew the Daleks well enough to know they only worked with other races as long as it suited their purposes. Something had to be done to stop all this madness.