Three months have passed since the revolution began, and it’s going well... perhaps too well. According to the latest reports, the Daleks are on the run, but Kalendorf isn’t convinced; the Daleks are giving up far too easily, and some battles simply shouldn’t have been won at all. Are they trying to lull the people of the galaxy into a false sense of security before they strike back -- or is there more to it than that? Some time ago, deep space probes picked up a very faint trace of movement from outside the galaxy -- a Dalek ship which seemed to be moving towards the Lopra system. Lopra is an insignificant system on the opposite side of the galaxy from the Daleks’ home base in Seriphia, and yet Alby Brook seemed to react strangely to the news at the time. Uneasy, Kalendorf tries to contact Alby, but can’t get through; however, unlike most other times, this isn’t because Alby is drunk. It’s because he’s just received a very strange message -- a map reference, and a message about pickled onions, the last words which Suz spoke to him before the Daleks invaded Vega 6...

The Dalek Supreme reports to its Emperor; although they were detected briefly, they have now altered their course to ensure that the Imperial command ship escapes the attention of the Earth Alliance from now on. Meanwhile, in the Lopra system, Director Espeelius receives an esteemed visitor -- Commander Tanlee, operational head of all Earth Alliance forces, has come to supervise the activation of Project Infinity. This much, at least, is true...

Kalendorf and Mirana track down Alby in the nearby mountain range, where he claims to have heard Suz’s voice -- and on the slopes of the mountain, a jar of pickled onions is waiting for him, as is an elderly woman who claims to know him. Mirana realises the truth first; this is one of the legendary Seers of Yaldos, whom it’s said can raise the dead. This isn’t quite the case, but the Seer can tell Alby everything about Suz’s final days on Yaldos -- of her life after Vega 6, as a Dalek slave and as the Angel of Mercy; of her plans to foment rebellion, her love for Alby, and her determination to speak to him from beyond the grave if necessary...

Before the fateful broadcast, Suz asked Kalendorf to leave her alone with her thoughts -- but in fact, she came here, to speak to the Seer. She suspected even then that the Daleks weren’t telling her the truth, and thus she and the Seer linked minds, so the Seer would experience everything that happened to Suz as long as she remained on Yaldos. Suz then returned to the city for her final audience with the Dalek Supreme -- and the Emperor, as it turned out. It was a very strange conversation, for the Emperor seemed fully aware that the Human Factor would drive Suz to betray them -- and yet seemed perfectly willing to let this happen. Centuries ago, the Daleks learned of Project Infinity from the Kar-Charrat library, and now they are close to defeating the human race for all time. Suz was confused, but she knew what she had to do; if she was to ask the slaves of the Dalek Empire to lay down their lives, she had to set an example. Despite Kalendorf’s protests, she arranged for him to be sent away, and she made the final broadcast, first telling the slaves that the Daleks believed they had won... and then shouting the fateful words, “DEATH TO THE DALEKS!” The slaves rose up and attacked her Dalek guards, but while they managed to kill one, they were too late to stop the other Dalek from turning and shooting Suz at point-blank range...

Alby tries to cling to the fact that they never found Suz’s body in the ruins of the square -- but thousands of people saw a Dalek shoot her, and though Alby may lash out at Kalendorf, he must concede that he doesn’t really believe Kalendorf wanted it this way. Kalendorf wanted to die a hero; but he’s alive, and as long as he is, he’s going to continue fighting the Daleks. And that means finding out what’s so important about the Lopra system -- why the Dalek Emperor deliberately let Suz set his Empire ablaze, why the Daleks are apparently giving up without a fight... For Kalendorf is beginning to suspect that the entire invasion of the galaxy was just a massive distraction to prevent the Earth Alliance from realising that the Lopra system was the Daleks’ real target all along. Alby just wants to be alone with his grief and despair, but Kalendorf’s bullying -- and the echo of Suz in the Seer’s pleas -- drives him to reveal what little he knows. It isn’t much, but he does know that according to Tanlee, he had to kill Suz if necessary to prevent the Daleks from finding out about Project Infinity, for if they learned of its existence then everything was over for the human race. And now it appears that they knew about it all along...

Kalendorf decides to travel to the Lopra system to investigate -- but before he can set off, Mirana pulls out a gun and shoots him, revealing herself to be a Dalek agent. Before she can finish off Alby and Kalendorf, however, the Seer grabs her by the mind; the implant in Mirana’s brain links her directly to the Dalek Emperor, but the Seer can jam the transmissions. Mirana and the Emperor struggle to resist the Seer, but Alby helps the injured Kalendorf to crawl over to the Seer and link minds with her, boosting her power and striking back at the Dalek Emperor through Mirana’s implant. The feedback nearly kills the Emperor, and the other Daleks must disconnect him from Mirana to save his life. Mirana loses consciousness, but survives... and Kalendorf reveals that he caught a glimpse of the Dalek Emperor’s mind within hers before she passed out. They may be able to use the implant to access the memories of the Dalek Emperor, and find out the truth about Project Infinity...

The Dalek Emperor recovers from his narrow escape, and orders his subordinates to set a direct course for the Lopra system. It no longer matters whether they are detected; speed is of the essence. On Lopra Minor, Espeelius is explaining to Tanlee that the scan is programmed to activate itself automatically once in alignment with the dimensional fissure -- and then learns too late that Tanlee isn’t exactly himself any more. Before anyone can react, Daleks storm the base and seize control of Project Infinity itself...

Mirana awakens, confused and disoriented, to find herself in the medical bay of the battleship Courageous. The solicitous Dr. Johsntone asks her a number of questions, claiming that she’s been in a coma for five months, and she gradually realises that he’s trying to determine whether she’s still a Dalek slave. She is horrified when flashes of memory remind her of what she’s been doing for the past few years -- especially when she feels the bandages around her head and realises that Johnstone has been operating on her brain. He’s failed to remove the implant, but he feels reasonably sure that he burned out all of the transceivers, permanently breaking her link to the Daleks. Also, his team has cracked the codes for its memory circuits, and with the proper stimulation, Mirana should be able to tell them all about Project Infinity.

As the Courageous enters the Lopra system, Kalendorf visits the medical bay to see what Mirana can tell them. It turns out to be far more than either of them expected, for although the Daleks on Lopra Minor have encoded their communications, Mirana realises that she can hear and understand it all. The transceivers in her implant weren’t completely burned out after all, and the Daleks don’t realise that she can listen in. They are, however, aware of the Courageous, and are preparing to destroy it while continuing to augment Project Infinity in preparation for the arrival of the Imperial Command ship. When their work is done, they will use Project Infinity to gain control of the entire Universe. But the Earth forces now have an unexpected advantage; the Daleks believe that they have the element of surprise, but in fact, if Johnstone can connect her implant to the tactical computer on the Courageous, Mirana can supply the human attackers with the precise co-ordinates of every Dalek on the planet.

As Alby and Kalendorf prepare for the attack, comms officer Herrick picks up a new arrival -- a large Dalek ship has just entered the system, and if Mirana’s right, the Emperor of the Daleks is on board. Kalendorf sends in the troops, and the Daleks attack, realising too late that the humans can detect them. Although the Daleks manage to wipe out one of the attacking squadrons, this proves to be a tactical error, as two others get past the front lines and reach the base. The Daleks reveal that they are holding the staff of Project Infinity as hostages, and begin to execute them one by one, demanding that their attackers withdraw; however, before Kalendorf can give the order, Espeelius makes a desperate plea. The Daleks must be prevented from seizing control of Project Infinity, even if it means that all of their hostages are killed. Kalendorf orders his troops to resume the attack, and orders Herrick to shut off the comms system, so he won’t have to watch the Daleks exterminating each of their hostages, one by one.

The Daleks fight to the last, but the humans kill them all. Sadly, all of the hostages are dead as well -- apart from Tanlee, who claims to have been pinned down by a Dalek crossfire in the jungle. He counts himself lucky to be alive. Kalendorf and Alby demand to know how they can use Project Infinity to destroy the Daleks, and Tanlee is amused to realise that they came all this way to stop the Daleks without even knowing what Project Infinity was. It’s not a weapon at all, but a means of seeing into alternate quantum realities in which history diverged from this Universe’s timeline. After the last Dalek war, human scientists reasoned that, in the infinite number of possible timelines, there must be a version of history in which the Daleks were defeated forever. Using the rare mineral veganite as a power source, they designed Project Infinity to scan alternate histories through a dimensional fissure, locate a timeline in which the Daleks were permanently defeated, and find out what the people of this Universe should do...

Kalendorf is disappointed to learn that Project Infinity is effectively useless; even if they had the time to activate it, it would take years to sift through the data it collected. With the Imperial flagship less than thirty minutes away, their only choice is to destroy Project Infinity before the Daleks capture it and learn how to conquer the Universe for all time. But before they can do so, Mirana arrives in a panic -- the dimensional fissure is near alignment, and the sight of it has triggered her memories of the Dalek Emperor’s plans. Once she sees Tanlee, she realises that he too is being controlled by the Daleks, but he pulls a gun on them and holds them all back. He allows Mirana to reveal the truth; the Dalek Emperor’s plans are even more ambitious than Kalendorf and Alby had guessed. The Imperial flagship contains all of the veganite mined from Vega 6 at the start of the war, and the Emperor intends to use it to boost the power of the Infinity scan to an unimaginable level. They aren’t just going to look into another Universe -- they’re going to open a gateway to it, and bring through Daleks who have become the supreme beings of their entire Universe.

Kalendorf and Alby realise that one of them will have to give their life to rush Tanlee, but they’ve left it too late; while Tanlee has kept them talking, the Imperial ship has entered transmat range. Alby, Kalendorf and Mirana suddenly find themselves surrounded by Daleks, and as Tanlee “escorts” them to the flagship, reinforcements are transmatted to Lopra Minor to wipe out the human soldiers. As Alby, Kalendorf and Mirana have proven themselves to be superior examples of humanity, they are to be Robotised and then placed in suspended animation -- where they will be genetically engineered, and transformed into Daleks. And it’s no good trying to escape; Dalek guns don’t just kill, and their guards have orders to paralyse them if they try to run. Even Susan Mendes discovered that there’s no escape from the Daleks. Alby realises what Tanlee is implying, and he’s dragged off screaming as the truth sinks in; amongst all of the millions of humans and other species in suspended animation on the Imperial flagship, Suz is still alive... and is being turned into a Dalek.