The Fellowship of Quan (short story)

The Fellowship of Quan was a short story published in Doctor Who Annual 1986. It featured the Sixth Doctor and Peri as well as the same unique incarnation of the Master (later described as "a generic Master" by The Essential Doctor Who #4, dedicated to the Master as a whole) who had featured in The Creation of Camelot and would reappear in The Radio Waves.

Summary
The Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown are mysteriously brought by the TARDIS to the abandoned planet Tuven III. Exploring a network of tunnels, they find an ancient computer monitor from which the Doctor extracts the surprising information that the planet's surface is buried in fine, machine-produced sand, the tunnels constituting an air pocket miles underground. Unbeknownst to them, they are being watched on monitors by the Fellowship of Quan, a cult-like band of survivors from the mining operations which originally devastated the planet's environment. They worship the lead robot Quan, who was placed in suspended animation and is prophesied to one day return to make the planet live again.

After the Fellowship use one of the remaining machines to cause a collapse that partially buries the TARDIS, the Doctor and Peri are captured and brought before the Fellowship's leader, the Sentinel of Quan, who demands the Doctor's help in opening Quan's tomb. As they make their way there, the Sentinel reveals that he is actually the Master, having killed the real Sentinel some time back and used a voice-filter machine and a hooded cowl to impersonate him. The Master wants Quan's power for himself, but needs the Doctor's talent with decrypting inscriptions to make sure it was safe to enter the chamber.

He is satisfied with what the Doctor translates, and activates Quan, but finds Quan much more independent than the docile machine he had expected, and the Doctor is able to convince Quan that the off-worlder is a dangerous impostor. Quan agrees to help the rest of the Fellowship rebuild the planet, and the cultists began to crowd around the Master with murderous intent. To Peri's shock, the Doctor refuses to help the Master and simply leads her back to the TARDIS despite the Master's pleas.

Characters

 * Sixth Doctor
 * Peri Brown
 * Svan
 * Passon
 * The Sentinel of Quan
 * Quan

Worldbuilding

 * The Master used one of the Fellowship's ancient machines to create a localised spatial vortex to draw the Doctor's TARDIS to this time and place. He describes the technique as "risky, but effective".
 * The Master used his Tissue Compression Eliminator to kill the Sentinel of Quan.

Continuity

 * This version of the Master was previously encountered by the Fifth Doctor and Tegan Jovanka, posing as Merlin in Camelot. (PROSE: The Creation of Camelot)
 * Rather than engage in any repairs himself, the Doctor decides to allow the automatic systems to carry out their work. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen, Vengeance on Varos)
 * As in TV: Colony in Space, the Master attempts to bargain for control over a higher power for use in his own galactic conquests.
 * Rather than attempt a rescue, the Doctor is content to let the Master suffer the consequences of his actions. (TV: The Time Monster)
 * The TARDIS is once again lured in using a spatiotemporal trap. (TV: The Mark of the Rani)