Tissue Compression Eliminator

The Tissue Compression Eliminator (or TCE) was a trademark weapon of the Master, especially after he assumed the appearance of the Trakenite Tremas. (TV: The Keeper of Traken)

As its name suggested, the TCE killed by drastically compressing the bodies of its targets to the point where life functions ceased. The Master liked to leave the shrunken doll-like corpses of his victims as a calling-card for the Doctor to discover.

The Fourth Doctor once described the method by which the Master killed as "matter condensation", which seems slightly more accurate. (TV: The Deadly Assassin)

The Master materialised his TARDIS within UNIT HQ and attacked the Third Doctor. In the brawl, the Doctor took the TCE and the Master fled. The Third Doctor threatened the Eighth Doctor with the TCE, hoping he would hand over the TARDIS. Ultimately, he decided against it and handed the device to his future self. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors)

The Master later attempted to improve the design of his weapon, but a laboratory accident resulted in the laboratory and him both being reduced in size instead. This did not appear to harm him. (TV: Planet of Fire)

The upgrade to the TCE later seemed to be perfected; in later appearances, targets appeared to be utterly disintegrated rather than reduced in size and killed.

The only entity known to survive a direct hit from the TCE unaffected was the Valeyard. Multiple shots from the weapon seemed to glance off him. The Master's attack on him took place in the Matrix and it is unknown whether the Valeyard's immunity was due to the unusual properties of the environment (over which he had a considerable degree of control) or his own unique status as a projection of a possible alternate timeline.

There are instances of the TCE being used to shrink a target without killing them outright. Most notably, Izzy Sinclair was shrunk after being shot with a TCE by the Master's disciple Sato Katsura, presumably to make her easier to keep prisoner. She was later able to use the weapon to reverse the process. (COMIC: The Glorious Dead)

On another occasion the Master used the TCE against a velociraptor revived by the fountain of youth. However, it landed right back in the fountain, re-emerging unharmed but miniscule in size, making a comical sight. (PROSE: A Town Called Eternity)

The TCE, despite its name, was equally capable of shrinking inorganic tissue: victims' clothes were also shrunk. On one occasion the Master demonstrated the weapon by shrinking empty space-suits. (TV: Planet of Fire)

With the help of Drax and K9, the Doctor once constructed a device that functioned analogously to the TCE (although this weapon shrank without killing). This suggests that the TCE's principles of operation were based on Time Lord dimensional engineering rather than original research done by the Master. (TV: The Armageddon Factor)

Eventually, the victims of TCE were no longer visible after the exposure. The Sixth Doctor stole and used it to threaten and the Rani; later Peri Brown did the same. (TV: The Mark of the Rani)

List of people killed by the TCE

 * Goodge (TV: Terror of the Autons)
 * Runcible's assistant (TV: The Deadly Assassin)
 * Commander Hilred (TV: The Deadly Assassin)
 * Jack Harris (PROSE: The Eight Doctors)
 * Unidentified Earth police constable (TV: Logopolis)
 * Aunt Vanessa (TV: Logopolis)
 * Various Logopolitans (TV: Logopolis)
 * Various Xeraphin (TV: Time-Flight)
 * Kamelion (used by the Fifth Doctor in this instance) (TV: Planet of Fire)
 * Unidentified Earth miner (TV: The Mark of the Rani)
 * Unidentified Earth miner's dog (TV: The Mark of the Rani)
 * Duncan, MI6 agent (COMIC: The Fallen)
 * Security guard Albert Bootle (AUDIO: Dust Breeding)
 * Mr Klemp (AUDIO: Dust Breeding)
 * Bliss (PROSE: Last of the Gaderene)

Other uses

 * The Doctor was able to use the TCE to sabotage the Master's TARDIS. (TV: The King's Demons)
 * The Master once shrank himself with it accidentally. (TV: Planet of Fire)
 * Used against the Valeyard in the Matrix, without effect. (TV: The Ultimate Foe)
 * Used to shrink Izzy Sinclair (used by Sato Katsura in this instance)
 * During his first encounter with the artificially-enlarged mechanoid freelance peacekeeping agent Death's Head, the Doctor used a TCE (which he happened to have on him) to defend himself against the mercenary. Death's Head was not injured, but found himself returned to his original size (that of a normal humanoid), which he remained for the rest of his career. (COMIC: The Crossroads of Time)
 * Used by Es'Cartrss of the Tactire through a simulated reality in the Matrix of the Doctor's TARDIS, while posing as the Valeyard (COMIC: The Forgotten)