X-Rani and the Ugly Mutants (short story)

X-Rani and the Ugly Mutants was a short story published in Doctor Who Annual 1980. It featured the Fourth Doctor and Romana I.

Summary
The Doctor and Romana arrive on the planet Xethra, a planet that the Academy on Gallifrey knows little about, to find that it is inhabited by ugly humanoid mutants who are ruled by a beautiful woman named X-Rani who has psychic powers. Having used her powers to give the Doctor a third arm, she explains that the planet is a prison world of the planet Ethra, and that on arrival prisoners are mutated by her into hideous forms. She further explains that the other world in the system, Yethra, is used as a dumping-ground for the weak and disabled of Ethra. She is under the authority of the government of Ethra, but they have failed to supply her with bavita, a food essential for the survival of Ethrans. If the Doctor wishes to return to his normal form, he must take X-Rani to Ethra to obtain bavita and to talk to the Controller, the head of the Ethran government.

The Doctor takes X-Rani to Ethra in the TARDIS, leaving Romana in charge of the mutants on Xethra. First they gather bavita, then they go to see the Controller, whom X-Rani engages in a psychic duel - but all is not as it seems, and X-Rani is not the helpless victim she wishes the Doctor to think she is!

Characters

 * Fourth Doctor
 * Romana I
 * X-Rani
 * The Controller

Worldbuilding

 * The Fourth Doctor says that K9 only needs new batteries every year or so.

Continuity
to be added