The end part of Long Route to Beta Delta was sitting in the drabbles folder for a VERY long time in its basic form. Originally it was the appendage to Vampyres, the FIRST story to feature Julia. Then it went after his visit to Li Tuo. But that, also, was changed dramatically. And then I decided that instead of going straight to her aunt and uncle on Beta Delta IV, dropping out of Chrístõ’s life until she was older, she would travel with him for a while. Natalie came into the series as her chaperone, and their relationship was allowed to grow. But Natalie was always going to die, and inevitably, Chrístõ was going to have to take Julia to Beta Delta IV.

Julia’s rebellion against that inevitability is, in itself, inevitable. Changing the co-ordinates and taking the TARDIS to a random location to stave off her return, though, proves nearly fatal and plunges them into adventure. It is a bit of a Saturday morning cinema style adventure, with Julia about to be sacrificed to the volcano before Chrístõ comes to the rescue. But really it didn’t need much more than that. The main point of the story is Julia realising what she has done and accepting that she HAS to leave Chrístõ.

Beta Delta IV is a ‘nice’ place to live. A SAFE place to live, with all the modern conveniences and no crime or drugs or wars. So it remains to be seen how much chaos can be created when Chrístõ visits in the future.

The water pack that Chrístõ uses to drink from on the planet is not futuristic, by the way. Camelbaks are available for cyclists and ramblers. I use one all the time for those purposes.

http://www.elitetacticalsources.com/
Camelbak_Maximum_Gear_Hydration_Systems.htm